The Beatles' Story

LP.2222.11.1 is the Beatles' Story pressing on the third generation purple label, recognized by its "UNDER LICENSE" perimeter print in a thinner font. It is also the last Canadian pressing of the album on vinyl. Two things changed on the discs themselves: for the first time, the sides are paired 1-2 and 3-4, and side 3 comes from a new master, cut at The Lacquer Channel in Toronto.

Availability

The third generation purple labels were used on Capitol Beatles albums from late 1980 to 1983. This pressing is the last chapter of The Beatles' Story on vinyl in Canada: no retro rainbow pressing of the album has been documented.

General Information

Every earlier Canadian pressing of the album paired its sides for automatic record changers, with sides 1 and 4 on disc 1 and sides 2 and 3 on disc 2 (explained on LP.2222.1.1). On this pressing, the sides follow the manual sequence for the first time: disc 1 holds sides 1 and 2, disc 2 holds sides 3 and 4. This was most likely because record changers had largely fallen out of use by then.

The labels keep the layout of LP.2222.10.1 (silver print, dome logo, title in script, "(T1-2222)" under the catalogue number), but the perimeter print now reads "MANUFACTURED AND DISTRIBUTED IN CANADA UNDER LICENSE BY CAPITOL RECORDS-EMI OF CANADA LIMITED", in a thinner font.

Pressing Information

This pressing was manufactured at Capitol's pressing plant in Mississauga (Ontario), recognized by its 39 mm pressing ring. Three sides still come from the "Jay" lacquers of LP.2222.7.3 and LP.2222.10.1, with the stamped MASTERED BY CAPITOL marking (side 2 also carries the Capitol target logo).

Side 3 is new. It was cut by Kevin Fuller, who signed it "KEF" in script, at The Lacquer Channel in Toronto, on a Transco blank (TLC-T). Its numbering also departs from the others, with the word "SIDE" written out ("STBO - 2222 - SIDE 3 - 2."). Why only that side was recut is not known; the old side 3 metal parts may simply have been worn out.

LP.2222.11.1 has markings as follows (by disc, in the new pairing order):

Disc 1, side 1: Jay  STBO-1-2222  H-13  MASTERED BY CAPITOL
Disc 1, side 2: STBO-2-2222  G16  MASTERED BY CAPITOL
Disc 2, side 3: STBO - 2222 - SIDE 3 - 2.  KEF  TLC-T
Disc 2, side 4: Jay  STBO-4-2222  H-15  MASTERED BY CAPITOL

Read together, these markings tell how the record was made: sides 1, 2 and 4 from lacquers cut by Capitol of Canada (MASTERED BY CAPITOL stamp) from Los Angeles tapes, side 3 from a lacquer cut at The Lacquer Channel (TLC) in Toronto, on a Transco blank (TLC-T), from Capitol USA tapes, then pressed by Capitol in Mississauga.

Cover

The jacket is still a posterboard gatefold, but this time the cover was manufactured by Modern Graphics, whose logo appears on the spine (see the Printers page). The spine also reads "THE BEATLES' STORY • DOCUMENTARY" and "PRINTED IN CANADA".

The back was revised as well. The "PRINTED IN CANADA" line is gone from the bottom left (it now sits on the spine), and the Mississauga address at the bottom right lost its postal code: it reads only "3109 AMERICAN DRIVE, MISSISSAUGA, ONTARIO", where LP.2222.10.1 still had "L4V 1B2".

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 rounded paper inner sleeve Capitol used with its third generation purple labels (type 4 on the Inner Sleeves page), with rounded corners at the top.