REAR LP SLEEVE FOOTER STYLES
With a few exceptions, rear LP cover footers remained constant for the life of each LP. This means that the style first used on an LP cover remained on all subsequent re-printings. Exceptions to this rule are listed below.
A. Early 1960s: A circular Parlophone logo with three lines of text.
B. Jul 1965: A square Parlophone/EMI logo replaced the earlier circular Parlophone logo (except Rubber Soul and A Collection Of Beatles Oldies, which used the above style).
C. Late 1968: Coinciding with the deletion of the mono catalogue where stereo alternatives existed, the footer was modified again. New stereo titles carried a footer with text explaining how to play the record on a mono reproducer. Mono-only titles had a similar block of text espousing how much better the record would sound reproduced on stereo equipment. Both recommended THE NEW EMI ANTISTATIC RECORD CLEANING CLOTH. Perplexingly, two existing Beatles LP covers were modified to incorporate the new (stereo) style: Please Please Me and Greatest Hits Volume 1. Two new sleeves incorporated the stereo footer style: Sgt Pepper's (Australian single sleeve adopted in December 1969) and the 1973 re-packaging of Greatest Hits Vols 1 & 2.
D. 1978: A much more discrete footer, and one that existed in numerous variations depending on the layout of the rear cover. Text states "Manufactured and Distributed by EMI (Australia) Limited". Footers may or may not contain the first published details.
E. 1981: Similar to the above footer, but references to EMI (Australia) have been replaced with the more generic "EMI MUSIC GROUP OF COMPANIES, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA AND LOWER HUTT, NEW ZEALAND".
F. Coinciding with the December 1988 vinyl release of the digitally remastered Beatles catalogue, LP covers were modified to include the text "DIGITALLY REMASTERED" within a small box, commonly placed on the lower-left of the rear cover. Despite now being mono, the first four Beatles LP sleeves (and labels) retained the Australian stereo catalogue numbers, a situation that caused much confusion!
It's worth noting that a barcode was also added to the top-right of the rear cover.
G. At the same time that LP covers were modified to include the "DIGITALLY REMASTERED" text, some covers were modified to incorporate a new footer style consisting simply of the EMI logo and "℗ EMI Records Ltd. Manufactured and distributed by the EMI Music Group Australasia". The first published year may or may not be included.
REAR EP SLEEVE FOOTER STYLES
Rear EP cover footers remained constant for the life of each EP up until September 1979. This means that the style first used on an EP cover remained on the EP cover, despite any subsequent footer modifications.
A. Early 1960s: A circular Parlophone logo with four lines of text.
B. Nov 1964: Similar to the previous style but without the "Use a Fredorec Cleaning Sponge and Clendisc to help preserve this record" line.
C. Sep 1965: The square Parlophone/EMI "world" logo replaced the earlier circular Parlophone logo. The "MADE AND DISTRIBUTED…" line appears in a narrower font to compensate.
D. Sep 1979: Although out of favour in much of the world by 1968, in Australia the EP format continued into and throughout the 1970s. In December 1978, EMI (Australia) deleted all Beatles EPs. In late September 1979, the 70000 series was made available again. Rear covers now had just the Parlophone logo located centrally at the bottom, with copyright text similar to the corresponding 1979 LP footer.
