The
bottom two lines state "Manufactured by Capitol Records,
Inc. a subsidiary of Capitol Industries-EMI, Inc. Hollywood
and Vine Streets, Hollywood, California Factories:
Jacksonville, Illinois; Winchester, Virginia" and "All
rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of
applicable laws. Printed in U.S.A." all in tiny uppercase
letters. |
COMMENTS
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In 1984, EMI began
preparing an album of unreleased Beatles recordings titled
Sessions. The project was shrouded in secrecy by EMI and
Capitol and given the code name Mary Jane after one of the
album's tracks, What's The New Mary Jane? Plans called for
issuing a preview single a few weeks ahead of the album's
release. Capitol's January 2, 1985, singles forecast listed
the release date for Mary Jane as January 31, 1985, but
stated that the single had been placed on "LEGAL HOLD."
Although the legal problems pertaining to the recordings
were later resolved, the disc was never issued.
The A side of the aborted single was Leave My Kitten Alone,
which in 1980 had been considered for release as a single.
After John Lennon was assassinated on December 9, 1980, EMI
determined that it would be inappropriate to move forward
with the plan. Apparently, EMI was concerned that people
might view the release of a previously unissued Beatles song
featuring a Lennon lead vocal as a callous act designed to
cash in on the singer's tragic death.
The scheduled B side of the single was an alternate version
of Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da from the White Album sessions. The
picture sleeve to the single states that the selection is
"take 5 recorded between the 3rd and 5th of July 1968 at
Studio 2 Abbey Road." This rejected reggae version of the
song features Paul on lead vocal, acoustic gui-tar and an
overdubbed guitar part played and recorded to sound like a
bass, John and George on background "la-la" vocals, Ringo on
drums and embellishments by outside musicians including
three saxophonists and Jimmy Scott on bongos. This recording
later appeared on Anthology 3 in October, 1996.
Although the single was pulled from Capitol's release
schedule before any copies of the record were pressed,
Capitol did produce a ten-inch acetate of Leave My Kitten
Alone (shown bottom center).
In addition, a number of picture sleeves were printed prior
to the cancellation. In 1994, a stash of 1,500 copies of the
unused sleeve was unearthed.
The picture sleeve has an upward curved top on the front
side and a downward curved top on the back. The front
features a black and white portrait of the group, which is
slightly set inward at the sides and top, creating a thin
white border.
"THE BEATLES" appears in black block letters margin left and
"LEAVE MY KITTEN ALONE" is margin right at the top of the
sleeve.
The back of the sleeve has another photo from the same
January, 1963, session as the picture on the front side.
While the Beatles have serious expressions on the front, the
boys are smiling on the back side. The top of the sleeve
has, from left to right, the oval Capitol logo, "THE
BEATLES" and the record number B-5439 above "STEREO." This
is followed by the song titles and songwriter's credits.
Additional information above the picture includes "Taken
from the forthcoming album: Sessions," "Original recordings
produced by George Martin" and "Remix: produced by Geoff
Emerick." The recording history of the songs is detailed
below the photo, along with copyright information.
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