"A Collection of Beatles Oldies" was a stop-gap solution to solve the problem of the '2 albums a year' deal that the group currently had with Parlophone / EMI. Revolver has only just been released in August and they had only just started work on their next album (what was to become "Sgt. Peppers") by December when a new album had to be released.

George Martin solved the problem and collected up all the Beatles songs he could that had, up until then, never featured on an album. He filled out the rest of the space with a few other hit songs and also included the track Bad Boy, a song that had been recorded exlcusively for the American market and had never been released in Britain before.

The album did pretty poorly by the Beatles standard, becoming the first official Parlophone Beatles album to miss hitting the number 1 spot, reaching only number 4.

For labels 3A, 3B, 4A and 4B, assume all variations were produced simultaneously. Both the thinner and thicker fonts as well as the with- and without- period mark copies are possible throughout these years.

If you have a label or font variation - no matter how small - that we haven't documented here, please contact us!

Credits:
Label 3B courtesy of forum member Baard
Label 1C courtesy of forum member Nowhere Man

Stereo 1st Label, Variation A

"Oldies but Goldies" came out as Parlophone were producing their Times New Roman typeset runs and most early copies (as determined by mother / stampers) appeared on this label design. It is not yet known whether the vertical spacing present on the side 1 label might indicate a slightly later period, perhaps 1967, therefore a label mismatching here. Although every copy I've seen so far has this anomaly of wider spacing on side 1 compared to side 2. This is interesting, as with further research it could indicate a date of late 1966 for this subtle TNR variation appearing across the Parlophone labelography.

Side 1 ..... Side 2

Stereo 1st Label, Variation B

By mid 1967 Parlophone had seemingly gone back to using the sans serif typeset exclusively on their labels. These would have been produced simultaneously with 1A but for some reason aren't as common.

Side 1 ..... Side 2 Stereo 1st Label, Variation C This label hints at the slightly different style that will appear on the 2nd labels and probably dates from early 1969. The addition of a period mark after the 'PCS.' of the catalogue number on both sides of the label is an obvious difference, but there is also the removal of credits underneath the catalogue number on the right hand side. Another minor difference is a change in the use of period marks in the tracklistings.     Side 1 ..... Side 2

Stereo 2nd Label

In mid '69 the laws that required EMI to add the 'Sold in UK' statement to their labels was repealed and so for a short time the yellow and black labels appeared without it. The period dot continues to appear after the PCS in the catalogue number. It is not yet known if it was ever removed on this yellow and black label.

Side 1 ..... Side 2

Stereo 3rd Label, Variation A

In late 1969 the Parlophone label underwent a change in design, going from the yellow and black style it had seen throughout the sixties to a silver style with 'Parlophone' in smaller, white letters. These labels only had one EMI logo on them, black with white border and letters. This style used a thicker, bold typeset and also kept the period in the catalogue number. Oddly, some song titles have lost some of their full-stops after the titles (From Me To You on side 1 being an example).

Side 1 ..... Side 2

Stereo 3rd Label, Variation B

This variation uses the older, thinner typeset as the 2nd labels but lost the period in the catalogue number. There are also now no full stops after the song titles which appear at the end of a line.

Side 1 ... Side 2

Stereo 4th Label, Variation A

In late 1970 a second EMI logo appeared on the labels at the top. This variation has the older, thinner typeset like on the 2nd labels and the 3A. The period mark appears in the catalogue number.

Side 1 ..... Side 2

Stereo 4th Label, Variation B

These labels have the same thicker style of typeset used on the 3B label and has no period mark in the catalogue number, the same as the 3B label. Also, for some reason, the top line of the datestamps to the right of the side 2 label has been indented, a feature which stays on subsequent labels.

Side 1 ..... Side 2 Stereo 5th Label The thicker, bold typeset design of label 4B was the style chosen to contine in late 1973 when a second EMI logo box appeared at the top of the label and the rimtext was changed to start with 'EMI Records...'. The indented datestamps on the right of side two and no period mark in the catalogue number also carry on from the 4B labels. It is not believed that copies with later 'All Rights...' rimtext exist.     Side 1 ... Side 2 Stereo 6th Label In 1983 the album was reissued on the Fame label.     Side 1 ... Side 2

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