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A
Hard Day's Night - Stereo
Released
on 10th July, 1964.
By
now the Beatles were at the top of the music industry and their next
step forward was to star in a movie like their idol Elvis Presley.
The resulting album was a major first for the group in that every
song on it was a self-penned Lennon / McCartney number and showed
the world just what these guys were capable of.
Again,
preorders and sales of this album were huge, but EMI were prepared
and managed to keep on top of demand and prevent any label errors
during the most hectic months!
If
you have a label or font variation - no matter how small - that
we haven't documented here, please contact us!
Credits:
Label 1B courtesy of forum member Baard
Label 6 courtesy of John Wright
| Stereo
1st Label, Variation A |
| When
the LP was first released it featured a new type-set that had
not been seen on any Beatles album in the past. This type was
chubby and rounded and only lasted a short time but as so many copies were pressed initially to satisfy the preorders, it is the style most commonly seen for this album. |
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| Stereo
1st Label, Variation B |
Pretty
soon the label font seen on the 1A was changed back
to the more usual slimmer Sans Serif font. The layout of the label is identical to the 1A variation with the
side 2 songs still being presented in a column. The rimtext
still started with 'Parlophone' when this pressing was introduced and "Recording First Published" was still present. Of note, the paper used on the labels now has a different consistency and is more smooth than the slightly rough paper used on older labels such as 1A.
On the stereo pressing a small period after the PCS of the catalogue is printed, something which doesn't appear on the mono counterpart and is fairly consistent among all the early 1st labels. Also of note is the comma instead of a period in the label matrix number on the side 1 label: "YEX, 126". |
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| Stereo
1st Label, Variation C |
The
same as above, but this time the tracklistings have been
spaced out a little wider. The catalogue number still incorporated the period mark. |
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| Stereo
1st Label, Variation D |
| The
same as above, but this time the track listings style on both
labels were rearranged to use the label space more effectively.
The catalogue number still incorporated the period after the
PCS. |
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| Stereo
2nd Label |
This
variation has the same layout as label 2 with the wider spaced out tracklisting both horizontally and vertically, but now the 'Recording
First Published' text has been replaced with a  datestamp. |
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| Stereo
3rd Label, Variation A |
| In 1965 the rimtext changes from "Parlophone Co." to "Gramophone Co.". At this point, the typeset used on the "Hard Day's
Night" label was also changed from Sans Serif to Times New Roman.
The layout of the track listing was also re-arranged to incorporate
the differering type size. The layout on the stereo label, interestingly,
is different to the equivalent mono TNR pressing. Of note on this copy is the side 2 labels' greater vertical spacing, perhaps indicative of a possible variation of a larger spaced tracklisting in TNR which existed before this variation akin to the 3rd label. |
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| Stereo
3rd Label, Variation B |
| Around
1966 the label font was again changed back to Sans Serif with a more usual vertically spaced tracklist layout. |
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| Stereo
3rd Label, Variation C |
| Most
likely an error pressing, but worth highlighting here. Sometime
during it's 4th label run the title Songs From the Film 'A
Hard Day's Night' was added to the side 2 label in error. Whether
or not this was a stereo only anomaly is unknown, but to date
no mono copies have surfaced displaying this. |
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| Stereo
4th Label |
| In
1969 the tax laws that required EMI to include the 'Sold in
UK' statement were repealed and for a brief time before Parlophone
underwent a label change the album was available with this style. |
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| Stereo
5th Label, Variation A |
| Here
is the appearance of the 'Black and Silver' label
design which arrived in late 1969. The distinguishing mark that
clearly dates it as an early black and silver is only one EMI
boxed logo at the bottom of each side of the label. Also of
note is the rimtext now running around the top of the label rather
than around the bottom. The typeset used on this label is identical
to the one used on the 4th label with the addition of the small '33 1/3' text on the left side and 'STEREO' on the right hand side above the catalogue number. |
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| Stereo
5th Label, Variation B |
| Here
the typeset used on this variation is slightly thicker and this has implications for the spacing on the labels. Whereas
before the end quotation mark on the side 1 label appeared on
the left of the side number '1', on this variation it's on the
right. |
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| Stereo
6th Label |
| In
late 1970 a second EMI logo was added to the label at the top. This
is known as the 'Two Box EMI' type label. To begin with, the
rimtext continued to start with 'The Gramophone Co. Ltd...'. |
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| Stereo
7th Label |
| In
late 1973 the label was slightly altered so that the rimtext began with 'EMI Records...'. Also the "Made In Gt. Britain" credit was moved from the bottom of the label and incorporated into the end of the rimtext. |
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| Stereo
8th Label |
In 1979 the rimtext was again slightly altered so that it started with 'All rights of the producer...'. Importantly, around the 11 'o' clock position in the rimtext the wording is:
Unauthorised public performance broadcasting copying and hiring...
This was the last variation
of the LP before EMI stopped production of the stereo pressing
of "A Hard Day's Night" to make the album only available in mono
for both vinyl and CD. |
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