Beatles'65

LP.2228.2.5 is a stereo pressing of Beatles'65 on the "rainbow brackets" label, circulating around 1967. The record is identical to LP.2228.2.4 (same USA-supplied stereo plates); the difference is on the jacket, where a new print run of the front slick carries the catalogue number printed sideways along the right edge of the front cover, next to the umbrellas.

Availability

This variation circulated around 1967, alongside LP.2228.2.4, and could have been available until mono was phased out in mid 1968 (at the latest), when the back cover lost its "Also Available in Regular Monophonic" notice (see LP.2228.2.6). The sideways cover is the scarcer of the two stereo brackets jackets.

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).

The sideways mono catalogue number is a small printing quirk of a late front slick, where the number was added in a rotated position along the right edge of the front image, in addition to the regular one in the top strip. The same feature is found on mono covers of the same period (see LP.2228.2.3).

It is important to note that a new cover variation does not necessarily imply a new set of pressings; new covers could (and most likely did) house records from the same batch of pressings as the previously documented variations. Covers and discs were produced as required, and therefore not necessarily at the same time.

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. The records were pressed from the same USA-supplied stereo plates (sent from Capitol's Scranton pressing plant) introduced with LP.2228.1.3, and carry the same stamped markings as LP.2228.2.4:

Side 1: ST1-2228-X2 #2  
Side 2: ST2-2228-B6 #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.2228.2.5 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 front slick keeps the arrow-shaped stereo banner and the "File Under: The Beatles" line, with the sideways catalogue number along the right edge; the back cover still carries the "Also Available in Regular Monophonic" notice.

Packaging

Copies of LP.2228.2.5 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 only 2,620 copies of Beatles'65 sold in Canada in 1967 (this includes variations LP.2228.2.2, 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5, mono and stereo combined) (source: P. Hemmingsen, The Beatles’ Canadian Discography part. 3, "Sales of Beatles Records in Canada"). The sideways-number covers come from a single print run within that small number, and stereo copies were still the minority. 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).