Production Master Tape
Here is the stereo production master tape (1/4" 15ips on 10.5" reel) for The Beatles' Greatest Hits Volume 2, which contains both sides.

You'll see that EMI UK compiled the tape on 1 April 1966 (same date they compiled the tapes for The Beatles' Greatest Hits Volume 1). Once received here, a new page was taped over the top (dating back to the fifties judging by the pre-printed date!) containing the salient local details, presumably post splicing/compiling (you can still see the C.C.I.R and STEREO COPY stamp remnants from the EMI UK notes underneath). Mono and stereo masters (XAPAX 75/6 and YAPAX 1009/10 respectively) were cut locally on 6 September 1966. The mono masters were cut from the same stereo tape - there was no separate dedicated mono tape. The album would not be released until February 1967 though, some five months after cutting.

The same tape was used in June 1976 to cut the 'I Feel Fine'/'She's A Woman' single and again in June 1982 for 'We Can Work It Out'/'Day Tripper'. Earlier that same month, Otto Ruiter had also recut the LP using Maxicut, producing the -2/-2 matrices. In the webmaster’s listening comparisons, this recut sounds substantially better than the original and is the recommended Australian pressing. It can generally be found on the later black Parlophone label, although the matrices should be checked to confirm the cut.

It appears that the tape swapped 'Anna' and 'A Hard Day's Night', judging by the "1st 2 songs reversed?" notation.

The album would remain in print right up until the end of EMI's vinyl production in November 1990.

NB: the webmaster has colourised the original B&W scan.