Beatles Official Releases Story - With The Beatles

Label: Parlophone
Catalogue No. PMC 1206 (mono); PCS 3045 (stereo)
Matrix No.'s:
Mono: XEX 447-1N; XEX 448-1N
Stereo:YEX 110-3; YEX 111-5
Release date:
22nd November 1963
26th February 1987 (CD release)

Total time 32:43

U.K. Album Chart Detai:
Entry Date: 30th November 1963
Highest Position : 1 ... for 21 weeks from 7th December 1963
Weeks in Chart : 51 + 2 from 7th March 1987 (CD release, reached no.40) + 1 week, 22nd March 1997 (No. 72)

Detail:
The Beatles second official L.P. release.
Two weeks before release, "With The Beatles" had advance orders of 270,000, and before the first week of release was out, the half-a-million figure had been beaten.
They were actually awarded a Silver disc (for sales of 250,000) on November 18th 1963, 4 days before release !
By mid January 1964 885,000 had been sold in the U.K. and by the end of 1964, the total was 980,000.
The one million mark arrived by September 1965, making this album the first ever British album to sell 1,000,000 copies in the U.K.
(Note though, that it was NOT the first to sell one million in the U.K., one other album achieved this feat in November 1963 when the American soundtrack album "South Pacific" after six years on release made it. The Beatles did it in less than two!)
The American version of this album, Meet The Beatles bizarrely left off five of the tracks, but sold over 5 million copies. This makes combined sales for The Beatles second album of over 6.5 million.
Chartwise, this L.P. replaced "Please Please Me" at the number one slot, and remained there for 21 weeks. This gave The Beatles a continuous run of 51 weeks at the summit !
Also, in these early days of the British charts, ALL product was listed together regardless of format, and therefore this L.P. even made it into the U.K. singles chart, reaching number 11, which was a record placing for an album.
The cover was a very artful half-shadow black-and-white shot of The Beatles taken by Robert Freeman.
The album was also part of "The Beatles Collection" 13 album box set (see Beatles Collection).
On 26th February 1987 this album had it's first release on C.D. which was published in Mono(!) with a catalogue number of CDP 7 46436 2
And on the same day, the record shop H.M.V. produced a special 12" numbered 4 CD Box Set Comprising:
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Days Night
Beatles For Sale
+ Bill Harry - "Book Of Beatle Lists"
This set had a catalogue number of BEA CD 25, and was in a limited edition of just 2,500 copies.
The C.D. was also part of "The Beatles Box" 15 C.D. box set (see Beatles C.D. Box).
The album was also available on 4" reel-to-reel tape,
1964 - Catalogue number TA-PMC 1206 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape) - first edition (mono only) in a cardboard box.
1968 - Catalogue number TA-PMC 1206 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape)
TD-PCS 3045 (3¾ ips 4-track stereo) these editions in a "jewel" box.

Prior to 1973:
The album was released on stereo cassette tape (1⅞ ips) - Catalogue number - TC-PCS 3045.
The album was also released on 8-track stereo continuous play cartridge (3¾ ips) - catalogue no. 8X-PCS 3045

In November 1987 the album was re-released on cassette tape (mono only !) on the original catalogue number - TC-PMC 1206.

Mono/Stereo Differences
"Money"
The stereo version has a prominent guitar at the start, which is not on the mono version.The mono and stereo piano intro's are different, and the instrumentation is different throughout.

Released Versions

First pressings (1963)
Never on gold lettering, this release first appears with the typical yellow block writing.The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label starts with "The Parlophone Co. Ltd."The label DOES have "Recording first published 1963", but NOT "Sold in the U.K..." statements.Side 2: Label incorrectly spells track 3 as "You Really Gotta Hold on Me"Side 2: The publishing credit for "Money" says "Jobete"The word "mono" (or stereo) on the front cover is larger than in later editions.

Second pressings (1963)
Same as first pressing, except ... the Side 2 labelling is corrected:Track 3 now spelt "You Really Got A Hold On Me"The publishing credit for "Money" now says "Dominion, Belinda (Ldn.) Ltd"

Third Pressings (1963)
The standard yellow block writing Parlophone label.The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "The Gramophone Co. Ltd."The label DOES have "Sold in the U.K..." statement.The word "mono" (or stereo) on the front cover is smaller.

Fourth Pressings (1969)
The standard yellow block writing Parlophone label.The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label starts with "Gramophone Co. Ltd."The label does NOT have "Sold in the U.K..." statement.The word "mono" (or stereo) on the front cover is smaller.

Fifth Pressings (1969) - Stereo version ONLY
Now with a silver/black Parlophone label.The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "EMI Records Ltd."The label has one EMI boxed logo.

Sixth Pressings (1973) - Stereo version ONLY
Silver/black Parlophone label.The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "EMI Records Ltd."The label has TWO EMI boxed logos.

Seventh Pressings (1982) - Mono version ONLY
Now with a yellow/black Parlophone label.The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "EMI Records Ltd."This release is on a lightweight vinyl.

Eighth Pressings (1995) - Mono version ONLY
Now with a Black and Silver Parlophone label.The sleeve has a printed statement which reads:"This album has been Direct Metal Mastered From a Digitally Re-mastered Original Tape to give the best possible sound quality". This release is on a lightweight vinyl.