Sunday, June 12, 2011

Pepperizing the US and Canada



The first Beatles' LP released on Capitol for the year 1967 was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". This LP was released one day after the UK version of the LP (mono PMC 7027 and stereo PCS 7027 - see original post for details). The catalogue numbers for this LP on Capitol is MAS-2653 for mono and SMAS-2653 for stereo). The release date for the LP was June 02 1967.

This is the first Capitol LP to feature the exact same tracklisting as the UK version. The only exception is that the US/Canada versions do not carry the high frequency run-out groove and the voices of the inner groove.

The iconic front cover is the same as the UK version with one exception. Stereo copies were released with a yellow banner across the top of the photo with the word "stereo" centered and writtin black on the banner. The cut-outs with the green background were also different due to their markings in the lower left hand side. The US version having the words "Printed In USA" while Canadian copies including the "Parrs" logo along with the words "Litho In Canada".

The original labels for this LP are the classic black with rainbow Capitol labels. In Canada and the US, first pressings contain the side one second track as "A Little Help From My Friends" which was shortly changed to "With A Little Help From My Friends". The back cover lyrics always referenced the song title as "A Little Help From My Friends". All Canadian pressings originate from the Compo plant.

Inner sleeves for the LP are usually the customized psychedelic red/pink/white "fool" sleeve or the Capitol "Hear The Hits" tan sleeve in the US. Canada only used the red and white Capitol/Pathe sleeve on stereo issues and rarely used the inner sleeve for the mono records.

1 comment:

  1. I recently got an early Capitol Recording with the rainbow Capitol Album label and a red/white inner sleeve...Does this mean this is a 1967 Album??

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