Something New

RE.2382.1.1 is the first (and only) Reel pressing of Something New in Canada, it was released in September 1965 as part of the white box series. This variation was issued only in stereo from USA master tapes. The Canadian pressing is recognized by its white cardboard box and Canadian legal text on the gold foil reel label. This reel is one of three rare double features, paired with Beatles VI, and carries the catalogue number Y2T 2382. The front slick features the gold USA "Leisure Listening" artwork, reproducing both album covers.

Availability

This reel was produced only once and therefore available starting in September 1965. Technically, they remained available for purchase until stocks were down. These sold in the lower hundred copies so they were possibly in the catalogue for a few years, dripping away a few copies at a time (it was confirmed that these reel tapes did not sell, remaining on the shelves for over a year in many shops). Capitol never repressed this title in the reel format; no Gold Box series from 1970 has been documented to date.

The Canadian White Box Series

Open reel tape releases were niche products aimed at the audiophile market of the time (people dedicated to high-quality audio), who used high-end playback systems. Audiophiles generally leaned towards classical and jazz music rather than pop music in this format, so these Beatles tapes are extremely scarce in any condition today.

In agreement with Ampex of Canada, Capitol started offering Beatles reels as early as 1964, and added titles as the band released new material. No "Canadian album" from the 6000 series were ever produced in the reel format (those that are found are fantasy items). Unlike the USA where all titles were released individually on both 3 ^3/4 IPS or 7 ^1/2 IPS, Canada issued the "minimal viable lineup": when double features were made available in the USA, that is what Canada opted to release instead of two separate releases. In Canada, Beatles VI, Something New, Beatles '65, The Early Beatles, Rubber Soul and The Beatles' Second Album were therefore never released as a single album reel, but only on "double features".

Canadian reels feature USA artwork (slicks made from USA templates) but these were pasted on a Canadian white cardboard box instead of the usual brown or blue USA-made boxes. They also only featured clear reels (unlike the opaque beige USA reels from the period). Both the tapes and boxes were manufactured in Canada (but our slicks were printed here, using US artwork). The "white box series" always features 7" reels at the 3 ^3/4 IPS speed, apart from three exceptions: Revolver was released at 7 ^1/2 IPS (for reasons unknown, it is the only Canadian reel at this higher speed), and two titles were released on the more obscure 5" reel format (Meet The Beatles in 1964 and Yesterday and Today in 1966).

The reel and label combination is what identifies a Canadian white box tape. Canada used a clear reel with a gold foil label. The American series of the same period, in brown boxes, used opaque beige reels. The USA did produce clear reels, but only for its 7 ^1/2 IPS blue box series, which was never issued in Canada, and those American clear reels carried white labels, not gold ones. No American release therefore pairs a clear reel with a gold foil label: that combination is unique to the Canadian 3 ^3/4 IPS white box series. This is also why the handful of copies found with USA-marked gold labels on a clear reel in a white box are genuine Canadian tapes fitted with imported labels, and not American imports.

It is not known if Apple albums were ever produced in the reel format in Canada (with a white box) - All examples found to date are US brown box tapes, which might have been imported to Canada instead of being manufactured here. Another consideration is that the Gold Box series was released in 1970 (see variations RE.2.1), so it is likely that Hey Jude and Let It Be have only been considered for the Gold Box series, while Canadian reels of The White Album, Yellow Submarine or Abbey Road have never been documented in the white box series.

Pressing Information

As was the case with Capitol LPs in the 1960s, all Canadian reels from the White Box Series were not manufactured by Capitol, but by a subcontractor: Ampex in Canada.

RE.2382.1.1 has markings as follows:

Reel Type: Clear, "Side 1 / Side 2"
Gold Foil: Manufactured in Canada text

No acceptable photograph of the reel and gold foil label of this particular variation has been found for this website yet.

Packaging

Canadian Reels were housed in a WHITE cardboard box (instead of brown or blue), but featured slicks made from US artwork (and therefore have USA markings). It is believed that slicks were printed by Parr's here in Canada, from US templates. This needs to be confirmed. Some reels have been found with USA gold labels too, in a white Canadian box with a typical Canadian clear reel, so gold labels have seemingly been imported when needed.

Sales

Recorded sales were not specific to formats so sales of reels are included in global numbers for the album itself. That being said, these were special products sold in the lower hundreds of copies. According to some reports, as little as 200 copies per title would have been produced, and it has been reported that copies could stay on store shelves for years before being sold. These were niche products and they are extremely scarce and desirable today, in any condition, since no repressings were ever made and they sold in very small numbers.