Questions about the Beatle's 'White Album'

[LynneSin]

I remember my brother's copy because I played that all the time. The title was black on the front of the cover.

But about a month ago I found a copy at my place where I got stuff for 50cents. This one has a white title on the front and there is a number on the bottom right corner (A1785826). Album has the poster and all the photos with it too.

Why is mine different?

[Whoa_Nelly]

1. What's the number on the label?

Or in the blank area around the label?

Found this info:

The Beatles was released in the UK on November 22, 1968 as Apple PMC 7067-8 (mono) and PCS 7067-8 (stereo) and in the US on November 25, 1968 in stereo as Apple SWBO 101.
http://www.beatletracks.com/btwhite.html

Does your brother's look like this one?


Mine's all white, too. I think that it was the US release version


Here's a really interesting site re: White Album info and history

http://www.turnmeondeadman.net/AWA/Intro.html

[DrDan]

2. I believe the ones with white titles originated from Europe

I have one of those - and bought it there

[GalleryGod]

3. Manson and the Spahn Ranch crowd loved it !

[Ivan Sputnik]

4. What I've heard

is that the title was originally embossed (stamped) on the cover, but that was very expensive, so in later pressings, they switched to the printed title.

Rejected cover illustration for the WA:

[johnnie]

5. If I remember this correctly

The originals were embossed with The Beatles and the "A" in your serial number stood for America, for the American release. It's been a while since I read about any of that stuff, but that's what I think. When they started releasing them on Capitol, they changed the cover to the black or grey writing.

[Squeech]

6. I got a few years on you guys

Will Robinson's correct. I remember getting that album when it was new, and the title "The Beatles" was embossed (raised letters, no coloring) on the jacket.

I suspect that that number with the A at the beginning means that this was a record club edition. The way the mail-order record clubs worked, the original company made master tapes available to the record clubs, which pressed their own copies of the album (using the original artwork as well, but also including their own catalog numbers somewhere on the sleeve).

[DancingBear]

7. Here are a few questions

Do you know if you have a US or UK pressing? The number of the album will tell you, and that may help to explain the cover. Also, the LP was pressed both in mono and stereo in the UK, but only in stereo in the US (I think). Additionally, if the album is a later pressing (i.e. pressed several years after the original came out) then that could explain the cover difference, since the labels were not real interested in "preserving' things that may have cost money at the time of the original release (like an embossed stamping of the band name, for instance).

Also, did you know that during a production run in 1979 the White Album was stamped in white vinyl?

And that the working title for the LP was "A Dolls' House."

So much useless information, so little time... :)