This page serves as a reference on the various technical aspects of the Beatles Canadian discography, from pressing plants making the records, to the printers and manufacturers supplying the jackets, to how the jackets were designed and built through time, as well as inner sleeve and label identification. This page covers not only the vinyl record format, but also all tape formats as well as CDs. This page is meant to be the main reference to help identify Canadian pressings, by explaining the many subtle details that define every generation of pressing in detail. These are also linked in each individual variation fact sheet. beatlescanada.ca aims at cataloguing every documented Canadian pressing variation, in all formats, with matrix numbers, label generation and pressing plant for each one.
We have also developed an advanced search tool that lets you enter the details of your copy to determine exactly which variation it is. To access it, simply select the SEARCH section from the main menu. An interactive matrix search is also available in the “Timelines” section below.
This section documents the evolution of Beatles records, discs and tapes released in Canada between 1962 and 2014. Sections cover pressing plants, pressing rings, matrix numbers, label design and other identifying marks to help pinpoint with certainty any Canadian Beatles pressing on the manufacturing timeline.
This section documents the evolution of the jackets, from the cardboard frames, the inner seams, the printers that provided the picture slicks, the inner sleeves and the types of shrink wrap that were used to package the records. This section is important to understand period-correct assembly of these elements, and help distinguish official releases from possible mismatches (a record-jacket match that is not period correct, often mistakenly swapped over the years to improve the condition of the collectable).
