The Toshiba EMI Recordings
LP: Odeon Label
(Update: 31th. March 2020)

TITLE		A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
CATALOG NUMBER		OP-7123
RELEASE DATE		5th September.1964/First Press
TRACK LISTING		SIDE 1		SIDE 2
		A Hard Day's Night		Any Time At All
		I Should Have Known Better		I'll Cry Instead
		If I Fell		Things We Said Today
		I'm Happy Just To Dance With You		When I Get Home
		And I Love Her		You Can't Do That
		Tell Me Why		I'll Be Back
		Can't Buy Me Love
FRONT COVER		BACK COVER	LABEL		DISK
INNER SLEEVE			LYRIC SHEET (Slip Sheet Type)
					The original plain white inner bag has a fold-over flap at the top of the bag to prevent the record from falling out. The lyric sheet is slip sheet type.
FRONT COVER CLOSE UP
		Odeon logo mark and catalog number "OP 7123" were printed on the front sleeve. Issues with a "STEREO" banner across the top of the cover.
BACK COVER CLOSE UP
		Toshiba pressed a lot of their records on red, "Everclean" vinyl. The Everclean vinyl was designed to be less prone to collecting static electricity and dust than the more common black vinyl.			Odeon logo mark was printed at the lower left corner of the back cover. The words "PAT." was embossed at the bottom of the back cover.
BACK COVER CLOSE UP
				Single type. Full laminated soft cover. Twin-flipback cover (round type). "Toshiba Musical Industries Ltd." and "F-¥1,800" were printed at the bottom of the back cover.
LABEL CLOSE UP
				Toshiba pressed a lot of their records on red, "Everclean" vinyl from 1958 through 1974 (maybe).  The Everclean vinyl was designed to be less prone to collecting static electricity and dust than the more common black vinyl. The words "MFD. BY TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES LTD. IN JAPAN" was printed at the perimeter.
LABEL CLOSE UP
					The words "LONG PLAYING" was printed at the bottom of the label. Catalog number and matrix number were printed at the right side of the center hole.
OTHER ITEM
-
RECORD LABEL		Odeon Label Type-1 (with the words "LONG PLAYING")
MIX		STEREO
MATRIX No.	SIDE 1	YEX 126 - 4
	SIDE 2	YEX 127 - 11
PRESS MARK		H4
VINYL COLOR		RED
RECORD COMPANY'S NAME	SLEEVE	Toshiba Ongaku kogyo Kabusikigaisha
	LABEL	MFD. BY TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES LTD. IN JAPAN
SYMBOL/PRICE		F - ¥1,800
LYRIC SHEET STYLE		Slip Sheet Type
COVER FORM		Single type. Full laminated soft cover. Twin-flipback cover (round type)
INNER SLEEVE		Plain White Inner bag
OBI		"Hankake" Obi White in design with dark blue Japanese text. Obis draped from the top, not forming a loop.
COVER DESIGN/ PHOTO/ NOTES		Notes: Ichiro Takasaki
COMMENTS		Black Odeon label with silver print. The words "LONG PLAYING" was printed at the bottom of the label. Toshiba released the first Japanese record featuring the Beatles. When this record was released in 1964, Toshiba's official name was "Toshiba Musical Industries Ltd." and they used the Odeon label for this and subsequent Beatles releases. Red vinyl: Besides good sound and quality printing, Japanese records also offered some other things of interest to the collector.  One of the primary manufacturing companies in Japan, Toshiba, pressed a lot of their records on red, “Everclean” vinyl from 1958 through 1974 (maybe).  While not pressed as collectors’ items, these red vinyl pressings are more sought out by collectors than their black vinyl counterparts.  The Everclean vinyl was designed to be less prone to collecting static electricity and dust than the more common black vinyl. The obi: A. K. A."Hankake" Obi It is made from very thin paper stock. It is white in design with dark blue Japanese text. It also features an Odeon logo, catalogue number and price information. While most Japanese records feature local music, a lot of music fans there like foreign music, as well.  The language barrier in Japan presented a problem – should foreign album covers be changed for Japanese albums?  The solution was the obi, which means “belt” or “sash”.  The obi is a strip of paper, usually about two inches wide, that wraps vertically around the album cover, containing information about the artist and album in Japanese.  As these strips of paper were fragile and easily torn, they are often missing, especially since consumers in the 1950s and 1960s attached little significance to them.  Finding Japanese records made prior to 1970 that still have the obi intact can be quite difficult, and for some albums, nearly impossible.  The inclusion of the obi can dramatically affect the price of some Japanese records, sometimes increasing the price by a factor of ten. While usually found in a wraparound strip, there are other versions of the obi that have occasionally been used.  In the early 1960s, a short-lived hankake obi, or “half obi” was used. These were small strips of paper that simply folded over the top of the cover.  These were problematic for retailers, as they tended to easily fall off of the record.

Toshiba released the first Japanese record featuring the Beatles. When this record was released in 1964, Toshiba's official name was "Toshiba Musical Industries Ltd." and they used the Odeon label for this and subsequent Beatles releases.

Mix	Odeon Type-1	Odeon Type-2	Odeon Type-3
MONO
STEREO

Label Variation #1...The Words "LONG PLAYING" credit

Mix	Label	Odeon Type-1 "LONG PLAYING" was printed.	Odeon Type-2 and Type-3 "LONG PLAYING" was removed.
MONO
STEREO

Label Variation #2..."Company Name" credit

All of the Odeon label issues, its company name "TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES LTD." was printed at the perimeter of the label. In middle 1968 to early 1969, Odeon label was changed from type-2 to type-3. The words "MFD. UNDER LICENCE BY TOSHIBA MUSICAL INDUSTRIES LTD. IN JAPAN" was printed at the perimeter.

Mix	Label	Odeon Type-1 and Type-2 "MFD.BY"  at perimeter	Odeon Type-3 "MFD.UNDER LICENCE BY" at perimeter
MONO
STEREO

MONO		STEREO
There is no mixing type credit on the label.		The word "STEREO" was printed on the label.

Catalog Number	MONO		STEREO
	Sleeve	Label	Sleeve	Label
OR-7XXX or OP-7XXX
OR-8XXX or OP-8XXX
OP-9XXX	-	-	Preparing Now	Preparing Now

Besides good sound and quality printing, Japanese records also offered some other things of interest to the collector.  One of the primary manufacturing companies in Japan, Toshiba, pressed a lot of their records on red, “Everclean” vinyl from 1958 through 1974 (maybe).  While not pressed as collectors’ items, these red vinyl pressings are more sought out by collectors than their black vinyl counterparts.  The Everclean vinyl was designed to be less prone to collecting static electricity and dust than the more common black vinyl.

Toshiba Kawaguchi Factory, in Saitama

All of the Toshiba's red vinyl records were exclusively manufactured by its factory in Kawaguchi, Saitama.

Color	Vinyl	Comments
Red Vinyl (Ever Clean Records)		Most if not all of the red vinyl OR and OP Odeon LPs were manufactured with an ingredient intended to prevent the buildup of static electricity on the disks. TOSHIBA's trademark for records manufactured with this ingredient is "Ever Clean", and special efforts were made to promote this feature.
Black Vinyl (Almost Contract Pressings)		Sometimes Toshiba had problems to press enough records to keep up with the demand. To increase production they turned to other companies (Gramophone, Sony etc.) to press up some copies of a particular release, however, the majority of copies were pressed by Toshiba themselves.

Most if not all of the red vinyl OR and OP Odeon LPs were manufactured with an ingredient intended to prevent the buildup of static electricity on the disks. TOSHIBA's trademark for records manufactured with this ingredient is "Ever Clean", and special efforts were made to promote this feature. The "Ever Clean" trademark appears as shown below on the back cover or (if applicable ) inside the gatefold of an LP. "Ever Clean" seems to have been used on LPs only. EPs or Singles bearing the trademark cannot be found.

booklet: "Toshiba Ever Clean (July 1960)"

"EverCrean" Dust is prohibited on records All Toshiba records are "Ever Clean", so you can always enjoy the music with the best sound quality without dust. (printed on the inner sleeve)	No dust on Everclean Records (left)

At the Audio Fair in the fall of 1957, Kawamura Electric Laboratory exhibited Hi-Fi stereo equipment. The player is a PA-2 from Neumann, Germany. This player is not sold to the public, but only the cartridge is sold at a musical instrument store for 50,000 yen. After the war, Toshiba finally made the Toshiba Records, and the cutting machines were very carefully selected. As a result, the AM32-A-va32a type manufactured by Neumann was selected ahead of other Japanese companies. Then, in November 1959, the AM 32B-va32g type for stereos was arrived in Japan. The tape, which is the program source for record cutting, is recorded by Telefunken tape recorder M-10. Microphones are Toshiba's Velocity type, German products are Neuman's U-47 and M-49B, and SM-2 type for stereo. Cutting was performed in the room of the Kawaguchi factory. The Neumann Cutter was mounted on an anti-vibration table with the cooperation of the Mazda Research Institute and the Earthquake Laboratory at the University of Tokyo. Then, a record is produced through a plating process and a press. Furthermore, the material of the record is "Ever Clean" by the invention of Toshiba Mazda Laboratory. "Everclean" is the world's first and highest quality antistatic material. (From the booklet: "Toshiba Ever Clean (July 1960)")

Matrix numbers are alphanumeric codes (and on occasion, other symbols) stamped or hand written (or a combination of the two) into the run-out groove area of a gramophone record. This is the non-grooved area between the end of the final song on a record's side and the label, also known as the run-off groove area, end-groove area, matrix area, or "dead wax". There are two parts of the matrix number to be considered: the "main number", which is usually printed on the label as well, and "extra information" which can include a cut or take number. The most important part of the "extra information" is usually the cut number, which is a suffix to the main number. For example, matrix number 12345 is seen on a label, but examination of the run-out groove area reveals number 12345–3, which indicates this is the third cut of this side. It is not unusual to find records with a different cut number on each side. (From "Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia")

Matrix Number: YEX - 605 - 2

Press Mark: 7L=1967 November

Press Mark: 9J=1969 September