Compact Discs (CDs) Variations
Introduction of the CD Format
Like other major labels, at the end of the 1980s EMI began releasing its catalogue on the then-new compact disc format that had been introduced a few years earlier. Although the CD format had been officially launched in 1983, the Beatles catalogue was not issued on CD until 1987 in the United States and other major markets. The CD releases coincided with the official worldwide standardization of the Beatles’ catalogue. Seeing a good opportunity to align the two, EMI decided to adopt the UK album configurations as the definitive discography (supplemented by the Past Masters compilations to cover singles that were not released on albums). From that point forward, the earlier North American album variations (and other unique releases around the world) were largely discontinued, aside from occasional collector-oriented releases.
The long boxes in which Beatles albums were originally sold in Canada, in the late 1980s.
Early Canadian CD Production (1990-1995)
While Beatles CDs were available in the United States since 1987, Canada did not begin producing them domestically until early 1990. Prior to this, all Beatles Compact Discs sold in Canada were imported from the United States. Many CDs found in Canada in these first few years were also "made in Germany". These German pressings were in fact prepared for the U.S.A. who did not yet have sufficient domestic CD manufacturing capacity; the U.S. imported copies prepared for the U.S. market from Germany and Japan to fulfill large domestic orders. These two countries were selected for their renown high-quality manufacturing and superior audio mastering.
The original long box issues sold in Canada, for example, all contained imported discs. Copies sent to Canada could therefore either be U.S. or German pressings; some copies have also been found with "made in Japan" discs. These were randomly used in Canada before 1990, but the German and American CDs are more common than the Japanese discs. For example, the black Bread Box (BBX2) would often hold a random selection of both U.S. and "made in W. Germany" pressings.
The "bread box" set from the late 1980s.
The first true Canadian Beatles Compact Discs were manufactured by Disque Americ in Drummondville, Québec. Disque Americ was a new company that had been freshly incorporated in 1988, and that signed a lucrative contract with EMI in the fall of 1989 as its main CD supplier/manufacturer. These early Canadian discs were introduced gradually as demand required. Seven titles were produced in April, and 6 more in June / July. The rollout was completed in December 1990 with Magical Mystery Tour, marking the first fully domestically produced Canadian Beatles CD catalogue. Over the course of the next five years, Disque Americ continued to repress titles as needed through 1995.
The inside panel of the pamphlet.
Unique Canadian mistake release
Today, some of these early Disque Americ pressings are of great interest to international collectors because they feature some subtle but significant differences compared to the "standard" U.S. pressings. Specifically, two albums from the catalogue featured the wrong mixes. Help! and Rubber Soul featured the original UK LP mixes instead of the newly appointed 1987 George Martin remix for CD; at the time, making them the only worldwide CD pressings to feature the original LP mixes.
As the story goes (from Jimi Ray Vinyl Wall in the Beatlegdb forum), Capitol of Canada commissioned new digital masters from Capitol in Hollywood, where mastering engineer Odea Murphy would have created duplicate masters on April 6, 1990 (see the two images below), using Jarratt’s 1987 U-matic digitizations of the original 1965 stereo mixes (Revolver was likely prepared at the same time, having similar differences, and being part of the 1987 George Martin remix effort).
The original order sheet for the Canadian Rubber Soul CD masters, dated April 6, 1990.
These duplicate U-matic tapes (one of which is featured in the University of Calgary’s EMI Music Canada collection, as seen below) were used to produce early Canadian CD pressings, which consequently featured the original 1965 mixes rather than the standardized 1987 remixes. When CD production was shifted to Cinram in 1995, the same digital masters previously supplied to Disque Americ were used, perpetuating the presence of these unintended original mixes on CD (later EMI pressings used the "correct" U.S.A. masters / mixes).
The Canadian digital masters duplicated the 1987 U-matic digitization of the original 1965 stereo mix.
Note the C2 catalogue number and the April 6, 1990 date on the Canadian Rubber Soul digital master.
This U-matic master tape is featured in the University of Calgary’s EMI Music Canada collection.
Again, from Jimi Ray Vinyl Wall in the Beatlegdb forum, although the mixes are the same, the Canadian Revolver CD also differs from its U.S. counterpart in several subtle but telling ways. Notably, the gaps between tracks are longer, and the audio does not fade to digital zero between songs. Instead, low-level tape machine noise remains audible right up to the start of the next track. This is particularly evident in the opening of I Want to Tell You, where the initial notes are noticeably more exposed on the Canadian disc. These characteristics closely mirror those found on the Canadian CDs of Help! and Rubber Soul, suggesting a common source. This supports the hypothesis that the Capitol head office in Hollywood received U-matic digital masters from Mike Jarratt in early 1987, and that these same tapes were later duplicated by mastering engineer Odea Murphy in 1990 for Capitol Canada.
Considering a first set of remixes were made in February 1987 by George Martin, it is still unknown why Capitol would have received the wrong 1965 mixes instead of the newly appointed 1987 remixes for CD. It seems that EMI was very expeditious with this project and asked for digital masters when production was already set to go, so it is possible that early mixes were sent in February (with the first batch of releases), before Martin flagged the need to remix some of the albums set to be released in April.
As George Martin explained in February 1987:
''Expediency, in a word,'' he said. ''EMI did not consult me until December, by which time they were ready to have the disks pressed. When I heard the stereo CD's, I thought they sounded awful. I told them that the first two should go out in mono, and that if they had to issue the others in stereo, the mixes should be cleaned up and re-equalized for CD. Unfortunately, there was a deadline to be met, so they said, 'Look, we'll release all four in mono, and if you like, perhaps you can prepare stereo mixes for ''A Hard Day's Night'' and ''Beatles for Sale'' later on.'
"EMI also asked me to look at the next batch of records, which is, “Help!” “Rubber Soul” and “Revolver,” which are due to come out in April. And I looked at those and found that the stereos of that weren’t very good. They were very woolly, and not at all what I thought should be a good issue. I went back to the four-tracks on those and actually did remix them — not changing anything, but hardening up the sound a little bit, and cutting down a little background noise."George Martin – Interview with Allan Kozinn, February 1987.
New CD manufacturers (1995-2007)
By the end of the summer 1995, EMI had officially begun operating its own CD pressing plant in Mississauga, closing its contractual agreement with Disques Americ. In November, EMI Canada temporarily subcontracted Cinram in support to their new facility for a reissue of the Beatles' back catalogue. It is likely that EMI was preparing for a significant increase in demand following the upcoming release of the much anticipated Anthology project. Cinram therefore repressed all the Beatles' albums in early November, while the new EMI plant pressed Anthology 1. This arrangement with Cinram was a one-time event since pressing CDs was now an in-house pressing operation; EMI becoming the only Canadian Beatles CD manufacturer until the closure of the EMI plant 12 years later in 2007.
Over the following years, several batches of Beatles CDs were manufactured at the EMI Mississauga pressing plant. This period came to an end in early 2007, when EMI ceased CD pressing operations at its Canadian facility. Following the closure, Cinram assumed pressing duties once again, manufacturing new pressings of the full catalogue in May, July, and August 2007. Cinram continued with additional repressings of the "old format" catalogue as required over the next two years.
In September 2009, EMI replaced the old format with the current "remastered series" format. These were also originally pressed by Cinram in Canada until 2014, when shops began exclusively carrying imported releases.
End of Canadian CD Manufacturing (2014–Present)
In 2014, Cinram ceased CD manufacturing operations in Toronto, transferring production to facilities in Olyphant, Pennsylvania, and Huntsville, Alabama. This marked the end of large-scale CD manufacturing in Canada, with the market thereafter relying primarily on imported discs.
This shift occurred within a broader industry context. Following a steep decrease in physical media sales, and after Universal Music Group’s acquisition of EMI in September 2012, manufacturing and distribution strategies were gradually restructured globally, focusing on bigger, more centralized distribution hubs. Starting in January 2022, Optimal Media in Germany was even given the dual role of central warehouse and primary logistics provider, handling the distribution of CDs, DVDs, Blu-ray discs, and vinyl records to wholesalers and retailers, and began supplying UMG distribution centres worldwide. This meant that from this point on, Canadian shops would almost exclusively see imported CDs from the EU instead of Canadian (or even U.S.) pressings.
Below is a detailed overview of the nine (9) main series of Canadian Beatles CD pressings. CD singles and special releases, however, were almost exclusively imported and were rarely part of domestic manufacturing runs.
As a side note, U.S. pressings were also seemingly imported sporadically whenever needed; even though Canada was producing CDs, U.S. copies still occasionally made their way into record shops when warehouses were low on stock and demand required a quick resupply. These imported pressings were often found in box sets and special releases, leaving the core production to Canadian plants.
1. Disque Americ 1 (First Generation) - 1990
Early Beatles CDs from 1987 to 1990 were imported from the USA. The very first Canadian Beatles CD pressings were made from U-matic digital masters created in Hollywood specifically for Canada, and manufactured by Disque Americ in Drummondville, Québec, in April 1990.
These very first CD pressings are recognized by the Disque Americ logo and an alphanumeric code referring to the time the glass master was prepared (and therefore pressed shortly after). The letter code system is explained in the last section of this page (see "Cracking the Code").
2. Disque Americ 2A (Second Generation A) - 1991
The following year, Disque Americ changed its matrix numbering system, adding a "<011>" to the sequence. Variations 2A refer to the versions that still used the "D.A." logo in the trail-off area. Shortly after, the logo was replaced by the company name written in plain text (see 2B).
Disque Americ 2B (Secon Generation B) - 1992-1993
Variation 2B is virtually identical to 2A, but uses the plain-text company name instead of the logo. The introduction of the plain-text logo did not occur on a specific date, but was implemented gradually. A few pressings from mid-1991 feature the plain-text version, while the original logo appears as late as February 1993. Therefore, 2B refers to this transition period. It is essentially still the second generation of Disque Americ pressings, during which a new logo format was introduced.
Although most albums were repressed by mid-1991, there was no deliberate “official catalogue reissue”; titles were pressed on a need-to basis, as demand required, so it is possible that not all titles were repressed in this configuration.
3. Disque Americ 3 (Third Generation) - 1993-1995
Disque Americ produced a third generation of Beatles pressings from late 1993 through early 1995. These third-generation pressings are similar to version 2, but the alphanumeric system changed to a 5-digit code always beginning with "0" instead of a letter. As before, there was no “official catalogue reissue”; titles were pressed on a need-to basis, as demand required, so it is possible that not all titles were repressed in this configuration.
4. Cinram 1 (First Generation) - November 1995
In late 1995, the initial Disque Americ contract with EMI expired and EMI was set to operate its own new pressing plant in Toronto. Probably in light of the upcoming Anthology release, EMI hired Cinram in early November to repress the whole Beatles catalogue while they managed the Anthology discs. Cinram matrix numbers are particularly useful because they indicate the date of production of the glass master, allowing their pressings to be dated with precision. November is the only confirmed batch of discs that Cinram pressed for EMI in the 1990s. These discs feature "CINRAM" written in plain text rather than a pictorial logo.
When EMI Canada transitioned CD manufacturing to Cinram, the same digital masters previously supplied to Disque Americ were mistakenly used, perpetuating the presence of these unintended original mixes in later pressings.
5. EMI 1 (First Generation) - Late 1995-mid 1996
In the fall of 1995, EMI Canada started operating its own CD pressing facility. These EMI pressings are identified by its flat centre area and by the "Mastered by EMI MFG" marking in the trail-off area and the catalogue number of the title. Unlike Cinram or Disque Americ, there is no matrix information allowing precise dating of these pressings. This first generation features a short catalogue number only, while later pressings use a different numbering system. Some of these pressings also include a "CA #-#-#" marking, which may indicate batch information but does not appear to relate to any type of dating mechanism. These early short-number pressings were produced between late 1995 and mid 1996 (Anthology 3 from October 1996 used the longer number format). Canadian discs were made from American glass masters produced at the Jacksonville plant, this explains why the error 1965 mixes found on early Disque Americ and Cinram pressings were not carried onto EMI pressings.
6. EMI 2 (Second Generation) - mid 1996-late 2004
The second batch of EMI pressings is very similar to the first generation of pressings, but the matrix numbers in the trail-off area feature the longer bar code number instead of the short catalogue number. Again, no elements in the numbering system allow these pressings to be dated with certainty, but they appeared after the short-number versions, between the fall of 1996 and approximately 2005. Again, these were made in Canada from glass masters sent from Jacksonville U.S.A.
7. EMI 3 (Third Generation) - Late 2004-2007
A third generation of pressings starting late 2004, featuring a longer sequence including the bar code number along with two short alphanumeric sequences. Only a limited number of titles have been found with these markings, suggesting that only a few albums were repressed at that time, likely on a need-to basis as demand declined. These pressings remained available until February 20, 2007, when the Ontarian pressing plant closed. As all other EMI pressings, these were made from U.S. glass masters.
8. Cinram 2 (Second Generation) - 2007-2012
When the EMI plant ceased its CD pressing operations, EMI turned once again to Cinram for a new series of pressings produced in the summer of 2007. These pressings feature the "spinning discs" Cinram logo, along with the bar code number and a date code, as well as "MADE IN CANADA" embossed in the centre part of the disc. For many years, these numbers were thought to indicate a late 1990s pressing (e.g. 1997 or 1998), but the spinning discs logo was introduced in the early 2000s, confirming a 2007 or later production date. This would also logically align with the closure of EMI’s Canadian pressing plant. These pressings are found as late as 2012. At some point before 2012, the spinning disc logo was removed.
9. Cinram 3 (Third Generation) - 2013-2014
Shortly thereafter, the Cinram numbering system changed once again to a format combining bar code + bar code number + alphanumerical sequence that could indicate the date of the pressing. These pressings cover a small number of titles from the original format catalogue, as well as the 2009 remasters. Production appears to have continued on a need-to basis until 2014, when Cinram’s Canadian CD pressing operations were shifted to the United States.
From that point on, Beatles CDs were no longer pressed in Canada and were imported instead, marking the end of domestic Beatles CD production. In January 2022, Universal contracted Optimal in Germany to act as a global manufacturing and distribution centre.
As a result, Beatles CDs today are imported. Although some may carry a "Made in Canada" sticker, these are not true Canadian issues, but imported releases that were physically manufactured in Canada for broader markets; Canada just happens to re-import "foreign releases fabricated locally".
