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The Beatles “Rarities”, Parlophone PSLP 261.

Release December 15, 1978. Originally included as a free addition to the 1978 boxed set, The Beatles Collection (blue box). Only rare tracks are “Across The Univers”, previously available only on the now-deleted charity album No One’s Gonna Change Our World, and the German-language version of “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, previously unavailable in Britain. In fact eight of the 17 tracks were previously available: “Long Tall Sally”, “I Call Your Name”, “Slow Down”, “Matchbox” and “I’m Down” are on the Rock And Roll Music album; “Yes It Is” and “This Boy” on Love Songs; and “Rain” on the Hey Jude album. Only four of the 17 tracks “Across The Universe”, “Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand”, “Sie Liebt Dich”, and “Bad Boy”, are in stereo. Although the album contains very little in the way of rare tracks, it is an intelligent compilation of some of the material previously available only B sides, EPs and foreign releases.

All free additions have a dark blue sleeves with gold text on both sides. Besides the sleeve has the banner “Sampler Album Not For Sale” in the upper left corner on the back and catalog number PSLP 261. All additions have white paper EMI custom inner sleeves.

1. First pressing December 15, 1978. Black label with two white-black EMI logos and silver print. “The EMI Records Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print and “Made In GT. Britain” printed at the end of the perimeter print. Matrix numbers: Side One: SPSLP 261 A-1, Side Two: SPSLP 261 B-2.

In 1978, EMI and some of its worldwide subsidiaries, including Capitol Records, issued The Beatles Collection box set. While Capitol imported the Parlophone and Apple catalog albums placed in the box set, it chose to manufacture the bonus disc, assigning it promotional number SPRO-8969. This version of the Rarities album is similar to the EMI edition; however, Capitol replaced the German-language versions of “I Want To Hold Your Hand” and “She Lovea You” found on the British standard versions. In all likelihood, the switch was made because Capitol wanted the collection to include the standard English versions of these huge hits, which were not on any of the British albums included in the box set.

The Capitol Rarities disc was manufactured with purple labels featuring the classic Capitol dome logo. It was packaged in a dark blue paper sleeve. The front side has “The Beatles “Rarities” centered and the Capitol logo and SPRO-8969 in the lower right corner. The back side is solid blue. In addition to placing the album in the box set, Capitol pressed 2,000 copies of Rarities for promotional purposes. Matrix numbers: Side One: SPRO-1-8969 F1, Side Two: SPRO-2-8969 F1.

2. Second 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. Matrix numbers: Side One: SPSLP 261 A-1 or -2, Side Two: SPSLP 261 B-2 or -3.

3. Third 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. Matrix numbers: Side One: SPSLP 261 A-2, Side Two: SPSLP 261 B-3 or -4.

The Beatles “Rarities”, Parlophone PCM 1001.

Release October 29, 1979. This album was issued separately in 1979 after EMI had received complaints that the only way of obtaining this free album was to pay for the box and its duplicate copies of Beatles albums. The album has a dark blue sleeve with big note on the back side and catalog number PCM 1001. All editions have white paper EMI custom inner sleeves.

1. First pressing October 29, 1979. Black label with two white-black EMI logos and silver print. “The EMI Records Ltd” printed at the start perimeter print and “Made In GT. Britain” printed at the end of the perimeter print. Matrix numbers: Side One: SPSLP 261 A-1 YEX 991-1, Side Two: SPSLP 261 B-2 YEX 992-2.

2. Second 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. Matrix numbers: Side One: YEX 991-2 or -3, Side Two: YEX 992-3 or -4.