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Parlophone
LP Labelography
The following is a gallery of the Parlophone LP label and the major changes it underwent from when the Beatles signed up to the present day. These do not cover the little variations that are unique to each Beatles album - those are covered in the individual album labelographies. Described here are the overall changes made my EMI / Parlophone that affected every pressing in the catalogue. The information in this guide is in constant development and may be subject to change. If you believe we have missed something in this list, or can help us with any gaps that need filling, then please get in touch. Label
1
We believe this 'Gold and Black' label design appeared on Parlophone LP labels from at least as far back as 1957 and bears a resemblance to the older 78 rpm labels. It was discontinued around mid-1963 at the latest but we are not yet sure what the last G/B issue was (likely to be PMC 1203, 1204 or 1205.) When 'Please Please Me' was originally released Parlophone were in the process of updating the style of their record labels to appear more modern. The 7" labels had been changed from red to black in January of 1963 and by March the LP's gold and black scheme was changing to yellow and black. As such, this older style label on the debut Beatles album was not around for long. The general consensus amongst record collectors is that it was around for a few weeks before the new label designs were introduced. Of course, a lot of copies of this album were produced in those first few week so they're not 'rare' but they are highly desirable to collectors as they represent the very earliest examples of this album. There are slightly different variations of the gold on black 'Please Please Me' labels. These have been highlighed on the Please Please Me labelography pages. Albums
Originally Released on this label Label
2
Here is the appearance of the 'Yellow and Black' label design which would remain throughout the 1960s. Almost immediately after the labels were changed from the Gold design to the Yellow, it was soon discovered that although the new labels featured the '33 1/3' prefix prominently above the Parlophone name, part of the label print plates were left unchanged whilst the transition was taking place. Because of this, the small '33 1/3' prefix that appeared to the right of the matrix number on the gold label remained - mistakenly or intentionally we're not sure. Since there was no need for the prefix to be included twice the smaller one was removed pretty much instantaneously after it's discovery. Copies including this feature are very difficult to find in any condition - stereo copies of "Please Please Me" with this label design are far more rare than a gold and black stereo. Don't believe what the dealers say! Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
3
This label has the small 33 1/3 removed. This particular style was also short-lived but appears more often than label 2. It isn't common and, similar to all the previous versions, the discs are usually found in pretty worn condition. Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
4
Here we see the text "Recording First Published..." on the left of the label. This is pretty much the standard layout and style used on Parlophone records up until February 1964. We are not sure why the "Recording..." text was necessary to add, it must have been a company-wide decision of EMI to indicate the original publishing date of the album. Some say that "Recording..." was left off on earlier labels on accident, but the fact that it's also left off the 1st press copies of the Beatle's EP "The Beatle's Hits" leads us to conclude that this was intentionally left off to begin with, adding to the likelihood of the first possibility. Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
5
In February of 1964 the "Sold In UK Subject To Resale Price Conditions, See Price Lists" tax blurb appeared above the spindlehole of all EMI LPs - a government requirement. The typeset used on these earlier labels were still the same as variations 2, 3 and 4. Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
6
By the time that "A Hard Day's Night" had been released in July of 1964, EMI were using this chubbier typeset on their labels. However, no other Beatles record has yet been discovered with this chubbier typeset except for A Hard Day's Night. It would be interesting to see just how long this font variation was in use for but we haven't found a similar-era Parlophone LP to compare with yet. Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
7
Soon after the release of "A Hard Days Night" the Parlophone label typeset changed to a slightly thinner style to Variation 5. Again, the label still carries the 'Parlophone' rimtext, the 'Sold in UK' statement and the 'Recording...' text and now the 'Stereo' mark is a little smaller, just spreading across the ON instead of ONE like before. Some of the Stereo presses have a period just after the PCS part of the catalogue number. This is quite hard to find but appeared alongside this style, not before or afterwards. Albums
that were originally released on this label. Label
8
It
was originally believed that the 'Recording' text and 'Parlophone'
rimtext were changed at the same time, but recently a very small
number of stereo Beatles albums have emerged that show there was a
slight delay between the introduction of the two. The 'Recording...' text was initially
lost and replaced with a Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
9
By
the time "Help!" was issued in 1965 the Parlophone label had incorporated
the new EMI-wide rimtext which now began with 'The Gramophone Co. Ltd...'. The Albums
that were originally released on this label: Label
10
This variation is a bit of a puzzler because it is very hard to pinpoint a time when it was introduced. It's earliest appearance on a Beatles LP is "Rubber Soul" where the original early 'loud cut copies' (-1/-1) have both the sans serif and times new roman typesets (indicating that the label change occurred during initial production before the -1 / -1 error was rectified). A large number of copies of "Help!" also have the times new roman typeset so it must have appeared just as "Rubber Soul" was in production and whilst "Help!" was still selling well. However, by August 1966 when "Revolver" was released, the typeset seems to have been reverted back to sans serif as the early 606-1 pressings have it. However, the times new roman font seems to return for subsequent presses of "Revolver" along with the original presses of "Oldies but Goldies" (I own a 1G/1G mother/stamper copy which has the TNR typeset), but by June 1967 when "Sgt. Peppers" was released it seems to have disappeared again. Therefore, is it possible that the times new roman typeset labels were actually used twice? Once in 1965 when "Rubber Soul" was released through to early 1966, then again in late 1966 after "Revolver" was released and through the early, original presses of "Oldies but Goldies"? Albums
that were originally released on this label Label
11
By June 1967, when "Sgt. Peppers" was released, the times new roman typeset had gone for good and from then on Parlophone went back to the sans serif typeset that it had been using before label 6. This is the longest running label style and remained unchanged until mid-1969. Albums
that were originally released on this label Label
12
Around May / June 1969 the legal issues that forced Parlophone to add the 'Sold in UK' statement to its labels were repealed and so the text was removed. This happened only a very short time before Parlophone underwent another label change and as such any Beatles LP pressed with these labels are rather hard to find (especially of the earlier albums and any mono presses.) Label
13
Around autumn 1969 Parlophone radically changed their label design to this silver style wth an EMI boxed logo at the bottom of the label, and the rimtext now arches around the top of the label rather than underneath. This new label collectors refer to as the 'Silver and Black' design. The original label printer plates were used although the stereo mark was moved from the top to just above the catalogue number. It was thought many years ago that Parlophone had closed their mono back catalogue before the label design changed and as such no mono copies existed on this label, but over the years it's transpired that three albums from the Beatles' back catalogue had their mono runs extended slightly overlapping the transition. These three albums were "Please Please Me", "Help!" and "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" (although a number of Pepper mono presses are in fact mispresses, with mono labels on stereo discs). These mono presses are incredibly rare and very difficult to get your hands on, in particular the "Help!" version. The label style as a whole isn't too easy to find since it was only available for a relatively short time when other more popular Beatles albums were available. From this point on Parlophone closed its mono back catalogue until 1982 when the first four albums came back onto the market in mono in favour of the unpopular stereo mixes. Because of this only the stereo presses were available to buy throughout the 1970s. Label
14
In late 1970 a second EMI logo was added to the top of the label. The EMI logo was now changed from a black box with EMI in white, to a white box with EMI in black. Label
15
In late 1973 the rimtext on the labels was changed to start with 'EMI Records Ltd'. The 'Made In Gt. Britain' credit around the bottom of the label has now been attached to the end of the rimtext. Label
16
In 1979 the rimtext was again altered but this time more radically. This variation is commonly referred to as an 'All Rights' disc but in reality this could refer to any of the variants from 1979 to the present day. The full rimtext of this version reads: All rights of the producer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised public performance broadcasting copying and hiring of this record prohibited. Manufactured in the UK by EMI Records Limited. As you can see, 'EMI Records Ltd' has gone from the beginning and Manufacturer has now been replaced with Producer. Hiring has been added after Copying. Finally Manufactured in the UK by EMI Records Ltd has also been added to the end. It is easy to tell on first glance if a disc is the 70s 'EMI records' variety or the 80s 'All Rights' purely by the length of the rimtext around the label. Label
17
In 1982 the Beatle's mono back catalogue was re-issued in a boxset and in a nice retro twist the LPs were printed on an original style Parlophone label. To distinguish these against an original pressing, the format MONO has been added to the top right of the label where originally STEREO was placed. The rimtext also begins with the label variation 16 text 'All Rights...' but this time it loops *under* the label as on 1960s labels. This label design was very short lived and only available in the boxset, so it's not truly a variation but is included here as it does appear quite often and confuses collectors, especially foreign ones not too familiar with UK label design. The (red coloured) mono boxset was released in October 1982 and was supposedly limited to 1000 copies. Quite why these LPs would have been separated from the very valuable mono boxset is beyond us, but it happens so perhaps the sets were broken up by sellers early on to be sold as authentic mono issues at a time when the mono catalogue was dead, and EMI wouldn't release mono issues until later on in the 1980s. Label 18
All rights of the producer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited. Manufactured in the UK by EMI Records Limited. As you can see, Copying has been moved to the front of the now rearranged text and Renting has now been added onto the 'Unauthorised' list. Label 19
Probably appearing sometime around 1987 to 1988 to coincide with the release of the Beatles albums on CD, this new label was introduced. Most noticeably, instead of the EMI and Parlophone logos being in white with the rest in silver, the whole label text and graphics were now printed in silver. Also the silver rim that used to circle around the outside of the label has now gone and the rimtext itself has changed to now read: All rights of the producer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorised copying, public performance, broadcasting, hiring or rental of this recording prohibited. Made in England. As you can see, Rental has now been added instead of Renting to the list of no-no's as well as a minor reshuffling of this portion of the text. Also, more importantly, Made in England has been added instead of 'UK' and 'by EMI Records'. Finally, the word Record towards the end of the rimtext has now been replaced with Recording. It is not yet known if there are any transitional label variations between this one and label 18, perhaps including 'Rental' or 'Made In England' but with the white EMI logos instead of the later silver. This was also the period when EMI decided to withdraw the stereo presses of "Please Please Me", "With the Beatles", "A Hard Day's Night" and "Beatles For Sale" and replace them with the more popular mono mixes. Early experimentation with the stereo format in the early 1960s had resulted in some interesting mixes which weren't always too comfortable to listen to. From "Help!" onwards the mixing became much more stereo orientated and the engineers became more skillful at creating good quality stereo mixes. One interesting thing to note on the labels is that when the first four albums were initially reissued in mono, although the labels had been altered to indicate the format and catalogue number, the "XEX" matrix number on the left side of the labels was mistakenly left unchanged! This meant that the earlier copies from this period had the stereo matrix numbers printed on the labels, although the mixes on the discs were still in mono. Label 20
Despite looking identical to label 19, this type is the newest and is, at time of writing, the current label design for reissued Parlophone Beatles LPs from 2003 onwards. The only difference is a dish effect underneath the labels impressed into the vinyl itself. This indicates it was pressed in the Netherlands (despite the 'Made In England' text) at the 'Record Industries' plant in Haarlem, Holland. Interestingly it is not known for certain whether "Beatles For Sale" has ever been issued in this modern press run. Credits: Henry Marott for providing more accurate year ranges to the 1970s issues and Servi Stevens for information on the 2003 series.
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stamp and thin typeset.
