A history
of The Beatles UK Cassettes
The 1970's
Re-arranged tracklistings
Solo
Beatle UK Cassettes 1970-76
Inlays
Courtesy of Mark Boulton
The first UK Beatles cassette release was of the Sgt. Pepper
album in 1968,
the tracklisting appears on the reverse (see here).
Courtesy of Mark Boulton
The original Abbey Road inlay, late 1969.
See the tracklisting on the reverse here.
Let It Be 1970
This inlay design was to be the template for the release of the Beatles
back catalogue on
cassettes issued throughout the remainder of 1970 and into 1971 (except
Yellow
Submarine).
The inlays were white with a promotion of other available Beatles cassettes
on the foldover,
the tracklistings were on the reverse.
Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road continued to be sold with
their slightly more
elaborate inlays which included extra artwork other than just the album
cover.
The original Oldies But Goldies inlay from 1970.
Courtesy of Ian Hossack
The 'White Album' cassette originally came in a cigarette type
packet/card box in mid-1971,
it was re-issued with this standard inlay design shortly afterwards
(probably
by the end of the year).
Courtesy of Ian Hossack
All but one of the regular Beatle albums were re-issued with all-gold
inlays from around 1972.
Originals have this metallic gold look to them rather than the more
common yellowy/brown print.
Notice that the Parlophone/EMI logo has been airbrushed from the original
Help!
album artwork, this was also done to With The Beatles.
The inlay reverse is blank except for a copyright/mono playback notice.
Courtesy of Paul Humbley
The 1973 cassette release of Magical Mystery Tour had true stereo
mixes of
Baby You're A Rich Man,
Penny Lane and All You Needs
Is Love.
The US version had reprocessed mono versions of those songs and it
was the US
master that was later used for the British vinyl version issued in
1976.
The 1974 Yellow Submarine cassette inlay with the circular EMI
logo.
Yellow Submarine was the only Beatle tape to be issued with
this design but
there were many solo
albums released in this style.
Again, the inlay reverse is blank except for a copyright/Dolby/mono-playback
notice.
The Dolby noise reduction logo appears for the first time -
Dolby editions of the other Beatles cassettes were issued from around
1976
but they all retained the old style all-gold inlays and it was in this
form that
the Beatles cassettes were sold until around 1985 when bar codes
were added and the IE/OC numbers were dropped from the spines..
Labels
Courtesy of Ian Hossack
1968-1969 pressings of the Sgt.Pepper tape appeared with the
distinctive Parlophone logo on a green label as shown above.
The initial batches included a "Sold in the UK..." notice in the
bottom right corner of the label and the leader tape was stamped
with the catalogue number, see examples here
and here.
Linked images courtesy of Henry
Bell
Courtesy of Henry Bell
Early-mid 1970 pressings of Sgt. Pepper & Let It Be
had yellowy-green
labels and retained the old style Parlophone logo.
Courtesy of Mark Boulton
From late 1970 until 1973 the labels were yellow and usually
inlcuded a black boxed Parlophone logo, those that didn't left
a blank space.
Courtesy of Ian Hossack
The next label colour change occurred around the time
the first Dolby solo cassettes began to appear in 1973,
Yellow Submarine was first issued on cassette soon afterwards
and
included Dolby noise reduction (which basically meant less hiss).
The other Beatle albums began to appear with white labels around the
same time but none were issued with Dolby.
Here we see a cassette with the ink printed directly onto the plastic
(first seen in 1976/77). All 'direct-ink' cassettes would have Dolby
noise reduction.
Blue ink appears to have been standard until 1982, followed by
a batch of brown inked versions.
Another example of a 'direct-ink' Beatle cassette tape,
this time with the Parlophone logo and pink ink (first seen in 1982/83).
Black ink came into favour around 1985/86 and about a year later
EMI introduced creamy yellow shells (also with black ink).
Catalogue
Courtesy of Mark Boulton
The "EMI Recorded Tape Catalogue" circa 1975/76, packed into
a case the size
and shape of a cassette case, the pages 'fan out' from a hinge in the
corner.
Here it is opened at the front to reveal the The Beatles listings.
For a larger image click here.
To see the reverse click here.
"XDR" versions
An example of the XDR re-issues with the proper track orders restored
and the inclusion of all original artwork, these first appeared in
1987.
The cassette shells were now clear plastic and printed with white ink,
all were stamped with the Parlophone logo, the Apple logo only
appears on inlays printed after 1992/93.
More Cassette Scans
Original inlays (1968-1970)
1968 Sgt. Pepper
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1969 Abbey Road
inlay/
inlay
reverse / tape
1970 Let it be
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
/ tape
(without logo)
White inlays (1970-1971)
Please Please Me
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
Beatles For Sale
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
Help!
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
Oldies But Goldies
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
White Album
inlay
Gold re-issues (1972-1987)
*Early versions (circa 1972-1976) had metallic gold paint.
Bar-coded gold inlays appeared around 1985
Please
Please Me
With
The Beatles
A
Hard Day's Night
Beatles
For Sale
Help!
Rubber
Soul
Revolver*
Oldies
But Goldies*
Sgt.Pepper*
White
Album
Abbey
Road*
Let
it be*
Gold issue label examples
*Gold inlay's were originally accompanied by the same
old yellow labelled cassettes, but these soon gave way to white labels.
Direct blue inked cassettes began to appear around 1976/77 (these being
the first Dolby versions of the Beatles albums), a brief run of brown inked
versions was followed by direct pink ink in the early 1980's.
Oldies
But Goldies (white label / grey shell, circa 1973)
Sgt.Pepper
(white label / black shell, circa 1974)
Revolver
(direct blue ink, late 1970's)
White
Album (direct pink ink, early/mid 1980's)
Gold Top
1974 Yellow Submarine
inlay
/ tape
Compilations 1973-1982
1973 The Red Album
inlay
1973 The Blue Album
inlay
1973 Magical Mystery Tour
inlay
1976 Rock 'N' Roll Music
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1977 The Beatles At The Hollwood Bowl
inlay
/ tape
1977 Love Songs
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1979 The Beatles Rarities
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1979 Hey Jude
inlay
/ tape
1980 The Beatles Ballads
inlay
/ tape
1982 20 Greatest Hits
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
/ alternate
inlay (different EMI/Parlophone logo's)
1982 Reel Music
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
XDR versions
A Hard Day's Night
inlay
(Apple re-issue) / inlay
reverse (Apple re-issue)
Revolver
inlay
/ inlay
(Apple re-issue) / tape
(Apple re-issue)
Sgt. Pepper
inlay
(Apple re-issue) / inlay
reverse (Apple re-issue)
The White Album
inlay
1 / inlay
1 reverse
inlay
2 / inlay
2 reverse
tape
Budget label re-issues
1980 Rock 'N' Roll Music Volume 1 [MFP]
slip case / tape
/ wraparound
re-issue / wraparound
re-issue reverse / inlay
2nd re-issue / inlay
reverse 2nd re-issue
1980 Rock 'N' Roll Music Volume 2 [MFP]
slip case / tape
/ wraparound re-issue / inlay
2nd re-issue
1983 Oldies But Goldies [FAME]
inlay
/ tape
1984 At the Hollywood Bowl [MFP]
inlay
/ tape
Miscellaneous
1969 George Martin - Off The Beatles Track
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1972 Franck Poursel - Meets The Beatles (EMI Columbia release of orchestral
instrumentals, psychedelic cover!)
inlay
/ tape
1975/76 "EMI Recorded Tape Catalogue"
front
opened / reverse
1979 The Beatles Concerto (Sleeve notes on reverse by George Martin)
inlay
/ reverse
inlay / tape
1980 The Beatles Box
inlay
1 / inlay
1 reverse / inlay
2 / inlay
2 reverse
inlay
3 / inlay
3 reverse / inlay
4 / inlay
4 reverse
inlay
5 / inlay
5 reverse / inlay
6 / inlay
6 reverse
inlay
7 / inlay
7 reverse / inlay
8 / inlay
8 reverse
1984 Their Greatest Hits
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1984 The History of Rock Volume 26 [Orbis Collection]
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / tape
1986 Only The Beatles
inlay
/ inlay
reverse / card
/ card
open / card
(version 2) / card
(version 2) reverse
1987 All You Need is Love [Cassette Single]
inlay
/ tape
1990's/2000's Cassettes
1991 The Beatle Singles Collection on Cassette
photo
of cassettes in presentation box / 01-08
front / 01-08
back / 09-16
front / 09-16
back / 17-22
front / 17-22
back / tape
example
1993 The Red Album [Re-issue]
inlay*
/ inlay
reverse* / inlay
2*
*These are partial scans, the sections with the lyrics
are not included
1994 Live At The BBC
cover
/ inlay
1 / inlay
1 reverse / inlay
2 / inlay
2 reverse
1995 Baby It's You [Cassette Single]
inlay
/ tape
1995 Free As A Bird [Cassette Single]
inlay
/ tape
1995/96 Anthology Albums
Anthology 1 inlay
1 / inlay
1 reverse / inlay
2 / inlay
2 reverse
Anthology 2 inlay
1 / inlay
1 reverse / inlay
2 / inlay
2 reverse
Anthology 3 inlay
1 / inlay
1 reverse / inlay
2 / inlay
2 reverse / tape
Anthology
1, 2 & 3 in boxes with stickers
1996 Real Love [Cassette single]
inlay
/ tape
2000 "1"
inlay
/ inlay
reverse
Thanks to Paul Humbley for the George Martin tape scans, Rubber Soul, MMT, Their Greatest Hits, The Singles Box Set, Baby It's You and Real Love, to Peter Coombes for Abbey Road, to Gary for the MFP Hollywood Bowl, the 1993 Red Album re-issue, XDR AHDN, Revolver & Pepper, The Beatles Box scans, Live at the BBC & "1", to Mark Boulton for the original Please Please Me, Beatles For Sale, Help!, Abbey Road and Let it be, the 1969 edition of Sgt. Pepper, the gold versions of Revolver & White Album, The Beatles Concerto, the Franck Poursel tape and the mid 70s EMI Tape Catalogue, to Ian Hossack for the original White album, gold Pepper, gold Let it be, Rock n Roll Music (& the MFP re-issues), Hollywood Bowl, Love Songs, Reel Music, the Orbis tape, the Fame Oldies but Goldies and the All You Need is Love single and to Henry Bell for the original pressing of "Sgt. Pepper", 20 Greatest Hits and Free As A Bird.
A
History of The Beatles UK Cassettes
The
1970's Re-arranged tracklistings
Solo
Beatle UK Cassettes 1970-76
E-Mail
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