The Beatles Capitol C1-9 Pressings

I couple months ago, I acquired a NM C1 "Something New", small-dome purple label, pressed by Specialty Records. MAN, does it sound great (well, as great as Dexterized, stepped-on, higher generation dubs can sound), and it's extremely quiet vinyl. Plus, the packaging is stellar; nice, somewhat glossy cover, well-constructed jacket, and a good quality inner sleeve with plastic lining. It totally beats the crap out of my early 70s Apple copy. Capitol was really producing some quality stuff in the 80s.

What is the general consensus on these 'round here? I love them (even though they're still second fiddle to the proper U.K. versions), and I'm always on the hunt for them.

 

I just revisted these.. I think they are great for US pressings. I was like- woah. This is pretty damn good! Totally unexpected. It's warm, and the dynamics are still intact. Way better than the Rainbow labels IMHO.

 

I have most of the c1-9's, but am missing Help! and Hey Jude. I'm fairly convinced that very, very few copies of Hey Jude, were even pressed in the C1-9 series. I think it is the rarest of them all. I've been looking for years, have never seen one anywhere, not in a store, not at Beatlefest, or online. I know there are quite a few regulars around here who have one, but for me, it has proven to be the most elusive record to find, by far, and it's not even close. That said, I do have the UK Hey Jude 1973 pressing, with YEEX 150-1/151-1 in the deadwax, and I highly doubt the C1-9 Capitol is going to top that one.

 

As a general rule, these for me are the best mastered, best pressed of the US Capitol/Apple LP offerings.

 

I have the C1 Hey Jude. Haven’t listened to it since I purchased the LP over 10 years ago. I remember it sounding bright. My system was totally different than what it is today. At the time, I also had the UK export pressing and preferred it by a wide margin over the C1. I don’t think you’re missing much at all.

IMHO, the best sounding of the C1 series is Yesterday & Today. I pulled out my copy a few months ago and really enjoyed listening to it. Usually, I can’t get through 1-2 tracks when I put on a US album. The C1s and the later rainbow label cuts, pressed by Specialty are the best of the lot.

 

Remind me - these are putple labels, last ones b4 the 87 digital cuts?

 

Actually, after. 1988

 

So they are the US analogs that were around the same time as the uk digital wallys?

 

Yes, but not for long.

 

Meet The Beatles
Second Album
Something New
Beatles 65
Beatles VI
Help!
Rubber Soul
Yesterday & Today
Revolver
Hey Jude
1962-1966
1967-1970

All C1 pressings

 

There are also Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road C1s that are analog as well. Same small-dome Purple label.

I must say the C1 "Red" and "Blue" albums are my best sounding copies of those two albums. I even think they're better than the recent 2012 cuts.

 

I had both and got rid of them. They weren’t that great in my opinion

 

Wait - which? The C1s or the 2012 pressings?

 

C1 Red & Blue

The latest Red & Blue albums are from 2014.

 

My mistake. I'm surprised though...they sound great on my system. (Not that I'm ditching my 2014 pressings...)

 

I have C1 pressings of Beatles'65, Beatles VI & Yesterday and Today. They all sound great. Interesting bit is that both Beatles VI & Yesterday and Today are mono. Both pressed with the same metal parts used for the 80s Rainbow pressings. I think all of the Beatles VI C1 pressings were mono. Not sure about Y&T.

 

Not true. My C1 copy of Beatles VI is in stereo.

 

As is my copy of Yesterday and Today.

 

Here's the '88 US Help!:
The Beatles - Help! (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
And Hey Jude...alas, no copies for sale:
The Beatles - Hey Jude

All analogue too!

Nope, those '88 Peppers and Roads are based on the '87 digital remasters, as are all of the '88 small dome Purple label issues of the UK albums and post-Revolver albums. The last analogue Pepper and onward LPs were the '83 Rainbow labels, which sound excellent.

 

Ok. I previously read that somewhere here. Mine is cut by Eddy Schreyer, SRC.

 

Yeah, there are multiple versions of Y&T out there. My mono Y&Ts are also Eddy Schreyer cuts, SRC. As late as the 80s Rainbow cuts they were still using old metal. I have one with New York W-2 / W-2 stampers using the fake stereo mixes - on translucent vinyl no less. I have a few other 80s Rainbows all with different cuts.

For all of the C1-9 titles I have, I also have 80s Rainbows pressed from the same metal parts.

 

Totally agree on all counts. The only reason I want the C1-9 Hey Jude, is to complete my C1-9's. It's just the "being a completist" thing, lol. No other reason. Yes, the 1973 UK pressing is insanely great.

Agreed on the C1-9 Y&T - sounds superb, although I have one copy of most Y&T pressings (except any 1968 through 1975, why bother, they're garbage), and starting with the 1976 orange label, which is the first pressing with the MASTERED BY CAPITOL in the deadwax and is a Wally ... any pressings starting with, and after that, are very nice-sounding. Y&T is always a great listen, I've always loved it as a compilation album. I wasn't born yet in 1966, but when I play that album, it's fun to put yourself in the shoes of someone who lived in America, and was hearing Drive My Car for the first time. The C1-9, C1-4, and CLJ pressings, were the ones I "grew up on", considering I was a teenager in the late 80's, so those were the brand new copies I bought in record stores. Therefore, since my first copy of Rubber Soul, was the CLJ - I only knew the British track listing. To this day ... don't get me wrong, I've Just Seen a Face, is a great, great song, I do love it. But, for me, Rubber Soul not starting with Drive My Car, doesn't sound right to me. At all.

 

Those 80's rainbows ... some of them are outstanding, especially for Capitol and the fact that they're obviously dubs of dubs of dubs masters, etc. My 1983 rainbow White Album ... I wouldn't put it above my UK stereo or German DMM copies, but it's probably the best of all of my Capitol pressings, by far. My copy has a gold promo stamp in the top right corner, although I don't think that means anything special. This issue is notable, for being the very last analog tape to vinyl issue of that album (if I'm not mistaken), since the 1988 C1-4 is digital. But yeah, those 80's rainbows are nice copies to have.

 

If your white Album has a gold stamp it might also be pressed on some better vinyl too. I wanted to get a Rainbow White Album and lucked out because when I finally found one it was a promo pressed on translucent (new, not recycled) vinyl.

 

Indeed - I never checked if it was translucent or not, I'll check that out. There's been all sorts of debates around here, regarding the validity of gold stamps, promos, cutouts, etc. My understanding, and absolutely feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, is that the gold stamped covers (Capitol) and gold stamp with white disc labels (Columbia), etc., were the initial first pressings of those issues, and in most cases, were found to be of somewhat (if marginal, at best) better quality than the subsequent pressings. I can't confirm this, but can tell you that all of my records with this, all sound great.

That said, I can only chuckle, when I see people on eBay, pricing these at exorbitant prices, hoping to dupe a buyer into thinking they're getting something of substantially better quality, and I've never been totally convinced that's the case. Also, people should not call the cutout hole copies as "promos", because they are not. I think the cutout hole or cut corners, meant that those could not be returned to the label, or whatever the case was. My Beatles '65 C1-9 copy, has a cutout hole on it, and that means perhaps it was one of the last ones pressed, packaged, etc., but it sounds fine anyways.