Category Archives: Capitol Records

Label Variations Part Ten – Abbey Road (More….)

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Since I posted Label Variations Part Six – Abbey Road  I’ve had a few people sending in some further great examples from their own collections.

So, its time to share these now.

First comes from Jerry Woods who wrote:  “Saw your blog featuring various record labels (I LOVE this stuff!!) and noticed that you didn’t have a MONO version of Abbey Road on display, so I thought I would share. Although, not a true mono mix (they never “officially” did one – and this LP sounds identical from start to finish to the Stereo version when the Stereo version is folded down to Mono) this is kind of an interesting oddity – but only a fold down to Mono from Stereo.”

Here are the labels – the record comes from Brazil:

Another nice one sent in was from a reader in New Zealand and it’s really quite unusual. It is Abbey Road on an orange Apple label – very similar (but not quite) to the orange labels used for George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass. VERY collectable:

Of course there were lots of green Apples from other countries. Nice examples here from France, Italy and a green vinyl pressing of the album from the UK:

There were these two from Canada that were missed first time around. They include a couple of purple Capitol labels with two variations (one with a fairly obvious spelling mistake):

There were also a couple of other US pressings. The orange Capitol, and also the collectable Mobile Fidelity Audiophile pressing:

Finally, a couple of pressings of Abbey Road on a black and silver Parlophone label. This first one is from the UK:

While this other one, sent in by Andrey in Russia, is much more unusual. It is a rare UAR (Egypt?) label for Abbey Road:

(except for a couple, click on labels to see larger versions)

Ah, collecting….the variations sometimes seem endless. Thanks to everyone who emailed more labels.

You can see Label Variations Parts One, Two, Three, Four, and Five and Six, plus the Beatles Love LP variations here and here.

There’s a post on the variations of the McCartney/Fireman Electric Arguments release; McCartney’s Twin Freaks LP and singles; as well as his recent Kisses On The Bottom CD’s and LP. There is also a post on some George Harrison All Things Must Pass label variations.

Latest Addition to the Collection – The Beatles “Help!” US LP

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After many a year I’ve finally got myself a copy of the US vinyl version of the Beatles “Help!”.

Last week I visited a newly-opened record store called Pacific Records. It’s located in the Sydney suburb of Mona Vale and sells new and used LPs, singles, CDs, music books, posters and t-shirts. The guy running it also has an Ebay store.

I’ve already got a few different versions of “Help!”, but have never had an LP copy of the US Capitol Records pressing – which varies in a number of ways to the LP released in Australia and elsewhere. The one I got last week is on the orange Capitol label:

The LP is of interest because the US edition has seven songs from the film interspersed with instrumentals, a different running order, and a very different cover to that issued in places like the UK, Europe and Australia:

Also, it has a really cool gatefold with lots of additional photos inside (whereas in other countries “Help!” comes in just a single LP sleeve):

In Australia (and in the UK) we’re used to this “Help!” LP cover image:

As I said there are some songs in common, but the running order is different and Bruce Spizer explains why in his liner notes for the booklet that comes with “The Beatles Capitol Albums, Vol. 2”:

“In England, Parlophone repeated its practice of issuing an album with songs from the film on one side and additional new recordings by the group on side two. (Three of those songs had previously appeared [in the US] on “Beatles VI”.) Capitol issued an album with the seven Beatles songs from the film augmented with “Exclusive Instrumental Music From the Picture’s Soundtrack.” Ken Thorne’s score for the film consisted of a mix of Thorne originals, classical music and orchestrated Beatles tunes, often with an Indian flavour. Capitol’s “Help!” LP was issued with a deluxe gatefold cover on August 13, 1965″.

The copy I got also has a nice original paper inner sleeve, with advertisements for other Capitol LPs, including a couple by the Beatles:

Next time a post on some “Help!” label variations from around the world.