The pages of this archive use the everyday vocabulary of record collecting, which can look like a secret code the first time you meet it. This page explains the terms in plain language. Nothing presented in this list requires prior knowledge, and seasoned collectors may still find the Canadian specifics useful and informative.
The word this archive uses for any documentable difference within a release: a different label design, plant, jacket construction, vinyl color, or tape shell. A released title was often reissued many times over the years, and almost every reissue had one or more elements that changed from one reissue to the other; sometimes subtle (the placement of text on the cover, or a misplaced logo), sometimes obvious (a new label design). One catalogue number can therefore imply dozens of variations made over many years, and cataloguing them is the main purpose of this site.
Every documented pressing on this site has an ID in the format of "LP.6051.1.1", identifying exactly which variation is documented. Reading left to right: the format (LP for album, 45 for single, 8T for 8-track, K7 for cassette, RE for reel tape, CD for compact disc), the catalogue number assigned by the label (6051), a section number that groups pressings by label type (1), and a variation number within that section (1): FO.CATA.LA.VA. So LP.6051.1.1 would be the first documented variant of the first label type of Capitol album T-6051 (in this case: the first pressing of Beatlemania).
Non-Capitol pressings carry an extra prefix in the CATA section; "APP" for Apple, "UA" for United Artists, "US" for U.S.A, etc. Let It Be's second incarnation, for example, is numbered LP.APP6351.3.1.
The 7-inch vinyl single, named for its 45 rpm playing speed. It normally carries one song per side, the A-side being the promoted track and the B-side a secondary recording. Singles were the main way new Beatles music reached Canadian radio and record buyers, and the archive marks them with the 45 prefix in the variation ID. See the Singles format page.
A continuous-loop cartridge tape, popular from the late 1960s into the 1970s and especially in cars. The program is split across four stereo sections that switch with an audible click, which sometimes breaks a song across the gap. Canadian Beatles 8-tracks carry the 8T prefix in the variation ID. See 8-Track Tapes.
Part of a larger endeavour, Apple Records was the record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 to host their own music, as well as support a roster of up and coming new artists. Between 1968 and 1975, the Apple label replaced the Capitol label on the disc, but in Canada the records were still manufactured and distributed by Capitol of Canada, pressed at the same plants and sold through the same channels. Apple was a new record label that still operated under EMI's control. The archive marks Apple-era catalogues with the "APP" prefix in the variation ID.
Each country's branch of the company gave a release its own catalogue number, and often its own track listing and artwork. A Beatles album issued in Britain on Parlophone, in the United States on Capitol or Apple, and in Canada on Capitol of Canada could carry three different numbers for what looks like the same record. As early as 1964, Canadian-made pressings mostly followed the North American configuration rather than the original British format. This archive documents the Canadian pressings only.
The compact tape format, which reached Beatles releases in Canada as late as 1969 and became the everyday portable medium through the 1970s and 1980s. Canadian Beatles cassettes ran through several label and shell designs and carry the K7 prefix in the variation ID, K7 being a French shorthand for cassette (K-sept... get it?). See Cassettes.
The reference number a record label assigns to a release, printed on the label and the spine. Capitol of Canada used numbers like T-2108 or ST-2553. Capitol of Canada had its own unique series labeled under "the 6000 series", featuring catalogue numbers in the 6000s. The catalogue number identifies the release, not the pressing. Two records with the same catalogue number can still be very different pressings made years apart, and therefore constitute two distinct variations.
Columbia Records of Canada changed its name to CBS in 1974 (Columbia Broadcasting System). Columbia was Capitol's sibling label under EMI, and one of the many outside companies Capitol hired to press its records in Canada. A CBS pressing of a Canadian Beatles record can usually be told apart by its deadwax marks, label printing, and pressing ring. See Canadian Pressing Plants for how the plants compare.
The generic paper sleeve a label slipped around its 45s, printed with the company's logo and design rather than specific information about the artist. Most Canadian Beatles singles were produced with generic sleeves, picture sleeves being mostly imported.
An unauthorized copy made to pass for an original pressing, usually to deceive buyers. Counterfeits imitate a real release. They differ from fantasy releases, which invent a record that never officially existed.
A record marked by the label as deleted stock, usually with a notch cut into the jacket, a drilled hole, or a clipped corner. Cut-outs were sold at a discount and the mark permanently identifies the copy as remaindered inventory.
The smooth band between the last groove and the label, also called the run-out. It carries the matrix numbers and stamper marks described below, scratched or stamped into the metal parts used to press the record. For identification purposes the deadwax is often the most honest part of a record, since jackets and labels can be swapped but the deadwax cannot.
RCA's thin, flexible vinyl introduced around 1969 and promoted as a feature rather than a cost saving. It used less material and bent easily compared with standard vinyl. Canadian copies pressed at RCA's Smiths Falls plant can turn up on this lighter stock, which helps point to where and roughly when a copy was made.
It helps to separate the parent company from the label. EMI was the British parent that owned the Beatles' recordings worldwide; Capitol was its North American arm, and Capitol of Canada handled Canadian manufacturing and distribution throughout the Beatles years. A Canadian Beatles record is therefore an EMI product issued on the Capitol label, or later the Apple label, and pressed by whichever plant Capitol had under contract.
A short record that holds more than a single but less than a full album, usually four songs, and often issued in a picture cover. It is a 7-inch disc played at 45 rpm. EPs were more common in Britain and Europe than in North America. Canada issued only one Beatles EP, and it sold poorly.
An unofficial record created by collectors or third parties for a release that never actually existed, sometimes as a tribute project and sometimes to sell illegitimate product. This archive flags them with the "F" prefix (e.g., FLP for Fantasy LP and FCD for Fantasy CD). They are rare on the Canadian scene but documented when they surface.
The earliest (very first) production run of a release; released on the first day. Later runs of the same catalogue number, made as stock sold out, are repressings; a fresh release of an old title years later is a reissue. On this site the section and variant numbers track these distinctions release by release.
A jacket construction where the back slick's (usually black and white) edges fold over the front, and a front slick is glued over the front (usually in colour), leaving visible white edges around the front cover. Common on 1960s Canadian jackets before wrap-around construction took over, and a useful dating clue. The back slick construction was another construction type that was considered more fancy and pricy (and rarer), where the front colour slick folded over the back, leaving no white edge on the front cover.
A jacket that opens like a book, with the record in one of the two pockets or in the right-hand pocket of a single-pocket design. The Beatles' Story was Canada's first Beatles gatefold. These were often sold in a loose poly bag, allowing buyers to open the gatefold before buying the record.
A promotional sticker applied to the shrink wrap or jacket announcing something the marketing department wanted noticed, like a hit single contained in the album. Because they sat on the wrap, surviving examples are scarce and prized.
The glued edge where the folded flaps of a jacket meet on the reverse. The seams are usually the first part of a jacket to give way with age, and a split seam is one of the most common condition faults collectors note. On gatefolds the inner seams of the open spread are checked the same way. Canadian copies usually have a sturdy frame with a cardboard inner seam, unlike US pressings whose frames are often held together only by their glued slicks, leaving the jackets much more prone to damaged seams.
The paper or thin plastic sleeve inside the jacket that holds and protects the record. It can be plain, printed with the company's name and other titles, or printed with lyrics and artwork tied to the release. The style of inner sleeve is sometimes a dating clue in its own right.
The outer cardboard cover that holds an LP, also called the cover or sleeve. Canadian jackets were made by gluing printed slicks to a cardboard frame, and the way they were built (front slick, wrap-around, gatefold, or posterboard) is one of the most reliable ways to date and place a pressing.
The folded paper insert tucked into a cassette case, named for the J shape it makes when folded. It carries the cover art on the front, the spine title, and usually the track listing and credits inside or on the back. It is the cassette's equivalent of an LP jacket. See Cassettes.
The design printed on the round paper label changed over the years as the company's brand evolved, each design marking a period of production. Canadian Capitol moved through the rainbow (or swirl for 45), target, orange, purple, and retro rainbow label designs, among others. A record's label generation is usually the quickest way to date a pressing. The Releases by Label Type section organizes the whole archive this way.
The first physical stage of mastering. A lacquer-coated disc is cut on a lathe from the master tape, so it carries the actual grooves for one side. The lacquer is then electroplated to make the metal parts that press the record. Cutting a fresh lacquer, whether from a new master or simply because the old one wore out, can give a later pressing an audibly different sound. A lacquer is sometimes called an acetate.
Capitol of Canada would receive master tapes from either the UK or the USA, then cut a lacquer from these tapes, from which would be produced the pressing plates. These have hand-written matrix numbers. When numbers are stamped in the deadwax of RCA pressings, these were still pressed in Canada, but made from USA-made pressing plates sent directly to RCA in Toronto, from Capitol's Scranton factory.
The 12-inch vinyl album, the main format for a full-length record. It plays at 33 1/3 rpm and was called "long play" to set it apart from the older 78s and from the 45 single. Most of this archive is built around LP variations, marked with the LP prefix in the variation ID. See Albums.
The chain of metal parts that turns a lacquer into the tools that press vinyl. The lacquer is plated to make a metal master (also called the father), the master is used to grow mothers, and the mothers make stampers, which are the negatives that actually press each record. Marks left by these parts survive in the deadwax and help identify a pressing. Canadian pressings were made in much smaller quantities and usually sound better than their American counterparts. Note that "master" has a second, unrelated meaning in audio, covered under Mastering below.
The finished studio tape that holds the final mix of a recording, the source a lacquer is cut from. In 1963, Canada worked from UK master tapes sent from the EMI head office; these sound virtually identical to UK pressings of the same album. Later albums were made from either (altered) tapes sent from the USA head office, or from metal plates prepared in the Scranton USA factory.
Mastering is the step that prepares a finished mix for cutting, setting the overall level and tone so it transfers well to disc or tape. The prepared audio is itself sometimes called "the master", which is why the word can mean either this or the metal master described above. The context usually makes clear which is meant.
The code scratched or stamped in the deadwax that identifies which master cut was used to press that side of the record. Matrix numbers give clues on pressing generation, pressing plants, master generation, mastering engineers, etc. This is the most precise source of information about pressings that can otherwise look identical from the outside. Detail pages across the archive show matrix photos for more precise identification.
The stage where the separate tracks of a recording are balanced down into the final mono or stereo version a listener hears. A mono mix and a stereo mix are genuinely different recordings, not the same sound split two ways, which is why collectors treat them as distinct. A later remix is different again, as is a remaster, which adjusts EQ on the finished mix without touching the individual tracks (see entry below).
Until 1968 most Canadian Beatles albums were offered in both mono (same sound channel playing on the left and right sides) and stereo (different sound channels playing on the left and right sides), with mono being the more common before it was phased out in mid 1968. Each edition with its own catalogue number or prefix. After 1968 Canadian production was stereo only. Mono pressings of certain titles are considerably scarcer and command attention from collectors.
The small print that runs around the outer edge of a record label, carrying things like the manufacturer's name, rights society credits, and legal notices. This rim text was updated and changed often over time, so the exact wording and layout around the edge is a useful way to tell one label generation from another.
A 45 sleeve printed with artwork specific to the release, rather than the label's generic design. Canadian Beatles picture sleeves are rare (these were usually imported from the USA) and highly sought after. The archive marks them with PS in the variation ID.
A jacket made from a single piece of stiff, smooth posterboard stock, onto which the image was printed directly rather than gluing a traditional slick to a cardboard frame. Some Columbia-pressed Canadian jackets used this one-piece construction, which has a different feel and edge from the usual built-up jacket and can help identify when a copy was made.
The factory that physically manufactured the record. Capitol subcontracted other manufacturers for the most part of its existence, so Canadian Beatles records came from several plants over the years, including Compo in Lachine, RCA in Smiths Falls, Columbia (or CBS), and later Cinram and Keel. Two copies of the same release from different plants are possible and considered to be different pressings, often with visible differences in labels, deadwax, and pressing rings. See Canadian Pressing Plants for the full story.
A faint raised or recessed ring pressed into the vinyl near the label, left by the press itself. Different plants left different ring patterns, so the presence, size, and shape of a pressing ring is one more clue to which factory made a given copy.
A copy sent free to radio stations and reviewers before or at release, usually marked by a white label, a "promotional not for sale" stamp, or a timing strip. Canadian promos were pressed in small numbers and are documented here with PR or PRO in the variation ID; in Canada, promos were, most of the time, simply stock copies sent ahead of time.
The small print under each song title that names the songwriters and the music publisher who controls the song, usually with the performing rights society that collects royalties. On Beatles records the writing credit is most often "Lennon-McCartney", with publishers such as Northern Songs, while Canadian pressings carry the local society of the day (BMI or ASCAP). Because publishing rights and society names changed over the years, the exact wording on the label is a useful clue for telling one pressing from another and dating it.
How fast a record turns, measured in revolutions per minute. Albums play at 33 1/3 rpm, which fits a long program on each side, while 7-inch singles play at the faster 45 rpm. The older 78 rpm shellac standard was already gone by 1963, so no 78 rpm Beatles records were ever produced in Canada. Some 12-inch singles and special edition LPs also play at 45 rpm for higher sound quality, at the cost of having to change sides more often.
The open-reel, or reel-to-reel, tape format sold alongside records in the 1960s and early 1970s, played on a home tape deck. Prerecorded reels were a small part of the market, being aimed at a niche audiophile market that usually focused on jazz or classical music; Canadian Beatles reels are therefore extremely scarce today, having sold in the low hundreds. The archive marks them with the RE prefix. See Reel Tapes.
The day a record (or variation) first went on sale. It is separate from when the music was recorded and from when a given copy was pressed, which matters because a single catalogue number was often repressed and reissued for years. Each reissue has its own release date, and the archive records them per variation wherever they are known.
A new preparation of an existing recording for release, made by going back to the master tape and mastering it again, often to suit a newer format or to refresh the sound. A remaster is not a new performance and usually not a new mix; it is the same recording given fresh treatment on its way to disc or tape. Canadian cassettes and CDs in particular went through several remastered runs. The complete Beatles catalogue got a fresh remaster treatment in 2009 when new technology allowed the process to take the sound quality a step forward (not to be confused with the later anniversary remixes that went back to separate tracks being remixed).
The spiral that carries the needle from the last song toward the label. The area it crosses is the deadwax, described above.
A plain measure of how hard a particular variation is to find, running from common to extremely rare. It reflects how many were made and how many survive, not what a copy is worth, though the two often move together. The figure is a subjective guide for collectors, set on "chances to find a copy" rather than a precise count, or a monetary value.
Marks Capitol printed on cassettes to flag the mastering process used on their tapes. SDR stands for Super Dynamic Range and is the earlier designation of what later became the "XDR" standard. The SDR designation was found on Canadian cassettes in 1982 and 1983. XDR stands for eXtended Dynamic Range, Capitol's quality-controlled cassette process inspired by the Canadian SDR process. The archive treats cassettes carrying these marks as their own variations.
Two ways a jacket left the factory sealed. Shrink wrap is clear plastic heat-shrunk tight around the jacket, the later and more familiar method. A loose poly bag is a slack polythene bag slipped over the jacket, common on early Canadian releases and especially on gatefolds, where it let a buyer open the cover before buying. Which one a copy carries is a clue to its era and origin since tight wraps became the norm in 1965.
The printed sheet of paper glued onto a cardboard frame to make a record jacket. Canadian jackets mostly used slicks printed in Canada, from USA artwork. Most Canadian Beatles records feature slicks printed by one of three printers: Parr's, Modern Graphics or Ever Reddy.
The narrow edge of a jacket that faces out when a record is shelved, printed with the title and catalogue number. Spine wording and layout changed between pressings, so it is a quick spot to check, and spine condition is a standard part of grading a jacket.
The metal negative mold that presses the grooves into the vinyl. Stampers wear out and get replaced during a production run, and stamper marks in the deadwax record which one made a given copy. Early stampers generally mean an earlier copy.
Capitol's budget reissue series, which brought older singles back into print at a lower price with its own label design. Canadian Starline issues are marked with ST in the variation ID.