A Hard Day's Night

A Hard Day's Night - First Pressing Front Cover	A Hard Day's Night - First Pressing Back Cover
A Hard Day's Night - Showing Corner Of Cover Detail	A Hard Day's Night - Showing Edge Of Cover Detail

Label	Parlophone
Catalogue No.'s	PMC 1230 (Mono) PCS 3058 (Stereo) CDP 7 46437 2 (C.D.)
Matrix No.'s	A-side   B-Side Mono : XEX 481-3N   XEX 482-3N Stereo: YEX 126-1   YEX 127-1 1973 - Stereo: YEX 126-2   YEX 127-4 1995 - Mono : XEX 481-1-1-2   XEX 482-1-1-1 or !? : YEX 126-2   YEX 127-4
Release dates	10th July 1964 26th February 1987 (CD)
Total time	29:45
U.K. Album Chart Detail :	Entry Date : 18th July 1964 Highest Position : 1 ... for 21 weeks from 25th July 1964 (CONSECUTIVELY !) Weeks in Chart : + + + 38   1 week 16th January 1971 (No.30)   4 from 7th March 1987 (CD release, reached no.30)   2 from 13th September 2009 (reached no.37) == 45 weeks in total ==
Detail :	The Beatles third official L.P. release. Once again The Beatles had advance orders of over 250,000 copies, ensuring an immediate number 1. By the end of the year it had sold 600,000, eventually selling almost 800,000 copies in Britain. Once again, the American version of this album was different, in that it only featured the tracks from the film, plus some George Martin film score. The remaining tracks appearing on a second L.P. entitled "Something New". With these two selling over three million in the States, global sales of "A Hard Day's Night" can be put at over 4,000,000. For the week of 5th August 1964, for the first (and only ?) time in history The Beatles were No.1 in the album AND singles chart in the U.K. AND America with the same titled single and L.P. - "A Hard Day's Night". This is the first and ONLY Beatles album to have every track written by Lennon/McCartney, with the seven tracks on side 1 all included in the film, and the six on side 2 not featured. The album cover was once again designed and photographed by Robert Freeman and his design was also used for the film posters. 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 46437 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" (see Book of Beatle Lists, The) 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). 09/09/09 (Number Nine, Number Nine, Number Nine) - the album was re-released as part of the Beatles In Stereo Remasters collection. 13th September 2009 it re-entered the chart again at number 37 in the tenth highest position of SEVENTEEN chart positions The Beatles captured in one amazing week.          (see the box set detail for the chart position of all 17 titles together) 20th September 2009 - dropped eight places down to number 45. 27th September 2009 - dropped forty-two places down to number 87 (which is outside the chart for longevity purposes). 4th October 2009 - No longer listed in the Top 100. Tape Media The album was also available on 4" reel-to-reel tape, 1964 - Catalogue number TA-PMC 1230 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape) - first edition (mono only) in a cardboard box. 1968 - Catalogue number TA-PMC 1230 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape)                                         TD-PCS 3058 (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 3058. The album was also released on 8-track stereo continuous play cartridge (3¾ ips) - catalogue no. 8X-PCS 3058 In November 1987 the album was re-released on cassette tape (mono only) - Catalogue number - TC-PMC 1230 (originally released August 1964). U.S. Import This was an essential import purchase in 1964 as the American version of the album contained the Beatle songs from the film (no extra's !) ... and four orchestral pieces from the film by The George Martin Orchestra. This release was on the United Artists label (catno. UAS 6366) as they had the rights to the film soundtrack (they were the film distributors). In the U.S. "A Hard Day's Night" had advance orders of over 1 million before it's release date of 26th June 1964, and had sold 2 million just three months later, making it one of the fastest selling albums ever. It was number one in the U.S. for 14 weeks. The sleeve for the U.S. release can be seen at the end of this page.

Side 1

Side 2

Mono/Stereo Differences

Released Versions

The standard yellow block writing Parlophone label.
The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label starts with "The Parlophone Co. Ltd."
The label DOES have "Sold in the U.K..." statement.
The word "mono" (or stereo) on the front cover is large.
Notice also on the scans below the tax coding "KT" in the centre of the label.

First Pressing - Example Side 1 Label	First Pressing - Example Side 2 Label

Detail of Front Cover, Showing "Stereo"

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Now with a Black and Silver Parlophone label.
The cover and label both clearly state "Mono", but it plays in stereo. The matrix is the stereo matrix !
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 (surprisingly) on a lightweight vinyl.

Seventh Pressing - Cover Detail
Seventh Pressing - Label	Seventh Pressing - Label Detail and vinyl matrix Clearly showing the YEX matrix and the Mono conflict !

A Hard Day's Night - U.S. Import Front Cover	A Hard Day's Night - U.S. Import Back Cover

Beatles Album List