Beatles'65

LP.2228.2.1 is the fourth mono pressing of Beatles'65 in Canada, appearing in July 1966. The jacket is unchanged and the record was still pressed from the Canadian GN master introduced with LP.2228.1.4 (hand-etched matrix numbers and the initials of RCA engineer Graham Newton), but the label is now the new "rainbow brackets" design, where the perimeter print reads "Capitol Records (Canada) Ltd.", with brackets around the word CANADA.

Availability

This variation was available from July 1966 for a short period only, until the worn Canadian plates were retired and the plant went back to USA-supplied stampers for the remaining mono runs (see LP.2228.2.2). Brackets copies with the hand-etched GN matrix are therefore scarcer than the USA-plate brackets copies that followed.

General Information

In mid 1966, Capitol Records of Canada was reincorporated as CAPITOL RECORDS (CANADA) LTD. From this point on (July 1966), all new labels would feature the new corporate information (known as the "brackets label"). This rainbow label design remained in use until Capitol changed its design in favour of the green target label (see LP.2228.4.1).

By this point, pressings were made as demand required, while Capitol pushed out the Beatles' newer albums. Mono was phased out of the regular catalogue in mid 1968, so the brackets era covers the last two years of mono Beatles'65 pressings (LP.2228.2.1 to 2.3).

These brackets copies are the last Beatles'65 pressings made from Graham Newton's lacquers (the story of the GN master itself is told with LP.2228.1.4).

Pressing Information

As with all previous variations, Capitol of Canada subcontracted the RCA pressing plant in Smiths Falls (Ontario) to manufacture this batch of pressings. These first brackets copies were still pressed from the Canadian-cut GN master (lacquers cut by Graham Newton at RCA Toronto, metal parts made in Smiths Falls), and carry the same hand-etched markings as LP.2228.1.4:

Side 1: T1-2228-3  GN
Side 2: T2-2228-2

These pressings feature a 70 mm deep-groove pressing ring, a hallmark of early RCA Canadian manufacture. Labels feature the "brackets" rainbow label (see perimeter print at the bottom of the label: "MFD. IN CANADA BY CAPITOL RECORDS (CANADA) LTD." with brackets around the word CANADA).

Cover

The jacket for LP.2228.2.1 features an identical build to its predecessor: the inner seams (the inside fold of the cardboard jacket) are still cut straight and measure 10 mm high.

Covers up to the mid 70s used a “front slick” construction (a larger back slick, usually printed in black and white that wrapped around the front of the cardboard cover, onto which a smaller colour front slick was glued, creating a white frame effect all around the front image).

Both slicks were printed by Parr's Print and Litho in Toronto and assembled onto the cardboard frame by Modern Albums. The back cover still carries the "Also Available in Stereo" notice.

Packaging

Copies of LP.2228.2.1 were packaged with a tight shrink wrap.

These were sold with / without the red and white Capitol / Pathé "ATTENTION" paper LP inner sleeve.

Sales

Records show that sales for this album were declining sharply by this point, with only 6,376 copies sold in 1966 (this includes variations LP.2228.1.3, 1.4, 2.1, 2.2 and 2.4) and 2,620 in 1967 (source: P. Hemmingsen, The Beatles’ Canadian Discography part. 3, "Sales of Beatles Records in Canada"). LP.2228.2.1 was a short run within that 1966 figure. Over its first four years, Beatles'65 therefore sold a total of 151,152 copies in Canada (1964 to 1967), all formats combined: these Capitol figures are per title, not per format, so from July 1965 they also include the reel-to-reel tape (see RE.2365.1.1).