Beatles Reel to Reel Tapes

When the Beatles signed on with Capitol in late 1963, the reel to reel tape was the only tape alternative to vinyl. Professional recordings were made on reel tapes (as some still are today). These were reproduced at one half or one fourth of the recorded speed for the public. Purchasers of reel tapes were generally seen as audiophiles, as indeed many of them were. And so, Capitol did not issue all of its "popular" records on reel tape. Also, classical recordings were longer, and thus were better suited to the reel format. The reel-tape-purchasing public generally did not buy tapes that had only 30 minutes of music on them. Capitol solved that problem by offering 5" tapes instead of the standard 7" size and by offering two pop albums on one tape.

In the following listings, the title of the album occurs first, followed by the label and catalog number, then the tape speed ("ips" stands for "inches per second"), and any descriptive notes.

I have a Capitol tape catalog from 1965. This is the ONLY Capitol reel tape listed that was available in both mono and stereo.
Capitol issued the stereo tape in February of 1964, with the mono reel following in March.

The above tapes were manufactured by Music Tapes, Inc. It was also rare for UA to issue tapes in both mono and stereo. One copy of the mono tape in VG/VG+ condition sold recently for $260. The mono tape is rare.
Early copies are found with a rectangular label on the reel, while other, later, copies have a semicircular label. These have been verified on the stereo tape.

Capitol issued this tape in July of 1965.

Capitol issued this tape in September of 1965.

Capitol issued this tape in March of 1966.

As with ALL tape formats, all of the songs on this tape are in true stereo. At the time, the vinyl LP featured 3 songs in rechanneled stereo, since Capitol did not wait long enough for Parlophone (UK) to send them the stereo masters before preparing the stampers for the stereo LP. The tape was issued in July of 1966.

At this time (1966), the Meet the Beatles 5" mono and stereo tapes were reissued with brown boxes and a sticker which reads "new biosonic process." The mono reissue is scarce (SI = 7, $200). The stereo reissue sells for $80 in near mint condition and is SI = 5.

UA reissued their only Beatles tape at about this time. The reel is clear, and both the front and back cover and the label use the 60's UA logo. Made by Ampex. Some (earlier) copies have the label in white. On most copies, the label is a tan/yellow color.

Capitol issued the tape in November of 1966.

The tape was issued along with the LP.

The tape was issued along with the LP.

Meet the Beatles

Capitol Y1T-2047

3¾ips

7" tape; brown box

SI = 5

Current Value: $100

The above two tapes were issued in June of 1968.
A photograph of the Meet the Beatles tape is at the top of this page.

Two records on one tape. The tape was issued along with the LP.

The above tape was issued in January of 1969, with the LP.

Revolver

Capitol Y1T-2576

3¾ips

7" tape; brown box; reissue

SI = 5

Current Value: $50

The above tape was issued, at a slower speed, in March of 1969.

In mid-1969, Capitol left the reel tape manufacturing business, contracting out to Ampex Tapes. When the catalog switched to Ampex, there were no qualms about issuing one (short) album on one tape. Capitol (Ampex) stopped issuing new reel tapes in late 1971, but the format survived for possibly ten more years through record clubs as a "special order" item. It may still be possible to find new reel tapes (although not of Beatles recordings).

At this point, nearly all of the earlier tapes were all reissued onto Ampex 7½ ips tapes with blue boxes. It is interesting to note that Something New went out of print at this time. All combined tapes were split up into two tapes. The new tapes were:

Meet the Beatles	L-2047
Second Album	L-2080
Beatles '65	L-2228
Beatles VI	L-2358
Early Beatles	L-2309
Rubber Soul	L-2442
Yesterday and Today	L-2553
Revolver	L-2576
Sgt. Pepper	L-2653
Magical Mystery Tour	L-2835

Values: $75 to $100 each.
In addition, the following tapes were issued:

Yellow Submarine

Capitol/Ampex L-153

7½ips

blue box

SI = 4

Current Value: $50

For some reason, this tape was switched over from Apple to the Capitol label. All other tape formats of the album were on Capitol originally, except for the four track.

Wonderwall Music and the Wedding Album may also exist on reel tape, but these have not been documented.

Post Card	Y1T-3351	Mary Hopkin	SI = 5
Magic Christian Music	L-3364	Badfinger	SI = 6
No Dice	M-3367	Badfinger	SI = 6
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band	M-3373	Yoko Ono	SI = 7
Earth Song; Ocean Song	M-3381	Mary Hopkin	SI = 8
Straight Up	M-3387	Badfinger	SI = 8

Others are suspected [James Taylor, That's the Way God Planned It (by Billy Preston), Wild Life (by Wings)].
The Post Card tape is the earlier brown-box tape style; the others are all blue box Ampex issues.

The sixties saw a proliferation of tape formats. By late 1973, only the eight track and the cassette were to survive. After 1982, the cassette (which Capitol introduced in 1968) emerged as the sole survivor. The reel tape, the original tape format, was one of the casualties. Beatles related reel tapes are much harder to find than their LP counterparts.

Scarcity Index

A Scarcity Index has been introduced to indicate the relative rarity of records. The rating ranges from 1 to 10, with 1 being "very common" and 10 indicating that fewer than 20 copies are known to exist.

The Hard Day's Night reel in mono rates a 10, and the most common reels rate about a 4. This means that they are sold with frequency less than one fourth that of their LP counterparts -- at a rate of at least one per month in online auctions.

With few exceptions, then, since all of the Beatles' Capitol and Apple albums "went gold," most of the reels were also reasonably good sellers. In the highest condition, however, they become much harder to locate. Sealed copies command premium prices -- at least double the price of an open copy. With the exceptions noted above, all original reels should be considered somewhat plentiful in average grades.

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