The Beatles' Story

This series of "colored J-card" releases features a design unique to Canadian tapes for Capitol. K7.2222.6.1 was pressed on a black shell with silver print. This variation is recognized by its color J-card (each title had a different color) and its 4XWB-2222 catalogue number (a 4XWB prefix, not the 4XT seen on most titles of the series). Numbers changed to "C4" in the early 1990s. This is also the first issue of The Beatles' Story on cassette, a format the album never got anywhere else in the world (see Availability below).

Availability

The color J-card series was introduced in 1985, but The Beatles' Story only joined it at the very end of the 4XWB numbers. Its shell is printed in the regular font rather than the robot font of the 1980s tapes, which places it between about 1990 and 1991, after the robot font was dropped and before the catalogue number changed to C4 90448 around 1991. A first C4 tape without a bar code (7A) has not been documented for this title; the earliest one known is the 1992 bar-coded K7.2222.7B.1. No copy on a robot font shell is known, so this is taken as the first issue of the album on cassette (until proven otherwise).

The Beatles' Story on cassette is a Canadian exclusive: no other country ever issued the album on cassette, not even the USA, where it was first released. Why Capitol of Canada added a title that had never sold much (only 376 copies in 1967) to its cassette catalogue in the early 1990s is not known. Curiously, it was even reissued once the catalogue numbers changed to C4 (see K7.2222.7B.1).

The color J-card Design

While the USA continued using a rather random and custom cassette design, sometimes using old layouts from the 1960s, sometimes playing with the shape of the album cover design to fit the information text, Capitol of Canada proposed a uniform and coherent J-card design. These standardized the placement and size of album covers, titles, band names and legal text, while sporting a vivid color palette unique to every release (the authors named this design the "color J-card").

This made each release unique, while still retaining a clear standardized "capitol branding". These were particularly striking when lined up side by side, creating a rainbow collection of albums where background colors, text and a small separator square varied in flavour, but not in structure, making these Canadian releases very unique and recognizable.

The design remained relatively stable until 2000, with only minor details updated through time (C4 number in 1991 (7A), Bar codes and XDR logo in 1992 (7B/7C), Apple on the J-card in 1994 (7D/7E), Gold color J-card for UK format albums in 1987 (8 and 9A), smaller and longer number in 1995 (9B)).

The The Beatles' Story J-card in this series is white, with a small red separator square and the album cover reproduced in full (the title in red, the "A NARRATIVE AND MUSICAL BIOGRAPHY OF BEATLEMANIA" subtitle in blue, and the four Beatles above a Union Jack). The spine carries the 4XWB-2222 number, and the back panel lists the two programmes ("1" and "2" in red boxes) beside the legal text and the DOLBY HX PRO logo, without the bar code.

**Note** Only the back catalogue would retain this design after 1993, while new releases (starting with the reissue of the remastered red/blue albums) each featured a unique custom sleeve design after 1993.

Pressing Information

This variation was pressed on a black shell with silver print and a fine grid texture. The big "1" and "2" are set in a regular font, not the "futuristic robot font" Capitol used from about 1982 until about 1990, so this copy belongs to the early 1990s pressings, at the very end of the 4XWB numbers. The shell also carries the Dolby HX PRO mark under the programme number, just like the J-card. Note the typo printed on the programme 2 side, "A HARD DAY'S NIGHT-Their Frist Movie" (it is still there on the C4 shell of K7.2222.7B.1). Some releases also featured a WHITE shell, but these were randomly found between 1985 and 1994.

Different types of shells were often used simultaneously and seemingly, also interchangeably. There is no clear timeline based on the types of shells that were used.

Packaging

Tapes were sold in a black back jewel case, and sealed in either a firm wrap that was folded shut, or a regular heat-tightened shrink wrap.

Both types of wrapper have been verified to be used randomly between 1982 and 1995.