| A unique feature of Japanese LPs is a
fragile strip of paper called an "Obi"
(pronounced oh'-bee; literally meaning "belt") wrapped around the cover. The practice of wrapping an Obi around an LP started many years before the Beatles releases and continues up to the present day. The Obi is generally used as a marketing tool, and Obi designs are as varied as the LPs they decorate. Some Obis display attractive graphics and provide a list of the songs on the album or other information considered useful to the consumer. Other Obis simply display a marketing phrase meant to pique the viewer's interest. |
| Type-6: "Arrow" in Dark Green Obi (1969 -
middle 1972?) One of the most important milestone affecting a label variation is November, 1968. that was the date when Apple Corp Ltd. of England and Toshiba came to an agreement on the manufacturing and distribution of the Beatles' record in Japan. As part of that agreement, Toshiba had to reissue on the Apple label all the records previously issued on the Odeon label. The sleeves and Obis also had to be altered to display the Apple logo. Further still, all the Odeon catalog number prefixes were changed to ones with Apple prefixes. In most cases, only the prefixes were changed and the catalog numbers were left intact. Odeon singles, EPs, and LPs with the OR or OP prefixes were changed to Apple singles, EPs, and LPs with the AR or AP prefixes, respectively. The older Beatles' albums which used the "Arrow" in the dark green Obi with Odeon logo were replaced the Apple logo. |
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| Reissue albums | |||
| AP-8026 | AP-8027 | AR-8028 | AP-8147 |
| (1970/3rd. Press) | (1970/3rd. Press) | (1970/3rd. Press) | (1970/3rd. Press) |
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| AP-8151 | AP-8156 | AP-8442 | AP-8443 |
| (1970/3rd. Press) | (1970/3rd. Press) | (1970/3rd. Press) | (1969/3rd. Press) |
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| exceptions | ||
| AP-8675 | AP-8678 | AP-9728 |
| (10. Sep. 1969/2nd. Press) | (10. Sep. 1969/2nd. Press) | (1969/2nd. Press) |
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| AP-8016 | AP-8676-7 | AP-8163 |
| (1970/2nd. Press) | (10. Sep. 1969/2nd. Press) | (1969/2nd. Press) |
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| Type-7:
"Gourd" in dark green or white Obi (1969 - middle 1972?) The new Beatles' albums* on the Apple label were issued with this type -- a narrow Obi with a large round Apple logo at the top, has a dark green or white background. *except: "Yellow Submarine (AP-8610)" |
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| Type 7-1: Dark green Obi |
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| AP-8570-1 | AP-8815 | AP-9009 | AP-80189* |
| (21. Jan. 1969/1st. Press) | (2. Oct. 1969/1st. Press) | (5. Jun. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Feb. 1971/1st. Press) |
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| Type 7-2: White Obi |
| AP-8940 | AP-80011 | AP-80012 | AP-80033 |
| (21. Apr. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Aug. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Aug. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Sep. 1970/1st. Press) |
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| AP-80034 | AP-80035 | AP-80060 | AP-80061 |
| (25. Sep. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Sep. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Oct. 1970/1st. Press) | (25. Oct. 1970/1st. Press) |
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| exception |
| AP-8610 |
| (21. Mar. 1969/1st. Press) |
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| Type-8:
"Forever" series Obi (late 1972? - 1976) This style Obi came into use in the late 1972(?) to promote all Beatles releases then currently on the Apple label. It is a wide Obi characterized by the Apple logo at the top, the words "The Beatles Forever" at the bottom, and has a dark green background. On 1st October 1973, Toshiba Musical Industries Ltd. was changed its name to Toshiba EMI Ltd. So, there were two kind of Obis --the company name is "Tohiba Musical..." version and "Toshiba EMI..." version. The order sheet was printed for the first Apple Obi but was discontinued in the early years of the Toshiba EMI/Apple Obi. Example |
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| Reissue albums | |||
| AP-8026 | AP-8147 | AP-8156 | AP-8570-1 |
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| AP-8610 | AP-8815 | AP-80060 | AP-80189 |
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| --> and more |
| exceptions | |
| EAP-9032B | EAP-9034B |
| (20. May 1973/1st. Press) | |
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| Type-9:
"Country Flag" series Obi (1976 - 1980?) This style Obi came into use in June 1976 to promote the EAS series of Beatles reissues. It is a wide Obi that has the flag of the country of the LP's origin at the top. The LP's series number is located on the Apple logo and at an angle at the bottom. Has a red background. |
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| Series Number (#1 - #29 : Apple label, #30 - #40 : EMI/Odeon label) |
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| Example |
| EAS-80550 | EAS-80555 | EAS-80556 | EAS-80560 |
| (20. Jun. 1976/1st. Press) | (20. Jun. 1976/4th. Press) | (20. Jun. 1976/4th. Press) | (20. Jun. 1976/2nd. Press) |
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| EAS-80565 | EAS-80567 | EAS-70100 | EAS-77009-10 |
| (5. Jun. 1976/2nd. Press) | (5. Jun. 1976/2nd. Press) | (5. Jul. 1976/4th. Press) | (20. Jun. 1976/1st. Press) |
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| --> and more |
| The order sheet was printed for the first "Toshiba-Musical.../Apple" Obi (on the back side of Obi) but was discontinued in the early years of the "Toshiba-EMI/Apple" Obi. This was because each dealer or record shop had developed their merchandise order system in the middle 70's. |  |
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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 | 1,500yen | Original OR-7000 Series |
| F | 1,800yen | Early original OP-7000 Series |
| G | 1,800yen | Some later original OP-7000 series |
| H | 1,700yen | Original OR-8000 series |
| H | 1,750yen | Some OP-7000 series |
| H | 2,000yen | Original OP-8000 series |
| H | 2,200yen | Original OP-9000 series |
| Apple | ||
| H | 2,000yen | TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES Sometimes stickered over with 2,200 |
| H | 2,000yen | TOSHIBA-EMI |
| H | 2,200yen | TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES original AP-9000 series |
| H | 2,200yen | TOSHIBA-EMI |
| H | 4,000yen | "THE BEATLES (White Album)"-original |
| H | 4,400yen | "THE BEATLES (White Album)"-TOSHIBA-EMI |
| EMI/Odeon | ||
| I | 2,000yen | EAS-60000 series single LP |
| I | 2,300yen | EAS-70000 series single LP |
| I | 2,500yen | EAS-80000 series single LP |
| I | 2,800yen | EAS-90000 series LP |
| I | 3,600yen | EAS-50000 series double LP |
| I | 4,000yen | EAS-60000 series double LP |
| I | 4,600yen | EAS-70000 or 80000 series double LP |
 ...Go to "Obi
History #1 (Odeon) Guide page ...Go to "Obi
History #3 (EMI/Odeon) Guide page |
