Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, PCS 7027, June 01, 1967, stereo. Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. gatefold full laminated inside flipback sleeve with “stereo“ PSC 7027 number on back side. With dark green cut-out insert and original psychedelic red & white inner sleeve. There are two versions of the cover, one with “wide“ spine and a more common version with “thin“ spine.
Cut-outs insert and psychedelic red inner sleeve the same as mono variation.
1. First pressing. June 01,1967. Black label with yellow logo and silver print. “The Gramophone Co. Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print and “Sold in U.K.” text. With or without KT tax code on the label. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-1; Side 2: YEX 638-1.
2. Second pressing 1968. Second pressing has the same gatefold sleeve and dark green cot-outs insert as the first pressing, but with standard EMI plain white inner sleeve. Besides, this version has a label with an misprint, an extra dot in “IN.U.K.” on the side 1.
Photos provided by Anatoly Simakov.
3. Third pressing, summer 1969 until November 1969. Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Laminated flipback gatefold inside flipback sleeve with “stereo“ PCS 7027 number on back side. Black label with yellow logo and silver print. “The Gramophone Co. Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print. Plaine white or sepia “LP advertising“ inner sleeve. Without tax code. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-1; Side 2: YEX 638-1.
4. Fours pressing, November 1969 until 1970. Black label with one black-white EMI logo and silver print. “The Gramophone Co Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print and “Made In GT. Britain” lower text. Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. Laminated gatefold inside flipback sleeve with “stereo“ PCS 7027 number on back side. With cut-outs insert and sepia or black & white “LP advertising” inner sleeve. Matrix numbers: Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-1; Side 2: YEX 638-1.
Decca Records contract pressing:
5. Fifth pressing, early 1971 until 1973. Black label with two white-black EMI logos and silver print. “The Gramophone Co Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print and “Made In GT. Britain” lower text. Laminated gatefold inside flipback sleeve with “stereo“ PCS 7027 number on back side. With cut-outs insert and sepia color “LP advertising” inner sleeve. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-1; Side 2: YEX 638-1 (or -2).
6. Sixth pressing, summer 1976 until October 1980. Black label with two white-black EMI logos and silver print. “EMI Records Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print and “Made In GT. Britain” printed at the end of the perimeter print. Laminated gatefold sleeve with “stereo“ PCS 7027 number on back side. With cut-outs insert and white paper EMI custom inner sleeve. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-1 (or 2; -3; -4 -5); Side 2: YEX 638-2 (or -3; -4; -5).
Emerald contract pressing. Contract pressing for Northern Ireland was manufactured by Emerald Records. Emerald, a subsidiary of Vogue Records in Belfast, Northern Ireland. This is confirmed by machine stamps of the manufacturer’s name on the both sides. This pressing has standard British matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-1; Side 2: YEX 638-2.
7. Seventh pressing, October 1980 until April 1984. Black label with two white-black EMI logos and silver print. “ALL RIGHTS OF THE PRODUCER” printed at the start perimeter print. Importantly, around the 11 o’clock position in the rimtext the wording is: “UNAUTHORISED PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, BROADCASTING, COPYING AND HIRING”. Instead, added “MANUFACTURED IN THE UK BY EMI RECORDS LIMITED” text at the end of the perimeter print. Unlaminated gatefold sleeve. With cut-outs insert. White paper EMI standard inner sleeve. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-6 (or 6-1-1); Side 2: YEX 638-6 (or 6-1-1).
Parlophone/Numbus HQ Supercut pressing, 1984. In 1984, U.K. stereo enthusiast magazine Practical Hi-Fi arranged to reissue a number of classic albums on high-quality Nimbus supercut pressings on 120-gram vinyl. It is estimated that there were only around a thousand copies of each title pressed that could only be bought via mail order. Nimbus Supercut LPs were released as a mail order only promotion to Practical Hi-Fi and Hi-Fi today magazine readers during the early 1980s. All Nimbus Supercut releases were available in limited quantities of around 1000 pressings per title. Nimbus Records have somewhat legendary status within the audiophile circle for their ‘Supercut’ releases; they mastered each release from the original master tapes using the best available mastering processes, employing many techniques for each release that were not commonly used. For example, generally when bass moves from channel to channel on an LP, groove modulation is employed to reduce the movement of the stylus and this results in this bass being centered more over both channels. Most audiophiles would argue that this – and in fact anything, which changes the original recording should be avoided although this is common practice on most LPs. Nimbus also had the ICI company produce an extremely pure vinyl for the LPs, which has amazing frequency reproduction and is virtually noise free – similar in quality to the ‘super vinyl’ used on earlier Mofi pressings. Due to their rarity and small pressing quantities, they are often more expensive than audiophile LPs from other labels.
Gatefold sleeve has the original sticker with the text “Supercut HiFi Numbus Records”.
Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-A1 y3 JWK 3 MPT v JH NIMBUS ENGLAND; Side 2: YEX 638-B2 y3 JWK 3 MPT v JH NIMBUS ENGLAND.
8. Eighth pressing, end of spring 1984 until 1987. Black label with two white-black EMI logos and silver print. “ALL RIGHTS OF THE PRODUCER” printed at the start perimeter print. Importantly, around the 11 o’clock position in the rimtext the wording is: “UNAUTHORISED COPYIN, HIRING, RENTING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE AND BROADCASTING”. “MANUFACTURED IN THE UK BY EMI RECORDS LIMITED” text at the end of the perimeter print. Unlaminated gatefold sleeve. With cut-outs insert. White paper EMI standard inner sleeve. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-6-1-1 (or -)2; Side 2: YEX 638-6-1-1 (or -2).
9. Ninth pressing, 1987 – 1991. Black label with two silver EMI logos and silver print. “ALL RIGHTS OF THE PRODUCER” printed at the start perimeter print. Importantly, around the 11 o’clock position in the rimtext the wording is: “UNAUTHORISED COPYING, PUBLIC PERFORMANCE, BROADCASTING, HIRING AND RENTAL”. “MADE IN ENGLAND” text at the end of the perimeter print. With cut-outs insert. Unlaminated gatefold outer sleeve with barcode on the back side. Sleeves early 90s have Apple logo on the back side. Matrix numbers: Side 1: YEX 637-7-1-1 D; Side 2: YEX 638-7-1-2 D.
10. Tenth pressing, Remastered, Parlophone 5099969942617, released November 12, 2012. The album was reissued on 180g vinyl, prepared use the full 24-bit versions taken from the 2009 remasters. Album included in “The Beatles“ stereo box, as well as sold separately. Cover is replicat from the original Garrod & Lofthouse Ltd. gatefold sleeve without flaps, and psychedelic inner sleeve. The cut outs and an additional insert combining Mark Lewisohn’s 1987 notes as well as Paul’s introduction. Vinyl pressed by Optimal Media GmbH, Germany.
Additional insert combining Mark Lewisohn’s 1987 notes as well as Paul’s introduction:
Matrix numbers:
Side 1: 509969942617 B987153-01 A2 T / Side 2: 509969942617 B987153-01 A3 N i…i
11. Eleventh pressing. May 26, 2017. 50th Anniversary 2LPs Edition. New Stereo Mix by Giles Martin ½ Speed Mastered.
On 26 May 2017, the album was reissued for the album’s 50th anniversary in a double vinyl set. The first LP contains a new stereo remix of the album produced by Giles Martin. Created using modern and vintage technology, the 2017 mix retains more of the idiosyncrasies that were unique to the original mono version of Sgt. Pepper’s. Unlike the original album, first-generation tapes were used rather than their subsequent mixdowns, resulting in a clearer and more spacious sound. The second LP contain alternative mixes, previously unreleased session tapes, and new stereo mixes of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Penny Lane”.
Folded insert with Information about Anniversary Edition and the album cover:
A cardboard insert with Sgt Pepper Cut Outs and the Anniversary Edition sticker:
A Black and yellow Parlophone labels stylized under the first edition. “2017 COPYRIGHT IN THIS SOUND RECORDING” printed at the start perimeter print. “602557455342+ catalog number printed at the end of the perimeter print.
Matrix numbers are etched by hand:
Side 1: 5745539 BH71657-01 A1 MILES.ABBEY ROAd 1/2 SPEED
Side 2: 5745539 BH71657-01 B1 MILES.ABBEY ROAd 1/2 SPEED
Side 3: 5745540 BH71985-01 A1 MILES.ABBEY ROAd 1/2 SPEED
Side 4: 5745540 BH71985-01 B1 MILES.ABBEY ROAd 1/2 SPEED
RDF URL