---

02 09 2012

Capitol stereo banners

written by Piers Hemmingsen

Collecting original Canadian LP pressings of records from the 1960s can be a complicated task when ones considers the many variations of front cover slicks used by record companies such as capitol Of Canada. This article highlights some of the unique cover slick variations in Canada and also illustrates some "covers that could have been but never were".

This article deals specifically with some very "odd" front cover slicks. These were not really slicks manufactured in error. In actuality, Parr's prepared slicks for Capitol and other companies on the basis that their colour slicks would be used on the front cover. The jacket manufacturer would usually prepare the rear "wrap-around" slick using simple black and white printing processes.

1965 Banner ... "NEW IMPROVED FULL DIMENSIONAL STEREO"

The "New Improved Full Dimensional Stereo" banner was introduced by Capitol in 1965.









In the case of original Beatles Canadian albums, this new 1965 banner would be used for stereo pressings of Beatles VI, Help, Rubber Soul, and Yesterday And Today. The above Yardbirds "stereo banner" cover for "Heart Full Of Soul" has never been seen other than making a tiny appearance on the back cover of The Hits Of The Yardbirds (Capitol DT-6229).

 

Late 1950s Stereo Banner ... "CAPITOL FULL DIMENSIONAL STEREO"

For some reason, Capitol of Canada used the older "Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo" banner on some 1966 and 1967 stereo slicks. This was the same banner that was used in 1962 on the stereo edition of Helen Shapiro Sings The Big Hits Of The 60s (Capitol ST-6020). It was also used for the stereo version of the Beatles 65 Lp in December 1964.

 



Two examples above show that Parr's produced older style stereo banners for the colour front slicks for the proposed Hollies albums The Hollies (ST-6152) and In The Hollies Style (ST-6143). Neither album was ever issued in stereo.
When Parr's re-printed slicks for Long Tall Sally (T-6063) and The Beatles' Story (TBO-2222), they also created the larger colour slicks with the older style stereo banner attached at the top. These could of course be trimmed down to mono slicks by removing the stereo banner.These appear below. Some mono copies of T-6063 used the stereo banner slicks until the red target versions of 1971.

 


both above images courtesy of Fred Young, London, Ontario

Oddly no stereo banner front cover slicks have ever surfaced for Beatlemania ! With The Beatles (T-6051) and Twist And Shout (T-6054). As a guess, these would use the same early 1960s Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo banner and might have appeared as follows:

  

The above two images were computer-generated for illustrative purposes only… these front slicks were probably never produced this way in 1963 and 1964 respectively)

It has always been assumed that the mono front cover slicks for the first two Beatles albums were ordered in a rush and I would agree that this was the case where no stereo banners were added from the outset. Duophonic Stereo Banners

Other artists were featured with this older stereo banner, like The Yardbirds album Little Games and Elizabethan Serenade.







Duophonic Stereo was for all intents and purposes ...
"phony" stereo made from a mono recording !



Capitol Of Canada released several mono albums in the Duophonic format. These included albums by Manfred Mann (The Five faces Of Manfred Mann), The Hollies (Hits Of The Hollies), and The Dave Clark Five (Instrumental Album, More Hits). All of these Duophonic "6000 Series" albums used a "DT" prefix.

 

  

 

No Beatles albums in Canada were ever issued in the 1960s with the Duophonic stereo banner at the top of the front cover but several original Canadian 1960s Beach Boys albums were issued this way:



Surfin' Safari - Capitol DT-1808





 

Beach Boys Today - Capitol DT-2269

(in some cases, two stereo banners were used as the Duophonic banner appears above an un-trimmed New Improved Full Dimensional Stereo banner)





 

Summer Days And Summer Nights - Capitol DT-2354

(in some cases, two stereo banners were used as the Duophonic banner appears above an un-trimmed New Improved Full Dimensional Stereo banner)





 

Beach Boys' Party - Capitol DMAS-2398

(Odd ... no DT prefix !)

 





Pet Sounds - Capitol DT-2458

 





Best Of The Beach Boys - Capitol DT-2545







The odd block stereo banners



Some albums featured a different banner with the "Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo" notice in big block letters, like the Beatles VI album and The Hollies' Stop Stop Stop.

 

 

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to Serge Pelletier, Fred Young, and Brian Schofield for their assistance with some of the rarer images used above.

---

02 05 2012

Recent Sales

It has been a while since the last recent sales entry, and there have been many interesting sales lately! First off, The Decca My Bonnie that we saw up for sale lately is still up for grabs, unfortunately, no collector has been on it yet even though the price dropped down to a reasonable price… Keep in mind though that because nobody does not bid on the item, it does not mean that collectors would not necessarily be willing to pay that much for it; it simply means nobody yet has the cash down to back up what they consider it is actually worth! When it sells, we will be the first to feature it in one of our news entries.

A unique Rubber Soul album with a printing error (blank A-side label) sold for 205$ last week. This record also had the cover variation with the catalog number misaligned on the back. A stereo Lee Gagnon La Jazztek sold for 30$, while the yellow label WHY single sold for 31$. Perry Cox was once again very successful with some of his items, those included From Me To You that sold for 232$, She Loves You for an whopping 510$, DYWTKAS for 207$, All My Loving for 157$, Roll Over Beethoven for 180$, Love Me Do (-5) for 128$ and finally a great Beatlemania! album for 537$.

Another interesting item that sold for 32$ was a blank Hey Jude RCA pressing, similar to the known Compo pressing that is thought to have been given at the Apple Launch party in Toronto. The record was not in good condition, but is still an interesting piece of history nonetheless. Otherwise, the hard to find Canadian Family Way album sold for 40$ and a great condition Canadian EP Four By The Beatles without the picture sleeve sold for 155$. The same seller also successfully sold the error pressing of Come Together for 120$. Finally, a rare copy of the red target Long Tall Sally with the mistakenly printed stereo Parr's front slick sold for 105$

stay tuned for more!

---

02 01 2012

Copyright notice

1. Images and other content used on this web site will mostly be derived from the original catalogue of EMI and other records companies operating in Canada over the years (eg Quality, London, Pye, Columbia etc.).

2. Our intention is to stimulate a greater general level of interest in the original records that were issued in Canada beginning in the 20th. Century.

3. There are no hidden commercial purposes in presenting the information herein other than to provide an accurate historical set of facts for both present and future users of the web site's content.

4. Users are free to use information and images but we would appreciate a simple acknowledgement be attached to each item of information or image used. A good example is as follows: SOURCE: www.capitol6000.com

5. As far as possible we will always endeavour to obtain all necessary clearances for any images or factual content displayed on the web site.

6. If you have any queries about images or content used on the site, please email the query to piers@capitol6000.com . We respect that things can sometimes get messy with respect to permissions and therefore we operate as far as we can on a goodwill basis and will always respect the wishes of the online community when it comes to good taste.