Question about first pressings of Beatles CDs released in the US.

As I recall, Beatles CDs were released in the US in 1987. I always thought that by 1987, most, if not all, CDs released in the US were pressed in the US. Well, over the weekend, I found a West German pressing of Beatles For Sale and a Japanese pressing of Please Please Me. For both CDs, the inserts were printed in the US. Also, the inserts and CDs lack the Apple Records logo. The US pressings of these titles that I bought in 1993 have the Apple Records logo on the CDs and inserts. As a final note, the West German Beatles For Sale CD has the "LC" code number on the disc, which is common for CDs released in Europe.

I'm thinking that the Beatles discs I have were released in the US, but I am surprised that they were not pressed in the US.

Here are my questions:

* Was the first batch of Beatles CDs sold in the US in 1987 made in Japan and/or West Germany? If so, was this common for all titles back then or only some of them?

* If the answer to the first question above is "yes", then when did US pressings appear?

Thanks in advance.

 

I picked up Sgt. Pepper and Please Please Me when they came out, and both were W. German pressings; the latter had a sticker on it reading "ADD on disc should read AAD"!!

 

Some were pressed over here, Germany and Japan all at the same time.

Probably the the anticipated demand mandated the need for foreign manufactured CD's as well.

 

Also note the first batch of Beatles CD's had the Parlophone logo, but not the Apple logo; that came a bit later.

ED

 

I bought them all on the first day of release and all were US pressings. EMI was probably was crankin' these out at any plant they could...

 

At the time (1987), U.S. compact disc pressing plant capabiliy was still pretty limited. For a project as heavily hyped as The Beatles On CD, the "U.S." versions had to come from almost everywhere to meet the demand. I have various Beatles CDs from 1987-88 pressed in West Germany, Japan, the U.K. and the U.S. It sure seems as if the ones pre-Sgt. Pepper are most likely to have been pressed in Europe or Asia and coupled with a U.S.-printed insert. I think all my Beatles CDs from Pepper forward were made in the U.S.

Ed is indeed right; originals have a Parlophone logo and no Apple logo. The Apple logo was added in the 1990s.

 

sharedon, is this a mono pressing? I saw this one yesterday with the wrong labeling. Still sounded harsh like the regular pressing but didn't sound like the typical fake stereo version, at least through the ear cans I was listening to.

 

All of mine up to Sgt. Pepper's, bought on the day of issue in 1987, were West German pressings. Supposedly, in the digital age, this should not make a difference, but somehow it does. Of course, fifteen years later, in the age of SACD, this is all water under the bridge.

 

Dave, the W. German PPM CD I have is plain old harsh-sounding mono. Are there fake stereo legit PPM discs??

 

My White Album CD's were both made in the US, but from obviously different plants as the white background on each has a slightly different coloring tint them. One's a bit more red than the other.

Joel

 

All of the Beatles CDs that I purchased on first day of release in 1987, here in Calgary, are U.S. pressings. "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" I acquired directly from the Capitol rep when I was still in radio. I would have had these two CDs a couple of days before street date. They are both W. German pressings. All of these CDs have just the Parlophone logo.

"Please Please Me" and "Past Masters Volume One" I bought years later. They both have the additional Apple logo and were manufactured in Canada.

 

All of the discs I purchased in 1987-88 were American pressings, with the exceptions being "Revolver" (W. Germany) and "PM1" (UK). I also recall plentiful supplies of UK imports of the Red and Blue sets back in 1993.

 

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I didn't realize that pressing capabilities in the US were still limited in 1987. Of course, the demand for Beatles CDs was obviously huge.

For the record, my Please Please Me CD says "AAD", not "ADD".

 

Pretty close to what I have. All discs PPM - LIB are U.S.A., PM1 & PM2 are both U.K. pressings.

All discs were purchased on date of release.

 

I got all of mine within weeks of release and there a mixture of US & West German (with one oddball UK). Also I didn't buy them all at the same store.

Here's my rundown:
US- Please Please Me, Help!, Magical Mystery Tour, White Album, Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, Let It Be, Past Masters 1.
West German- With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles For Sale, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's.
UK- Past Masters 2

 

Ed said:

Yes, as I said in my initial post, the West German and Japanese pressings I just picked up lack the Apple logo. They both have the Parlophone logo.

So, do the original US pressings have the Apple logo or just the Parlophone logo?

 

No first issue Beatles CDs had the Apple logo. Apple was still in hibernation.
Even the early solo stuff that should have had Apples only had Capitol logos (ATMP comes to mind).