In 1982, to mark the 20th anniversary of the release of “Love Me Do” — The Beatles’ first UK single — EMI reissued the track in a special picture sleeve. A picture disc version was also released.
This reissue marked the beginning of an eight-year campaign: on the 20th anniversary of each of The Beatles’ official UK singles, EMI released a corresponding commemorative edition. Each reissue came in a new picture sleeve and was made available both as a standard black vinyl single and as a picture disc.
For collectors, completing the full set of 22 singles required patience — it wasn’t until 1990 that the final release appeared. Below is the full release schedule for the series:
Love Me Do / P.S. I Love You (Parlophone – October 4, 1982)
Please Please Me / Ask Me Why (Parlophone – January 10, 1983)
From Me to You / Thank You Girl (Parlophone – April 11, 1983)
She Loves You / I’ll Get You (Parlophone – August 22, 1983)
I Want to Hold Your Hand / This Boy (Parlophone – November 28, 1983)
Can’t Buy Me Love / You Can’t Do That (Parlophone – March 19, 1984)
A Hard Day’s Night / Things We Said Today (Parlophone – July 9, 1984)
I Feel Fine / She’s a Woman (Parlophone – November 26, 1984)
Ticket to Ride / Yes It Is (Parlophone – April 9, 1985)
Help! / I’m Down (Parlophone – July 23, 1985)
We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper (Parlophone – December 2, 1985)
From The Beatles 20th Anniversary Picture Discs Complete – Catawiki – 22 Limited Edition Picture Discs from the ‘It Was 20 Years Ago Today’ project. A RARE full set of all 22 EMI UK issued picture disc singles – released between October 4, 1982 and March 5, 1990 – as part of the lengthy 20th anniversary re-release project. The 20th anniversary set were issued independently as limited editions. They were re-released approximately 20 years after the original 1960’s releases. The artwork on these picture disc singles mirrors the artwork in the Blue Box Singles set on all but 2 singles. For whatever reason, All you need is love and Hey Jude were redesigned before becoming picture discs.
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