| The construction and component parts
of all Japanese EPs are essentially identical. EP covers are
constructed of thin laminated posterboard stock like that used for the
early Japanese soft cover LPs. There are no hard cover versions. The inner protective sleeve for EPs is simply a thin plastic bag, similar to the kind of commonly used for EMI/Odeon LPs. And EPs, like LPs, come with a separate lyric sheet inserted inside the cover. An EP lyric sheet is a single 6.5 inch square sheet. EPs are traditionally issued without Obis (except: Magical Mystery Tour OP-4335-6). But starting in 1970, an exception was made for the series of reprinted U.K. EPs (the AP-45XX series), all of which were issued with Obis. Since then, the only other EP to have an Obi is the recent TOKP (final vinyl series) reprint of the Magical Mystery Tour. |
| Type-1:
Odeon Red Obi (1968) In 1968, Magical Mystery Tour (OP-4335-6) was released, which was issued with this Obis. It has a red background. |
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| Type-2: Apple Green Obi (1970) In 1970, U.K. EPs (the AP-45XX series) were released, all of which were issued with this Obis. It has a green background. |
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| Example |
| (25. Jun. 1970/1st. Press) | |||
| AP-4568 | AP-4549 | AP-4570 | AP-4571 |
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| (25. Jun. 1970/1st. Press) | |||
| AP-4572 | AP-4573 | AP-4574 | AP-4575 |
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| (25. Jun. 1970/1st. Press) | |||
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| Type-3: "The Final Vinyl" series Obi (1992) Used for the TOJP series of Beatles reissues commemorating the 30th anniversary of the Beatles' debut and promoted as the final series of Beatles vinyl releases. So, "Magical Mystery Tour-double EPs type" was released as the catalog number TOKP-7412-3, too. It is a wide Obi that has the flag at the top of the Obi, but no series number on spine and Obi. Has a golden background. |
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| The final vinyl series are: |
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| TOKP-7412-3 |
| (23. SEP. 1992) |
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| The earlier release have lower prices because just about all these records ware released during a time of generally increasing prices. Printed prices always appear somewhere on the cover and Obi of Japanese records. In cases where the price changed before a new cover could be printed, a sticker (usually gold with black characters) bearing the new price was placed over the printed cover and Obi price. | ||
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| Symbol | Price | Comments |
| Odeon | ||
| F | 500yen | Japanese EP: OP-4000 Series |
| G | 500yen | Japanese EP: OP-4000 Series Sometimes stickered over with 600yen?* |
| 1,000yen | Magical Mystery Tour: OP-4335-6 | |
| H | 600yen | Japanese EP: OP-4000 Series |
| Apple: Japanese and U.K. EP series | ||
| H | 600yen | TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES Sometimes stickered over with 600yen |
| H | 700yen | TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES / TOSHIBA-EMI |
| I | 700yen | TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES / TOSHIBA-EMI |
| EMI/Odeon | ||
| I | 900yen | Japanese EP: EAS-30000 series TOSHIBA-EMI |
| none |
??
|
Magical Mystery Tour: Final Vinyl series TOSHIBA-EMI |
