Following on from where "Help!" left off, "Rubber Soul" had pretty much completely left the group's original sound as they continued experimenting with chords and sounds whilst writing more and more complex, intelligent lyrics. Drawing from personal experiences, such examples include Norwegian Wood (written by John as a concealed affair he had recently had), I'm Looking Through You and You Won't See Me were written by Paul about his now-shaky relationship with Jane Asher and In My Life being the extremely poignant, semi-autobiographical song by John about his youth and teenage years.

It is possible that the stereo press of "Rubber Soul" was released (or, at least, went into production) slightly later than its mono counterpart. The earliest stereo mother / stamper combinations have the Times New Roman typeset, whereas the mono copies appeared to have utilised both TNR and Arial early on.

Something to be aware of is how few stereo copies of "Rubber Soul" were pressed in comparison to mono. It is more likely that a font variant such as Times New Roman would exist almost exlusively for an apparently long period on a stereo disc, as it must be remembered that as with earlier stereo versions of Beatles albums, EMI would make a few large production runs to satisfy the smaller market of stereo consumers and so these runs would last a comparatively long period of time due to their lower sales numbers. (As opposed to the mono's which sold in far greater quantities.)

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

Credits:
Labels 1B and 4 courtesy of Yuri Zgirsky
Label 3 courtesy of forum member Baard

Stereo 1st Label, Variation A

Since TNR label copies of the stereo press have been found with 1/G 1/G and other early stampers, it's a safe bet to say that the stereo presses earliest appearance was almost exclusively with the Times New Roman label.

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Stereo 1st Label, Variation B

At some point after the TNR labels were altered to Arial, or perhaps as this was happening, a spelling error cropped up. The song title "Norwegian Wood" was mis-spelled as "Norweigian Wood" with an extra 'i'. The vertical spacing of the tracklisting seems to place this label sometime around 1968. This is a very rare variant of which very few copies turn up for sale.

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Stereo 1st Label, Variation C

The same as above, but now the song title Norweigian Wood has been corrected back to 'Norwegian Wood'.

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Stereo 1st Label, Variation D

This variation has a space between the song title and the * credit indicator, something which continued on all later labels.

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Stereo 2nd Label

In 1969 the legal reasons as to why the 'Sold in UK' statement had to be added to labels was repealed and for a short while Parlophone albums were on the older yellow / black design without this statement. The vertical track spacing has reverted back to a closer alignment.

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Stereo 3rd Label

Here is the appearance of the 'Black and Silver' label design. This particular variation arrived in late 1969 and stayed until late 1970. 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. Interestingly, mirroring the same era "Help!", the lowercase "g" letters on the label are printed as the font on this page appears.

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Stereo 4th 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...'. The font is sharper and a little less thick. In relation to Label 3, the letter 'g' now returns to having a looped tail which is in line with pre-3rd Label practice. It is believed that this 4th Label also exists with a non-looped 'g' character set.

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Stereo 5th Label

In late 1973 the label was slightly altered so that the rimtext now started with 'EMI Records...'. The 'Made In Gt Britain' credit has now been moved from the bottom of the labels and incorporated into the end of the rimtext.

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Stereo 6th Label

In 1979 the rimtext was again slightly altered so that it now 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...'

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Stereo 7th Label

By 1982 the rimtext was slightly altered once more to read: 'Unauthorised copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting...' This is a minor difference which is rarely documented but helps to date 79-82 and 80s copies

Side 1 ..... Side 2 Stereo 8th Label In the early 90s the label changed one last time, gone are the white Parlophone and EMI logos to be replaced with a fully silver-print label.     Side 1 ..... Side 2 Stereo 9th Label Despite looking identical to label 8, 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.     Side 1 ..... Side 2

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