The Beatles' Story

LP.2222.10.2 is the same purple label pressing as LP.2222.10.1, in a jacket printed with a lighter blue: the blue of the flag and of the subtitle line is clearly paler than on all the earlier covers. Labels, discs and matrices are identical to LP.2222.10.1.

Availability

This cover most likely dates from circa 1979, within the period of the second generation purple labels (1978 to 1980).

General Information

The lighter blue is the only difference with LP.2222.10.1. It most likely comes from a new print run of the jacket with a different ink mix, rather than from a deliberate change of design: the rest of the artwork, the back and the inside spread are the same.

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

This pressing was manufactured at Capitol's own pressing plant in Mississauga (Ontario), recognized by its medium size 39 mm pressing ring, and on regular, thicker vinyl again after the Dynaflex discs of LP.2222.7.3.

The discs come from the same "Jay" lacquers as LP.2222.7.3, with their Hollywood lathe codes (H and G), and the run-out also carries a stamped MASTERED BY CAPITOL marking. That stamp marks Capitol of Canada's own mastering, which suggests that "Jay" worked there, though this remains to be confirmed. The markings are as follows (by disc, in the pairing order):

Disc 1, side 1: Jay  STBO -1 - 2222  H-13
Disc 1, side 4: Jay  STBO -4- 2222  H-15
Disc 2, side 2: Jay  STBO-2-2222  G16
Disc 2, side 3: Jay  STBO-3-2222  H-15 ②

Read together, these markings tell how the record was made: lacquers cut by Capitol of Canada (MASTERED BY CAPITOL stamp) from Los Angeles tapes, then pressed by Capitol in Mississauga.

Cover

The front is the lighter blue printing; the back and the inside spread are the same as on LP.2222.10.1 (posterboard gatefold with the Capitol-EMI legal text, and no dome logo on the spine).

Packaging

As with the other posterboard jackets of the period, these were shipped in tight shrink wrap (no sealed copy has been photographed for this archive yet).

These were most likely sold with the plain paper inner sleeve Capitol used with its own pressings at the time (type 3 on the Inner Sleeves page): straight cut, with one side shorter than the other and a large flap at the bottom.