The Best Beatles Blog

Yellow Submarine Songtrack Sampler

2012-01-28T14:06:00.002-05:00

Another Apple release, another Apple sampler. This time the "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" project came with a sampler in CD form with the catalogue number DPRO 13853-2. The sampler was released in late 1999 - probably early September.

The sampler contains four tracks: 1. Hey Bulldog; 2. Yellow Submarine; 3. Eleanor Rigby; 4. It's All Too Much. The mixes are the same as the regular "Songtrack" release.

The front cover is basically the same as the commercial release. I do not have a copy at the time so I cannot give you the description yet. It has been ordered and when it arrives, I will edit the post.

Yellow Submarine Songtrack

2012-01-12T10:21:00.002-05:00

On or around September 14 1999, EMI/Apple released a soundtrack LP and CD containing new mixes of the tunes presented in the re-issue of the "Yellow Submarine" Apple film. The catalogue number for this LP and CD are Apple UK 21481. The LP and CD contain 15 songs. including all 6 songs from side one of the original Apple "Yellow Submarine" LP. The rest of the tunes are from the snippets of songs used in the film. There is no George Martin music on the "Songtrack" version.

A very simple front cover for both the LP and the CD. Both feature a large drawing of the animated submarine with the exception of the last quarter of the sub containing the propellor and back directional flap. The Beatles' logo is large at the top of the front cover and the title of the LP/CD "Yellow Submarine" is written in large yellow letters with the word "Songtrack" written between the two former words in small white spaced lettering.

The back cover is different for the LP and CD. The LP was only manufactured in the UK. The LP back cover has the Apple logo at the upper right side along with the UPC code. The tracklisting is separated between side 1 and side 2 and appears on the left. The production credits and the copyrights appear at the lower left hand side. The CD is similar with the exception of the tracklisting which appears with no separation between side 1 and 2. My CD copy is Canadian therefore I have the Apple logo as well as the EMI Canada logo to the left of the UPC code. The US Capitol logo is just below the tracklisting on the left side. The production and copyright credits are at the bottom of the CD.

The inner part of the LP gatefold cover opens up to feature drawn scenes from the animated movie with reference to all of the songs from the LP. The CD features an insert that fold out and shows the same drawn scenes and references as the LP. The inner tray of the CD has the front cover drawing without the artist and title.

The label on the LP is also the same as the front cover including artist and title logo with either "side 1" or "side 2" and "all rights reserved" perimeter print. The CD label is similar to it's LP counter part with the exception of no side designation and the Apple logo is present.

This is the only Beatles LP that I know of which has had all the songs professionally re-mixed to stereo. The reason for the remixes is simply the fact that the re-issue film/DVD requires a 5.1 surround sound mix. In fact, to my ears...these mixes are absolutely amazing and sound wonderful. Quite an improvement from the original 60s mixes in many cases.

"Yellow Submarine" uses the stereo intro and mono Lennon voicing in the last verse. "Hey Bulldog" uses a mix whereby the bass is brought more to the center. "Eleanor Rigby" has the vocals more pronounced although there seems to be a split second sync problem. "Love You To" has the electric guitar a little more pronounced. "All Together now" has the finger cymbals brought up in the mix. "Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds" has the bass drum quite up front. "Think For Yourself" has the vocals more centered. "Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends" also brings the instruments closer to the center. "Baby, You're a Rich Man" brings the piano to the fore. "Only A Northern Song" is in true stereo and the vocals are much cleaner. "All You Need is Love" brings the mix centered. "When I'm Sixty Four" brings a clearer mix. "Nowhere Man" centers the vocals. "It's All Too Much" completes the LP/CD. Although these are only quick samples of the mixes, they must be heard to be believed. Good job !!

All of the tracks were re-mixed at Abbey Road (which took two years) by Peter Cobbin, Paul Hicks, Mirek Siles and Allan Rouse. The original LP came with a yellow sticker on the front cover claiming "Yellow Submarine" feature film available on video and DVD. My later copy does not have the sticker. Also, the original LP was on yellow vinyl. My later copy is black vinyl. My Japanese copy (Apple/EMI TOJP-60145) also comes with the OBI and the four page lyric sheet and black vinyl. The LP and DVD are no longer in print (as far as I know).

Anthology Three CD Sampler

2012-01-07T12:15:00.003-05:00

The last of the CD samplers for the Anthology series, number three was released somtime in 1996 according to the copyright information. I'm pretty sure it was released around the same time as the commercial release. The catalogue number for the Anthology Three CD sampler is Apple/Capitol DRPO-7087.

The layout is very similar to the previous Anthology Two CD sampler. The CD comes in a jewel case and has the bass drum on the front cover similar to the previous CD sampler with differences in colour (the back ground is cream coloured and the white lettering is on black). The angle of the drum also changes. The front cover contains the Beatles' logo and the title "Anthology 3". There are four black and white photos of the individual Beatles on the left side of the opening in the front jewel case. All photos taken during the "White Album" sessions with the exception of George Harrison who's photo looks like it was taken in 1967 (he has his strat and coloured shirt). John is on top with his Epiphone, Paul is next with headphones and guitar, George and then Ringo at a microphone. The spine of the jewel case is balck and contains (from top) the catalogue number, the artist and title and the words "promo CD" and finally the Capitol and Apple logos.

The back of the jewel case contains the blurb: "Promotional Use Only/ Not For Sale", the catalogue number on an angle in tiny print along the top right, the track listing, the production credits , the Apple and Capitol Logos followed by the copyright information. Finally; mono and stereo differences are noted.

An eight page booklet is contained within. The booklet contains the tracklisting and a photo from the final August 1969 photo session, a quote from Derek Taylor, the tracklisting with detailed liner notes along with photos of the Fabs from various sessions and colour photos of the Beatles from the period 1968/69. The bottom last page contains the catalogue number/ promo markings/ copyright information along with the Apple logo on the left and the Capitol logo on the right.

The CD has the large full Apple with a silver background. The "promotional use only/not for sale" blurb is at the top followed by the catalogue number. The Beatles' logo is on the left hand side along with the Capitol logo underneath. On the right side of the CD are the words: "Taken from the album The Beatles Anthology 3" and "See booket for details". The tracklisting is at the bottom. The perimeter print contains the "all rights reserved" print along with the Capitol west coast Hollywood address. The back of the inlay card is cream coloured along with the title and artists' logos.

The tracklisting contained within are as follows: "Helter Skelter" (take 2 edited), "Cry Baby Cry" (take 1), "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (original July 25 1968 version), "Because" (remix - vocals only) and "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (outtake).

These CD samplers contain very nice packaging (especially the first one) and are quite collectible.

Anthology Two CD Sampler

2012-01-02T10:16:00.002-05:00

The second CD sampler promotes "Anthology Two" and was released sometime in early 1996 (according to the copyright information). The catalogue number for this release is Apple/Capitol DPRO-11200.

Although the packaging is not as elaborate as the first promo disc, this release is presented in a very colourful jewel case. The front of the CD pictures the Beatles' bass drum circa the "Pepper" era along with a yellow background. The Beatles' logo and the title "Anthology 2" are printed on the bass drum. On the left side of the bass drum and within the see-through section of the jewel case in front are four black and white photographs of the individual members of the band. From top to bottom are: John Lennon circa 1965/Paul McCartney circa 1965/George Harrison circa 1967 and Ringo Starr circa 1966. The spine is blue with (left to right) the catalogue number, the artist, title, and the words "promo CD" along with the Capitol and Apple logos.

The back of the CD is dark pink with the catalogue number inscibed along the top right edge. The top of the back cover has the catalogue number followed by the tracklisting/ production credits/ Capitol and Apple logos/ photo credits/ copyright information and lastly the words "Printed in USA".

The promo comes with a 12 page booklet containing photographs and liner notes for the tracks contained on the CD. The pages range from yellow, blue and dark pink with photos from the Pepper cover sessions, stills from the promo films for "Paperback Writer/Rain", "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am The Walrus" as well as the "Lady Madonna" photo session. The back cover of the booklet contains the promotion use only/not for sale blurb at the top with the Apple and Capitol logo at the bottom as well as the copyright information.

The inlay for the CD is similar to the front cover with a yellow background and the artist logo and title. The CD has the full Apple with a silver background, perimeter print with the manufactured and all rights reserved print. The left side has the Beatles' logo with a small Capitol logo underneath. The left side has the words "Taken from the album The Beatles Anthology 2" also "see booklet for details". The top has the not for sale comment and the catalogue number. The tracklisting is at the bottom.

The tracks contained on the CD are as follows: "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" (take 5), "Yesterday" (take 1), "Help!" (live performance from "Blackpool Night Out"), "I'm Looking Through You"(original version before re-make), "Taxman"(take 11), "Eleanor Rigby" (instrumental mix), "I'm Only Sleeping" (rehearsal/take 1), "Strawberry Fields Forever"(take 1), "I Am the Walrus" (take 16) and "Across The Universe" (take 2).

Anthology One CD Sampler

2011-12-31T10:20:00.003-05:00

For all of the Anthology installments (one, two and three), Apple released a CD sampler for each. Let's start with the Anthology One CD Sampler. I'm not sure about the release date for any of these, but I'm assuming that the CD sampler was released around the same time as the commercial version so I'll put it at November-ish 1995. The catalogue number is Apple DPRO-10289. My copy states "printed in the USA".

There is an outer slip case that consists of what looks like a wall, with bits and pieces of torn up post paper all over it and you can barely make out the letters contained within the Beatles logo. The top and bottom of the outer slip also have this motif as well as the back. The difference is that on the back bottom, the lone Apple logo is present. There is no more information on the outer slip.

You pull out the CD case and it is tri-fold. The front cover consists of the Beatles' bassdrum in two layers. The outer layer is silver and the bass drum perimeter is also black and silver. The inner liner contains a faux type see-through cardboard featuring the "Ludwig" drum logo, the Beatles logo (large) and "Anthology" printed underneath. As you open the left side like a book, the white cardboard is embossed with the "Anthology" print in spaced letters. Upon opening this side to the right, you discover the CD and photos of the Beatles (one from early 1963 and the other from August 1969) in black and white. The CD itself has a rainbow multi-coloured perimeter and white background with the Beatles logo at the top in silver with the "Anthology" title underneath. The Apple logo is at the bottom. Written in silver along the perimeter is the catalogue number and copyright information.

The CD also comes with an eight page booklet consisting of a photo of the black and white bass drum with the Beatles logo and Anthology and the number "1" on the bass drum. The next page contains the Beatles logo/Anthology and number "1' as well as the tracklisting, Apple logo, catalogue number and copyright information. The inner pages of the booklet have liner notes for each track and the back cover features outtake photos for the cover of "A Hard Day's Night" (1964).

The tracks contained on the sample are as follows: "One After 909"(takes 3,4 and 5), "Leave My Kitten Alone"(take 5), "And I Love Her"(take 6), "Three Cool Cats"(Decca audition) and "I Wanna Be Your Man"( Around The Beatles television special).

The Anthology One CD Sampler packaging is by far the nicest CD sampler of any Beatles release so far (in my opinion). Quite collectible as well.

Anthology Three

2011-12-24T10:47:00.002-05:00

The final installement in the series was released first on two compact discs on or about October 29 1966. The vinyl version which carried three records was released a couple of weeks later on November 12 1996. The November date may have been the release of the US version as the UK version may have been released beforehand. The catalogue number for "Anthology 3" is Apple 34451.
The front cover features the last section of the long painting by Klaus Voorman/Alfons Keifer with the same upper photo of Astrid from Hamburg. This cover features a large ripped poster of the front cover of "Let It Be" in the center with Paul's photo from this era ripped away to feature his photo from the "Rubber Soul" LP. Just above that you can see the US front cover version of "A Hard Day's Night". Surrounding the center piece are (at left) : the front cover of "Pepper" and a slice of the San Francisco poster for the last live performance. A small section of "Live At the BBC" in sepia is also present. At the right is John Lennon's face from the "Revolver" front cover along with a small drawing of Klaus Voorman from the mid-90s. The "P !" from the front cover of the US "Help!" LP is shown as well as the bottom right hand corner of the UK "A Hard Day's Night" LP. The "Yellow Submarine" LP is also presented within the large center section with the submarine drawing and a bit of the Apple bonkers. At the very top along with the Hamburg photo, is a section of "Revolver" as well as what I think is a Shea Stadium poster for a live performance.
The back cover has the same canvas motif as the previous installments. Both the CD and vinyl formats have the credits on the top left hand along with the Capitol and Apple logos for the North American releases and only the Apple logo for the UK releases. The UPC code is at the upper right. The tracklisting, artist logo and album title are all centered.
The CD version contains a 44 page booklet along with an advert in the middle for the future "Anthology" VHS tapes. The photographs cover the Beatles era 1968 to August 1969. Liner notes are also present for each song. The LP has a tri-fold cover (same as the others) with the photographs (edited) from the booklet on the center panel and the liner notes for the songs on either side panels. My inner sleeves for all three installments are white.
The CD labels have a silver back ground with the full Apple for CD1 and a sliced Apple for CD2. The Beatles Logo and the title are to the left while the copyright information and catalogue number is to the right. The bottom states "see booklet for details". There are no company logos on the CDs. The vinyl version has the full Apple on one side of the LP and the sliced Apple on the reverse. The labels have a black background with the same information on the left and right as the CDs with the exception of the blurb "see sleeve for details". The US vinyl version has the Capitol logo underneath the catalogue number on the right while the UK vinyl version does not have that logo.
The tracklisting is as follows: "A Beginning"(instrumental recorded July 22 1968 during the "White Album" sessions but never used until now), "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" (Esher demo May 1968), "Helter Skelter" (take 12), "Mean Mister Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "Glass Onion", "Junk", "Honey Pie" (Esher demos, May 1968), "Don't Pass Me By" (vocal overdub), "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" (reggae version), "Goodnight" (piano demo cross faded to commercial version), "Cry Baby Cry" (take 1), "Blackbird" (take 4), "Sexy Sadie" (take 6), "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (demo), "Hey Jude" (rehearsal July 29 1968), "Not Guilty" ( "Sessions" mix), "Mother Nature's Son" (take 2), "Glass Onion" (mono mix), "Rocky Raccoon" (take 8), "What's The New Mary Jane" ("Sessions" mix), "Step Inside Love/Los Paranoias" ("I Will" rehearsal tape), "I'm So Tired" (edit of takes 3,6 and 9), "I Will" (take 1), "Why Don't We Do It In The Road" (take 4), "Julia" (take 2), "I've Got A Feeling" (Jan 22 /69), "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" (Jan 21/69), "I Dig A Pony" (Jan 22/69), "Two Of Us" (Jan 24/69) "For You Blue" (take 1), "Teddy Boy" (edit of Jan 28 and 24 / 69) "Rip It Up/Shake, Rattle and Roll/ Blue Suede Shoes" (Jan 26/69), "The Long And Winding Road"(Jan 26 /69), "Oh! Darling" (Jan 27/69), "All Things Must Pass" (demo), "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" (Jan 29/69), "Get Back"(rooftop performance Jan 30/69), "Old Brown Shoe" (demo), "Octopus's Garden" (edit take 2 and take 8), "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" (take 5), "Something" (demo), "Come Together" (take 1), "Come and Get It" (demo), "Ain't She Sweet" (July 24/69), "Because" (vocal isolation mix), "Let It Be" (Jan 25/69), "I Me Mine" (Glyn Johns mix), "The End" (new fabricated mix).
As you can see, this is quite the eclectic collection and probably the most interesting one. A lot of studio outtakes and rehearsals.
My vinyl copy came with a yellow sticker on the upper left hand side of the front cover promoting unreleased versions of "Hey Jude", "Come Together" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and shows the Beatles logo and title on the left side.

Anthology Two

2011-12-17T09:13:00.002-05:00

The next installment of the "Anthology" series was released on March 19 1996 with the very inventive title: "Anthology 2"( catalogue number 34448). This was released in the LP, CD and cassette format. Since I deal mainly with vinyl and CD, the post will reflex this fact. This release came as a 3-LP set or a 2-CD set.
The front cover of this "Anthology 2" release featured the addition of the centerpiece for Klaus Voorman's design and shows the Beatles circa 1966 on a Shea Stadium promotional poster for an upcoming show, the upperleft shows some of the cover for the "Please Please Me" lp, the bottom left show George and Ringo from "With The Beatles" and George from the "Rubber Soul" LP. The upper right shows the Beatles photographed in Hamburg by their friend Astrid, the US version of the front cover of the "Help!" soundtrack, John's eyes from the "Revolver" LP cover, the wax figures of the Beatles from the "Pepper" LP cover, John's mouth from the "Revolver" LP along with the portrait of the artist (Klaus), the start and stripes from what I'm guessing is the San Francisco promotional poster for the upcoming show with both John and Paul partly viewed.
The back cover continues with the "canvas" theme; credits are once again at the upper left along with the Apple and Capitol logos, the bar code at the upper right (for both formats) and the track listing below/ the Beatles logo/ the album title.
The CD came with a 48 page booklet including photos from the era along with liner notes on the origin of the songs with outtake/concert information. The LP came with a tri-fold sleeve featuring the Sgt. Pepper outtake photo along with all the photos from the booklet (cropped in order to make it all fit) and the same information on the tunes.
The labels for the CD contain the full Apple for CD 1 with the Beatles logo and title on the left and copyright information on the right. The bottom of the label explains that this is "disc 1" and to see the booklet for details. The second CD contains the sliced Apple for CD 2 with the same format as CD 1. The label backgrounds for the CD are silver. For the LP labels, the first side has the full Apple and the second side has the sliced Apple for each of the three vinyl records. The format is basically the same as the CD with the exception that the background is cream coloured and the labels for the LPs have the Capitol logo for the US versions along with "Made in the USA" while the UK versions have no Capitol logo and the "Made in the UK" blurb.
The recordings cover music recorded between February 1965 and February 1968 along with "Real Love" (which is the first track) . This is followed by: "Yes It Is" (take 2 into take 14), "I'm Down" (take 1), "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" (take 5), "If You've Got Trouble" (take 1), "That Means A Lot" (take 1), "Yesterday" (take 1), "It's Only Love" (take 2), "I Feel Fine/Ticket To Ride/Yesterday/Help!" (live August 01 1965 from Blackpool), "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" (live August 15 1965 from Shea Stadium), "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" (take 1), "I'm Looking Through You" (take 1), "12-Bar Original" (take 2 edited), "Tomorrow Never Knows"(take 1), "Got to Get You Into My Life" (take 5), "And Your Bird Can Sing" (take 2 overdub session), "Taxman" (take 11), "Eleanor Rigby" (instrumental re-mix), "I'm Only Sleeping" (rehearsal/take 1), "Rock 'N' Roll Music/She's A Woman" (live June 30 1966 from Tokyo Nippon Budokan), "Strawberry Fields Forever" (demo/take 1/take 7/ edit and remix take 26), "Penny Lane" (remix and edit), "A Day In The Life" ( take 1/ take 2/take 6 and back to take 2), "Good Morning Good Morning"(take 8), "Only A Northern Song"(remix), "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite" (take 1/take 2/take 7), "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (take 6/take 7 and take 8 remix), "Within You, Without You" (instrumental remix), "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)" (take 5), "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)", (remix and edited), "I Am The Walrus" (take 16), "The Fool On The Hill" (demo), "Your Mother Should Know"(take 17 re-make), "The Fool On The Hill" (take 4), "Hello Goodbye" (take 16), "Lady Madonna" (takes 3 and 4 plus sax overdub remix), "Across The Universe"(take 2).
As you can see, the project at this stage used a lot of newly created mixes and edited from various takes from the master tapes. Nothing wrong with that, but not very organic (in my opinion). Interesting none the less.
The original release for this installment was late February, but was delayed due a change in the tracklisting when the song "I'm Down" was changed from being track 6 to being track 3. This change was suggested by Paul McCartney.

The front cover of my UK copy comes with a pink sticker glued to the upper left promoting the "new single" "Real Love".

The Anthology Two LP Sampler

2011-12-10T10:22:00.002-05:00

A very nice promotional item (probably one of the best Beatles' LP covers) was released about a week before the actual "Anthology 2" project. This promotional item was an LP sampler containing seven tracks taken from the upcoming project. This sampler was issued on or about March 14 1996 and the LP was limited to between 3,000 and 4,000 copies. The catalogue number for the Anthology 2 LP Sampler is Apple/Capitol SPRO - 11206/11207.

The front cover features the Beatles looking at transparencies of a previous photo session which would eventually produce the "butcher" cover. The fabs are at EMI studios for the promotional taping of the single "Paperback Writer/Rain". The black and white photo was taken by Robert sleyWhitaker on May 19 1966. The photo is surrounded by a paisley pattern in silver and white. The back cover is silver with black print. The Beatles logo, Anthology 2, side A tracklisting and side B tracklisting are all featured along with the production credits, the Apple logo and Capitol logo, promotional markings and copyright information at the bottom.

The labels has the full Apple for the first side and the sliced Apple for the second side. The Beatles logo is prodominant on the upper left along with the side number. The copyright information is to the upper right and the tracklising is at the bottom. Both sides feature the Capitol dome logo.

The tracklisting is as follows: Side A has take 1 of "Strawberry Fields Forever", take 1 of "I'm Down" and the rehearsal and take 1 of "I'm Only Sleeping". Side B contains the re-mixed orchestral backing of "Eleanor Rigby", a newly made remix of "Only A Northern Songs" from two January 1967 sessions and an April session, "Tomorrow Never Knows" take 1 from April 1966 and finally "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (reprise)" take 5 from April 01 1967.

A fairly rare collectible and a beautiful item from the Anthology series.

Real Love

2011-12-03T10:08:00.002-05:00

The second (and final) single for the Anthology project was released in early March 1996. It appears that the single was originally intended to be released the previous month but was delayed. The official release is March 05 1996 (as a CD single) with the 45 vinyl version being released a week later on March 12 1996. The catalogue number for the single is Apple 58544.

The vinyl single contained two track: "Real Love" which is another Lennon demo recorded in 1979 and containing vocals, piano and a drum machine. The other band members added various instruments, Paul doubling the vocal, and Paul and George adding backing overdubs. The overdubs were completed in February 1995. The production was by the band and Jeff Lynne. Engineers for this work are Geoff Emerick and Jon Jacobs. "Real Love" is not as strong as the first Lennon-demo-cum-recording, but a nice effort nonetheless. The B-side of the single is "Baby's In Black" - a live performance of the Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl on August 30 1965 with the intro taken from the previous night's appearance.

The CD single contained two bonus tracks: the first being "Yellow Submarine" containing a different mix of the song enhaning the sound effects as well as adding the original spoken intro. This version takes the tapes from the May 26 and June 01 1966 sessions. The second being "Here, There And Everywhere" once again using various mixes from the original sessions. The song starts with a guide vocal from Paul recorded as take 07 and glides into the three part harmonies of take 13. Both bonus songs recorded at EMI studios.

The front cover of the single shows a Beatles photograph taken by Robert Whitaker from late 1965. Both Ringo's and Paul's cigarettes are brushed out of the photo to make it politically correct (boo !). The Beatles logo is at the top right and the title is at the bottom "Real" and "Love" are separated by a heart shaped red Apple.

The back cover has the canvas theme and contains the Beatles logo at the top left (vinyl ) or top center (CD) with the UPC code at the top right (vinyl ) or on the inner jewel case (CD). The title follows (same as above with the red heart shaped Apple) and then the track listing. The bottom contains the Apple logo and in the case of the vinyl version the Capitol logoo is added. The copyright information is at the bottom of the back cover.

The vinyl single has the full Apple for side one and the sliced Apple for side two. Both sides have a black background. The Beatles logo appears on the left as well as the side number and tracklisting. The right side contains the copyright information. The bottom contains production credits and the Capitol dome logo.

The CD has a full Apple with the clear background. The Beatles logo is at the left and the four tracks are listed at the bottom. Also contains the blurb: "See Inlay for details". The right hand side contains the copyright information and Compact Disc logo (my copy was made in Holland). My copy of the CD also contains a bright red sticker with the Beatles Anthology logo, catalogue number and promotion for the remaining tracklisting.

Free As A Bird Single

2011-11-27T11:39:00.002-05:00

"Free As A Bird" was a single released on December 12 1995 as a CD maxi single. This single was used to tie in with the "Anthology 1" release and featured the John Lennon composition as the first song. The "Beatles" version is credited to all four members. The original demo was recorded by Lennon in 1977 and over dubbed by Paul, George and Ringo at Paul's studio in Sussex February and March 1994. The second song on the CD is "I Saw Her Standing There" featuring the complete take 09 with count-in from the February 11 1963 session at EMI. The commercial version is take 1 with this count-in from take 09 edited at the beginning. The third song featured is "This Boy" outtakes 12 and 13 from the October 17 1963 session at EMI. The last song on the CD is "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" which is the instrumental part from the 1967 Christmas flexi. This is overdubbed (boo!) with greetings from 1966 for a pirate radio station and this is an example of how the future "Anthology" series would use re-mixes and created manufactured "outtakes" losing the original concept of hearing the actual tapes as they were originally recorded. This happened mainly on "Can't Buy Me Love" from the "Anthology 1" series where the guitar solo was flown from a different take as an example.

The CD front cover has the Beatles logo topa right, a drawing of Pete Shotton surrounded by birds by John Lennon from the book "In His Own Right". The title at the bottom and "CD Maxi Single" on the bottom left and the catalogue number on the lower right. "Apple 58497". The back cover has the canvas backing similar to the 3-LP/2-CD equivilant. The artist, title and barcode at the top with the tracklisting and recording information following. The Apple logo is at the bottom left and the Capitol logo is at the bottom right. Credits and copyright information is at the bottom. The CD features a full Apple with silver backing.

About a week later on December 19 1995, a vinyl single was released in the US by Capitol and Apple. The vinyl single contains "Free As A Bird" on side one and "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" on side two. The front cover contains the same drawing as the CD with the exception of only the artist name and title with no other writing. The back cover contains information on only the two songs contained within.

The label has a full apple on the a-side and a half label on the b-side. The labels have a cream coloured background. On the left side of the labels are the artist name and the song in question. The right side have the copyright information.

The Beatles Anthology 1

2011-11-19T08:40:00.002-05:00

Apple released a series of broadcasts, studio outtakes, private recordings, interview material, live material, unreleased recordings and new version of titles with three separate volumes consisting of 3 vinyl LPs / 2 compact disc installments.

The name of the project was The Beatles "Anthology" which included television broadcasts, 10 hours of material with interviews and rare film footage (released first on VHS tapes and later on DVD) along with the recordings and a book.

The first installment "Anthology 1" was released by Apple world wide on November 21 1995 (the morning after the first television episode aired on television). The catalogue number for "Anthology 1" is Apple 34445 for both the vinyl version and CD version.

This installment covers The Beatles' music from the years 1958 to 1964. The sole exception is the very first track which is titled "Free As A Bird" written by Lennon as a demo in the late 1970s and embellished with instruments and vocals by Paul, George and Ringo. Listed as a "Beatles" recording and producers credit is to all four Beatles and Jeff Lynne. This is followed by a statment by Lennon and is then followed by two 1958 Quarry Men demos: "That'll Be The Day" and "In Spite Of All The Danger" (written by Paul and George). After a Paul statement, the next 3 tracks consist of a taped 1960 rehearsal: "Hallelujah, I love Her So/ You'll Be Mine/"Cayenne". Another Paul statment follows and then followed by the June 22 1961 Hamburg Tony Sheridan sessions: "My Bonnie/Ain't She Sweet/Cry For A Shadow". There is a statment by Lennon and Brian Epstein followed by the following 5 Decca Audition tracks recorded January 01 1962: "Searchin/Three Cool Cats/The Sheik of Araby/Like Dreamers Do/Hello Little Girl". After another Epstien speech, two tracks are featured from the first EMI recordings of June 06 1962: "Besame Mucho/Love Me Do". Unused track "How Do You Do It" from the EMI Sept. 04 1962 session. "Please Please Me" outtake from September 11 1962 EMI session. Outtake/unused version of "One After 909" from the EMI March 05 1963 session follows. "Lend Me Your Comb" from a BBC July 02 1963 recording. "I'll Get You" live version from the London Palladium October 14 1963, Lennon speech, followed by 5 tracks from a live performance in Stockholm, Sweden October 24 1963: "I Saw Her Standing There/From Me To You/ Money (That's What I Want)/You Really Got A Hold On Me/Roll Over Beethoven". Three tracks from the live performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre November 04 1963: "She Loves You/Till There Was You/Twist And Shout". Three tracks follow from the Morecambe and Wise television soundtrack recording from December 02 1963: "This Boy/I Want To Hold Your Hand and some speech". This is followed by "Can't Buy Me Love" outtake from January 29 1964 recorded at Pathe Marconi in Paris (take 2 with guitar solo from take 1). "All My Loving" is a live performance from the Ed Sullivan show of February 09 1964. Two EMI outtakes follow: "You Can't Do That"(take 6) and "And I Love Her"(take 2) ; both recorded February 25 1964. "A Hard Day's Night"(take 1) EMI session April 16 1964. The next 4 tracks are from the IBC recordings for the mimed television special "Around The Beatles" April 19 1964: "I Wanna Be Your Man/ Long Tall Sally/Boys/ Shout". This is followed by takes 2 and 3 of "I'll Be Back" from the EMI session of June 01 1964. "You Know What To Do/ No Reply" ; two demos from EMI session of June 03 1964. "Mr Moonlight" (combination of takes 1 and 4) and unused track "Leave My Kitten Alone"(take 5) both from EMI session August 14 1964. "No Reply"(take 2) is presented from the EMI session from September 30 1964. "Eight Days A Week" (combination takes 1,2,4 and 5)is presented from the EMI session on October 06 1964. Finally, the album ends with a version of "Kansas City - Hey Hey Hey Hey!" (take 2) from the EMI October 18 1964 session.

These recordings were produced by George Martin. As you can see above, most of this was either available in inferior sound on bootlegs or unreleased. It was a real treat for Beatles fans. The front cover painting is by Klaus Voorman and Alfons Keifer. The front cover painting is the left side of a larger painting that was elongated once the other installments were released. This particular cover shows faded mainly black and white or sepia toned photos of the Beatles from the time period late 50s to early 60s. Ripped images from "The Savage Young Beatles", "Please Please Me", "With The Beatles" and "Live At the BBC" are featured. The back cover looks like the back of a canvas with the credits at the upper left, the UPC code at the upper right and the track listing with the artists' logo in the center. This applies to both the LPs and CD versions. The CD installment comes with a 48 page booklet including liner notes and merchandising information. The first CD has the full Apple with the artist and title on the left and copyright information on the right. The second CD has the sliced Apple with the artist and title on the left and copyright information on the right. The bottom of both CDs has the blurb: "See booklet for details". The three LP version has a tri-fold cover with the Derek Taylor liner notes at the center with a black background and "Hard Day's Night" era photos of the Fabs in each corner. Once opened, the gatefold contains the liner notes found in the CD booklet as well as all the photographs in the center gatefold. The LP labels have a full Apple on the A sides and the sliced Apple on the B sides. The background is black. The artist and title is on the left and copyright information is on the right. The bottom of the labels blurb states: "See sleeve for details".

The Remastered "Red" And "Blue" Compilation

2011-11-11T09:32:00.002-05:00

With the re-emergence of Apple Records, the company decided to re-issue the greatest hits compilation "The Beatles 1962-1966" and "The Beatles 1967-1970" in CD form for the first as well as on vinyl. This series was issued sometime in 1993 (I don't have the exact date at the moment).

There was controversy at the time due to the fact that "1962-1966" was released as a two CD set when all of the music could have fit easily onto one disc. It was explained by Apple that the consistency of the release with the 2 CD/ 2LP format would remain unified by issuing these formats with the two physical discs.

The LPs are contained within the same cover design as the 1973 originals, with the exception of the copyright information on the upper left of the back cover, the upper center Apple logo has the word "APPLE" underneath and a bar code is at the upper right of the back cover. There is no script underneath the back cover photo. The inner gatefold contains the same photograph. Subtle differences from the originals include no credit on the left side of the photo, but the date and place of the photo is written at the bottom right of the photo as "July 1968 St. Pancras Churchyard". The photographs on the re-issues are much brighter and clearer than the originals.

The Apple labels on the vinyl have a different sliced Apple photograph for sides two and four of both compilations. The tracklisting is the same. The inner sleeves are sturdy cardboard which include the full lyrics to the songs. The "1962-1966" version is on red vinyl for the two discs while the "1967-1970" version is on blue vinyl for the two discs. My copy of the "1967-1970" vinyl version also came with an insert that has the Apple logo at the top,composers credits, publishing credits, remastering credits and copyright statements for LP 1 and LP 2. This is followed by a photo of the front cover of "1962-1966" with the tracklisting and the "now available" statement. On the flipside of the advert, there are five photographs of the Beatles including one from the "Revolution" promo film, one from July 1968, two from April 1969 and one from August 1969. An insert for the "1962-1966" version contains the same format with photos of the Beatles from 1963 (4), 1964, 1965 (2) and one from the "Paperback Writer/Rain" promo of 1966. The catalogue number for the Beatles remastered "1962-1966" is Apple 97036 while the catalougye number for the Beatles remastered "1967-1970" is Apple 97039. The 1962-1966 vinyl version has a black and white sticker on the front with the words: "Limited Edition Red Vinyl Digitally Remastered (and the catalogue number)". The 1967-1970 vinyl version also has a black and white sticker on the front with the words: "Limited Edition Blue Vinyl Digitally Remastered (and the catalogue number)".

The double CD counterpart have the same catalogue numbers as their vinyl cousins. Both come in coloured double jewel cases corresponding to the red for "1962-1966" and blue for "1967-1970". Same with the CD backgrounds and vinyl backgrounds. Since both packages have 2 CDs, the first CD features the full Apple (slightly altered from the original to my eyes) and the second CD features a sliced Apple (definitely altered from the original to my eyes). The front cover photograph for both compilations feature the same photo and logos as the original vinyl with better and clearer resonance. The back covers for both compilations have the corresponding logo, the UPC at the upper right, the tracklisting for CD1 and CD2, "Digitally Remastered" written in white on the lower left , the "EMI" logo, copyright information and the Apple logo on the bottom right.

Both CD compliations came with 24 page booklets containing the lyrics to the songs and photographs from the era described above as inserts.

This was (at the time) the first time that the following tunes were available on CD in stereo: "All My Loving", "Can't Buy Me Love", "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her", "Eight Days A Week".

There were two promo items released with this re-issue: An interview with George Martin on a silver promo CD has the front cover with the Beatles font from the re-issue project separated by red on one side and blue on the other. Underneath is written "George Martin Interview" and "For Promotional Use Only". The other item is an album sampler on CD with a grey cover featuring a photo of the Beatles at EMI house in the stairway with the early 60s Beatles peering down onto the late 60s Beatles. On either side of the Beatles logo are the dates: 1962-1966 and 1967-1970. The catalogue number is Apple DPRO-79286. The back of the CD cover shows both red and blue covers and contains the following tracklist: "Hello, Goodbye", "Ticket To Ride", "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "In My Life", "Help" and "The Fool On The Hill". All titles and timing are written on the back cover. The Apple and Capitol logo are on the disc. The promo "not for sale" print, printed in USA, All rights and manufacturing statement are all center bottom. The CD is split red and blue with the artist logo, Capitol logo and Apple logo on the disc.

The "Live At The BBC" EP "Baby, It's You"

2011-11-09T08:34:00.003-05:00

Apple decided to release an EP from the "Live At The BBC" recordings and chose the song "Baby, It's You" as it's main title. The EP was released on March 20 1995 in the UK and on March 23 1995 in North America. "Baby It's You" was written by David-Bacharach-Willams and the Beatles covered this song for the BBC recorded June 01 1963 at the BBC Paris Theatre in London England and transmitted 10 days later. The other tracks on the EP do not appear on the LP/CD. These tracks are: "I'll Follow The Sun" which was recorded for the BBC on November 17 1964 and transmitted November 26 1964, "Devil In Her Heart" written by Drapkin and covered by the Beatles for the BBC on July 19 1963 and transmitted on August 20 1963 and the song "Boys" written by Dixon-Farrell covered by The Beatles for the BBC on June 17 1963 and transmitted on June 25 1963. Each song is sung by a different Beatles: The main title by John, "I'll Follow The Sun" by Paul, "Devil In Her Heart" by George and "Boys" by Ringo.

There are various formats and versions of this EP on vinyl and CD (also on cassette but since I know nothing about cassettes I have no comment on them and haven't included them on the blog).

The two vinyl versions come from the UK and the US: The UK version (72438 - 82073 - 7 -9)has the EMI logo on the back cover along with "mono". The US version (72438 - 58348 -7 - 5)has the Capitol logo on the back cover along with "mono" in addition to the catalogue number. Both front covers are the same with the Apple logo / tracklisting / and the mono designation (the US version has a line between the Apple logo and tracklisting whereas the UK version does not). There are also difference on the EP vinyl label. Both versions have the full Apple on side one and the half Apple on side two. The UK version has a white background whereas the US version has a cream background. The UK version has a small spindle hole whereas the US version has a large spindle hole. The UK version has the mono designation and "all rights" print to the left with copyright information to the right. The US version has the Capitol logo, mono designation as well as the manufacturing credits and "all rights" print to the left. Both US and UK versions have the same print on the right.

A CD EP was also released with the same back cover as the UK version (with the EMI logo) on my Canadian copy. My copy also includes the "Capitol" logo between the EMI and Apple logos along with the Capitol of Canada information. The CD has the full Apple logo similar to the vinyl (no background) as well as "see inlay for details" print. The front cover is the same as the vinyl (no line between the Apple logo and tracklisting). The front cover photo is the same as the back cover photo of the LP/CD.

A promotional single CD was released by Capitol Records in the US as a Valentine Day's card. The card opens up and contains the CD. The front of the card features a candy heart with the title, as it opens the EP photo is shown on the left and written in script on the right is: "Happy Valentine's Day From Us To You". The CD label has the full Apple with "Baby It's You" above written in script. The left side has the manufacture, "all rights" print and "printed in the USA" on the left with the copyright credits to the right. "The Beatles" drop T logo is at the bottom. The back of the card contains the title/artist and LP name, liner notes, the Apple and Capitol logos as well as all information manufacturing, rights, etc. The catalogue number for this CD single is DPRO-79553 Promotional use only/not for sale.

"Live At The BBC" Album Sampler

2011-11-08T09:41:00.002-05:00

Released in late 1994 (probably November), this promotional CD was issued by Apple with the catalogue number CDPCSPDJ 7261.

The CD has the full Apple silkscreen with the catalogue number, "mono", "Made in Holland" BIEM/STEMRA and the George Martin credit for executive Producer/ credits all to the left of the Apple. To the right of the Apple is the tracklisting with writer's credits and publishing credits. The Beatles' logo is at the top under the stem of the Apple and the title of the CD with the disclaimer "Album Sampler Promotional Copy - Not for Sale" under the title.

The front cover photo of he album sampler is the same as the commercial CD/LP back cover photo. "The Beatles" logo with the drop-T is at the upper right corner and the CD title is at the bottom right along with the disclaimer "Album Sampler Promotional Copy - Not For Sale". The spine of the cover has the title, artist and album sampler writings. The back of the cover has the tracklisting and song timings. The bottom of the back cover has the Apple logo, mono, the George Martin credit and copyright information

The CD cover opens with four panels each containing a sepia photo of the individual group members. The other side of the panels contain information on the tunes (similar to the commercial version). The last panel contains liner notes written by Derek Taylor in October 1994.

The tracklisting is as follows: "Beatle Greetings (speech)", "From Us To You (jingle)", "Soldier of Love", "Sha La La La La!(speech)", "Baby It's You", "Clarabella", "I Just Don't Understand", "Glad All over" and "Matchbox". Recording dates can be found on my previous post.

Live At The BBC

2011-11-07T08:02:00.003-05:00

Apple Records started to be active again in the early 1990's with not only a re-issue campaign of the original artists from the late 60s and early 70s (e.g. Billy Preston, Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, etc.) but also added the Apple logo to the curret (at the time) Beatles CD catalog as well as the re-issue of the 1962/1966 and 1967/1970 greatist hits package as two double CDs and two double vinyl sets. The CDs caused a bit of a controversy as the first package could have fit on one CD.

Apple released a batch of BBC recordings recorded between 1963-65 and the Beatles compilation "Live at The BBC" was issued in England on November 30 1994. The compilation was also released in North America on December 06 1994. The collection is available as a two CD set or as a double vinyl set. The catalogue number for the CD is: Apple 7243 8 31796 2 6 and there are two variations of the vinyl set. One variation is the UK set released on Apple. The second varition is the US set released on Capitol/Apple. Both vinyl sets have the same catalogue number as listed above for the CD set.

The front cover for "Live At the BBC" was taken on April 04 1963 by Dezo Hoffman. The background images were digitally altered in order to make this photo more appealing to the consumer (LOL). The back cover on the vinyl editions also feature a photo of the Fabs from the same session. This time the bodies of each indivicual Beatles was brought closer together. There is an error where you can see Ringo's headshot from the front cover lightly leaking to the left of Ringo's headshot on the back cover (take a look; you'll see what I mean). The background image is blurred. The UK copy has the UPC code in the upper right corner while the US copy has the UPC code at the bottom right corner. The UK copy has the Apple logo while the US copy has both the Apple and Capitol logos.

The vinyl version come with inner sleeves. Each inner sleeve features photos of the Beatles on one side and tracklisting details written on the other. The UK version has thin carboard inner sleeves while the US version has paper sleeves. Both sleeves contain the same information and photos as the 48 page booklet supplied with the CD version.

The actual Apple labels vary depending on where you bought your CDs or LPs. In the UK, the Apple labels have the full and sliced sides with a black background. The blurb on the left of the Apple states: "Mono; the catalogue number; Made in UK. All rights of the producer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, renting, public performance and broadcasting of this record prohibited." The blurb on the right side of the Apple states the record 1 or 2, the side number, "Released by arrangment with BBC enterprises" followed by the copyright information. The copyright information on the right of the Apple is present on the CD and both vinyl versions. A typesetting error occurs on the UK vinyl version whereby the words "broadcasting" and "of" are not separated. In the US, the Apple labels have the full and sliced sides with a cream back ground. The blurb on the left is different and states: "Manufactured by Capitol Records, Inc. Printed in USA. All rights reserved. Unauthorized duplication is a violation of applicable laws." This is followed by the oval Capitol Records logo. My copy of the double CD was bought in Canada and thus the background of the CD labels are white. The blurb on the left of the Apple on the CD has the same print as the UK version with the exception of the "Made in UK" print and instead has "Made in Canada" after the blurb. There is additional print "BIEM/STEMRA LC 0299" is written just between the catalogue numbe and the blurb. The right side blurb is the same as both US and UK versions. The compact disc logo also appears on the CD Apple labels. CD one has the full Apple while CD two has the sliced Apple. The back of the CD package has the UPC similar to the UK at the upper right but no photos. Instead is the tracklisting, credits, copyright information and the Apple and Capitol logos. My copy also has the EMI Canada logo at the bottom left. All of this against a brown background.

The tracklisting for "Live At The BBC" is as follows. Please note that all tracks are mono. "Beatle Greetings" recorded Oct. 09/63, "From Us To You" recorded Feb. 28/64,"Riding on a Bus" recorded Nov. 26/64, "I Got A Woman" recorded July 16/63, "Too Much Monkey Business" recorded Sept. 03/63, "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" recorded Jan. 02/63, "I'll Be On My Way" recorded April 04/63, "Young Blood" recorded June 01/63, "A Shot of Rhythm And Blues" recorded Aug. 01/63, "Sure To Fall (In Love With You)" recorded June 01/63, "Some Other Guy" recorded June 19/63, "Thank You Girl" recorded June 19/63, "Sha La La La La!" and "Baby It's You" both recorded June 01/63, "That's All Right (Mama)" , "Carol", "Soldier of Love" "A Little Rhyme" "Clarabella" all five previous titles recorded July 02/63, "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry (Over You)" recorded July 16/63, "Crying, Waiting, Hoping" also recorded July 16/63, "Dear Wack!"/"You Really Got A Hold On Me" both recorded July 30/63, "To Know Her Is To Love Her" recorded July 16/63, "A Taste Of Honey" recorded July 10/63, "Long Tall Sally" recorded July 16/63, "I Saw Her Standing There" recorded October 16/63, "The Honeymoon Song" recorded July 16/63, "Johnny B Goode" recorded Jan 07/64, "Memphis, Tennesee" recorded July 10/63, "Lucille" recorded Sept. 07/63, "Can't Buy Me Love" recorded Feb. 28/64, "From Fluff To You" recorded Feb. 28/64 and the first CD/Record ends with "Till There Was You" recorded February 28/64.

The second CD and record start with "Chrinsk Dee Night" and "A Hard Day's Night" and "Have A Banana!" all three recorded July 14/64, "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Just A Rumour" and "Roll Over Beethoven" all recorded Feb. 28/64. "All My Loving" also recorded Feb. 28/64, "Things We Said Today" recorded July 14/64, "She's A Woman" recorded Nov. 17/64, "Sweet Little Sixteen", "1822!", "Lonesome Tears In My Eyes" and "Nothin' Shakin" , "The Hippy Hippy Shake" recorded July 10/63, "Glad All Over" and "I Just Don't Understand" recorded July 16/63, "So How Come (No One Loves Me)" recorded July 10/63, "I Feel Fine", "I'm A Loser" and "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" were all recorded Nov. 17/64, "Rock and Roll Music" recorded Nov. 25/64, "Ticket To Ride" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" both recorded May 26/65, "Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey Hey" recorded July 16/63, "Set Fire To That Lot!"/"Matchbox" was recorded July 10/63, "I Forgot To Remember To Forget" recorded May 01/64, "Love These Goon Shows"/"I Got To Find My Baby" both recorded May 01/64, "Ooh! My Soul"/ "Ooh! My Arms" and "Don't Ever Change" recorded Aug. 01/63, "Slow Down" recorded July 16/63, "Honey Don't" recorded August 01/63 with Lennon on vocals. "Love Me Do" recorded July 10/63.

A great package and new material released since the 1977 "Live At the Hollywood Bowl" concert(s). My only critic is that more could have been added and it would have been nice to have been presented in chronological order.

The Beatles CD singles Collection

2011-10-22T10:49:00.002-04:00

On or about November 06 1989, EMI released a box set to the world containing CD versions of the 22 original Brtish singles. The catalogue number for this set is EMI CDBSC 1.

The actual box is black in colour with "The Beatles" in gold and "CD Singles Collection" also in gold although in smaller print. There are gold coloured lines: one above the artist's name and one below the title. The sides of the box contain the same logo as the front (smaller of course) with the Capitol records logo, the Apple logo and Parlophone logo. Below the logos is the box number: C2 077 7 15901 2 2.

All of the singles have the newer photo picture sleeves made of cardboard ad the discs themselves also have the silk screen photo corresponding to the picture covers. The following singles are included:

"Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You", "Please Please Me/Ask Me Why", "From Me To You/Thank You Girl", "She Loves You/ I'll Get You", "I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy", "Can't Buy Me Love/ You Can't Do That", "A Hard Day's Night/ Things We Said Today", "I Feel Fine/She's A Woman", "Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is", "Help!/I'm Down", "We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper", "Paperback Writer/Rain", "Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby", "Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane", "All You Need Is Love/Baby, You're a Rich Man", "Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus", "Lady Madonna/The Inner Light", "Hey Jude/Revolution", "Get Back/Don't Let Me Down", "The Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe", "Something/Come Together" and "Let It Be/ You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)".

The back of the box has a black sticker on it promoting the set and lists it's content. The songs are out of order and the sequence is back and forth. The singles are mono up until "The Ballad of John and Yoko".

Another Cool Beatles Box Set.

2011-10-16T11:14:00.002-04:00

In late 1988 (and in time for the Christmas market), EMI and Capitol released a Beatles Box set containing all 13 remastered albums plus the "Past Masters" release(s) in various forms: this could be purchased in the LP format, the CD format or the cassette format. The EMI version was released on October 31 1988 and the Capitol version on November 16 1988. The catalogue number for the set is: EMI LP: BBX 1; TC BBX 1 (for cassettes); CD BBX 1 (for compact discs).

All sets came in an oak style black box with a roll-up opening. All the sets also contained a 60-page booklet with recording information written by our buddy Mark Lewisohn.

Included in the set are: "Please Please Me" "With The Beatles" "A Hard Day's Night" "Beatles For Sale" which were all originally re-issued on the remastered vinyl on July 21 1987 on the CLJ series for LP. "Help!" "Rubber Soul" "Revolver" were also originally released on the remastered vinyl on July 21 1987 and also on the CLJ series for LP. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was remastered sometime in 1988 and also included in the box set using the C1 series for LP. "The Beatles (White Album)" and "Yellow Submarine" were originally released as remastered vinyl in 1988. Both LPs have the C1 catalogue prefix for LP. The last three LPs "Magical Mystery Tour" "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be" were originally released as remastered vinyl on July 01 1988 all on the C1 series for LP. "Past Masters Volume 1 and 2" are discussed in the previous post.

Early pressing of the box set are sequentially numbered.

Past Masters Volume One and Past Masters Volume Two

2011-10-15T09:50:00.002-04:00

During the year of 1987, the Beatles UK LP catalogue as well as "Magical Mystery Tour" (Capitol LP configuration) had been released on compact disc and it was now available to the public. EMI had left-over tracks from the catalogue not yet released on CD due to the fact that singles, B-sides, an LP and various versions of tunes had not been released in the original LP formats.

This prompted a compilation of the left over tracks to be released. This situation was rectified when two compact discs were released with long boxes on or around March 08 1988.

The first compact disc is entitled :"Past Masters Volume One" (very original !!). The catalogue number for this release is C2 90043 2. The front cover of the long box has the artist name in gray and black. There is no mono/stereo designation at the bottom of the box. The artist and title appear white print with a black background on the side of the box. the back of the box has the tracklisting, UPC code and three black and white photos of the group from 1963 to 1965. "Produced by George Martin" is at the bottom as well as having the three "Capitol", "compact disc" and "Parlophone" logos.

The 12 - page booklet within the jewel case has the front cover with white print on a black background, the individual tracks and liner notes explaining their origin, four photos of the Fabs (same three as the long box with one added from 1962). The last page has the tracklisting, the production credit and the compilation by Mark Lewisohn credit.

The tracks for this volume are: "Love Me Do" (Ringo version), "From Me To You" (single), "Thank You Girl" (B-side), "She Loves You" (single), "I'll Get You" (B-side), "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (single), "This Boy" (B-side), "Komm, Gib Mi Deine Hand" (German single), "Sie Liebt Dich" (German single), "Long Tall Sally" (EP track), "I Call Your Name" (EP track), "Slow Down" (EP track), "Matchbox" (EP track), "I Feel Fine" (single), "She's A Woman" (B-side), "Bad Boy" (LP compilation track), "Yes It Is" (B-side) and "I'm Down" (B-side). The first four tracks and the two German tracks are mono and the rest are stereo.

Also released on the same day was "Past Masters Volume Two", the second part in this series of tracks not released on the original UK LP formats. The catalogue number for Volume Two is C2 90044 2. The longbox has the same design as volume one with black print on white rather than the other way around. The back of the box has the tracklisting at the bottom rather than the top and the box includes four black and white photos of the Fabs from 1966, 68 and 69.

The 12 - page booklet for Volume Two contains the same format as Volume one with the exception of black print on a white background. The middle of the book contains four photos of the Beatles (the same black and white photos as the back of the long box) and photo credits for only two of the four photos. The second to last page promotes Volume One (the booklet in Volume One promotes Volume Two).

The tracks for this volume are: "Day Tripper" (single), "We Can Work It Out" (single), "Paperback Writer" (single), "Rain" (B side), "Lady Madonna" (single), "The Inner Light" (B side), "Hey Jude" (the greatest single of all time), "Revolution" (the greatest B side of all time), "Get Back" (single version), "Don't Let Me Down" (B side), "The Ballad of John and Yoko" (single), "Old Brown Shoe" (B side), "Across The Universe" (Our World version), "Let it Be" (single version), "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" (B side). All tracks are stereo with the exception of the last track.

A double LP was released almost seven months later on or about October 26 1988. This LP was manufactured by Capitol Records and entitled "Past Masters Volume One and Two". The catalogue number for this double LP is C1-91135. The gatefold cover has the Beatles logo and title with white print on a black backgroud on the front and the same logo and title with black print on a white background along with the tracklisting. The left inside cover has the Beatles logo and title at the top, the tracklisting on the left and right, the introduction (same as the CD) on the bottom of the logo, the same four black and white photos and the liner notes underneath the photos. The right inside cover has the same thing except it is black print on a white background. Both the Capitol and the Parlophone labels are at the bottom of the back cover. The labels for these LPs are the Capitol purple labels. All 33 tracks are remastered as per the mid 1980s.

This made the entire standard/commercial Beatles catalogue available on compact disc for the first time (with the exception of various mixes and oddities that would be released in the future).

The Beatles On Compact Disc (Part Six)

2011-10-10T09:33:00.002-04:00

The final two CDs released from the original UK LP catalogue were "Abbey Road" and "Let It Be". These were released on or about October 19 1987. The complete LP catalogue of the Beatles' music was now available and all had been released within the year. It was also a marketing campaign to get all the CDs released in time for the Christmas season. The compilation of non-LP tracks would follow shortly (see next post).

"Abbey Road" is one of the best sounding Beatles albums but the original 1987 CD had a lot of hiss in spots on tracks such as "Something" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and in the quieter passages. "Let It Be" sounds fab.

"Abbey Road" came with a long box and it features the artist name above the front cover reproduction in a light brown. The sides of the box also have the artist and title in light brown. The back of the box has the UPC code the tracklisting split in two with the brick wall background from the original LP back cover and the artist and title. The woman in the blue dress walking by is not present. The bottom of the back of the box has the three logos: Capitol, Compact Disc and Parlophone.

The four page booklet features the reproduction of the front cover, the inner left has the tracklisting, the inner right has the compact disc blurb and the back of the book is split in two with the tracklisting (again) on a black background for the top half and the lower half has a partial reproduction of the back cover (artist/title/blue dress). No liner notes. No Apple logos anywhere on the original release.

"Let It Be" was issued with similar traits to it's predessessor, with the long box featuring the artist's name in a purple colour which also appears on the side of the box, the back featuring the tracklisting split with a reproduction of the front cover photographs on a white background. The three logos are at the bottom of the box.

The measly four page booklet contains a reproduction of the front cover on the front page, artist/title and tracklisting on page two; the same front cover photos on a white background with Compact Disc blurb on page three and the tracklisting (again) on a black background with the back cover "Let it Be" short blurb and the four photos taken from the back cover of the LP. Very boring indeed. Absolutely no liner notes. No Apple logos to be found on the original pressings.

The catalogue number for the "Abbey Road" CD is CCT 7 46446 2 and the catalogue numberfor the "Let It Be" CD is CCT 7 46447 2.

Roll Up !! Roll Up !! The Beatles On Compact Disc (Part Five)

2011-10-08T09:53:00.002-04:00

The release of the Beatles on Compact disc in the late 1980s were basically released in a chronological order with the exception of one disc: "Magical Mystery Tour". This CD was originally released on or about September 21 1987 in the latest of the series. The version of this CD was based on the Capitol version of the LP with the "Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields", "All You Need Is Love/Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "Hello Goodbye/ I Am The Walrus" singles thrown into the mix along with the "MMT" television special soundtrack. The catalogue number for "Magical Mystery Tour" is CCT 7 48062 2.

The CD was released in a long box that features the artist's name in multi-colours "red, yellow, green, blue" respectively. The bottom of the front box graphics feature the word "stereo" in red. The artist and title on the side of the long box are also written in red. On the back of the box are the UPC code, the tracklisting split in two with the back cover of the Capitol LP in the middle. The Capitol, Compact Disc and Parlophone labels are on the bottom of the back of the long box.

The reproduction of the front cover LP artwork (Capitol version) does not include the words: "Includes 24-page full color picture book" as on the original LP front cover sleeve. With good reason. The CD booklet within the jewel case has only 8 pages and contains the front cover reproduction, a reproduction of the left inner LP sleeve (without the Capitol/EMI logo), lyrics, the middle section photograph of the Beatles miming to "I Am the Walrus", more lyrics and finally the back cover photo of the back LP cover (halfed) shared with the tracklisting. There is a Parlophone logo at the bottom right hand side.

When this CD was first released, it was a joy to hear the tracks in true stereo and nicely cleaned up. The original Capitol LP had done an amazing bad job on the whole sound of the second side including having some of tracks in duo-phonic and the EQ job was terrible. This made the release of the music on Compact Disc a nice reprieve from the earlier, dismal listening experience (unless, of course...you had the German Apple version which is a whole other subject coming soon...).

The Beatles on Compact Disc (Part Four)

2011-10-01T09:23:00.002-04:00

On or around August 24, 1987; EMI released two more compact disc versions of UK titles: "The Beatles (White Album)" and "Yellow Submarine". It should also be noted that the "Yellow Submarine" movie was released on VHS four days after the CD release. This version did not contain the "Hey Bulldog" segment. The 1987 VHS version was eventually discontinued and replaced with the 1999 version that included the "Hey Bulldog" segment and additional extras.

Anyway, back to the 1987 CDs. The white album was originally released in a long box that was totally white and the had a grey coloured "The Beatles" logo (similar to the LP) on a bit of an angle at the front of the box. There is nothing else written on the front of the box except for the word "stereo" in light grey. The sides of the box have the title and the catalogue number and "Capitol Compact disc". The back has the tracklisting for the 2 discs, the UPC code and the usual Capitol/Compact Disc/Parlophone logos on the bottom.

The long box for the white album contain two CDs in separate CD jewel cases. First issues have the booklets numbered. The first CD contains a 24 page booklet that features the four portraits shown on the inside cover of the LP version (in colour) and parts of the poster included in the LP verson (although only parts of it on various pages) and contains the lyrics to the songs. There are no individual mini portraits nor poster (these goodies would only be reproduced in 1998 on the 30th anniversary version). The second CD contains a 4 page booklet showing the name of the band the four individual portrait photos in black and white. Both booklets have the tracklisting on the last page. The CDs themselves have a white background with black print. The catalogue number for this release is CCB 46443.

The "Yellow Submarine" CD release was also originally housed in a long box. The design for this particular long box was a little more conventional with the earlier releases in the sense that it has the artist title half white/yellow/gold and a reproduction of the front LP cover with the word "stereo" in orange at the bottom. The sides of the box have the artist/title in orange along with the catalogue number (in white) and the "Capitol Compact Disc" designation (also in white). The back of the box has the track listing in white split in two with a drawing of the yellow submarine surrounded by the cartoon Beatles. The UPC code and usualy logos are also present. The eight page booklet contain within the jewel case has the front cover, the tracklisting, the Derek Taylor liner notes from the original LP as well as the entire "White Album" review by Tony Palmer of the London Observer which was part of the original LP as well. The disc itself is silver with black print. The catalogue number for this release is CCT 7 46445 2.

The Beatles on Compact Disc (Part Three)

2011-09-25T10:39:00.002-04:00

The so-called "Highlight" of the first batch of compact disc releases in the (back then) new format was the release of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on or about June 01 1987. The release of the disc was to co-inside with the lyric of the title song and media tag for the release :"It was twenty Years ago today". EMI had originally released the LP version on May 26 1967 with the offical release date as June 01 1967 making the CD release exactly twenty years apart. Some fans and critics wondered if the timing of this release affected the earlier compact disc release efforts with the thin booklets and lack of proper liner notes. There were also complaints at the time of the mono only first four issues and lack of dual choice in formats between the mono mixes and stereo mixes. All of this would be rectified in 2009 with the remasters.

"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" was originally released in a long box which featured the artist name in blue/white above the iconic front cover image. Under the image is the tracklisting and the word "stereo" all in blue. The sides of the box also have the artist/title in blue. The back of the box features a mini version of the LP "cut outs" with the green background, a UPC code on the upper right, composer's credits and producer/engineer credits. The bottom of the box has the Capitol and Parlophone logo, the Compact Disc logo and patent/manufactuing information. The catalogue number for this release is: CDP 7 46442 2.

The CD jewel case contains the silver disc with information written in red (all previous releases have the information in black). The spine and back are also red and have the writing in black. The spine contains the title while the back contains the tracklisting information along with the usual UPC code and technical information/ Parlophone logo. The 28 page booklet as the front cover reproduced on page 01, page 02 has the numbered characters of the front cover and the next page has the character text identifying all participants. page 04 to 06 have a quote from George Martin and recording notes by Mark Lewisohn. Page 07 has quotes from Peter Blake. Page 08/09 have outtake photos for the cover shoot from Michael Cooper and a drawing by Paul. Page 10/11 reproduce the inner gatefold photo of the LP. Pages 12 to 25 feature the lyrics and various official and outtake photos for the back of the LP cover. Page 26 contains the cut out information, another Peter Blake quote and compact disc information. Page 27 contains a reproduction of the original inner sleeve design along with credit information. Last page has the tracklisting.

I have to admit that this particular package (especially the work put into the booklet) is probably the nicest of all the CDs released during the year 1987.

Original releases did NOT have the Apple logo on the back.

The Beatles On Compact Disc (Part Two)

2011-09-24T10:01:00.003-04:00

The next series of compact discs to be released worldwide occurred on or about April 30 1987 were the following: "Help!", "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver".

All three of these releases (along with the previous four) were also issued in long boxes. Original "pressings" do NOT have the Apple logo on the back cover of the booklets. Interestingly, both "Rubber Soul" and "Help!" were re-mixed at Abbey Road in order to slightly mix the songs with less harsh separation. This is especially evident on "Rubber Soul" where some of the vocals are brought closer to the middle of the stereo spectrum. At this point of time, the three releases from April 1987 were issued only in stereo. For some unexplained (to this day) reason, some Canadian "pressed" CDs have the original stereo UK mix rather than the otherwise above mentioned "re-mix". Confused yet ?

"Help!" was issued with the tracklisting reflecting the original UK release: the long box for this release has the artist title in blue/white with the word "stereo" in blue at the bottom of the front box. The side of the box is also blue and the back of the box contains the UPC code, track listing, Capitol logo, Parlophone logo and the compact disc logo. An italic indicates which of the songs are from the movie "Help!". My copy was manufactured in the US as mentioned in small print at the lower back of the box. The catalogue number for "Help!" is CDP 7 46439 2. The eight page booklet within contains the front and back cover (the front cover having the parlophone logo, CD logo and "stereo"), the tracklisting and four photos of the individual Beatles from the back cover.

"Rubber Soul" was issued with the tracklisting reflecting the original UK release: this release has the artist title in brown/white with the word "stereo" in green. The side of the box has brown lettering and the back has the UPC code, tracklisting and same logos as "Help!". My copy was manufactured in the US. The catalogue number for "Rubber Soul" is CDP 7 46440 2. The eight page booklet contais the front and back cover - very oddly, I've never understood with the "Capitol" dome logo is shown prominently at the upper right hand side of the front cover/booklet while all the rest of the CDs have Parlophone logos. Inside of the booklet is also the tracklisting and individual photos of the group taken from the original back cover of the LP. No liner notes for all three issues.

Lastly, "Revolver" was issued with the artist's name at the front of the long box ain turquoise/white and the word "stereo" in white. The back of the long box contains the tracklisting and logos. It's too bad EMI didn't use the original back cover of the original LPs for these releases but repeated the tracklisting twice. The catalogue number for "Revolver" is CDP 7 46441 2. The eight page booklet features the front cover with the Parlophone logo, the tracklisting and close up photos of each member of the group taken from the original back cover of the UK LP.

The Beatles on Compact Disc (Part 1)

2011-09-17T09:43:00.005-04:00

In the 1980s, the popularity of the Compact disc format was growing rapidly across the world. It was decided to release the Beatles catalogue on this format in the mid 1980s and the CDs would be released in batches starting with the first four UK LP configuration. The Capitol LPs were abandoned (for the time being) and the EMI versions from the United Kingdom were used instead. The first four CDs released contained the material from the following LPs: "Please Please Me", "With The Beatles", "A Hard Day's Night" and "Beatles For Sale". All four were release simultaneously on or around February 26 1987.

The "Please Please Me" CD was originally packaged in a long box. The front of the box has "The Beatles" with the lower half in yellow and "compact disc" writtin in white underneath. A photo of the front LP cover is shown in the middle of the box. The spine on each side has the CD catalogue number, the artist and title in yellow and "Capitol compact disc" at the bottom. The back of the box has a UPC code, the tracklisting separated by a photo of the last page of the booklet contained within the jewel case of the CD; the Capitol logo is at the bottom left, the Parlophone logo is at the bottom right. The compact disc logo is in the middle and the US address is printed along the bottom. Some copies have a sticker at the top stating that the disc was made in West Germany as some CD factories (at the time) were still being prepped for manufacture and distribution.
The "Please Please Me" jewel case features an eight page booklet with the front cover, tracklisting, liner notes from the back of the original UK LP, compact disc information and four photos of the Beatles cropped from the front cover. There are no outtake photos nor are there any bonus tracks. All tracklisting follows the UK LP. The silver disc has the title and artist at the top, the ADD designation, Parlophone logo and patent on the left, the compact disc logo, catalogue number and manufacturer on the tight. The tracklisting and all rights perimeter print at the bottom. The CD catalogue number for the "Please Please Me" CD is CDP 7 46435 2.

The "With The Beatles" CD was also issued in a long box. The box has the sam design as the "Please Please Me" CD with the following exceptions. The front of the box has "The Beatles" in red, the spines have the artist and title in red.

The booklet inside in the jewel case features a twelve page booklet with the front cover, tracklisting, liner notes from the back of the original UK LP,CD information and individual half shadow photos of the Beatles cropped from the front cover. The catalogue number for "With The Beatles" is CDP 7 46436 2.

The third disc is "A Hard Day's Night". The long box has the same design but the Beatles and spine title/artist print are in blue. The back of the box contains the individual photos taken from the back cover of the UK LP "A Hard Day's Night".

Inside the jewel case, the eight page booklet features the front cover, the title/artist, the tracklising, liner notes from the original LP and CD information. The catalogue number for "A Hard Day's Night" is CDP 7 46437 2.

The fourth and final CD released in February 1987 was a copy of "Beatles For Sale". The long box appeared in the same style as the previous three with the exception of the artist/title in green this time on the front and at the spine. The back of the box contains the tracklisting and the back cover of the original UK LP.

Inside the jewel case, the eight page boolet features the front cover, the original Derek Taylor liner notes from the LP, the inside, the two group photos from the inside of the original gatefold cover (the Washington concert photo and the photo of the group at Twickenham), plus compact disc information and the back cover of the original UK LP. The catalogue number for "Beatles For Sale" is CDP 7 46438 2.

When all four discs were originally released in 1987, many Beatles fans were upset because these discs were available only in mono. I could understand the first two being mono due to the fact that these were basically recorded on twin track, but the latter two were four-track and have decent stereo separation on the UK records. Stereo mixes for the first four releases (selected) would not be available commercially until the release of a compilation in 1993 (more on this later).

Intermission

2011-09-10T09:44:00.002-04:00

Well...let's see now. We've covered the commercial vinyl releases from the UK, US and Canada as well as the Christmas goodies. I think up next we'll take a look at the release of the first set of Compact Discs released in the 1980s.

The Beatles Christmas Album

2011-09-04T10:43:00.002-04:00

On December 18 1970 (the same day the UK "From Then To You" Beatles Fan Club issued thier Christmas flexi compilation), the Beatles Fan Club in the USA also released an LP containing a compilation of all the Christmas messages previously sent to Fan Club members. Entitled "The Beatles Christmas Album", this LP was not sold in stores but issed to Fan Club members through the mail in a single envelope !! The catalogue number for this LP is Apple SBC 100.

The LP was released in a cardboard cover with paper slicks (fakes have posterboard construction). The front cover is one of the prettiest of all Beatles LPs (in my honest opinion). The front has a series of 25 cubes against a dark blue background. Within the cubes are black and white photos of the Beatles individual and as a group. The first row of cubes (left to right) features photos of John from 1966, 67, 68, 69 and 1970. The sides and tops of the cubes reflect the various other photos within the row. The second row of cubes features photos of Paul in the same time frame. The third row of cubes features photos of George in the same time frame. The fourth row of cubes features photos of Ringo in the same time frame. Finally, the fifth row features group photos from 1966, 67, 68 and 1969 with the very last cube showing the LP title (due to the fact that there are no photos of the entire group together from 1970).

The back cover features the LP title taking over most of the cover "The Beatles" written in black with white border and "Christmas Album" written completely in white. At the top left of the back cover, six black and white miniature flexi cardboard covers from the UK are shown. If you were a member of the American Fan Club in the day, you probably would not have recognized four of the mini covers as they were never released in this format in the USA. The only two covers that the Fan Club would have recognized is the second row right cover ( being released in the UK for the 1967 message but issued to US Fan Club members in 1968) as well as the last two right (both released for the UK and US Fan Club members in 1969).

Underneath the "Christmas" part of the back cover there are the words: "The Beatles Fan Club" written in uppercase in black, "Copyright 1970" in upper and lower case underneath the above. The tracklisting for the LP is written for both sides with the address of the Fan Club written underneath the tracklisting on the back cover. Finally, the LP design is credited to "GROK IT!" and the photo creations are credited to Robert Bauman. "Not For Sale" and the catalogue number is written at he bottom left of the back ocver as well as the "all rights" print. The spine of the LP carries the LP title as well as the catalogue number.

Both sides of the LP carry the Apple label with a whole Apple on side one and a half Apple on side two. There is perimeter print on side one only which reads: "Mfd. By Apple Records, Inc.". The title for the LP is on side one above the playhole. The catalogue number and "side 1" are to the right of the playhole. The tracklisting and the "all rights" paragraph is written on four lines under the tracklisting. The title for the LP is on side two above the playhole and to the left. All information on the label is placed in the same position as on side 1. The trail-off area of the vinyl record contain the initials "sf" as well as the "Bell Sound" logo and a hand written triangle and line which indicates that this particular release was only pressed at the Capitol Winchester plant.

The tracklisting for this compilation is as follows: Side 1 :"Dec. 1963", "Dec. 1964" (which was the first time that American Fan Club members would have heard this message as the message released by the Fan Club in 1964 was actually the recording from the previous year), "Dec. 1965" (another new message and first release for the American Fan Club members as the Beatles (USA) Ltd. did not release the Christmas message for 1965", "Dec. 1966". Side 2: "Dec. 1967", "Dec. 1968" and "Dec. 1969".

There are a lot of fakes vs. real out there for this LP as it is fairly rare and quite in demand. The fake covers are made of white posterboard and the artwork is one piece printed directly onto the posterboard. Real covers are constructed of cardboard and the addition of paper slicks with the front cover wrapped around to the back and the seam can be seen on the back cover. The Apple labels on the vinyl should be sharp and clear. The indentation of the ring around the playhole should be five-eights of an inch away. Any ring indentation larger than that is a fake. Any coloured vinyl is fake.

Things to remember: Not all covers of fake copies have blurry print. This is why it is important to check the cover construction. Some fakes also contain the "Bell Sound" logo in the trail off area. This is why it is important to check the indentation ring.

From Then To You

2011-09-03T10:23:00.002-04:00

On December 18 1970, The Beatles Fan Club still existed although the Beatles had officially announced the break up of the band earlier in the year. Since recording activity had halted for the group as a collective unit, there would be no chance of a new Christmas flexi being prepared. Therefore, The Beatles Fan Club released a 12 inch vinyl compilation mailed out to it's members entitled "From Then To You" in LP form. The catalogue number for this LP is LYN 2153/54. "From Then To You" was only released in the United Kingdom.

The front cover consists of a white background with the LP title written in black above a facsimile of the 1963 UK Christmas flexi front cover (bent corners and all). The back of the cover is also a white background with the remaining six front covers of the Fan Club Christmas flexis in black and white. Under the photos of the covers are the words: "The Beatles Fan Club Christmas Record 1970". The tracklist follows: Side one consists of the Christmas messages from 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1966. Side two consists of the Christmas messages from 1967, 1968 and 1969. A copyright 1970 statement follows and the Beatles Fan Club Liverpool address is used. The sleeve design is credited to "Joint Effort". The printers of the cover are West Brothers printers Ltd, London, SW19.

The LP has the Apple label. Side one has the full Apple with with title and subtitle appearing in black above the playhole. To the left is the blurb "An EMI recording", the record speed (33 1/3), Mfd. In U.K. and the side number. On the right is the catalogue number for this side. At the bottom is the tracklisting, artist, the "recordings first published" statement and finally "The Official Beatles Fan Club". Side two has the half Apple and the markings are in the same location as the full Apple side.

Fake copies of this LP do NOT have the Apple labels

Happy Christmas 1969

2011-08-27T09:36:00.004-04:00

The final Christmas flexi recorded by The Beatles for the their Fan Club was released in the UK on December 19 1969. The official title of the flexi is: "The Beatles Seventh Christmas Record" and the sub-title being "Happy Christmas 1969". The catalogue number for this particular release is LYN 1970/71.

The flexi was released once again in a cardboard sleeve (no newsletter once again) with a front cover design photograph credited to Ringo Starr under his proper name Richard Starkey and shows a blurry, psychedelic style photo with yellow, orange and green. The back cover of the release is credted to Ringo's son Zak under hi s propr name Zak Starkey and is a hand drawing of various people of various sizes along with a tree and leaves. A little kid's drawing, if you wish. Also on the back of the cover is the Beatles Fan Club logo, the sub-title "Happy Christmas 1969" in a pinkish colour, the "not for public sale" disclaimer underneath in a box, the Beatles Fan Club address and finally the record speed "33 and 1/3". The cover was manufacted by West Brothers Printers of London.

Like the previous flexi, the label writings are etched directly onto the flexi with the Fan Club logo at the top and above the playhole, the record speed and "Play first this side, then turn over for part 2" below it. On the right hand side of the playhole is the "not for sale" disclaimer. Underneath the playhole is the title: "The Beatles Seventh Christmas Record", under that the fact that The Beatles record exclusively for the Apple label distributed by EMI Records and Lyntone Recordings, side numbers followed by the catalogue number. This is a two sided flexi due to the length of the message(s).

For the second time, this flexi was recorded in various locations by the individual members of the group. By late 1969, the Beatles were basically a non-working group. John and Yoko recorded their message in Ascot, Paul recorded his at his home in St. John Wood on Cavendish Ave., George recorded his message at Apple in London on Savile Row and Ringo recorded his message in Weybridge, Surrey. The entire project was edited and "produced" and credited to Maurice Cole (which is Kenny Everett's real name) who also did the same for the previous year's recording. The recording dates and editing dates are unknown to me.

In the USA, the Beatles' Fan Club used the same cardboard cover as their UK counterparts. In fact, the covers were imported from the UK to use for the American versions. The flexi's, however are quite different.

The flexi's have the label etched directly onto the flexi like the UK version. The label features a drawing of the Beatles' faces (as they looked in 1969) for the top half of the label. The bottom half of the label has the following text: "H-2455", "1969 Side One 33 1/3". The disclaimer is underneath and finally the bottom perimeter print reads: "Product of Americom Corp. NYC. Made in USA".

The tracklisting for this recording is as follows: Side one contains "Happy Christmas (Ringo)", "John and Yoko Talking", "Wonderful Christmas (George)", "Ringo Talking", "Link: The End", "John and Yoo Talking some more", "This is to Wish You All a Merry, Merry Christmas (Paul)", "Paul Talking", "This is to Wish You All a Merry, Merry Christmas (Reprise - Paul)". Side two contains: "John and Yoko Talking even more", "Happy Christmas (John/Yoko)", "Happy Christmas/Magic Christian (Ringo)", "Ringo Talking", "John and Yoko Talking".

It's interesting to note that the entire flexi recording lasts over seven minutes and a half with most of the messages by John and Yoko. In fact, this flexi is basically a John and Yoko recording as Paul's message is less than a minute and a half, Ringo contributes less than a minute of chat and George graces us with his voice for only twenty seconds.

Christmas 1968 - The Beatles Sixth Christmas Record

2011-08-21T14:55:00.002-04:00

The Beatles Sixth Christmas record sub-titled "Christmas 1968" was released in the UK on or about December 20 1968. The catalogue number for this Fan Club flexi is LYN 1743/1744. Once again the flexi was manufactured by Lyntone.

The cardboard front cover of this release features the head and body of a woman in white, blue and red psychedelic colours. There is a white sideboard and the title of the flexi is in capital letters in blue at the bottom right of the front cover. The back cover also has a white, blue and red design and is in a more paisley design. The Fan Club logo is to the right and also includes the title as "The Beatles Sixth Christmas Record" with the sub-title "Christmas 1968" highlighted in red underneath. The record speed is present "33 1/3" with the liner notes appearing underneath. The notes give credit to the locations of the recordings for the individual members of the band (this being the first time that the flexi was not specifically recorded by all band members in the same location at the same time). John and Paul had recorded on their own at their homes, George Harrison recording from Los Angeles in the United States where he was also producing some music for Jackie Lomax of Apple Records. Ringo contributed his recording from his home in Surrey. All of the tapes were given to Kenny Everett who ended up editing and producing the flexi. It was the first year that George Martin did not get the production credit.

In the United States, the Fan Club Beatles (USA) Ltd. issued the flexi in a cardboard cover featuring the front cover and back cover to the Beatles earlier 1967 Christmas flexi with modification to the back cover changing the year 1967 to 1968 and eliminating some of the text. The cover was imported to the USA from the UK.

The flexis for this year were double sided due to the time of the recordings and this is why the UK catalogue number has double numbering. Side on and side two if you like. For the year 1968, the silver lettering was printed directly onto the flexi. The Fan Club logo at the top, the speed of the record at the left (33 1/3) with "Play first this side, then turn over for part 2". The "not for sale" disclaimer is on the right of the playhole. The title and the statement: "The Beatles record exclusively for the Apple label distributed by EMI Records" are underneath the playhole along with the catalogue number. In the USA, the double sided flexi has a drawing of the Fabs as they appeared during the year 1968 along with "side 1" and the record speed "33 1/3" to the right under the playhole. The disclaimer and "Side 2 on other side" appear together. Perimeter print state "Product of Americom Corp. NYC. Made in USA".

The tracklisting for this flexi is as follows: Side 1: "Ringo/Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year (Paul)", Link Helter Skelter", "Jock and Yono (John/Yoko)", "Link", "George from America (George and Mal Evans)". Side two: "Ringo Starr", "Introduction/Ringo", "Happy Christmas, Happy New Year (reprise - Paul)", "Once Upon a Pool Table (John and Yoko)", "George and Tiny Tim", "Nowhere Man (Tiny Tim)", "Ending".

Christmas Time (Is Here Again) - The Beatles Fifth Christmas Record

2011-08-14T09:54:00.002-04:00

The Beatles Fifth (in the UK) Christmas flexi was released by the Official Fan Club on or about December 15 1967. This was once again manufactured by Lyntone and the catalogue number for this release is LYN 1360. Once again this flexi contained skits and pantomimes rather than the earlier vocal "messages" from previous years.

The UK release came once again with a cardboard cover and included a paper National Newsletter. The cardboard cover had the front designed by John Lennon and Ringo Starr and it features a collage of sorts with sunflowers and various antique type portraits of people. There is no writings on the front cardboard cover. The back of the cover is designed by Julian Lennon and features one of his drawings on the left side of the cover and the text information is to the right side. The text features the Fan Club logo, the title of the recording, the record speed (33 1/3) and "starring The Original Beatles". Credits are given to Victor Spinetti (who sang on the title song) and Mal Evans. A credit is also given to producer George Martin. The cover design credit is given, the disclaimer and finally the Fan Club address is at the bottom of the back cover.

The National Newsletter somewhat describes the contents of the recordings as well as the voices used for it. It also describes the tone-arm pressure of your turntable (haha) and it promotes "The Beatles Monthly" book. It is signed by Freda Kelly - Fan Club Secratary. The back of the newsletter features a caricature of the Beatles by Bob Gibson (the same guy who did the "Magical Mystery" drawings). It shows Paul as Santa, George as a Jack-In-A-Box, Ringo as a little drummer boy and John as a Teddy Bear. Mr. Gibson also added a Walrus at the bottom right hand corner.

The label for the flexi features a white background with red lettering. The Beatles Fan Club logo is at the top, the record speed (33 1/3) is at the left hand side of the playhole, the "not for sale" print is at the right hand side and below is the title, the blurb "The Beatles record exclusively for the Parlophone label" and finally the catalogue number is at the bottom.

This particular flexi was released as one sided. The whole recording lasting slightly a few seconds over six minutes. The tracklisting is as follows: "Christmas Time (Is Here Again) (Intro John, all singing)", The Boys arrive At BBC House (BBC Wise One/ Victor Spinetti)", "An Audition (John)", "Tap Dancing (Ringo/Victor Spinetti)", "Are You 13 Amp (Mal Evans)", "Get One of Those For Your Trousers (John)", "Sir Gerald" (Paul/John)", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", "Onto The Next Round and Intro (George)", "Plenty of Jam Jars", "Quiz Show (John/ George)", "Get One of Those For Your Trousers", "Theatre Hour (Ringo)", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", "They'd Like To Thank You (George Martin/All)", "When Christmas Time is O'er (George Martin/ Paul/ John)".

In the United States, the recording was also released to the Fan Club. Beatles (USA) Ltd. sent a large square postcard to it's members with one side vinyl coated ( as is the case with the previous year ) (see previous post). On one side of the postcard is the "Beatles Bulletin" which discusses the Christmas recording (mentioning the special guests) as well as discussing the newest Beatles project: "Magical Mystery Tour" and the Beatles appearence on "Our World". The bulletin is signed by Francis Firius and Sue Clark. The right side of the postcard features the blurb "Third Class Mail" and room for the postage and member's address.

The other side of the postcard carries the recording and has a large center type "Label" which is similar to the previous year's design with "Season's Greetings" in script and "From The Beatles" in upper case underneath the script. The year of issue is not on the label in contrast with the previous year's release. The record speed (33 1/3 rpm) and disclaimer are below the playhole.

The recording of the 1967 Christmas flexi was conducted on Tuesday November 28 1967 at EMI studio Three between 6 PM and 2:45 AM. It was produced by George Martin and engineered by Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush. The title song was recorded first in one take with Paul on Piano, George on acoustic, Ringo on drums and John on tympani. The vocals are credited to all four Beatles, Victor Spinetti and George Martin. The song is written by all four Beatles. After this take, the skit performances were recording between one to ten takes. The whole project was also mixed for mono at this same evening session.

Pantomime: Everywhere It's Christmas - The Beatles Fourth Christmas Record

2011-08-13T09:45:00.003-04:00

The Beatles' Fourth Fan Club flexi was released in the UK on or about December 16 1966. Once again, the flexi was made by the Lyntone company in the UK. The catalogue number for this release is LYN 1145. This particular release contained a different idea format from the Beatles as they were entering their most creative and psychedelic phase.

As with the previous couple of flexis, this Fan Club release came with a cardboard cover/sleeve and included the Beatles Fan Club National Newsletter explaining the details of the Christmas recording.

The front of the colorful cardboard cover has a design by Paul McCartney with the word "Pantomime" in big red letters and yellow-gold bubbles surrounding the title. The sub-title is: "Everywhere It's Christmas" and this is written underneath the title contains in a drawed balloon surrounded by blue and red and black lines. The back of the cover has the official Beatles Fan Club logo and name and "The Beatles Fourth Christmas Record" in red underneath. The record speed (33 1/3) and the title logo follow; the sub-title and track listing underneath. The "not for sale" blurb is in red. This is followed by the George Martin credit and the fact that the Beatles record exclusiely for the Parlophone label. Lastly, the Fan club address is written at the bottom of the cover in black.

The newsletter folds open with the logo of the Fan club on the left, the Fan Club address underneath, followed by "National Newsletter" and "Christmas 1966". The text follows describing the session for this flexi and continues on the right with the signatures of the two fan club secretaries: Anne Collingham and Freda Kelly. At the bottom of the newsletter are the lyrics for the tracks "Please Don't Bring Your Bango Back" and "Everywhere It's Christmas".

The label for this flexi has the Fan Club logo at the top; the speed of the flexi on the left of the playhole (33 1/3); the "not for sale" blurb to the right of the playhole. The large title and sub-title is underneath along with "The Beatles Fourth Christmas Record" in smaller lettering. Thisis followed by the words: "The Beatles record exclusively for the Parlophone Label" and "Lyntone Recordings" and the catalogue number. The label is gold with a white background. The perimeter print has the "all rights reserved" statement.

This flexi contained two sides rather than the previous one-sided disc. Side A tracklisting is as follows: "Everywhere It's Christmas (all)", "Orowayna (Corsican Choir and Small Choir) (Intro/Paul/ All singing)", "A Rare Cheese (Two Elderly Scotsmen) (Intro/Ringo, George and John)", "The Feast (all)", "The Loyal Toast (Intro/George/ Toast/Ringo)". Side B tracklisting is as follows: "Podgy The Bear And Jasper (Intro/Paul, Podgy/John, Jasper/George)", "Felpin Mansions- Part One (Count Balder and Butler) (The Count-John, Butler-Ringo)", "Felpin Mansions - Part Two (The Count and the Pianist)", "Song: Please Don't Bring Your Banjo Back (Paul, all)", "Mal: Everywhere It's Christmas" and "Reprise: Everywhere It's Christmas (all)".

In the US, the American Fan club also released a flexi containing the same material. The Beatles (USA) Ltd. sent the Fan Club members a seven by eight and a half postcard with the vinyl section of the message coated on one side and the text and address on the other side. The text side has the "Beatles Bulletin" on the left side of the postcard and also contains the lyrics for both "Please Don't Bring Your Banjo Back" and "Everywhere It's Christmas". The right side of the postcard leaves space for the member's address and postage as well as having the words "Phonograph Record" in script and underneath having the words "Handle with care" in upper letters. The other side of the postcard is the actual recording with a middle section (label) that has the year, "Season's Greetings" in script and "from The Beatles" written just above the playhole. The record speed is 33 1/3 and is written just underneath the playhole. The "all right" information and "Made in USA" appear in smaller type at the bottom of the label. The label is black and silver.

The recording of this Christmas record was conducted on Friday November 25 1966 at a studio in a basement below the London location of the Dick James Music office at Dick James House located on New Oxford Street. The times of completion and number of takes have not been recorded, but it is known that George Martin produced the record. It is also stated in the Fan Club newsletter that Brian Epstein was present as well as Neil Aspinall and the Fan Club secretaries. There was a closed circuit television that went from the studio into the control room at the other end of the corridor, according to the newsletter.

Everywhere It's Christmas - Come and join the FUN !!

The Beatles Third Christmas Record

2011-08-07T10:36:00.002-04:00

The Beatles released the third Christmas message for their Fan club in the UK on or about December 17 1965. Once again the manufactured flexi was by Lyntone. This 1965 Christmas message was only released in the UK but not in the United States as it was explained that the "tape had arrived too late" for inclusion. The catalogue number for this flexi is LYN 948.

The flexi is housed in a cardboard cover with the Fan Club newsletter folded and housed within the sleeve. The front of the cardboard cover has a photo of the Beatles (black and white) from the Granada Television Special "The Music of Lennon and McCartney". It features a shot of the group from above looking down with the Beatles holding their instruments getting ready to mime to their latest single "Day Tripper". This photo was taken during the first days of November 1965. The Fan Club logo and the record speed (33 RPM) are indicated at the top of the front cover. The flexi title is featured in blue along the bottom of the photo. The back cover has the title at the top once again in blue and includes liner notes by Tony Barrow. A disclaimer of promotion is in a box at the top as well. In a box written in blue near the bottom of the back cover, the Fan Club (Anne Collingham) thanks EMI and George Martin for the production of the disc. It also states that the Beatles record exclusively for the Parlophone label. At the bottom of the back cover is the issue date, the photo credit going to Robert Whitaker, the Fan club address and the printer's credit going to MacNeill Press, Ltd. London.

The front of the newsletter has the Fan club logo at the top of the page along with the Fan Club address once again. The text contiains Christmas greetings from the Fan Club secretaries, a "year in review" and praise for the new LP "Rubber Soul". It is signed by Anne Collingham. The back features a black and white photo of the Fabs with Ringo and Paul sitting in a stoll, John above them and George sitting at their feet. The inside fold features the script "Happy Christmas Beatle People!" with four individual face photos of the group and seasonal hats drawn on with first name signatures and snowflakes etc.

The label this time is white with gold print. The label features are the same as previous years (see previous postings) with the exception of the record speed being 33 RPM and the title in gold below the playhole. This is a one sided flexi.

The tracklisting for this flexi is as follows: "Yesterday (out of tune)", "All Talking", "Happy Christmas (John)", "Auld Lang Syne (All)", "All Talking", "Same old Song (John)", "All Talking", "Auld Lang Syne (John)", "All Talking".

The recording of the 1965 Christmas message occurred at EMI studio two on Monday November 08 1965 between 09:00 PM and 03:00 AM. Various speech was recorded throughout the session with a proper three takes completed early in the morning. Editing consisted of three attempts the next day on November 09 1965 at Room 65 of EMI Studios and the mono mix was also completed at this session. The production credit goes to George Martin.

Another Beatles Christmas Record

2011-08-05T10:09:00.003-04:00

The second Beatles Christmas flexi was released in the UK on December 18 1964. The flexi was manufactured by Lyntone and issued within a cardboard cover with the Fan Club newsletter included (National newsletter No. 4 Christmas 1964). The paper material was supplied by MacNeill Press Ltd, London. The catalogue number for this issue is LYN 757.

The front cover of the flexi shows a photo of the Beatles with the fan club logo above them, the record speed (45 rpm as opposed to the previous year's 33 rpm) and the title in red. The back cover has the title in red once again and liner notes written by Tony Barrow.

The folded paper newsletter consists of a photo of the Beatles with Ringo sitting on a stool with their first names on the left and the message "Merry Christmas" coming out of John's mouth in cartoon balloon type print. The back has a photo from the same session. The inside of the newsletter contains the text of the letter with the Beatles Fan Club logo above it. Lastly, the opposing page has four individual photos of the Beatles from a recording session (unknown which session). These photos seem to be from the same session as the ones on the back of the US "Beatles VI" LP. I'm assuming they were taken during the "Beatles For Sale" sessions.

The flexi has the same label as the previous year with the exception of the print being in red rather than blue and the record speed changing from 33 to 45 rpm. (See previous post for label details).

The flexi is one sided and the tracklisting is as follows: "Jingle Bells", "Paul Talking", "John Talking", "George Talking", "Ringo Talking", "Can you Wash Your Father's Shirts", "Happy Christmas". The entire message was recorded on Monday October 26 1964 at EMI studio two. It took five takes to record and the editing was also done at this session. Also recorded on this day were the songs "Honey Don't" and "What You're Doing"(remake). Some mono and stereo mixing for the "Beatles For Sale" material was also completed at this session (see details for the individual songs in my previous posts).

In the USA, 1964 was definitely the year of the Beatles conquest in that country. The USA also had a Fan Club entitled "Beatles (USA) Ltd." This Fan Club issued a flexi to it's members in December 1964 (detailed date unknown). The flexi package was constructed by Allied Creative Service, Inc. from New York. The package contained a tri-folded mail out which included "The Beatle Bulletin". The mailer has the title "The Beatles Bulletin" as the title with a large blurb screaming: "Christmas Issue" and the date December 1964. The bottom has a place for the Fan Club member's address to be attached. There is also the photo of the Beatles with Ringo sitting on the stool similar to the UK issue (although it's cropped). The text of the "Bulletin is written by Lynn Hargrave and Bernice Young and also promotes the Brian Epstein Fan club within the text. Another section promotes the Fan club Fact Sheet as well as a blurb for Pen Pals. The next section features the words: "Seasons' greetings from the Beatles" with four individual photos taken from the same session as the back cover of "Beatles VI" and during recording for "Beatles For Sale" at EMI studio two. Finally, the flexi itself has the year 1964 at the top and "Seasons' Greetings from the Beatles" once again. The record speed is also on the label as 33 rpm. A banner states "The Official Beatles Fan Club" and the printer's address at the bottom right.

The material on the USA flexi is actually the UK 1963 message !!! (See previous post for tracklisting). All recorded Christmas messages for 1963 and 1964 were produced by George Martin.

The Beatles Christmas Record

2011-08-02T09:19:00.002-04:00

Between the years 1963 and 1969, The Beatles started a Christmas tradition of sending the members of their Fan Club a special recording of Christmas messages as a gift (as long as you were paid up with your Fan Club subscription !). The recordings were usually voice messages at first, but as the years progressed more and more music was used in the recordings. The Christmas messages were the brain child of Tony Barrow (the Beatles' publicist at the time) who thought that these messages would appease the Fan Club members as a "thank you" to their loyalty.

The first Christmas message recording was mailed out in the UK only to Fan Club members on either December 06 or December 09 1963. The title of the disc was "The Beatles Christmas Record". This issue was released as a flexi disc and manufactured by Lyntone recordings. The catalogue number is LYN 492. It is a one-sided flexi.

The flexi was housed in a yellow paper sleeve which folded out and included the "National Newsletter". The front of the sleeve has the four Beatle faces in each corner along with the words: "Sincere Good Wishes for Christmas and the New Year from (in script) John, Paul, George, Ringo". The UK Fan Club logo is at the bottom. The "National Newsletter" is enclosed within the gatefold along with the logo at the top and an insert that reads "Here's your free copy of The Beatles Christmas Record" - as well as the 33 1/3 instructional speed for your turntable. The back cover features two photos: the top photo features the Beatles with the Fan Club secretaries Bettina Rose and Anne Collingham while the bottom photo shows the Beatles meeting the Queen Mother at the Royal Variety Show on November 04 1963.

The flexi is black with a white and blue label that shows the Fan club logo at the top, the flexi speed, the disclaimer "Not for sale. Issued free of charge to Fan Club members in December 1963". Another disclaimer: "The Beatles record exclusively for the Parlophone label". At the bottom is the words "Lyntone Recordings" and the catalogue number. Lastly there is perimeter print around the label which reads: "Unauthorized Public performance, broadcasting and copying of this record prohibited. Made in Great Britain. All rights of the manufacturer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved.

The Christmas message was recorded at EMI studio two on October 17 1963 between 07:00 and 10:00 PM (number of takes unknown). Although they were provided a script, some improvisation was also conducted during the message. The tracklisting breaks down as follows: "Good King Wenceslas/ John Talking/ Paul Talking/ Good King Wenceslas (John)/ Ringo Talking/ Good King Wenceslas (Ringo)/ George Talking/ Good King Wenceslas (George)/ Rudloph the Red Nosed Ringo." All flexi discs are mono.

Intermission again.

2011-07-17T16:12:00.002-04:00

Well, folks. That concludes that part of the blog. Now onto the special Christmas releases from both the UK and North America including the flexi-discs and the fan club LPs issued for all to enjoy !!

Let It Be for the USA and Canada

2011-07-16T10:05:00.003-04:00

The soundtrack for the Beatles final United Artists' film "Let It Be" was released in the USA and Canada on or about May 18 1970 (10 days after the release of the UK version). The tracklisting for the LP is the only constant and the cover packaging for the LP varied for both American and Canadian copies.

In Canada, the LP came in a box set containing an outer slip case, an inner slip case which held another cardboard inner tray for a 160 page colour book plus the LP (cover and vinyl). In the USA, the LP was distributed by United Artists yet manufactured by Apple. This meant that the LP was issued as a gatefold cover without the book.

The LP was part of the Capitol "6000" series in Canada and was issued the catalogue number Apple SOAL-6351. The outer slipcase features the four photographs used for the front cover of the UK LP but no text and not title/artist. The back of the slipcase is black with the catalogue number on the upper left, credits for the design and photographs in tiny letter on the lower left. "Distributed in canada By Capitol Records (Canada) Ltd." in the lower center and the printer's logo on the lower right. The LP front cover jacket has the four photos and text with the LP title "Let It Be". The back cover consists of four black and white photos of the individual Beatles with either a white border or no border. The original SOAL-6231 version has the liner notes at the top and is followed by the tracklistings (no songwriter's credits). Thanks are given below the photos and once again the design and photo credits appear on one line. The Apple logo is centered and the distribution blub mentioned above appears in either white or light blue. The whole thing is framed by a white line. The lables are the green full Apple on side one and the half Apple on side two. "Dig A Pony" is announced as "I Dig A Pony" both on the LP cover and the side one labels. The labels were either pressed at RCA in Smith Falls or Compo in Cornwall, Ontario. A photo of the Canadian example is shown above.

The USA LP was issued as a gatefold cover. The catalogue number is Apple AR 34001. The front cover of the LP has the four colour photos of the Beatles and the "Let It Be" text above it. The back cover of the LP has the blurb at the top with the tracklisting underneath the blurb. The tracklisting consists of the songs in order of appearance and once again does not include the songwriters credits. The four black and white photographs of the individual Beatles do not have white borders around them. The thanks and design/photo credits are below followed by a red Apple to signify the United Artists distribution and finally the words "Manufactud by Apple Records, Inc. 1700 Broadway, New York, New York 10019, an ABKCO managed company" follows (I'm sure Paul was impressed..haha). The whole back cover is framed by a white border. The inner gatefold features photographs taken during the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions including a large colour photo on the left gatefold of the Beatles at Twickenham Studios in London, some smaller colour photos of the Beatles at either Twickenham Studios or Apple Studios in London as well as a photo of the Beatles playing on the rooftop of the Apple building at 3 Savile Row, London. The labels on the US original copies are a red-tinted full Apple on side one and a red-tinted half Apple for side two. (Red-tinted to denote the United Artists distribution). "Dig A Pony" on both label and back cover appear as "I Dig A Pony".

Most original copies of the label in the USA have the last song on side one "Maggie Mae" credits as (P.D.) meaning public domain whereas later copies may have the credits as (P.D. arr. Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey).

The inner sleeve for this LP is usually generic white or none at all. This release is only available in stereo as mono had been phased out by then.

In The Beginning (Circa 1960)

2011-07-10T09:59:00.002-04:00

Almost six months after the release of the "Very Together" LP in Canada, Polydor released the LP "In The Beginning (Circa 1960)" in the United States on May 04 1970. The catalogue number for this LP is Polydor 24-4504.

Although the title states Circa 1960 - the actual recording dates for this material stem from June 22, 23 and 24 1961 as well as May 24 1962. The "Mersey Beat" newspaper cover featured on the front is actually from January 1962. It would have made a bit more sense and placed it all in context if the title had been changed to Cira 1961-62. There ya go.

The tracklisting for this material is exactly the same as the earlier Canadian "Very Together" LP (see previous post) which includes seven tracks by The Beatles (with and without Tony Sheridan) and five tracks by The Beat Brothers/Tony Sheridan. Original labels for the LP have the red Polydor labels and black print with white perimeter print. The "Half record" logo and Polydor written in white underneath.

The front cover features the artist(s) in white and the LP title undernearth in a light blue-green. The front cover photograph consists of a cobblestone street with a tied bundle of "Mersey Beat" newspapers showing the Beatles portrait taken by Albert Marrion the previous year. The Polydor logo and catalogue number are featured on the bottom right of the front cover.

The back cover features the same quote from George Harrison during an interview on September 1969 conducted with Ritchie Yorke for the "Globe Magazine". Of course, this quote is the same as the previously released Canadian "Very Together" LP except that on this issue it is blown up considerably. There is also an uncredited blurb at the top of the back cover explaining the justification of such a release. Original issues of this LP featured a gatefold cover. The left side of the gatefold has liner notes by the one and only Tony Sheridan. The right side of the gatefold features three photos of the Beatles (two from Hamburg; one from 1960 and one from 1961; and one from Liverpool 1960). The detailed tracklisting is above the photos and the Polydor logo and catalogue number in black and white is at the upper right hand side.

The LP was only released in stereo. The LP was originally only released in the United States until 1972 when the LP was also reissued in this form and cover in Canada.

Very Together

2011-07-09T09:42:00.002-04:00

A unique Canadian release was issued on or about November 17 1969. The title of the LP is "Very Together" and was issued by Polydor Records with the catalogue number Polydor Special 242.008 (stereo only). What made this LP interesting was the front cover of the album. The contents for the LP contained mainly the same track listing as "In The Beginning" released six months later in the US. Side one consisted of: "Ain't She Sweet "(Beatles), "Cry For a Shadow" (Beatles), "Let's Dance" (Sheridan/Beat Brothers), "My Bonnie" (Sheridan/Beatles), "If You Love Me, Baby" (Sheridan/Beatles) and "What'd I Say" (Sheridan/Beat Brothers). Side two consisted of: "Sweet Georgia Brown" (Sheridan/Beatles), "The Saints", "Ruby Baby" ( both Sheridan/Beat Brothers), "Why" (Sheridan/Beatles), "Nobody's Child" (Sheridan/Beatles) and "Ya Ya" (Sheridan/Beat Brothers).

The front cover consists of a photograph of a candleabra holding four candles. The second candle from the left has been snuffed out and you can see the smoke eminating from this ca ndle. At the top of the front cover, the words "The Beatles" and "Very Together" have the same font featured on the front cover of the "Yellow Submarine" LP in white.

The back cover features interview quotes from George Harrison talking to Ritchie Yorke of "Globe Magazine" in September 1969. There are two versions of the back cover: the first credits Jean-Patrick Amish as photographer for the front cover. Later back covers feature an extension of the credits with the addition of "W. Birkenfeld, C. Risch & Friends". the back cover also features the title and artist as well as the tracklisting.

The labels used for this release are the Polydor red labels with the Polydor logo at the top of the labels and "special" printed below in box style. The font is the typical one used similar to earlier Beatles releases from Compo. Both my copies are machine stamped and are pressed by Compo.

I don't believe (but not 100 percent sure) that inner sleeves were included in this package. This type of "cash in" LP was priced lower than most LPs of the era.

Abbey Road (US And Canada)

2011-07-02T10:14:00.002-04:00

The Abbey Road LP was released in the United States and Canada on October 01 1969. Here we have a very simple front and back cover single LP pocket jacket. The LP carries Apple labels with the full Apple on side one and a half Apple on side two. The front cover / back cover and tracklisting are exactly the same as the UK issue.

The catalogue number for the LP is Apple SO-303 and is available only in stereo. The mono concept for the 1960s had finally come to an end and this LP was never mixed nor issued in true mono. You may occasionally see Brazilian LPs that claim to be mono mixes of this material, but it is essentially stereo "folded down" to one channel.

The manufacture of the cover in the United States was originally posterboard and the art printed directly onto the cardboard. There are also versions that used slicks but for the most part originals are posterboard. On the back cover, the catalogue number is in the upper right hand side.

The manufacture of the cover in Canada are paper slicks onto cardboard with the front cover wrapping around to the back. At the bottom of the back cover, the words "Distributed In Canada By Capitol Records (Canada) Ltd.". Canadian covers also have the "split dot" at the top of the front cover.

Original pressings of the LP did NOT include the song "Her Majesty" written as part of the tracklisting on the back cover nor on the side two label. Later pressings include "Her Majesty" on the labels and the back cover was eventually modified to include the song "Her Majesty" written as the tracklisting credit. As a personal note, I have found it extremely difficult to find Abbey Road covers with "Her Majesty" included on the back cover. Some re-issues have used the original art for the back cover and still not included "Her Majesty".

The inner sleeves for this LP were usually generic white sleeves or no sleeve at all.

Yellow Submarine LP (US and Canada)

2011-06-26T09:41:00.001-04:00

The sound track to the Beatles' United Artists film "Yellow Submarine" was released on Apple records in the US and Canada on January 13 1969 in stereo only. The catalogue number for this LP is Apple SW-153. The tracklisting for this LP is exactly the same as it's UK counterpart (see earlier posting for UK "Yellow Submarine" LP).

The big difference between this version of the LP and it's UK counterpart is the cover. The front cover for the US/Canada version omits the words "Nothing Is Real" from the "sub" title (get it?) located on the UK version between the LP title and the drawing of the submarine. Added to the US/Canada cover are the words: "Selections by The Beatles plus original film music" to the upper right hand side of the front cover. Lastly, the copyright notice for "King Features Syndicate Subafilms Ltd. 1968" is added to the left of the drawing of Old Fred.

The back cover liner notes also differ in both continents. The UK back cover features liner notes by Derek Taylor as well as a review of "The Beatles (White Album)" from the London Observer by Tony Palmer. The back cover liner notes for the US/Canada version contain a fictional "beowulf" type story credited to Dan Davis.

The Apple labels feature the full Apple for side one and the half Apple for side two. Canadian copies include typesetting from both RCA and Compo. US copies were pressed in Los Angeles, Scranton and Jacksonville with original pressing having the Capitol logo on side two as perimeter print.

The LPs inner sleeves were usually generic white or none at all.

The White LP Arrives In The Form Of An Apple

2011-06-25T10:02:00.003-04:00

"The Beatles" (the official title of the White Album) was released in the US on November 25 1968 and in Canada on November 29 1968. The catalogue number for this LP was Apple SWBO 101. This was the first LP to be released on the Apple label although the manufacturing/distribution was still with Capitol Records in North America. By this time in the Beatles' career, the similarity to the UK release (see relevent earlier post) was pretty well the same. Covers, poster, photos and tracklistings were the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

There are a few differences though. The White Album of the US and Canada was only released in stereo and mono had been pretty well abandoned at this time. Original copies have the word "stereo" written in light grey on the back cover upper right as well as on the spine. The front and back cover are wrapped around and are completely white (hence the unofficial name of the LP). Original copies have "The Beatles" embossed at a slight angle on the front cover followed by a serial number underneath.

The serial numbers on the front cover were not manufactured sequentially but probably in batches (see "The Beatles On Apple Records" by Bruce Spizer for details). Low White album numbers are very collectible. Canadian covers often have imported US covers with higher numbers at the LP was released a few days later in Canada than in the US.

The four individual photos of the Beatles can be distinguished by the markings on the lower left which can say "printed in the USA" or "printed in Canada" although a lot of Canadian discs have imported photos. The same goes with the poster. The US version may have come with separater sheets of various colour for the photos while the Canadian copies did not.

The 2-LP set have Apple labels with the full Apple photo for sides one and three; half an Apple for sides two and four. US labels had the "Capitol" logo perimeter print on sides two and four. There is no written "script" on the labels as there are in the UK versions. Early copies of the White Album include one of the songs titled "Bungalow Bill" on the label rather than "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill".

A few US covers had stickers adhered to the shrinkwrap with the LP title as well as the tracklisting. Various forms of the sticker were added.

Inner sleeves for the 2 - LP set are usually plain white sleeves.

Roll Up..Roll Up For The Magical Mystery Tour

2011-06-18T10:15:00.002-04:00

An original idea transpired in late 1967 when it was discovered that The Beatles were about to release a 2-EP set of their television special entitled "Magical Mystery Tour". Capitol in the USA decided not to release the soundtrack to their television special in the same format (EPs were not as popular in North America as they were in the UK, to put it gently).

Capitol Records in the US and Canada released a full LP "Magical Mystery Tour" on November 27, 1967. This was the last Capitol LP to be released in both mono and stereo formats. The catalogue number for the mono issues is MAL-2835 while the stereo issues consist of the catalogue number SMAL-2835.

Capitol Records enlarged the front cover of the UK Parlophone double EP (catalogue number MMT-1 for mono and SMMT-1 for stereo). A yellow and blue "clouds" type background expands and surrounds the photo of the Beatles in animal costumes. White banners indicates the songs included on the LP in red. Side one tunes are above the Beatles photo while side two songs are featured below the photo.

The side two songs consist of previously released singles along with the new single at the time: "Hello Goodbye". The first two songs on side two of the LP ("Hello Goodbye" and "Strawberry Fields Forever") are in true stereo on the stereo version of the LP. The remainder of side two ("Penny Lane", "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "All You Need Is Love") are in duophonic which means the mono mix with highs in one speaker and low frequencies in the other speaker for the stereo version of the LP.

The back cover of the LP is exactly the same as the UK Parlophone double EP back cover (but obviously blown up to fit the 12 x 12 format).

The original LP has a gatefold cover with the track listing on the left side and the lyrics to side one on the right side. The original 24 page booklet is attached to the inside gatefold cover with staples and is the same booklet as the UK Parlophone double EP (once again, obviously blown up to fit the 12 x 12 format). Some re-issues discontinued the booklet.

The labels are the classic Capitol black and rainbow rim with white/blue manufacturing information written above the rainbow perimeter. In Canada, mono copies were mainly RCA pressings while stereo copies were mainly Compo pressings.

The material on the LP consisted of songs from the television special "Magical Mystery Tour" on side one and the 1967 singles on side two. The LP was very successful in the sense that this format has been adopted as the offical Beatles catalogue and consequence CDs have been issued in this format. The LP format was also officially released in the UK in 1976 (see pertinent blog for information).

The inner sleeves for this LP in Canada were the red/white "Capitol/Pathe" - "Attention" sleeves while in the USA, the inner sleeves were often the "Sgt. Pepper" psychedelic red, white and pink "fool" inner sleeves but also may contain the Capitol tan inner sleeves with the mini black and white LP covers.

Pepperizing the US and Canada

2011-06-12T09:02:00.002-04:00

The first Beatles' LP released on Capitol for the year 1967 was "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". This LP was released one day after the UK version of the LP (mono PMC 7027 and stereo PCS 7027 - see original post for details). The catalogue numbers for this LP on Capitol is MAS-2653 for mono and SMAS-2653 for stereo). The release date for the LP was June 02 1967.

This is the first Capitol LP to feature the exact same tracklisting as the UK version. The only exception is that the US/Canada versions do not carry the high frequency run-out groove and the voices of the inner groove.

The iconic front cover is the same as the UK version with one exception. Stereo copies were released with a yellow banner across the top of the photo with the word "stereo" centered and writtin black on the banner. The cut-outs with the green background were also different due to their markings in the lower left hand side. The US version having the words "Printed In USA" while Canadian copies including the "Parrs" logo along with the words "Litho In Canada".

The original labels for this LP are the classic black with rainbow Capitol labels. In Canada and the US, first pressings contain the side one second track as "A Little Help From My Friends" which was shortly changed to "With A Little Help From My Friends". The back cover lyrics always referenced the song title as "A Little Help From My Friends". All Canadian pressings originate from the Compo plant.

Inner sleeves for the LP are usually the customized psychedelic red/pink/white "fool" sleeve or the Capitol "Hear The Hits" tan sleeve in the US. Canada only used the red and white Capitol/Pathe sleeve on stereo issues and rarely used the inner sleeve for the mono records.

This Is Where It Started

2011-06-11T09:48:00.002-04:00

An LP release of little significance was put out by the Metro Record Company in the US and Canada on August 15 1966 in mono and stereo and entitled "This Is Where It Started". This LP was essentially a re-issue of the earlier MGM "My Bonnie" LP release ( please see earlier post for this issue). The catalogue number for the mono release is M-563 while the stereo catalogue number is MS-563. This is the first time that this material was available in stereo for the Canadian fans.

The colourful front cover has various shades of pink, yellow,brown, red, blue, purple and green. There are no photos on the front cover, just text. The Metro logo is at the top right hand corner. The back cover varies between the US and Canadian issues. The US back cover features the title of the LP on the left along with the tracklisting, the Metro logo and some "hip" liner notes. On the right hand side of the back cover, 20 small black and white LP covers promoting the Metro catalogue are shown. On the Canadian issue, the back cover has no tracklisting and no liner notes. All that is shown are 20 black and white LP covers promoting the Metro catalogue. Both back covers are black on white and feature the blurb: "Metro's Exciting World of Music !".

The labels for both countries are black with silver print. The US labels have the songs listed with songwriter's credits and timings whereas the Canadian copies do not have the songwriter's credits and timings; only titles and artist.

For detailed tracklisting, please check my earlier blog posting concerning the subject of the MGM "My Bonnie" LP, it is exactly the same with the exception that this re-issue omitted the songs "Flying Beat" which was on side 1, track 5 of the original release and "Happy New Year Beat" which was on side 2, track 6.

Since this LP was literally released within a week of "Revolver", it never had a chance.

Revolving In The US And Canada

2011-06-05T14:59:00.002-04:00

A new set of Beatles' original music was released by Capitol Records on August 08 1966 in both the USA and Canada. This new LP came less than two months after the released of the aforementioned "Yesterday...And Today". The new LP title was "Revolver".

"Revolver" was released in two formats: mono and stereo with the mono catalogue number being Capitol T-2576 and the stereo catalogue number being Capitol ST-2576.

The front cover is entirely liked it's UK counter part with the exception of the "Capitol" logo featured on the bottom center of the front cover replacing the Parlophone Logo. The front cover of the LP was designed by Klaus Voorman who The Beatles had originally met in Hamburg during their stint in St. Pauli's. The back cover features the same photograph as on the original UK LP (taken by Bob Whitaker who also took the "butcher" photograph) showing the band at EMI Studios during a break from the promotional film for "Paperback Writer/Rain". The difference between the UK and US/Canada copies is the extra credit given over the artist/title with the line "Prepared for release in the U.S.A. by Bill Miller". Of course, I suppose that Bill Miller replaced the (in)famous Dave Dexter Jr. in this matter. What exactly Bill Miller did is a bit of a mystery as the sound of the LP is very similar to that of the UK LP and the song line-up is not changed from the UK LP ( with the exception of the three extracted Lennon songs which is discussed in the next paragraph). On the mono version, the mono information is written bottom center and on the stereo version, the stereo information is also written bottom center. On the UK LP, the tracklisting is physically numbered (e.g. 1,2,3 etc.) whereby the US/Canada versions of the tracklisting only feature the song titles.

The labels for this LP feature the classic Capitol black with rainbow rims. The blue/white information runs along the perimeter of the rainbow rim. In the US, the labels were made at the three factories, Scranton, PA - Los Angeles, Cali. - and Jacksonville, Ill. All Canadian labels were manufactured by Compo.

The content of the LP runs in the same order and same songs as the UK Parlophone LP (mono PMC 7009 and stereo PCS 7009) with the exception of the removal of three Lennon songs which appear previously on the Canada/US copies of "Yesterday...And Today". The three songs are "I'm Only Sleeping", "And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Dr. Robert". Unfortunately, this give the LP a lop-sided listening experience of the LP giving Paul six songs, George three and John only two.

The inner sleeves for the US originally inserted within the jackets were the orange "Sounds Great" inner sleeves (the same ones used for "Yesterday...And Today"). Canadian inner sleeves included the red/white Capitol/Pathe sleeves.

Yesterday...And Today

2011-06-04T09:29:00.005-04:00

Capitol Records released the last of the "mish-mash" Beatles records of the 1960s for the USA and Canada in 1966. "Yesterday...And Today" has one of the most interesting histories of all Beatles albums released. Even it's release date is unsure: Some literature states that the LP was released June 10 1966. Another publication puts the released date at June 15 1966 but delayed (Spizer). The Canadian version was released either on or about June 24 1966 ( Hemmingsen - also claiming that the US release was June 20 1966). Take your pick.

The reason for the delay of the issue was a problem with the original front cover of the LP. The original cover is known in Beatles' circles as "The Butcher Cover". This front cover featured the band in a large colour photograph dressed in butcher smocks surrounded by raw meat, naked children's doll body part with the heads severed. George Harrison holds up a head while one is placed on Paul McCartney and John Lennon's lap. This photo was taken in March 1966 by Bob Whitaker and meant as a bizarre art concept alongside other photographs taken during that session and displayed together with the title: "A Somnambulent Adventure" (it WAS the 60s, after all, folks !! :)

The photo was delivered to Capitol a couple of months later and it was "textured" in order to appear as artsy by a Capitol employee (George Osaki). Not surprising, the sales people were getting negative feedback from their clients over the cover along with frowns and raised eyebrows by folks in the record industry at this time. Even more bizarre is the fact that Capitol Records in the US manufactured thousands of jackets with this original front cover.

Most record retailers refused to stock the LP with this cover and as a result the original "butcher" cover was recalled. According to Spizer, "Queens Litho was ordered by Capitol to destroy over 100,000 used butcher slicks.". Capitol employees were ordered back to work over that week-end and all records/ inner sleeves were removed from the original jackets. Original butcher jackets were removed from distribution trucks and brought back to the Capitol factories. All of the Jacksonville, IL factory butcher sleeves were destroyed. At some point, someone came up with the idea of simply pasting the new cover over the original cover. The new cover was a photograph of the Beatles sitting on/standing beside/ sitting in a luggage trunk. This pasting was done at the Scranton and Los Angeles plants.

Original "butcher" covers without the pasting and in the original state are very rare and largely never sold to the public (the exception being a limited number of places where the rack jobbers may not have known about the recall). Most copies were bought in stores by the public with the newer "truck" cover pasted over the original "butcher" cover. In Canada, there are a few sales slicks and a very, very limited number of "butcher" cover jackets that were all destroyed with the exception of a few empty jackets kept by then Capitol of Canada president, Paul White. No are not past-over jackets in Canada.

The replacement cover - the "trunk" cover - show The Beatles surrounding a luggage trunk with John sitting on the trunk, Paul sitting cross-legged within the trunk opening, George and Ringo standing behind the trunk. The back ground is white and the photograph is in colour. The tracklisting and Artist's name and LP title are to the right. The mono catalogue number for this release is Capitol T-2553 and the stereo catalogue number for this release is Capitol ST-2553.

The back cover is white with black lettering. The artist and LP title are at the top. The tracklisting is underneath with side one on the left and side two on the right. There are mini black and white LP promo covers shown underneath. US copies include "Meet The Beatles", "Second Album" and "The Early Beatles" while Canadian copies replace these with "Beatlemania! With The Beatles", "Long Tall Sally" and "Twist And Shout". The order of the LP covers are also in different orders on the two back covers. Mono back covers have the technical information on the bottom of the cover while stereo back covers have the information at the top.

The labels for the LP are the classic Capitol black and rainbow perimeter with the white/blue print within the perimeter of the rainbow.

The material for the LP consists of various tracks used as singles and taken from three (yes, 3) different UK LPs. Here's the run-down: Side one starts with "Drive My Car" (from the UK LP "Rubber Soul" track one, side one), "I'm Only Sleeping" (from the UK LP "Revolver" track three, side one), "Nowhere Man (from the UK LP "Rubber Soul", track four, side one), "Dr. Robert" (from the UK LP "Revolver", track four, side two), "Yesterday" (from the UK LP "Help!" track six, side two) and ended side one with "Act Naturally" (also from the UK LP "Help!" track one, side two). Side two opens with "And Your Bird Can Sing" (from the UK LP "Revolver" track two, side two), "If I Needed Someone" (from the UK LP "Rubber Soul" track six, side two), "We Can Work It Out" ( UK Parlophone single R 5389), "What Goes On?" ( from the UK LP "Rubber Soul" track one, side two) and finally "Day Tripper" (other side of UK Parlophone single R 5389).

The three "Revolver" tracks were sent to Capitol from EMI in mono only. This means that original stereo copies of "Yesterday...And Today" have fake stereo/ duophonic where the high end comes out of one speaker and the low end comes out of the other speaker.

Inner sleeves for this lp included the orange Capitol "Sounds Great !" inner sleeve with the mini black and white promo LP covers including "Rubber Soul" and the "Help!" soundtrack. Canadian inner sleeves included the red/white Capitol/Pathe sleeve.

Rubber Soul Gets The Capitol Treatment

2011-06-02T13:37:00.003-04:00

Capitol records released it's next Beatles' LP for Canada and USA with all new material ( up to this point ). The title of the LP was "Rubber Soul", the first time that both the UK and Canada/US titles were actually the same (not counting the movie soundtracks). Another first was that the front cover of both the UK and Canada/US versions were the same with one exception: the colour of the album title wording on the front cover: The UK colour is rust and the Canada/US colour is brown.

Incredibly, the back covers for both version is also the same. Both versions have the exact same black and white photos in the same order. The Canada/US version has the artists' title above the photos while the UK version does not. The album title logo is shown on the left side of the tracklist box while the Canada/US version had the logo centered. The production/photography credits exists withi the tracklisting box on the UK version but are added to the lower left and right of the back cover on the Canada/US version. The Capitol logo on the Canada/US version is in the upper right hand side of the back cover for mono copies and the logo is on the left with stereo blurbs for the stereo copies.

The release date for "Rubber Soul" is as follows: The US formats were released on December 06 1965 and three days later for Canada on December 09 1965. The catalogue number for this LP is

Capitol T-2442 for the mono LP and Capitol ST-2442 for the stereo version.

The label for this LP was originally released on the classic black background with rainbow rim and blue or white print running above the perimeter of the rainbow on the labels. Some original copies credit the artist as "John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr" while other original copies are corrected to "The Beatles John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr". Canadian (mono) copies feature either the RCA or Compo label ring while stereo copies only feature the Compo ring.

The content of the LP for Canada/US contain the following: Side one opens with "I've Just Seen A Face" (from the UK LP "Help!" side two, track five), "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", "You Won't See Me", "Think For Yourself", "The Word" and "Michelle". (from the UK LP "Rubber Soul" side one, tracks 2,3,5,6 and 7 respectively). Side two opens with "It's Only Love" (from the UK LP "Help!" side two, track two), "Girl", "I'm Looking Through You", "In My Life", "Wait" and finally "Run For Your Life" (from the UK LP "Rubber Soul" side two, tracks 2,3,4, 5 and 7 respectively).

On the stereo versions of this Canada/US LP, the song "I'm Looking Through You" contains a false start which is not available on the mono LPs.

Inner sleeves for the US version of the LP were originally olive green with mini black and white album cover photos (including "Beatles '65" and "The Early Beatles"). Inner sleeves for the Canadian version of the LP were originally the red/white Capitol/Pathe sleeves.

Help ! (soundtrack LP)

2011-05-29T11:28:00.003-04:00

Capitol Records released the second Beatles' movie soundtrack for their second film "Help!". The title of the LP was also "Help!". For this second movie, Capitol Records had the rights to the movie soundtrack. This must have been a change in the contract somewhere as to this day I can still not figure out why United Artists would be so hard-up to get the soundtrack exclusive for the first film but not negotiate the same for the second film. After all, it's been said that the first film was created by United Artists so that they could issue the soundtrack. Strange.

Anyway, the two formats issued for this LP were once again mono and stereo. The catalogue number for the mono issue is Capitol MAS-2386. The catalogue number for the stereo issue is Capitol SMAS-2386. The release date for the LP on or about August 09 (in Canada) and August 13 (in the US) 1965.

The top of the front cover has the words: "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" in blue with the band's name in orange underneath. The band members are positioned in somophore letters in black in white with George, Ringo, John and Paul (left to right) and Paul extending his arms out and almost touching the Capitol logo printed to his right as opposed to the UK front cover which also features the band members in somophore letters in colour and in different positions: George, John, Paul and Ringo left to right. Stereo copies of the US/Canada copies have the blurb: "New Improved Full Dimensional Stereo" in orange and black at the top. Unfortunately, mono copies of this LP are not true mono mixes, they are simply the streo mixes folded down to one channel. Boo.

The back cover has the artist and title of the LP once again in orange with some film credits in green and brown. The tracklisting is underneath in black and orange with the instrumentals only listed as ..well..."instrumental". There is a full colour photo of the Beatles in Nassau and finally some black and white mini LP covers which promote "Something New", "Second Album", "The Beatles' Story", "Meet The Beatles", "Beatles '65", "The Early Beatles", "Beatles VI". Canadian copies promote: "Something New", "Long Tall Sally", "The Beatles' Story", "Beatlemania! With The Beatles", "Beatles '65", "Twist And Shout" and "Beatles VI". Once again, all LPs are in non sequence.

The cover was gatefold and sold at a premium price when first released (a dollar more than regular rock and roll LPs at the time !). The inside gatefold shows the Beatles on skis at the Swiss Alps, one of John and Ringo at the same location, an alternate photo of the Beatles in Nassau and finally four individual photos of John, Paul , George and Ringo in various film locations. The liner notes are simply silly hyperbole.

The labels used for this LP are the classic black with rainbow rim Capitol standards for the time with white or blue perimeter print above the rainbow rim. Canadian issues do not credit the Musical Score writer Ken Thorne. US issues have variations with some issues not have the Ken Thorne credits (B. Spizer explains that Capitol at the time didn't know who composed the score although it is clearly written in big letters on the back cover and I'm sure the answer was only a phone call away. Weird.), some issues have the score composer Ken Thorne credits. Some US copies have track 4 on side two as "The Bitter End" while other copies have track 4 on side two as "The Bitter End"/"You Can't Do That".

The song material for this LP is a mixture of side one of the UK Parlophone LP "Help!" and some music score "muzak" by Ken Thorne. Side one opens with the title track preceeded by a short blast of "James Bond" style musak. Next is "The Night Before" from the film. The third song is the first instrumental listed as "From Me to You Fantasy" which is also in the "James Bond" style of muzak. The fourth song is "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away". The fifth song is the George Harrison composition "I Need You" and side one ends with the second instrumental "In The Tyrol" which is a Wagner style brass band fast arrangment of his Overture. So far, the order of the Beatles song (bar the instrumentals) follow the same order at the UK "Help!" LP.

Side two begins with "Another Girl". A sitar Indian style instrumental follows as the second track listed as "Another Hard Day's Night". Now the order slightly changes from the UK version with "Ticket To Ride" appearing as the next track. The fourth track on side two is another Ken Thorne instrumental listed as "The Bitter End". This is followed by the final Beatles' original song for this set: "You're Going To Lose That Girl" (some label copies have the song listed as "You're Gonna Lost That Girl". The end of side two features a final Ken Thorne instrumental listed as "The Chase".

The inner sleeves included for this LP contained the olive-green version in the US (see the previous blog entry for "Beatles VI") and red/white Capitol/Pathe sleeves for Canadian stereo versions while Canadian mono versions had not sleeve.

Beatles VI

2011-05-28T09:21:00.002-04:00

"Beatles VI" or "Beatles 6" was released in Canada and the United States on or about June 14 1965. Both countries featured the LP in two formats: mono and stereo. The mono copies have the catalogue number T-2358 while the stereo catalogue number is ST-2358.

Capitol records' choice for the title of the LP is a bit of a mystery to me. Yes, this is the sixth LP put out by Capitol that contains music only, but the back cover of the US LP promotes the two LP set documentary "The Beatles' Story" which was part of the official catalogue up to the end of vinyl. Therefore, this LP can officially be considered the seventh Capitol LP and not the sixth. A minor quibble.

This LP was made especially for the American market. So much so that the fact that the Beatles had to enter EMI studios and record two songs especially for this release: on the evening of May 10 1965, both "Bad Boy" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" were put on tape by The Beatles. "Bad Boy" was not released in the UK until the UK Parlophone LP "The Beatles Oldies...But Goldies" released in Great Britain on December 10 1966. "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" ended up being the last track on the UK Parlophone LP "Help!" on side two. Since both songs were not to end up on the movie soundtrack, the songs were sent to Capitol headquarters in Los Angeles and used for "Beatles VI".

The front cover of the LP features a colour photo of the Beatles holding a large knife to cut through a cake. The LP title is in a rust colour while the blurb "The world's most popular foursome! John Paul George Ringo". The 11 song titles are underneath and the Capitol logo to the right.

The back cover features four black and white photos of the Beatles at EMI studios: John in sunglasses holding a microphone, Paul at the piano, George with his Rickenbaker and Ringo at the timpani. The LP title and track listing are to the left. Some copies have the blurb: See label for correct playing order as the art work for the LP was completed before the order of the songs was established by Capitol. Other copies have the tracklisting in the correct order with the two distinctive sides printed in order. Five mini black and white LP covers are promoted below the four individual Beatles photos: In the US: "Something New", "Second Album", "The Beatles' Story", "Meet The Beatles" and "Beatles' 65". In Canada: "Beatles '65", "Beatlemania! With The Beatles", "Long Tall Sally", "Twist and Shout" and "Something New". Both versions feature these releases out of sequence.

The labels use the classic black with rainbow style with blue/white perimeter print. The material consists of the following songs: "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" (shown as "Kansas City" on the labels and back cover for this release) from the UK Parlophone LP "Beatles For Sale". Next is "Eight Days A Week" also from the latter, "You Like Me Too Much" is from the upcoming UK Parlophone LP "Help!" as a non-film tune. "Bad Boy" which is mentioned above and side one ends with two songs from the UK Parlophone LP "Beatles For Sale": "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party" and "Words Of Love". Side two opens with "What You're Doing" from the UK Parlophone LP "Beatles For Sale", next is a B side of "Ticket To Ride" entitled "Yes It is", after that is "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" which is mentioned above, "Tell Me What You See" from the upcoming UK Parlophone LP "Help!" as a non-film tune. The LP ends with the song "Every Little Thing" which is originally from the UK Parlophone LP "Beatles For Sale".

So you can understand that this LP is quite a mis-mash using LP tracks from two UK LPs, plus a B side, plus a unique recording.

Inner sleeves for this release feature either the white sleeve with gold and silver perimeter print of "Capitol Records Inc" (in the US) OR the olive-green inner sleeve featuring mini black and white LP covers including "Beatles' 65" and "The Early Beatles". In Canada, most stereo copies came with the Capitol/Pathe red and white inner sleeves and most mono copies didn't come with a proper inner sleeve.

The Early Beatles

2011-05-26T10:15:00.002-04:00

The first North American LP released in the year 1965 was this compilation of earlier material by the Beatles entitled "The Early Beatles". This LP was released on March 22 1965 in the United States by Capitol in mono and stereo: the mono catalogue number is Capitol T-2309 while the stereo catalogue number is Capitol ST-2309.

This LP could be considered an official "replacement" of the previous configurations of "Introducing The Beatles" on Vee Jay records. Vee Jay records rights to it's original 16 Beatles' masters reverted to Capitol records in mid October 1964 when Vee Jay stopped making and distributing LPs containing these early Beatles masters.

The 11 tracks on the LP are all pulled from the UK Parlophone LP "Please Please Me" with the exception of "I Saw Her Standing There" (which was already available on the US "Meet The Beatles" LP yet remaining unreleased on an LP in Canada), "Misery" (which would remain unreleased on an LP in the US until the 1980 Capitol release of "Rarities" but available on the Canadian "Long Tall Sally" LP), "There's A Place" (which would remain unreleased on an LP in the US until the 1980 Capitol release of "Rarities" but available on the Canadian "Twist And Shot" LP). Finally, the odd song out would be "From Me To You" which would see the light of day in 1973 on Apple's double LP compilation "The Beatles 1962-1966".

The front cover of the LP features a colour photo of the band in Hyde Park, London. The photo was taken by Robert Freeman. The photo was originally used for the back cover of the UK Parlophone LP "Beatles For Sale". The photo is cropped and the title of the LP in blue and red is above along with the songs contained within below the title in an olive green colour.

The back cover is white with black print with short liner notes to the left under the LP title, the track listing for sides one and two to the right and mini black and white LP covers below both the liner notes and tracklisting. The catalogue number for both formats appears on the top right corner.

The labels use the classic black background with rainbow rim and blue/white perimeter print. There are errors on both the US and Canadian labels concerning writers credits: On side two track three "Baby It's You" shows the last name as "Davis", it should be "David". Also, the next track "A Taste of Honey" shows the writer's credit as "Ric Marlow". The credit should have both "Bobby Scott - Ric Marlow".

The inner sleeves in the US were the rust coloured "teen set" inners similar to the ones used for "Beatles' 65".

In Canada, this LP was not released in that country until on or about June 03 1968. The simple reason for this is that all of the songs contained on "The Early Beatles" were already available on the Canadian LP "Twist And Shout". When "The Early Beatles" was released in 1968 in Canada, all copies were stereo. No mono copies exist (that I know of). The cover is the same both front and back with the exception of Canadian markings at the bottom of the back cover "Printed in Canada", "Manufactured...." etc. The labels are also the classic black with rainbow print and the errors on the labels are exactly the same as the earlier US version !! Canadian copies of this LP originally came with the red/white "Capitol/Pathe" inner sleeves.

Beatles '65

2011-05-23T10:03:00.003-04:00

This LP was released by Capitol Records in the United States and Canada on December 14 (in Canada) and December 15 (in the US) 1964. Just in time for Christmas, this LP featured fresh material from the Beatles at the time. The LP was available in both mono and stereo. The mono catalogue number for this LP is Capitol T-2228 and the stereo catalogue number for this LP is Capitol ST-2228.
The front cover of the LP features the album title in huge red letters at the top: this front cover also features a main colour photo of the group holding umbrellas and wearing dark jackets to signify winter; there are three smaller colour photos underneath with the left photo having the Beatles holding springs (signifying spring), the middle photo has the Beatles only in their shirts with the sleeves rolled up by Ringo and George wearing a towel over his shoulder and a beach umbrella present signifying summer and finally the photo on the right with The Beatles holding brooms and basket signifying fall. One of the more attractive covers for an early Capitol Beatles' release (in my humble opinion).
The back cover is a little blander with a white background and black print. The upper left holds the Capitol/EMI logo while the upper right has the catalogue number. The LP title is underneath. Liner notes on the left and the track listing on the right. The mini LP black and white covers are featured underneath.
The labels feature the classic Capitol black with rainbow rim and perimeter print in either blue or white above the rainbow rim.
The track listing for "Beatles' 65" consists of the following: side one mirros the first six songs (of seven) from the Parlophone LP "Beatles For Sale" with the first track being "No Reply" followed by "I'm A Loser", "Baby's In Black", "Rock And Roll Music", "I'll Follow The Sun" and last but not least "Mr Moonlight". Side two opens with the third track on side two of "Beatles For Sale" LP with the song "Honey Don't", next is the last track of side two from the UK LP "A Hard Day's Night" with the song "I'll Be Back", the next two songs are from the single and appear as "She's A Woman" and "I Feel Fine", lastly the final song on "Beatles' 65" LP is also the last song that appears on the Parlophone UK LP "Beatles For Sale" and is titled "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby".
Unfortunately, both the LP versions of "She's A Woman" and "I feel Fine" are drenched in over-loaded reverb and make the songs sound as if they were recorded at the end of a long, long tunnel. Both songs are duophonic on the stereo version of the LP and sound terrible. Part of this deed can be credited to a Mr. Dave Dexter Jr. who gets a production credit alongside George Martin under the track listing on the back cover of the LP !!
Inner sleeves for this LP originally came with the standard red and white Capitol/Pathe sleeves in Canada. In the United States, original copie came with a rust coloured inner sleeves promoting "The Teen Set" on one side with mini black and white covers of the Beatles' LPs: "Meet The Beatles", "Second Album" and "Something New" as well as Beach Boys' LP, Dick Dale, Peter and Gordon, The Four Preps, etc. The other side of the rust coloured inner sleeve features mini LP covers of Broadway LPs and easy listening titles.

The Beatles' Story

2011-05-22T10:43:00.002-04:00

During the late summer and early fall of 1964, both VJ and Capitol were devoid of any new Beatles musical material. It is no surprise that two LPs appeared in November of 1964 that consisted mainly of interviews. My previous post dealt with the VJ records release "Hear The Beatles Tell All". This post will deal with the second of these interview LPs: "The Beatles' Story".

"The Beatles' Story" was released in the United States and Canada on November 23 1964 in the US and on December 21 1964 in Canada according to P. Hemmingsen discography (p. 35). This was also the Beatles' first double LP released by Capitol. The original working title for this LP was "The Beatles Documentary" which appeared on white Capitol acetate labels before the commercial release and name change. This double LP was released in mono with the catalogue number (Capitol TBO-2222) and in stereo (in the US only; Canada released the stereo version in 1968) with the catalogue number (Capitol STBO-2222).

Unfortunately, this release is shoddy and definitely a low point for Capitol. This is clearly a "cash-in" album and no input from EMI, Brian Epstein nor The Beatles themselves was even considered. Similar to the VJ "Hear The Beatles Tell all" which feature interviews from two DJs of KRLA in Los Angeles, this Capitol release features interviews put together mainly by Gary Usher and Roger Christian of radio station KFWB of Hollywood, California (who also get production credits). The material contains original music by The Beatles but only in short snippets. You never get to hear a complete song. Only forty seconds of a live version of "Twist And Shout" ; the opening number from the August 23 1964 live performance at the Hollywood Bowl.

The front cover features the LP title in red. A red, purple and white Union Jack appears with black and white head shots of the individual Beatles above the Union Jack.

The inside gatefold cover features the name of the band and a photo of The Beatles performing in Washington during their February 1964 visit to the US on the left. On the right, various black and white photos of the Beatles during their visit to the US are featured both as a group and individually. The track listing and catalogue number is to the right of the tracklisting.

The back cover is corny and stupid. There are two photos of the Beatles at the bottom of the cover (one being the February press conference from JFK airport and the other live in Washington DC) and tons of silly hyperbole. Here are examples: "It's like spending a very special evening in the company of The Beatles themselves!" (yeah, right!!). I won't even repeat the bullshit written all over the back cover.

Labels for this double LP are the classic black background with rainbow Capitol label. All original copies consisted of the sides 1/4 and 2/3 version in both Canada and the United States with the exception of the subcontracted RCA labels which have the 1/2 and 3/4 versions making them rarer. This is not to be confused with the Capitol of Canada RCA versions which had the standard 1/4 and 2/3 version.

Speaking of Canadian copies, the covers for "The Beatles Story" were imported from the US therefore it is common to see this LP with US marked covers and Canadian inners and labels. The manufacture of the vinyl also seems to have been imported from the US east coast factory in Scranton, PA due to the "IMA" union triangle etched into the inner groove area.

Original inner sleeves for the US had the light blue inner dust jackes with the mini LP black and white photos and "Caution!" information similar to the earlier royal blue inne sleeves. In Canada, the LPs were housed in the red and white Capitol/Pathe inner sleeves.

Incredibly, this double LP remained in the Beatles official Capitol catalogue until the 1980s and was re-issued i the various concurring labels.

Hear The Beatles Tell All

2011-05-21T08:58:00.002-04:00

In order to be somewhat consistent in the Vee Jay releases, I've included this interview LP released in the United States by Vee Jay records in early November 1964. In fact, November would see two interview records by The Beatles in the month of November '64, this one and one from Capitol records (see next post).

"Hear The Beatles Tell All" was originally released only in mono with the catalogue number VJLP 202 PRO (on the labels) or PRO 202 (on the cover).

The front cover states that the material on the record is "live in person interviews recorded during their latest American tour" and has the LP title underneath this blurb. Various coloured drawn question marks and exclamation marks are scattered throughout and small blurbs on "teaser" liner "what you will find inside" style questions are within coloured shaped boxes, circles, etc.

The back cover is black on white with the "VJ" brackets logo at the top and mini record covers for "Songs, Pictures and Stories", "Beatles vs. The Four Seasons" and "The Beatles & Frank Ifield (portrait version)" are shown. Also shown are picture sleeves (for three) and song titles (for one) of four singles on Vee Jay/Tollie: "Please Please Me/ From Me To You", "Do You Want To Know A Secret?/Thank You Girl", "Twist And Shout/ There's A Place" and "Love Me Do/ P.S. I Love You".

The labels for the records are on the Vee Jay "bracket" with the catalogue number either written as "VJLP 202 PRO" or "VJLP 202" (rarer version). There are no "side 1" or "side 2" markets (a double A side LP ??)

One side consists of radio DJ Dave Hull (from radio station KRLA in Los Angeles) interviewing The Beatles along with percussion sound effects from Hal Blaine. The other side consists of Jim Steck interviewing John Lennon and once again sound effects by Hal Blaine. The recordings were edited by Lou Adler. This is probably why the labels on the LP credit these recording as "A Dunhill Production".

Promotional labels exist for this LP. These labels are white with blue print and the catalogue number consists of "PRO 202". Both the words "promotional" and "not for sale" are written on the left and right of the VJ brackets logo respectively. VJ screwed up these labels with errors when they mistakenly credit Dave Hull interviewing Lennon and Jim Steck interviewing The Beatles ( it should be the other way around). This was obviously corrected for the commercial versions.

The LP was re-issued in 1979 with the same cover. The exception was that there is a "stereo" implication at the top of the front cover (although the record plays in mono). Also, the re-issued label has much larger print. There is no stereo designation on either the originals nor the re-issued labels.

Ain't She Sweet LP

2011-05-15T09:54:00.004-04:00

This "cash-in" LP was released in both Canada and the United States on or about October 05 1964 by the Atco record company. The LP was released in the mono format for Canada and the catalogue number is ATCO 33-169. No stereo versions of the LP were released in Canada.

Two formats were released in the United States. The LP was released in the mono format in the United States and the catalouge number is ATCO 33-169. The LP was released in the stereo format in the United States and the catalogue number is ATCO SD-33-169.

This LP contains only four tracks by the Beatles that were recorded in Hamburg, Germany with only one track that features vocals from a Beatle (John for the title track). The other three tracks feature Tony Sheridan on vocals with the Beatles backing. The remaining eight tracks on the LP are performed by a group calling themselves "The Swallows" and they perform cover versions of Beatles, Gerry and The Pacemakers and Freddie and the Dreamers tunes.

The front covers for both countries are identical with a black background and the title song and artists written in lined red, blue, green and prominent white. The entire title of the LP is actually: "ain't she sweet - The Beatles & Other Great Group Sounds From England". The ATCO logo is on the bottom and the catalogue number below it. The stereo version on the front cover has the word "Stereo" and the catalogue number at the top.

The back cover has a white background with black print. The ATCO and catalogue number are at the upper left and the ARCO logo at the upper right. The title and full name of the LP are below and the the track listing with side one on the left and side two on the right follow. The second, third and fourth songs list "The Beatles" as the artist. Some back covers in the US add "with Tony Sheridan" to the credits. Silly liner notes are written below the track listings. The US ATCO records address is printed at the center bottom whereas the Canadian copies have the blurb: "Distributed in Canada by London Records of Canada Ltd.". Stereo copies in the US have the stereo designation at the upper right of the back cover.

The labels for Canadian copies are black with silver print. The US mono labels are tan, white and blue-gray and the credits read either "The Beatles" or "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan" beside the second, third and fourth tunes. The stereo copies are not true stereo but simply re-channelled mono (highs on one end and lows on the other)!

This LP was re-issued approximately one year later (summer 1965;Spizer) as "The Amazing Beatles & Other Great English Group Songs" on Clarion 601 (mono) and Clarion SD-601 (stereo). This time the cover was a drawing of the faceless Fabs with a blue and purple background. The title is in white with the songs written in black against a red back ground. Stereo copies of the front cover have the "stereo" designation and catalogue number at the top rather than having the catalogue number at the bottom for the mono copies. The back covers are all white with 21 LP covers. Various versions abound with one version being generic, one version showing a British flag and one with the current front cover photo. The labels for the Clarion issue has red, white and blue labels for the mono copies and Green, white and orange for the stereo copies with the word "stereo" in green. This re-issue was only released in the United States.

The Beatles Vs. The Four Seasons

2011-05-08T09:53:00.003-04:00

Vee Jay Records released a double LP set on October 01 1964 entitled "The Beatles Vs. the Four Seasons". The catalogue number for this two LP set was Vee Jay DX-30 for mono versions and Vee Jay DXS-30 for stereo versions.

This double LP paired version two of the "Introducing the Beatles" record with the "Golden Hits of The Four Seasons" record. A whole new cover was (once again) created and this is simply a re-issue of the title already available with the "Introducing The Beatles" and "Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles" covers.

The front cover lists the two LP set as "The international battle of the Century" and the Vee Jay logo to the right. Underneath are "The Beatles" written in red and "The Four Seasons" written in purple. The blurbs on the front cover promise: Scorecards, Biographies, Pictures and Stories of all the contestants.

The track listing is below on the front cover with the "Beatles Line up" being the tracks from "Introducing The Beatles" and the "Golden Hits of The Four Seasons".

The back cover features a score card with the songs listed and you can write in the points for each track with a total at the bottom for each band. Also available is the total for the winner. The "rules" of the contest are written in purple. Get out your markers, kiddies !!!

The inside gatfold features colour tinted photographs of both bands (individuals and group) as well as short biographies (the individual Beatles biographies are copied exactly from "Songs, Pictures and Stories").

Also included in the double LP "The Beatles Vs. The Four Seasons" is a poster that measures 11 and half inches by 23 inches (the front cover of the album states that the free poster is 8 inches by 15 inches). This poster features the same drawings of the individual members of the Beatles as the ones used for the "Songs, Pictures and Stories of The Fabulous Beatles" cover !! The poster has the drawings horizontically surrounded by a gold frame.

The records inserted into the covers are usually the "brackets" logo of version two of "Introducing The Beatles" and the "Golden Hits of The Four Seasons".

Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles

2011-05-07T09:20:00.004-04:00

The next Unites States release is somewhat in question for me. I've consulted both Spizer's Vee Jay book and the Castleman/Podrazik "All together Now" discgraphy. Spizer tells us that this LP was released/distrubuted sometime in late July while Castleman/Podrazik places it's release on October 01 1964. I'll go with Spizer for this one just for the fact that his research indicates as many original documents within the legal perimeter as possible of this release. Remember that Vee Jay could legally re-issue their master recordings as they saw fit after a court ruling brought on by Capitol/EMI records in June 1964.

So, all in all, "Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles" is nothing more than a re-packaging of "Introducing The Beatles" with a different cover and catalogue number. The labels and the records packaged with this release are version two "Introducing The Beatles" vinyl with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why" in the same configuration as the previous "Introducing The Beatles" posting.

The catalogue number on the cover is VJ 1092 for the mono version and VJS 1092 for the stereo versions. This LP was only released in the United States. The front cover uses a three-quarters length gatefold cover with the Dezo Hoffmann photograph featured on both the 45 single picture sleeve "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Can't Buy Me Love"/ and the back cover of the Canadian LP "Twist And Shout" also uses this photograph. Underneath the photo are a facsimile of the Beatles' autographs. The title; "Beatles" in large orange is at the top of the front cover with the track listing in red underneath and the VJ logo in blue.

The three quarters inner gatefold has the track listings for side one and side two separated and surrounded with various colour tinted photos of the individual Beatles as well as a group shot in the middle. The main inner gatefold has blurbs for each member of the band with a corresponding drawing of the member's face to the right of it. The drawings can be seen when the three-quarter cover is closed. Top to bottome order: Paul, John, George and Ringo.

The back cover is black with a large photo of Ringo to the left which is yellow tinted and the words in white: "Ringo Love" and a drawing of a perferated heart where you can insert or tape or paste your personal photo. To the right is Paul in purple tint with the same blurb and heart. Next is George in blue tint and then John in red tine. This was the typical marketing for VJ which I personally find treated their young girls like little children at this point but I guess this is the sign of the times when the Beatles were being treated by business more as a fad and boy band than serious musicians and ground breakers.

For the mono covers, the catalogue number appears on the bottom right side of the black background on the front. For stereo covers, "STEREO" appears in blue at the top center in blue along with the stereo catalogue number on the left of it in white. Some stereo covers are simply mono covers with a "STEREO" sticker stuck over the mono catalogue number.

Lastly, there are covers that were customized with "banners" that were stuck to the front cover indicating a concert location for the 1964 Beatles tour and marketed as :"Souvenir of their appearance at (city and date). These covers with the banners are fairly rare as they were limited and sold in record stores (not at the actual concert). Both mono and stereo versions had the banner on some of the covers. My copy is mono, version two brackets, no banner.

Fake covers for this LP exist with no gatefold and the title on the front cover is: "Songs and Pictures of the Fabulous Beatles" rather than the authentic "Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles". The four drawings of the individual Beatles on the fakes is also very washed out.

Something New

2011-05-01T09:20:00.002-04:00

Well, not quite something new. This LP released by Capitol in North America contained only 11 songs while five of them had already been released just over a month previously. "Something New" was released on July 20 1964 in mono and stereo (most likely to compete against the "A Hard Day's Night" soundtrack put out by United Artists). The catalogue number for the mono version is Capitol T-2108 and the stereo catalogue number is Capitol ST-2108.

Capitol used a very colourful front cover for this release. On the left side of the front cover is a colour photo of the Beatles performing in New York City during their appearance in February 1964 on "The Ed Sullivan Show". The right side of the front cover shows the title of the LP in white with the artist below in orange. The Capitol logo is under that is white along with the "new" songs and then the blurb (in orange): "...plus the hit vocals from the Motion Picture "A Hard Day's Night" (A United Artists' release)"...yes, folks. Lastly, the five previously release songs are written out in white.

The back cover features the title and artist in black with uncredited liner notes on the left of the back cover. A hilarious production credit states: "Produced in England by George Martin and in the USA with the assistance of Dave Dexter, Jr.". Dave Dexter, Jr. was the same guy at Capitol in the US to turn down the Beatles not once or twice...but three times !! He did absolutely nothing for "production" of the LP except for maybe the song selection and sequencing which is rather pityful. Hard to believe this guy got a "production" credit. This is the same guy that added tons of reverb to everything and it's been rumoured that he hated Beatles music !! A true Blue Meanie, in my books. Ok, Ok...enough ranting. Anyway, on the right side of the back cover are the track listings along with the timings of the songs. At the bottom of the cover are black and white photos of mini album covers for promotional purposes. The Canadian back covers featured four LP mini covers: "Beatlemania:With The Beatles", "Twist And Shout", "Long Tall Sally" and "The Beatles Songbook" by the Hollyridge Strings (Beatles musak, in other words). The United States back covers featured three LP mini covers: "Meet The Beatles", "The Beatles' Second Album" and "The Beatles Songbook" by the Hollyridge Strings. The US back cover also mentions three Capitol singles titles.

The labels for the North American "Something New" LP are the black with rainbow rim versions. Blue perimeter print runs alongside and above the rainbow rim.

The tracks for the LP contain the following: On side one: "I'll Cry Instead" (from the UK LP "A Hard Day's Night and previously released on the United Artist soundtrack), "Things We Said Today", "Any Time At All" and "When I Get Home" (from the UK LP "A Hard Day's Night"); side one ends with "Slow Down" and "Matchbox" both taken from the UK "Long Tall Sally" EP.

Side two: "Tell Me Why", "And I Love Her", "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" and "If I fell" (all four of these songs are taken from the UK LP "A Hard Day's Night and previously released on the United Artist soundtrack). Side two ends with the bizarre version of "I Want To Hold You Hand" sung in German for the German market and released as one side of a single on Odeon (O-22-671) entitled "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand".

A Hard Day's Night LP

2011-04-30T09:14:00.002-04:00

The soundtrack to the Beatles' first major motion picture was released by United Artists on or about June 26 1964 in Canada and the United States. The catalogue number for the LP was UAL 3366 for mono copies and UAS 6366 for stereo copies.

The front cover of the LP features four large photographs of each individual Beatle from the nose up. This differs from the UK copy which features 20 smaller photos with full head shots of the individual Beatles. The background colour on the front cover is various shades of red depending on the printer."Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" and the album title are in black while "The Beatles" is shown in white. Mono copies have "high fidelity" and the UA logo in white on the bottom while stereo copies have a black banner at the top of the cover with "stereo" artist/title/catalogue number and the UA logo within the banner.

The back cover features 15 black and white photographs of each individual Beatles in various poses from the chest up. Mono copies have the artist/title at the top. Underneath are the credits for the movie and at the right in a black trimmed box is the musical director credit for George Martin. All song by Lennon and McCartney is written underneath the box along with publishing information in small black print. Mono copies have the UA logo at the bottom left with the catalogue number and UA adress at the bottom. Stereo copies have the same information on the back cover as mono copies with the exception of having the logo at the top left with tyhe catalogue number and UA adress at the top.

Original pressings of the LP were on the "United Artists" label which has the four coloured dots at the top perimeter (blue/gold/white and red) and the "United Artists" logo within a white box in gold and white. The bottom perimeter print reads: "High Fidelity" and the New York address. Stereo copies are the same with "High Fidelity Stereo" along the bottom perimeter. Some copies misspelled the song "I'll Cry Instead" as "I Cry Instead". There are also white lable promotional copies in the United states with the four dots and UA logo in black.

Canadian copies have the four dots (all silver) and the silver "United Artists" logo underneath. There is no "High Fidelity" print and the labels were either red or blue or black whereas stereo copies were strictly black. All original Canadian copies were pressed by Compo in Lachine, Quebec.

There are six songs on side one and six songs on side two: Side one starts with two songs from the film; the title track and "Tell Me Why", then "I'll Cry Instead" is featured although it was eventually dropped from the movie by Richard Lester (the director of the film). Next is an instrumental of "I Should Have Known Better" by George Martin and his orchestra, "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You" by the Beatles and side one ends with an instrumental version of "And I Love Her" by the George Martin Orchestra. Side two opens with "I Should Have Known Better", "If I Fell" and "And I Love Her" by the Beatles; "Ringo's Theme (This Boy)" by the George Martin Orchestra, "Can't Buy Me Love" by the Beatles and the LP ends with an instrumental version of the title track by the George Martin Orchestra.

All of the Beatles material was sent to United Artists in mono only from Abbey Road in June 1964. This means that the stereo LP does not contain true stereo versions of the Beatles songs but contains the "duophonic" process and some left and right panning in some cases. The George Martin and his Orchestra instrumentals are in true stereo on the stereo LPs.

Some US copies came with an inner sleeve (either white or checkered) with the United Artists logo and the blurb "The Proudest Name in Entertainment" printed on them.

Long Tall Sally LP

2011-04-25T14:30:00.002-04:00

This third and final uniquely Capitol of Canada LP was released on or about Monday April 27 1964. The LP was only available in mono (at the time) and the catalogue number is Capitol of Canada T-6063 (part of the "6000" series).

The front cover of the LP features the exact same photographs and star graphics as the US issued "The Beatles' Second Album". The top of the cover has the same font and size "The Beatles'" print but instead of "Second Album", the black print states the LP name "Long Tall Sally". Underneath are titles of five songs from the LP as well as the blub: "And Others". There is no emerald green "feature" songs on the right hand side of the cover, instead there is the Capitol logo with the "The "6000" series" banner and "High Fidelity" written below the logo. On the lower right hand side is the printers' "Parrs" logo along with the words "Litho In Canada"

The back cover features the same black and white photos and graphics as the US "Second Album" but the large print at the top of the back cover is differenct as well as the catalogue number (naturally). The credits for the photos are the same but placed in the lower right side of the back cover. The track listing is on the left and mini LP covers of both "Beatlemania: With The Beatles" - below the track list and "Twist And Shout" - show diagonally to the right. Joint production credits are "Produced in London by George Martin" and "Canadian Album Production Paul White" are also shown on the lower left.

The labels are similar to the US rainbow labels with the blue lettering above the rainbow rim. My copy does NOT have the word "Canada" in brackets. Originals were pressed at RCA in Ontario.

The track listing is unique to this LP: Side one consists of the A and B side of the single "I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There", next is "You Really Got A Hold On Me", "Devil In Her Heart" and "Roll Over Beethoven" (tracks 3,5 and 1 on side two of the UK LP "With the Beatles" respectively). Side one ends with "Misery" (track 2 side one of the UK LP "Please Please Me").

Side two consists of: "Long Tall Sally" and "I Call Your Name" (both from the UK EP "Long Tall Sally"), "Please Mister Postman" (track 7 side one of "With The Beatles"), "This Boy" (the b-side of the UK single "I Want To Hold Your Hand"), "I'll Get You" (the b-side of "She Loves You") and "You Can't Do That" (the b-side of "Can't Buy Me Love").

Unfortunately for Beatles consumers in Canada during this period, four of the songs from this LP had already been released on the previous Capitol of Canada "6000" series LP "Beatlemania! With The Beatles" LP !!

After this release, most of the Capitol issued LPs were configured with the same front cover and back cover (with the exception of the "made in Canada" blurbs and the back cover mini LPs which featured the Canadian catalogue for the earlier LPs).

The Beatles' Second Album

2011-04-23T08:58:00.002-04:00

The second Capitol LP was released on April 10 1964 in the United States (Along with "Meet The Beatles", this LP would not be released in this configuration in Canada until February 1967). The LP was available in mono and stereo. The catalogue number for the mono release is Capitol T-2080 and the stereo release is Capitol ST-2080.

The front cover consists of various sepia toned photos of the Beatles taken by Joe Covello and licensed through "Black Star" (whatevek that is). The front cover also features a large emerald green blurb stressing that both "She Loves You" and "Roll Over Beethoven" are tracks included on the LP.

The back cover several black and whit photos of the group once again credited to Joe Covello and, like the front cover, feature some photos of the Ed Sullivan show appearance, live in Washington DC, a press conference at JFK (on the front), things like that. The back cover also shows a mini album cover of the previously released "Meet The Beatles" with track listings. There is also a George Martin production credit.

The labels feature the classic Capitol black/rainbow type with blue print above the rainbow rim. On most original first pressings, the timings for the first two songs on side two: "Long Tall Sally" and "I Call Your Name" are not present.

The songs included on the LP start with side one "Roll Over Beethoven" ( the first song on side two of the UK LP "With the Beatles"), "Thank You Girl" ( B-side to "From Me To You"), "You Really Got A Hold On Me" (track 3 on side two of "With The Beatles"), "Devil In Her Heart" (track 5 on side two of "With The Beatles"), "You Can't Do That" (b-side of "Can't Buy Me Love").

The songs included on the LP side two: "Long Tall Sally" (from the UK self titled EP), "I Call Your Name" (also from the UK "Long Tall Sally" EP), "Please Mister Postman" (last track on side one of "With The Beatles"), "I'll Get You" and "She Loves You" (both songs from the UK single.

The inner sleeves for this LP were the dark royal blue version with the mini LP covers and the "Caution!" needle statement.

The US mixes on some of these songs are significantly duller than the UK counterparts. The stereo mixes, especially, have lots of added reverb (which would intensify in the next couple of years) and some of the mono-only songs were treated to the "duophonic" process - highs on one side of the spectrum and lows on the other side.

Jolly What ! The Beatles & Frank Ifield On Stage

2011-04-22T09:46:00.003-04:00

The second Vee Jay LP to hit the United States and released less than a month after "Introducing The Beatles". "Jolly What!" was released on or about February 26 1964 and the catalogue number for this "cash-in" LP was VJLP 1085 for mono copies and VJLPS 1085 (on certain labels) or VJS 1085 (on covers). The Vee Jay company was never very consistent making these LPs with label and cover variations.

There are versions of the front cover: the first cover released in February 1964 shows a cartoon of a man with a Beatle wig, glasses and Victorian looking mustache/beard in black and red. The mono catalogue number is on the lower right of the front cover but the stereo catalogue number appears on the upper right of the front cover as the slick was moved up or down depending on it's mono or stereo designation. (Fakes usually have the word "STEREO" and the mono catalogue number on the lower right of the front cover). Although the words "On Stage" appear as part of the title for this LP, all tracks are studio recordings. This was probably just a method of trying to sell LPs and misguide teens into thinking this was a live LP which is is not.

The second version of the front cover is the rarest of all Vee Jay LPs. This cover shows the Beatles drawn from a Dezo Hoffmann photograph with George and John having their elbows down and fists holding their chins while Ringo and Paul stand behind them. This is actually a much better and nicer looking cover with the colours mainly blue and the four Beatles songs heard on the LP highlighted below the title. The words: "Jolly What!" are gone and this version is known by collectors as the "portrait cover". There were mono and stereo slicks prepared for this cover version as well with the word "stereo" in blue at the top of the cover when required. This particular second version was a re-issue released probably in September 1964.

The back cover for both versions features black print on a white background. "The Beatles And Frank Ifield" are highlighted and bold and underneath are the short liner notes. There is a great sentence in between the liner notes and the track listing where "compilation" is spelt "copulation". The track listing follows with the side one songs on the left and the side two songs on the right. Of the 12 songs on the LP, only 4 are by the Beatles.

The track listing for side one is: "Please Please Me" (Beatles), "Any Time", Lovesick Blues", "I'm Smiling Now", "Nobody's Darling" (Frank Ifield) and "From Me To You" (Beatles". Side two has "I Remember You" (Frank Ifield), "Ask Me Why", "Thank You Girl" (Beatles), "The Wayward Wind", "Unchained Melody" and "I listen To My Heart" (Frank Ifield). Interestingly, this is the ONLY US LP where "From Me To You" could be found until the 1973 release of Apple's "The Beatles 1962-1966".

The labels for this LP have a variation of the "oval" Vee Jay logo, the "brackets" logo or just the block letters logo. The stereo labels have the stereo wording at the top, at three o'clock or at nine o'clock depending on the logo variation. It should also be noted that the four Beatles songs do not play stereo on stereo copies as Vee Jay never acquired the stereo masters.

My oval logo mono copy came with the white inner sleeve featuring various gospel mini covers on one side and pop mini covers on the other side.

The Beatles With Tony Sheridan and Guests (MGM)

2011-04-21T09:35:00.003-04:00

The recording industry at the beginning of 1964 started to realize the potential of the Beatles and a few "cash-in" LPs were released during this year of Beatlemania. The first of these were issued by MGM in Canada and the United States on or about February 03 1964. The catalogue number for "The Beatles With Tony Sheridan and Guests" was MGM E-4215 (mono) and MGM ST-4215 (stereo) for the United States. Canada only had mono copies released on the same date with the catalogue number E-4214 (C). The "C" was denoted as a Canadian destination. In Canada, the LP was manufactured and distributed by Quality Records as stated on the lower back cover.

The front cover of this horrible LP is an ugly green with "The Beatles" in very large print in white and "With Tony Sheridan and Guests" in very small black print. The four Beatles contributed songs are "featured" in a box on the lower part of the cover. These four recordings are part of the "Tony Sheridan" session in Hamburg for Polydor (more of this in another post).

The back cover is white and once again "The Beatles" in large black thick print and "With Tony Sherican And Guests" in smaller black print is on the left side of the back cover. The left side also includes the track listing and the "artists" or "guests" alongside The Beatles. These "guests" were an unknown band who called themselves the "Titans". The Titans contribute six songs, the other guests are "Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers" which is essentially Tony Sheridan with a back-up band (not the Beatles) contributing two songs. There are liner notes on the right hand side of the back cover by Ian bond. My Canadian Copy has a drill hole through the middle of the cover denoting that it has been deleted.

The labels for the LP in the United States are black with the large "MGM" logo (and the lion above it). The large "MGM" logo is in a rainbow colour and the lion above it is also in colour. The track listing is white. The labels for the LP in Canada are orange or yellow and black with the "MGM" in orange or yellow (as well as the lion's head). The track listings are in black with the orange or yellow back ground. Also on the labels are the words "Long Playing" "Microgroove" "Unbreakable" and "331/3 RPM".

Side one contains: "My Bonnie" and "Cry For A Shadow" by The Beatles w/Tony Sheridan, "Johnson Rag" by the Titans, "Swanee River" by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers, "Flying Beat" and "The Darktown Strutters' Ball" by the Titans.

Side two contains: "The Saints" by The Beatles w/Tony Sheridan, "Rye Beat" by the Titans, "You Are My Sunshine" by Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers, "Summertime Beat" by the Titans, "Why" by The Beatles w/Tony Sheridan and finally "Happy New Year Beat" by the Titans.

I have not seen any evidence of an inner sleeve being included with original copies.

Twist And Shout LP

2011-04-20T09:05:00.004-04:00

This was the second Canadian only release from Capitol of Canada. The release date was February 03 1964 and the catalogue number is Capitol of Canada T-6054. Original copies of this record were only available in mono.

The front cover of the LP has a pink background at the top third of the front with the words "twist and shout" and "The Beatles" written in white (for the former) and black (for the latter). This made the LP stand out from others with it's bright colour flashing at the buyer when the album was lifted up from the rack. A great idea and used many times over the years. The front black and white photo was taken from the UK Parlophone "Twist and Shout" EP showing the Beatles jumping over what looks like building rubble. The front cover also tells us that this LP is part of the "6000 series" and a blurb on the right side of the front covers tells us the LP contains the song "She Loves You".

The back cover of this LP features a famous Dezo Hoffmann black and white photograph of the Beatles (complete with Paul holding his cigarette) that also graced the picture sleeve for the US single "I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There" (Capitol 5112). The iconic photograph is placed at the top left hand side of the back cover. The top right hand side features the songs and timings on the LP. Under neath the photo are liner notes supposedly written by Paul White and on the other side under the track listing are short bios of the four Beatles individually. The back cover also features a mini photo of the front cover of the previous LP by Capitol of Canada "Beatlemania! With The Beatles" (Capitol of Canada T-6051) and the track listing below it.

The labels are the classic Capitol rainbow labels with large indents (RCA press) and the perimeter print in white above the rainbow edge. Some copies of this LP contained the Capitol/Angel/ Pathe red and white inner sleeves. Some of the first pressings also contain a bonus glossy promo photo with the Beatles surrounding a chair (Ringo sitting in the chair, Paul to the left, George behind Ringo and John to the right) with the words: "The Beatles" written in large black letters to the left and "Exclusive Capitol Records Recording Stars" written in small black letters with the Capitol logo on the right.

The songs contained on this LP features tracks 3, 4, 5, 6,7 from side one of the UK LP "Please Please Me" (Parlophone PMC 1202) and continues with track 1 from side two of PMC 1202 and the single "From Me To You" to end side one. Side two opens with tracks 2,3,4,5,6 and 7 from side two of the "Please Please Me" Parlophone UK LP and the last track is the single "She Loves You".

Meet The Beatles

2011-04-17T13:51:00.002-04:00

"Meet The Beatles" was the first LP issued by Capitol in the United States on January 20 1964. The LP was released in mono and stereo. The catalogue number for the mono issue is T-2047 while the stereo issue is ST-2047.

The front cover of "Meet The Beatles" uses the same front cover photograph as the one used on the UK LP "With The Beatles" and the Canadian LP "Beatlemania! With The Beatles" although this particular issue has the photograph blue tinted. This photograph was taken by Robert Freeman. The lettering above the photograph has "Meet The" in blue and "Beatles" in various shades of tan or brown or olive green depending on where the cover was printed.

The back covers have a Dezo Hoffman black and white photograph at the bottom right with liner notes on the left and instrumentation information on the right above the photo. The song titles and timings are also on the right. Early back covers for mono and stereo do not have the George Martin production credit. The credit was instituted about a month after it's initial release.

The Capitol labels are black with the rainbow ring and perimeter print in blue above the rim. East coast pressings have the number "1" as a straight I while the west coast pressing have the number with a line diagonal to the straight I to form 1. First pressings do not contain publishing credits whereby later pressings have the songs credited to either ASCAP or BMI.

The songs on "Meet The Beatles" contain the single "I Want To Hold Your Hand" with the North American B-side "I Saw Her Standing There" and then the UK B-side to the same single "This Boy". The "Meet The Beatles" LP concludes side one with the first three tracks of side one of the UK "With The Beatles" LP namely: "It Won't Be Long", "All I've Got To Do" and "All My Loving". Side two of "Meet The Beatles" features the next three tracks (in order) from the "With The Beatles" side one tracks namely: "Don't Bother Me", "Little Child" and "Till There Was You". To end side two of "Meet The Beatles"; tracks 2, 4 and 6 from side two of "With The Beatles" are added to the US version namely: "Hold Me Tight", "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Not A Second Time". Interestingly, "Meet The Beatles" have all original Beatles compositions either written by Lennon/McCartney or (in one case) Harrison but only one cover: "Till There Was You" (written by M. Willson).

"Meet The Beatles" original issues also included a dark royal blue inner sleeve with black and white miniature LP covers to promote the latest releases by Capitol.

Introducing The Beatles

2011-04-16T15:10:00.002-04:00

"Introducing The Beatles" was released in the United States on or about January 10 1964. The catalogue number for this LP is Vee Jay LP 1062 (mono) and Vee Jay SR 1062 (stereo). There are strangely two versions of this LP. Both LPs contain music from the first Parlophone UK LP "Please Please Me" with the exception of the "singles" songs. The first version of the LP contain "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You". These two songs were replaced about a month later with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why".

The front cover shows an Angus McBean photograph that was used on the UK "The Beatles' Hits" EP as well as the re-issue of the "Love Me Do" single in 1982. The photo is cropped and reversed on the "Introducing" cover. The first 6,000 copies of version one include the words "Printed in U.S.A." along the left border of the front cover. These copies are extremely rare. There are differences as well with the mono and stereo covers. The stereo covers have a white banner across the top of the front cover which reads "Stereophonic". Some version two covers have the word "stereophonic" embossed at the top or a "stereophonic" white sticker or a foil sticker that reads: "stereo".

The back cover of the LP can come in various forms. Version one back covers contain either a Vee Jay ad that shows 25 miniature LP covers and the words "Other Fine Albums of Significant Interest" or they may even have blank white back covers !! The most common are back covers with the song titles in between black columns. Version one "column" titles include "Love Me Do" ending side one and "P.S. I Love You" opening side two. Version two back covers only contain the song titles in between black columns with "Please Please Me" replacing "Love Me Do" and "Ask Me Why" replacing "P.S. I Love You".

The records were released on the Vee Jay label and have either the "oval" logo or the "brackets" logo for version one. Version two of the LP contain both logos above as well as a logo without an oval or brackets.

The word "stereo" appears on authentic stereo copies of the LP either at the top or at 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock. Some version two stereo LPs have the word "stereo" on either side of the VJ "brackets".

Of particular interest is that the first song on side one: "I Saw Her Standing There" does not include the full count-in. The "Introducing The Beatles" version of this song starts with the last "four !!" with the beginning of the count-in edited out. No inner sleeves were originally issued with this LP.

Beatlemania ! With The Beatles

2011-04-16T09:58:00.002-04:00

The very first North American official LP was released on November 25 1963 (three days later after the UK "With The Beatles"). This LP was released only in Canada through Capitol of Canada. The catalogue number for this LP is T-6051 (part of Capitol of Canada's "6000" series).

The front cover is essentially the same as the UK "With The Beatles" with the exception of the title and some tabloid quotes printed over the familiar Beatles "half shadow" cover used on both "Meet The Beatles" and "With The Beatles".

The back cover of the LP is the same as the UK "With The Beatles" with the liner notes by Tony Barrow.The original release was only available in mono.

The labels for the LP are the usual black/ rainbow labels with perimeter print in white above the rainbow rim. The record label has a wide indentition signifying that the record was pressed in Smith Falls, Ontario. The track listing for the LP is exactly the same as "With The Beatles". Some of the pressings had a red and white inner sleeve promoting "Capitol", "Angel" and "Pathe" records.

Intermission

2011-04-16T09:31:00.002-04:00

Now that we've reviewed basically the UK catalogue and the LP releases post-Apple from the UK and North America, we enter a new phase. The Beatles on compact disc. Before we look at this phase, let's quickly review the original North American LPs from the United States and Canada in order to appreciate the different art work and track listings (in certain cases). When the Beatles started to establish their official catalogue as the compact disc were about to be released, the North American LP versions of their work would slowly be deleted and remain individually out of print (with the exception of the Beatles "The Capitol Albums Volume 1 and 2" box sets where certain titles were officially released in CD form).

The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Beatles Box Set

2011-04-14T15:00:00.002-04:00

The Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (or MFSL ) Beatles Box set was released in 1982 (exact date unknown to me, either October or November). It's official name is "The Beatles/ The Collection" and it's catalogue number is MFSL BC-1.

Before the box set, MFSL had already released three of the Beatles LPs as individual items. The first was "Abbey Road" either on December 1979 or January 1980. The process for the discs included using the master tapes (when available) and then utilizing "half-speed" mastering of the laquers. This was then pressed onto "super vinyl" when sent from California (MFSL headquarters) to the Yokohama factory of the Victor company in Japan in order to fabricate the metal masters and the press the records. This "super vinyl" was transparent when held up to light and was heavy vinyl and harder than regular vinyl in order to establish the best sound possible. The master tape used for "Abbey Road" was actually the Capitol sub-masters and not the original from Abbey Road.

The second Beatles LP from MFSL was "Magical Mystery Tour". The master used for this project was actually from EMI but this version originated from Capitol and was used by EMI for the 1970s re-issue. This didn't make much sense when considering that this version contained second generation stereo for eight songs and fake (duophonic) stereo for three songs. This second release was put out on February 01 1981.

The third Beatles LP from MFSL was "The Beatles (White Album)" issued on January 07 1982. The master tapes used for this project were also sub-masters from Capitol.

All of the above covers were released with colour banners at the top denoting that there were "Original Master Recordings". "Abbey Road" had the standard cover, "Magical Mystery Tour" had the re-issued gatefold without the booklet and "The Beatles (White Album)" was not embossed not did it contain the poster and individual photos. The labels for these three pressings were white with black print. "Abbey Road" has the target Capitol logo, "Magical Mystery Tour" has the EMI logo (ironically) and "The Beatles" has the dome Capitol logo.

The box set was then released. The remaining 10 LPs were as follows: "Please Please Me" (using the original master tape from EMI), "With The Beatles" (also using the original master tape from EMI) "A Hard Day's Night" (also using the original master tape from EMI), "Beatles For Sale" (using a re-mix from the four track tape), "Help!" (using a re-mix tape), "Rubber Soul" (using a re-mix tape), "Revolver" ( using the original master tape from EMI), "Sgt. Pepper" (using a re-mix tape), "Yellow Submarine" (using a re-mix tape) and "Let It Be" (using a corrected copy tape). It is also interesting to note that "Pepper" in this set does not contain the recording of the high frequency or the "inner groove".

Each of the 14 discs in the box set have the white labels with black print. All have rice paper inner sleeves and are surrounded by a cardboard gatefold sleeve and housed in custom covers. The custom covers feature a photo of a tape (actually the same tape is used for all the covers) and an open tape box which shows information as to when the tape was removed from the box and used for issues and re-mixing for various countries, etc. The sound is amazing.

The box set also includes a "Geo-Disc" which is a 12 inch plastic platter used to align and set your stylus and cartridge to a transcription deck !!

The box set also comes with a 12 by 12 40-page colour booklet which explains the MFSL process, contains a certificate of authenticity individually numbered (my copy is 11,734). The booklet also contains reproductions of all the Beatles LP covers - front and back: "Please Please Me" has the "stereo" marking on the front and stereo catalogue number on the back; "With The Beatles" has no marking on the front and stereo catalogue number on the back; "A Hard Day's Night" has the "stereo marking on the front and stereo catalogue number on the back; "Beatles For Sale" has no marking on the front and the mono catalogue number within the left inner sleeve of the gatefold; "Help!" has the "stereo" marking on the front and stereo catalogue number on the back; "Rubber Soul" has no marking on the front and the mono catalogue number on the back; "Revolver" also has no marking on the front and the mono catalogue number on the back; "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" has the mono catalogue number; "The Beatles" has no indications of denoting "stereo" anywhere on the cover; "Yellow Submarine" has the mono catalogue number on the back and is missing the original red lines from the first pressing releases; lastly "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Let It Be" use the re-issue covers from the 1970s thereby eliminating the booklet for "MMT" and using the EMI/Parlophone logo rather than the Apple logo for "Let It Be". I point this out as all of the issues are in stereo and it would have been nice to use the original covers for all of the above with their stereo catalogue numbers.

The booklet also contains a discography at the back. The whole book is surrounded by a sturdy white cardboard outer sleeve. Finally, the set comes with a "Certificate of Limited Warranty".

Supposedly, 25,000 copies of this box set were released. All sold out within a year.

Starting in June 1984, the rest of the Beatles LPs were released individually as the remainder of the "Original Master Recordings" series start with "Rubber Soul". One anomoly is the version of "With The Beatles" as an individual MFSL record, it is rarer than the others due to the fact that a damaged metal part for the recording ensured it had a very limited run.

Twelve inches of "Love Me Do"

2011-04-10T10:26:00.002-04:00

EMI had started to release the Beatles' singles once again due to their upcoming twentieth anniversaries. The first twentieth anniversay single released was "Love Me Do/P.S. I love You" complete with a new picture sleeve and a limited picture disc on October 09 1982. All of the other singles would also be released with picture sleeves on their twentieth anniversary date up to "Let It Be/You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)".

To help promote the "Love Me Do" single, EMI released the first Beatles' twelve inch single on November 01 1982 with the catalogue number Parlophone 12 R4949. This 12 inch single features the two versions of "Love Me Do": the original version with Ringo on drums from September 04 1962 and the later version with Andy White (which appeared on the LP) from September 11 1962. The 12 inch single also included the B-side "P.S. I Love you'. The liner notes on the back cover explain the history of the different versions. The label used for this release is the red Parlophone logo. The front and back cover photos were from the Angus McBean sessions with the back cover photo being used on the US LP: "Introducing The Beatles". This photo was reversed on the LP but is featured in it's original state on the 12 inch single.

20 Greatest Hits

2011-04-09T09:33:00.003-04:00

In the early eighties, it was discovered that the twentieth anniversary of the Beatles' first single "Love Me Do/ P.S. I Love You" was imminent. EMI was ready to mark the occasion by releasing a double LP containing all of the 22 British singles (including the 4 double "A" singles) brining the total to 26 songs spread over two discs. This double LP was to be called "The Beatles Greatest Hits" (very original !!) and white label pressings were made. The project even issued a catalogue number of EMTVS34. The product was to be heavily advertised on television. The double LP was supposed to be released on October 11 1982 (six days after the anniversary of the first single) but was scrapped in favour of a single LP with the A-sides. I'm sure the double LP would have been a massive seller but the record company (in their infinite wisdom) were afraid that the double LP would be compared to the earlier 1973 double LP (The Beatles 1962/1966 and 1967/ 1970). This was utterly ridiculous but...there you go.

Instead EMI released "20 Greatest Hits" as a single disc on Parlophone PCTC 260 on October 18 1982. The LP contained 20 songs from singles that reached the number one spot on the charts in chronological order. "Love Me Do" was also included and opened side one. "Love Me Do" and "She Loves You" are mono but the rest of the material is in stereo. "From Me To You" contains the stereo version with no harmonica intro and "I Feel Fine" has the stereo "whispering" version. The LP was released on the silver and black Parlophone label.

In North America, this LP was also released under the same name and a similar cover. This was released as Capitol SO-12245 in Canada and as Capitol SV-12245 in the United States. The front cover of the LP is different whereby the song titles are featured above the title of the LP on the UK version, the North American version does not feature the song titles - only the title of the LP and the "Beatles" graphic. It must also be noted that there is a difference on the Canadian and US versions of the back cover. The US version contains a barcode on the upper right side of the back cover whereas the Canadian version does not. The inner sleeve is the same for all version featuring a collage of various photographs of the Beatles put together by Chuck Ames.

There are track differences as well between the UK and North America. Six songs that are on the Capitol version but not the EMI version are: "Eight Days A Week", "Yesterday", "Penny Lane", "Come Together", "Let It Be" and "The Long and Winding Road". Six songs that are on the Parlophone version but no the Capitol version are: "From Me To You", "Day Tripper", "Eleanor Rigby", "Yellow Submarine", "Lady Madonna" and "The Ballad Of John And Yoko". The North American version of this LP contained the material on both the purple Capitol labels as well as the re-issued Rainbow styl Capitol labels (for both Canada and the US). My personal copy of the Canadian Rainbow label version also had an invert for Beatles Books. Also noted is the fact that original purple label in the US had "Yesterday" timed on the label as 1:04 and was later changed to it's correct timing of 2:04.

Ironically, the LP stalled at number 50 in the US with a 28 week run. The UK LP did better with the highest position at number 09. My theory is that the public had been saturated in the US with numerous compilations over the past five years (1976-1981) as we have seen. A much better single package of greatest hits would be issued in 2000 with much better results (see post for the Beatles "1"). In the UK, The Beatles' "20 Greatest Hits" was the first UK LP not to contain album tracks.

Reel Music

2011-04-03T08:56:00.002-04:00

This compilation LP was compiled by Capitol Records as another of their "theme" albums. This time the songs were taken from the Beatles' four major motion pictures with United Artists/ Apple films as well as the television special "Magical Mystery Tour". The original name for the release was "The Reel Beatles". The logo for the LP was a large movie reel (in case nobody figured out the pun !). This LP was released in North America on either March 22 or March 24 1982. The North American catalogue number is Capitol SV-12199. This LP was released in the UK on March 29 1982. The UK catalogue number was Parlophone/EMI PCS 7218.

The song selections were complied by Randall Davis and Steve Meyer. There are four songs featured from the movie "A Hard Day's Night". The title song appears in true stereo for the first time in the US on this LP. "I Should Have Known Better" has the stereo mix with the harmonica from the intro fixed to sound similar to the intro of the mono mix. "Can't Buy Me Love" "And I Love Her" round out the tunes from this movie. The next three songs are from the movie "Help!" which include the title track, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and "Ticket To Ride" (in true stereo for the first time in the US). Side one ends with the title track of "Magical Mystery Tour".

Side two opens with "I Am the Walrus" (this version having the six bar intro rather than the four bar intro). It continues with two songs from the "Yellow Submarine" film including the title track and "All You Need Is Love". The set closes with three songs from the "Let It Be" film including the title track, "Get Back" and "The Long And Winding Road". Both "Let It Be" and "Get back" are the LP mix versions rather than the 45 single mixes.

The front cover of the LP depicts a drawing of the Beatles arriving at a theater (the "Capitol" theater) in various incarnations of their dress from each film. The inner sleeve depicts photos of the individual Beatles along film reels on one side. The US version of the inner sleeve depict the US LPs available with the caption at the top reading: "The Beatles Collection". The UK and Canadian inner sleeves are black with the "Reel Music" logo at the upper left.

The package came with a 12 page booklet issued as "The Beatles Souvenir Program". This booklet includes liner notes on each film with the last page showing various movie posters for the films. This booklet was printed in the USA and all booklets were imported into the various LP issues for Canada and the UK. The labels used on the vinyl records were custom labels in Canada and the USA. The UK labels are the Parlophone/EMI black and silver labels.

There were also special promotional LPs released which featured gold coloured vinyl issues. The Canadian copy has the large promotional stamp on the bottom left of the front cover. My personal copy is "Limited Edition Serial No. 1373". The US promotional copy was numbered on the back cover in the upper right. My personal copy is "Limited Edition No. 11134 Not For Sale". My US copy proves that although the limited edition was supposed to be limited to 10,000 more than this number were obviously pressed.

My US copies also come with a small sticker on the shrink wrap promoting the fact that 14 songs from their movies and promotes the special 12 page color souvenir program.

This LP was never officially released on compact disc.

The Beatles Movie Medley

2011-04-02T14:10:00.003-04:00

A new single was released in North America on March 22 1982. The single was used for two reasons: the first reason was the "tie-in" with the upcoming Beatles LP "Reel Music" (released on the same day and featured in the next post). The second reason was for the single to have it's own unique twist: The songs featured on the A side and making up the actual "medley" were edited with the intention of having the same beat flowing through the songs similar to the then-popular "Stars on 45" concept. This was not an easy task when you are only using the film music from Beatles movies that are featured on the upcoming theme LP : The medley starts with a bit of "Magical Mystery Tour" before changing awkwardly to the slow shuffle beat of "All You Need Is Love". Then it gets ever weirder when it changes to a song that is in 3/4 time when the rest of the songs are in 4/4 time. The song in 3/4 time is "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" which is sped up on this recording and changing back to 4/4 time with "I Should have Known Better". This song morphs into "A Hard Day's Night" and then "Ticket To Ride"and finally "Get Back". There is no credit (that I could find) for who butchered this monstrosity. This so-called "Movie Medley" has got to be worst piece of shit I have ever heard.!!!

The B side of the single originally featured an audio recording entitled "Fab Four on Film". This consisted of an interview with the Beatles in 1964 pertaining to their first major motion picture with United Artists: "A Hard Day's Night". The interview lasts six and half minutes and was provided to Capitol Records from the producer of the movie; Walter Shenson. The interview was edited by Randall Davis.

Capitol Records started printing picture sleeves and record labels for the single when it was discovered that the B side "Fab Four On Film" would not be commercially released and the B side was quickly replaced with "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" which ironically was not featured on the "Reel Music" LP. The original catalogue number for the single before the B side was changed is Capitol B-5100. This includes the promotional single with the catalogue number Capitol P-B-5100. Also released with the original B side is a 12 inch vinyl promotion single with the catalogue number SPRO 9758/9759. The promo single, the commercial single and the twelve inch promotion single all have custom labels similar to a movie reel.

When the B side was changed, only commercial singles replaced the B side with "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" and the print on the picture sleeve and the labels were changed to the catalogue number Capitol B-5107.

This single was released in the UK on Parlophone R 6055 on May 24 1982 with the B-side being "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" and the "Movie Medley" has not been officially released on compact disc (thank Buddha !!).

The Beatles EP's Collection

2011-03-27T10:14:00.002-04:00

On December 07 1981, EMI released a box set entitled "The Beatles EP's Collection" with the catalogue number BEP14. The set included a re-issued of all 12 Beatles UK vinyl EPs in mono plus the "Magical Mystery Tour" EP double vinyl EP in stereo. There was also a bonus EP included with four stereo tracks. These box sets were blue in colour similar to the LP collection.

The EPs included in the set are "Twist and Shout" (GEP 8882), "The Beatles' Hits" (GEP 8880), "The Beatles No. 1" (GEP 8883), "All My Loving" (GEP 8891), "Long Tall Sally" (GEP 8913), "Extracts from the film A Hard Day's Night" (GEP 8920), "Extracts from the album A Hard Day's Night" (GEP 8924), "Beatles For Sale" (GEP 8931), "Beatles For Sale No. 2" (GEP 8938), "The Beatles Million Sellers" (GEP 8946), "Yesterday' (GEP 8948), "Nowhere Man" (GEP 8952)", "Magical Mystery Tour" (SMMT-1) and "The Beatles"(SGE1).

The final EP "The Beatles" contains "The Inner Light" in stereo (first time it is released in stereo in the UK), "Baby, You're A Rich Man" (stereo), "She's A Woman" ( in stereo and with Paul's true count-in) and "This Boy" (although the cover states that this is stereo, this version is actually in duophonic or mock stereo with the highs coming out of one speaker and the lows coming out of the other speaker).

Original Beatles EP's from the 1960s had either Parlophone or Gramophone perimeter print whereby these re-issues contain EMI perimeter print with the exception of "Magical Mystery Tour" which differs from the 1967 release by NOT having the "Sold in UK.." print (among other things). The covers are also thinner on the re-issues. I'm just saying because, unfortunately, some dealers would take the EP's out of the re-issue box and sell them separately claiming they were original.

The box set was released on compact disc worldwide in 1992. The title on the box reads: "The Beatles Compact Disc EP Collection". The box is black rather than blue on this version. These box sets contained the above version on CD with "Magical Mystery Tour" available in both the mono and stereo configurations. The bonus EP was also included with "This Boy" finally in true stereo.

From Liverpool/ The Beatles Box (Express)

2011-03-20T09:56:00.002-04:00

In December 1980, the same month of the tragedy, a subsidiary of EMI entitled "World Records" had put out a mail order box set of the Beatles. This box set contained eight records/LPs and basically came in a box with the cover looking like a shipping crate with the words "From Liverpool" stamped on, a small photo of the Beatles circa 1964 and a "The Beatles Box" looking like a label stuck onto the box. There are two other smaller "The Beatles Box" label looking like they were stuck onto the side and top of the box as well as a fascimile small red sticker which reads: "Express".

This compilation was very different from the blue box set in the sense that all of the eight LP covers had original photographs and completely different sleeves. The photos on the front covers corresponds to the era of the Beatles music contained within. The back cover liner notes contain biographical information written by Hugh Marshall.

This particular box set was not released in North America. There have not been any official CD counterparts of the track listing either. I have two copies of the box in my personal collection. The first box has the "Reader's Digest" logo printed on the upper left hand side of the front cover. This set comes with an 8 page booklet featuring a "Love Songs" style Beatles photo on the first page. All of the records have the Parlophone black and silver 2-box EMI labels. The catalogue number for this European set is Parlophone/EMI World Records SM 701 to SM 708.

The second box I have is a Japanese import. On this set, there is no "Reader's Digest" on the front of the box and the back of the box has the "Odeon" logo on the back of the box at the bottom. This Japanese set comes with a 12-page booklet of liner notes and a 20-page lyric sheet booklet as well. The labels are Odeon black and silver and the catalogue numbers are EAS-77011 to EAS-77018.

The first LP contains 8 songs from "Please Please Me" and 5 songs from "With The Beatles" plus three singles tracks. "Love Me Do" is the Ringo on drums version, "From Me To You" has the stereo mix and "All My Loving" contains the high hat count version.

The second LP contains 8 songs from "A Hard Day's Night" plus the 4 songs from the "Long Tall Sally" EP as well as 4 singles tracks. "This Boy" is actually in mono, "And I Love Her" as the German version with the extra riffs at the end of the song; "She's A Woman" appears for the first time in stereo on a British LP and "I Feel Fine" has the whispering at the beginning.

The third LP has 8 songs from "Beatles For Sale" and 7 songs from "Help!" along with a singles track.

The fourth LP has 6 more songs from the "Help!" LP plus two singles tracks as well as 8 songs from "Rubber Soul". "Day Tripper" has the US stereo mix.

The fifth LP contains 10 tracks from "Revolver" as well as 4 singles tracks. "Penny Lane" is the version that is also used on the US "Rarities" with the trumpet ending.

The sixth LP contains 9 songs from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", 2 singles tracks as well as 4 songs from the "Magical Mystery Tour" EP. "All You Need Is Love" has the mono singles version and "I Am The Walrus" is the same configuration as on the US "Rarities" version with the longer intro and extra middle beats.

The seventh LP contains 10 songs from "The Beatles" double White Album, plus 4 singles tracks and 1 song from "Yellow Submarine".

The final eighth LP contains 7 songs from "Let It Be" as well as 1 singles track and 10 songs from "Abbey Road". "Get Back" and "Let It Be" are the LP versions.

A very nice box set and great collectible, it was a staple of record stores (usually put near the front cash) as this set was heavily imported to Canada and the United States at the time.

The Beatles Ballads

2011-03-19T09:52:00.002-04:00

The first Beatles LP of the eighties as well as the first Beatles single LP to contain 20 tracks, this compilation was first released in the UK on October 20 1980. The catalogue number for LP is Parlophone/EMI PCS 7214. The front cover of the LP contains a painting of the Fabs by John Patrick Byrne. The back cover features the track listing, drawings of various animals and a photograph of the Beatles taken during the "mad day out" photo sessions of July 1968. The photograph was taken by Stephen Goldblatt.

"The Beatles Ballads" was also issued in Canada by Capitol of Canada a few weeks later ( exact release date unknown ). The catalogue number for this release is Capitol of Canada SL-9612. The same cover as the UK version was used for this release with the exception of the lower right hand corner of the back cover which features the EMI logo and corporate information for the UK version and the Capitol/EMI logos and corporate information for the Canadian version.

The labels for the UK version are the black/silver two box "EMI" labels. The labels for the Canadian version include the re-issue rainbow label with the white perimeter print inside of the rainbow rim.

Capitol Records in the United States did not release this particular compilation as it was discovered at the time that 10 of the 20 songs on the LP were already released on the "Love Songs" compilation.

North American Rarities

2011-03-12T09:34:00.002-05:00

In late 1979, Capitol Records decided to release their own version of the "Rarities" LP different in art work and track listing from the first version issued with the "Beatles Collection" box set released by EMI. This only made sense as most of the tracks on the EMI version of "Rarities" had already been released on LPs from the North American back catalogue configurations making a lot of the tracks not very "rare".

"Rarities" was released on March 24 or 28 1980 and has the catalogue number SHAL-12060. The format for this set of music was originally released on vinyl and is not available on compact disc. The front cover features a small photograph of the Beatles taken on July 28 1968 against a grey background. The small photo is embossed. The original front cover was supposed to be the Bucher cover photo but this was instead put on the inside of the gatefold cover instead on the left. Original copies of "Rarities" have the butcher cover cropped while second issues have been cropped differently showing a set of false teeth on the floor. On the right of the inside cover is a photo of the Beatles during a 1966 press conference with ten small various photos of the Beatles laid over the red curtain behind them. The back cover has six small photos on it's bottom right side with liner notes on the left and the track listing. All are against a grey background. The small photos on the bottom right are embossed on the second issues.

The descriptions for the songs on the back cover had errors (DUH!) which are discussed below: "Love Me Do" is the mono take with Ringo on drums, this version being copied from the Canadian single (Capitol of Canada 72076).

The next two songs are "Misery" and "There's A Place". There is an error on the back of the cover which states that "There's A Place" was never issued in stereo in the US. This is not true as "There's A Place" was released on the stereo Vee Jay LP version of "Introducing The Beatles" (SR 1062). Second issues of the back cover of "Rarities" edited the line about the stereo version. On Canadian copies of "Rarities", "Misery" has an asterisk with the information that this song had already been released in Canada on Capitol of Canada ST-6063 (Long Tall Sally LP) and that "There's A Place" has two asterisks with the information that this had already been released in Canada on Capitol of Canada ST-6054 (Twist and Shout LP).

"Sie Liebt Dich" is in stereo on this LP. "And I Love Her" uses a German stereo version with the extended guitar riff at the end. I'm sure this track was extended rather than originally edited by the German engineers.

"Help!" uses the UK single mono mix with the different Lennon over-dubbed vocal. "I'm Only Sleeping" uses the UK stereo mix.

"I Am The Walrus" was created by Capitol in the following manner: they opened the song with the six riff intro (rather than four riffs) taken from the "Magical Mystery Tour" UK stereo EP. There are also extra bars of music after the "I'm Crying" section which were edited in from the original Capitol mono single.

"Penny Lane" was also a Capitol creation. This UK stereo mix was edited with the Capitol promo single (mono) taken from an actual 45 !! The version on the North American "Magical Mystery Tour" LP has "Penny Lane" in duophonic so this is a much better sounding mix.

"Helter Skelter" is the UK mono mix. First issue back covers of the "Rarities" attribute the "I've Got Blisters On My Fingers" statement to John Lennon !! It always astounds me that with all of the so-called "experts" compiling this LP, nobody caught the error. Second issue back covers edit the liner note description by editing out the word "Lennon".

"Don't Pass Me By" is simply the UK mono mix.

"The Inner Light" is presented in mono and not to be released in stereo until much later on the "Past Masters" series (which will be discussed in a later post).

"Across The Universe" is the early "No One's Gonna Change Our Word" version (see pertinent earlier post).

"You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" is also presented in mono. It would be much later before hearing a stereo version ( see pertinent post).

Finally, the LP ends with a snippet of the "Sgt. Pepper Inner Groove" which was included on the run out groove of the mono and stereo UK LP versions of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" but not released with this configuration in North America.

A grey inner sleeve with black and white photos of the Beatles at various stages during their career was included in the package. The labels on this release were the rainbow re-issue with perimeter print within the label on the black background.

Interestingly, the North American version of "Rarities" was one of three Beatles official Capitol albums NOT to achieve sales of one million (The other two being: "The Beatles Story" from 1964 (discussed in an upcoming post) and "Reel Music" from 1982 (discussed in an upcoming post).)

EMI Finally Catches Up

2011-03-06T10:06:00.002-05:00

At the end of the 1970s decade, EMI finally caught up with North America in regards to the picture discs and coloured vinyl. A bunch of stuff was released beginning with the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" picture disc - catalogue number PHO 7027. The packaging for this release was different from the North American release due to it's plain black sleeve and the photo of the disc was of the original front cover of the commercial release on both sides whereas the North American version had the "Pepper" bass drum on the B-side. This particular disc was manufactured for EMI by Metronome Records of Germany.

Also released in the UK during the great year of 1979 were the following coloured vinyl releases: "The Beatles (White Album)" on white vinyl with the catalogue number PCS 7067-7068; "Abbey Road" on green vinyl with the catalogue number PCS 7088; "Let It Be" on white vinyl with the catalouge number PCS 7096 and "Magical Mystery Tour" on yellow vinyl with the catalogue number PCTC 255. All of the above coloured vinyl records were released with Apple labels with the exception of the "Magical Mytery Tour" LP which has the Parlophone/EMI silver/black label.

In June of 1979, EMI re-issued the "Hey Jude" compilation LP originally released only in North America in 1970 on Apple. This time EMI added it to it's catalogue with the number PCS 7184. All tracks and cover art are the same as the original release.

All of these discs were released over the course of the year 1979 with little or no advertising by EMI.

UK Rarities

2011-03-05T09:12:00.002-05:00

There are two versions of this LP with the same title. Both have different covers, track listings and one is a gatefold while the other is not. This post will deal with the first version from EMI in the UK and it's exclusive American (non commercial) counterpart.

The Beatles "Rarities" was first issued as part of an eloborate box set released on December 02 1978 entitled "The Beatles Collection" with the catalogue number BC-13. This was basically the British LPs re-issed on the respective Parlophone/Apple labels and the first issue of "Rarites" was included as a bonus LP in the box set with the catlogue number Parlophone PSLP 261. The LP contained tracks that were not issued on EMI UK configured LPs or single B-sides, unique EP tracks as well as the two German sung tracks.

The front cover of this and the later general version feature a blue background with gold coloured logo showing the band's name and the LP title. It is also interesting to note that the version of "Rarities" that came with the box set had some errors on the label: The following tunes were written as stereo mixes but the mono mixes are heard on the record: "I'll Get You", "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)", "She's A Woman", "I'm Down" and "Long Tall Sally".

EMI issued a statement at the time explaining that the bonus "Rarities" would not be available as a separate entity. To get the bonus LP, you had to buy the box set. Obviously this was a stupid move by EMI.

Needless to say, demand for the LP was large and eventually the "Rarities" LP was available commercially almost a year later sometime in October 1979. This version of the LP had a few differences though. First the catalogue number was changed to PCM 1001. Also, the label had the stereo mix mistakes corrected by stating that 12 of the 17 tracks were mono. The same master was used for this version and the back cover added a "review" of the LP by Hugh Fielder of the music paper "Sounds".

In the United States, Capitol Records also released "The Beatles Collection" with their own version of the "Rarities" bonus disc. On this version, Capitol used the same front cover design with the blue background and an almost white logo of the band name and the title of the LP. The cover for this version was a paper cover rather than a cardboard cover which was used in most other countries where this box set was released. The imported LPs for the box set were imported and used the Parlophone/Apple labels as well. The US box set version was limited to 3,000 copies although numbers higher than that have been confirmed. It has also been said that the US "Rarities" bonus box set LP had an extra 2,000 pressed for promtional purposes. The bonus "Rarities" LP in this case for the US market was given the catalogue number Capitol SPRO-8969 and the track listing was the same as the UK track listing with the exception of the two German songs. On the US version, the two German sung songs were replaced with the original English versions. This particular LP was not released separately from the box set (officially). The box set in the US was also released in December of 1978. This LP has not been available on compact disc.

Colours And Pictures

2011-02-26T09:12:00.002-05:00

As 1978 wore on, it was decided to release a picture disc of the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" LP in the United States - catalogue number Capitol SEAX-11840 with the record having an enlarged picture of the front cover on side one and the Pepper bass drum logo on side two. One of the reasons for the release was the interest of the group stirred on by the movie of the same name featuring Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. Although the film flopped, the picture disc version sold reasonably well at the time. Capitol Records in the US also re-issued the following LPs on coloured vinyl: "The Beatles (White Album)" 2-LP set on white vinyl with the catalogue number Capitol SEBX-11841; "The Beatles 1962-1966" 2-LP set on red vinyl with the catalogue number Capitol SEBX-11842; "The Beatles 1967-=1970" 2-LP set on blue vinyl with the catalogue number Capitol SEBX-11843. The above record were available as limited editions with 150,000 copies. All of the above were released on August 15 1978.

In December 1978, Capitol in the United States released "Abbey Road" as a picture disc which was housed in a cut out cover (similar to the "Pepper" picture disc) with the front cover photo on side one and the back cover photo on side two. The catalogue number for this one was Capitol SEAX-11900.

In the UK, only the greatest hits double LPs were released. "The Beatles 1962-1966" was re-issued on red vinyl with the catalogue number Parlophone 717 and "The Beatles 1967-1970" was re-issed on blue vinyl with the catalogue number Parlophone 718. Both releases were issued on September 30 1978.

In Canada, Capitol of Canada basically issued the same vinyl coloured discs as the Unites States with the exception of the "Pepper" picture disc. In it's place, Capitol of Canada issued a marble colour vinyl version of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Capitol of Canada SEAV-11840) as well as previously issued the 2-LP set "Love Songs" on yellow/gold vinyl (Capitol of Canada SEBX-11844).

Probably the strangest single from EMI/Capitol.

2011-02-20T09:00:00.002-05:00

As you may have surmised, Capitol and EMI were going nuts releasing theme albums and a handful of singles left and right during the 1970s just because - well, just because they could with no consequence. Thinking as a business (not that there's anything wrong with that) and not thinking artistically, it was decided to release a single featuring the first two songs from the "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" on the A-side and the last track "A Day In The Life" on the B-side.

The dim light bulb went off when it was discovered that a movie was being made using songs from the LPs "Pepper" and "Abbey Road" featuring the (at the time) heart throb Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. Capitol and EMI saw the opportunity to make $$$.

The single was released in North America on August 14 1978 with the catalogue number Capitol 4612. There was also a promotional white label disc with the designation P-4612 that has the A-side "Sg.t Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/With a Little Help From My Friends" in stereo and folded down mono.

In the UK, the single was also released on September 30 1978 with the catalogue number Parlophone R-6022. Both singles featured picture sleeves. The UK version was added to the EMI singles box when it was officially released.

The single did horribly in the charts for both North America and the UK. In the United States, the single peaked at 71 in the "Billboard" charts. In the UK, the single didn't even enter the top 30 and became the first Beatles' single not to enter the charts. The fact that the single was released in 1978 and the movie did not premiere in the UK until 1979 certainly didn't help.

Love Songs

2011-02-19T08:19:00.002-05:00

This is the second "themed" Capitol/EMI project that is basically a compilation of Beatles' recorded material that have a "Love" connection. The recordings were once again released as a 2-LP set and is not officially available on compact disc (just like the first "themed" project Capitol/EMI 2-LP "Rock 'N' Roll Music").

"Love Songs" was released in North America on October 21 1977 with the catalogue number Capitol SKBL-11711. "Love Songs" was released in the UK almost a month later on November 19 1977 with the catlogue number Parlophone PCS 7211/2.

The packaging for the cover of this set was much more impressive than the previous "theme" set. "Love Songs" contains two vinyl LPs inside a gatefold cover which is brown and textured to be alike a simulated leather feel with an oval logo consisting of the Beatles images as taken by Richard Avedon for "Look" magazine in 1967. The original photograph of the Beatles in 1967 was manipulated for the cover/logo by moving Ringo and Paul. Paul is left on the origina photo while Ringo is immediately to the right. On the cover, Paul and Ringo are reversed in position and Paul's portrait is enlarged while Ringo's portrait has been made smaller. Why this was done is unclear although there is speculation that Paul was enlarged due to the fact that he was the only solo Beatle at the time (1977) to be signed to EMI. John had let himself become a free agent, George was with Dark Hose/Warner and Ringo was with Atlantic/Polydor. There is also speculation that the big wigs at Capitol thought it would be better to have John and Paul "highlighted" since it was the two composers who's music was being prodominantly featured in the set (Reference: Spizer).

The original covers also came with a 28 page lyric book that featured the logo on the front cover and the calligraphy by Michael Manoogian. The lyric book was printed in the United States and imported to the other countries for release (Canada and the UK).

The inner sleeve for the North American releases included the logo on one side and the pertinent songs on the other side along with timings, LP of original (US versions) along with date of release for the particular LP. The UK pressings did not have custom inner sleeves.

The record labels for the North American releases included the Bealtles portait on a gold and brown background. The UK pressings did not have custom inner sleeves but rather the regular black/silver Parlophone labels.

Canadian copies offered all of the above along with gold vinyl colour pressings catalogued as Capitol of Canada SEBX-11844.

The song selection is a little bizarre. It's always difficult to define exactly what a "love song" is. Does it have to have "love" in the title or does it have to have love as a subject or is it a romantic lyric? Anyway, some of the tunes included on this set are questionable. "She's Leaving Home" for example.

A nice little set and collectible although it has not been listened to very much with my ears. I've always found compilations very subjective.

Another Strange Single From Capitol Records

2011-02-18T13:29:00.003-05:00

As EMI and Capitol records were preparing to release it's second "theme" 2-LP set containing a compilation of Beatles' love songs, Capitol records in the United States issued a promotion single to radio station containing two of the love songs slated for said release.

The single had "Girl", the Lennon tune from the "Rubber Soul" sessions on it's A-side while the B-side was to contain "You're Going To Lose That Girl", another Lennon tune this time from the "Help!" sessions. Both tunes were described as "from the LP "Love Songs" SKBL-11711". The distribution of the promotional single to the media took place on or about October 13 1977.

Although the commercial version of the single was eventually cancelled, promotional singles containing the song "Girl" on both sides (mono/stereo) (mono being a folded down stereo). The catalogue number for the promotional single is: Capitol P-4506. The label is gold and brown with the "Love Songs" logo featuring the Richard Avedon's photos along the top.

A picture sleeve was also manufactured for the purpose of the (eventually) cancelled commercial version which featured the same leather texture and gold foil type brown front and back and it also contained the oval "Love Songs" logo similar to the "Love Songs" 2-LP cover. Commercial labels for the single were manufactured but the commercial single did not get to the pressing plants. There are several "fake" copies of the commercial single available.

Discussion of the "Love Songs" Capitol/EMI 2-LP set will be written about in the upcoming post.

The Beatles Live! At the Star Club in Humburg, Germany; 1962.

2011-02-17T14:16:00.002-05:00

The second live 2-LP set released in 1977 (the first set being the Hollywood Bowl). This quasi-legit release was released firstly in Germany on April 08 1977 (this release pre-dating the eventual world wide release of the Hollywood Bowl tapes). The catalogue number for this German release is Bellaphon BLS 5560. The next release date for these particular recordings was in the UK, once again as a 2-LP set with the same ugly cover: White type on a black background. This time is was released on the Lingasong Label via RCA. The catalogue number is LNL 1. Finally, on June 13 1977 the 2-LP set was released in North America and was also on the Lingasong label. The catalogue number being Lingasong LS-2-7001. The above catalogue numbers are all for the original vinyl 2-LP release. This material (along with the Hollywood Bowl material) has never been officially and legally released on compact disc.

The songs on these recordings date back to the end of 1962 when the Beatles were booked in Hambug Germany between December 18 and December 31 (New Year's Eve). To pinpoint the exact nights are hard to do, but probably between boxing day (December 26) and New Year's Eve (December 31) were when the actual recordings were made. The Beatles were recorded along with Ted Taylor and the Dominoes on a reel-to-reel capacity in mono mainly to test the equipment installed by Adrian Barber at the Star Club where these bands were performing. Mr. Barber gave the tapes to Ted Taylor for his listening pleasure before Beatlemania.

Mr Taylor saw potential in the live tapes after Beatlemania hit the UK and offered the tapes to Brian Epstein. Mr. Epstein saw no value in the tapes and since the recording was horrific, Mr. Epstien offered Mr. Taylor twenty pounds. Naturally, this was turned down and the tapes remained with Mr. Taylor.

In the mid to late 60s, the tapes were brought to a small London recording studio owned by an engineer with the name John Seddon. The tapes were brought to the studio in order to try and clean them up a bit and to try and improve the sound. The tapes were basically left at the studio until the studio literally shut down and stopped operation.

In 1971, both Ted Taylor and the Beatles early booking agent Allan Williams, went back to the closed studio, got it opened and took the Hamburg tapes out of the studio. Williams and Taylor both tried to pursuade major record companies to release the material (including Apple) but was mainly turned down due to the fact that the sound was (and is still) horrendous as well as the fact that the material on the tapes should have legally be owned by EMI since the Beatles were under contract with EMI at the time of the recordings - this is why the liner notes try to get around this by claiming that the performances were recorded earlier in the year before August and that Ringo was simply "sitting in " for Pete Best. Misleading at say the least.

Enter Paul Murphy. Mr. Murphy was once an engineer for the Polydor company in Germany and had remixed the Hamburg studio recordings for Bert Kaempfert in 1964. Mr. Murphy, Mr. Taylor and Mr. Williams set up a company called "Lingasong Ltd." in September 1975. Eventually, Mr. Murphy bought out Mr. Taylor and Mr. Williams and kept the tapes with the attempt to finance a clean up of the mixes with EQ and a host of other things. Lingasong teamed up with the Double H Licensing Corporation from New York City with the intent of distribution. When the impending release was announced, Apple tried to sue but the case was dismissed due to the fact that the tapes were of "historic interest" (according to Lingasong) and that Apple had delayed the court action when they had known that the tapes existed.

There are differences between the European release of this LP set and the North American release. Most of these differences stem from the fact that the North American version had purposely tried to NOT include that would suggest (correctly, I might add) that these tunes were only written and/or performed live at the end of 1962 during the EMI era. For instance, the first song on side one of the European LP is "I Saw Her Standing There" which was removed from the North American line up and replaced with "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You". On side two, the first song on the European LP is "Twist and Shout" while the replacement song on the North American LP is "Where Have You Been All My Life". Track five "Reminising" from the European LP is replaced by "Till There Was You" on the North American pressing. On side three "Ask Me Why", the fifth track from the European release is replaced with "Sheila" on the North American version. Side Four is left untouched.

The front and back covers are similar for both territories (apart from the back track listing and fact that Europe states that the LPs contain 13 never before released Beatles tracks, the North American version states that the LPs contain 15 never before released tracks). The inner gatefold of my German copy has the misleading liner notes in English on one side and in German on the other side. The North American version contains more photos of the German-era Beatles and the English liner notes with a baby blue background. The other side contains the track listing and credits.

Although the sound is still horrible, one get a sense that the Beatles were not really "giving" thier all as their debut single "Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You" had been released not two months earlier and this gig in Hamburg was probably the last place they would want to be instead of being in their homeland promoting the single.

The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl LP

2011-02-12T08:47:00.002-05:00

1977 was a very cool year for fans of the Beatles' live performance. Two commercial LP releases of live performances came out that year. One was from the pre-fame era while one consisted of full blown "Beatlemania".

The first LP to be released by EMI/Capitol was the international release entitled "The Beatles At the Hollywood Bowl". The LP was released in North American on May 04 1977 with the catalogue number Capitol SMAS-11638. It was released in the UK two days later on May 06 1977 with the catalogue number Parlophone EMTV 4. The "TV" in the prefix designated the heavy use of television advertising in Britain for this album.

All material on this LP were recorded live at the Hollywood Bowl venue in the city of Los Angeles during the Beatles' tours of 1964 and 1965.

The first concert recorded was performed on August 23 1964 with an audience of mostly screaming young girls and the attendance figure of 17,250. The performance was recorded on three-track tape with Hugh Davies as recording engineer and Voyle Gilmore acting as producer. The entire show was taped and the original idea was to release the show as a live album back in the 1960s. Four days later back at the Capitol Studios in LA, stereo mixes were prepared and the gap between the Beatles' introduction and the first song was edited as well as some dialogue of Paul introducing Ringo for his spotlight on the song "Boys". The mono mix was simply the three track stereo mix folded down. Capitol acetates were made at this point. the acetates were mono and these acetates were probably used as templates for the mound of vinyl bootlegs releases of the 1964 Hollywood Bowl live performance issued in the early 1970s on vinyl.

George Martin and Beatles were dissatisfied with the result and a planned live LP to be released during the 1960s was abandoned. The first 45 seconds of the live "Twist and Shout" performance from the 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert was released as part of the 2-LP Capitol North American release "The Beatles Story" in mono (Capitol TBO-2222) and in stereo (Capitol STBO-2222).

Six songs from the 1964 Hollywood Bowl show are featured on the 1977 "The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl" LP: "All My Loving", "She Loves You", "Things We Said Today", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Boys" and "Long Tall Sally".

The second and third concerts were recorded by Capitol records once again at the same location (Hollywood Bowl) on August 29 and 30 1965. The performances were once again recorded on the three-track mobile with Pete Abbott being the recording engineer this time. Voyle Gilmore was once again producer. There is no indication of any mixing or editing of these 1965 concert tapes until much later on. In 1966, second generation copies of the two 1965 concert master tapes were shipped to EMI Studios in London and the performance of "Twist And Shout" was used on the television special "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" dubbed over the Shea performance to enhance the performance in the post-production. There were also audience noise ( note: screaming) overdubbed onto the Shea television special from the 1965 Hollywood Bowl concert tapes.

More stereo mixes of the 1964 complete Hollywood Bowl concert were prepared on September 30 1966. The concert was still not released at this point (probably due to the fact that the Beatles were now advanced leaps and bounds in the recording of their new material that the earlier songs/concerts were of less interest to them). The three track master tapes and the current stereo mixes were all sent to EMI Studios for storage in 1969. Two years later in 1971, the original master tapes for both 1965 Hollywood Bowl live performances were finally sent to EMI studios for storage.

Fast forward to 1976: EMI and Capitol now gain creative control over the Beatles' material as the recording contract expires. A stereo acetate was prepared using the August 30 1965 concert performance in it's entierty with 6 songs on each side. This developed into a 2-LP set with the same line up as above and the addition of eight songs from the 1964 August 23 performance. Once again both line ups were scrapped.

Then president of Capitol Records Bhaskar Menon had asked George Martin to work on the tapes. George Martin agreed and the project along with the master tapes were taken to Air Studios in London on January 18 1977. The recording engineer was Geoff Emerick and the song line up/ editing/ equilization was completed on January 23 1977. It took one week.

The eight songs appearing on the 1977 LP from the 1965 shows are the following: "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (an edit of the August 29 and August 30 1965 performances), "Ticket To Ride" (August 29), "Help!" (August 29), "Twist And Shout" (August 30), "She's A Woman" (August 30), "Can't Buy Me Love" (August 30), "Baby's In Black" (August 30), "A Hard Day's Night" (August 30).The LP's back cover states that all of the songs above were from the August 30th show, although aural evidence states overwise.

The front cover has a small photo in black and white of the Beatles on stage at the venue with two mock tickets in green and blue. The mock ticket in green is for the August 23 1964 show and the mock ticket in blue is for the Augusts 29 1965 show. The original genuine tickets did not feature a photo of the Beatles but these mock tickets do. The North American version of the LP has the tickets embossed on the front but the UK version does not. The North American version has the Capitol logo on the bottom center of the front cover.

The back cover features liner notes and the track listing as well as a fully torn ticket on the UK version and an embossed folded but not as torn as the UK ticket on the North American version.

The inner gatefold cover features memorabilia such as the 1964 and 1965 concert programmes, some Beatles badges, a Beatles serving tray, a Beatles "Beatles VI" play tape, a couple of Beatles pennants, and a large black and white photo of the Beatles performing on the Hollywood Bowl stage and a few of the audience member's heads ( on girl turning around to look back). Both inner gatefolds are the same for the North American and the UK versions.

The paper inner sleeves are different: The UK version contains the Beatles current catalogue with photos of all of their UK LP covers from "Please Please Me" to "Rock 'N' Roll Music" while the North American version features black and white photos of audience members screaming, standing and generally having a blast and facsimilies of the Beatles' autographs accompany the photos. This LP also has custom labels. The UK version had the track listing in black and white on one side and a photo of the Beatles on stage in black and white on the other side. The North American version also has custom labels with side one having a partial torn blue ticket of the August 29 1965 show and the track listing on a tan background and side two having a partial torn green ticket of the August 23 1964 show and the track listing once again on a tan back ground.

This LP has never been commercially released on compact disc and is still (as of this writing) only available on it's vinyl counterpart. This title is one of the most recommended re-issue of Beatles material not yet released on compact disc by a lot of Beatles' fans.

I also highly recommend you seek out the complete Hollywood Bowl concerts available as a 2-CD released on "Midnight Beat". You get a nice box and booklet and it's sounds terrific !!

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/ Julia

2011-02-06T10:55:00.002-05:00

The "single" 45 blitz of 1976 continued with the release of two tracks from the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles (White Album)" released on November 08 1976. The catalogue number is Capitol 4347 and this single was only released in North America.

The label featured the contemporary orange Capitol label and there was also a promo white label for the a-side (Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da) with a mono mix and stereo mix (Capitol P-4347). The mono mix is simply the stereo mix folded down and not the true mono mix available on the mono version of the white album available on Apple in the UK (PMC 7067-7068).

Capitol and EMI at this point must have been salivating to release as much Beatles material as they could since they could now manipulate the catalogue as they wished. The above example was an unnecessary exercise as far as I'm concerned. The single was only on the charts for six weeks and reached a high point of 47. Maybe this discouraged Capitol from releasing singles left and right (although a few LPs were forthcoming as we will see in future posts).

The single came with a picture sleeve and had the same concept as the original "White Album" cover in the sense that all the picture sleeves were sequentially numbered. It's a nice little collector's item.

Another Single From the Double LP

2011-02-05T09:55:00.002-05:00

On May 31 1976, Capitol Records in North America had released a single with two tracks taken from the upcoming Capitol 2-LP set: "Rock 'N' Roll Music". This single (Capitol 4274) contained the songs "Got To Get You Into My Life/ Helter Skelter". Both songs featured on the "Rock 'N' Roll Music" LPs. This single was only released in North America.

On June 25 1976, EMI records in the UK did the same thing in the sense that a single was released in order to promote the "Rock 'N' Roll Music" Lps. This single was only released in the UK. This single (Parlophone R 6016) contained the songs "Back In The USSR/ Twist And Shout". How these two songs are related in any way (besides being on the compilation LPs) remains a mystery to me. The choice of songs seems so random.

Anyhoo, an attractive picture sleeve was featured and contained the four portrait photos from the Beatles 2-LP/2-CD "White Album (The Beatles)". The songs written above the portraits in green in order to co-incide with the recent release of the entire single output by EMI.

The "Back In The USSR" single was also available in the Worlds Record version of the singles box set as well as the later 1982 EMI version of the Beatles singles box set albeit with a different picture sleeve design (more on this in a later post).

The single made the two twenty in the UK (number 19). Very respectable for a well know 60s song being promoted in the mid 70s.

Rock 'N' Roll Music

2011-01-30T12:57:00.002-05:00

Nah, not the Chuck Berry tune but the first EMI/Capitol international release after the completion of the Beatles' contract with EMI. This is a 2-LP set and was never released on compact disc.

The two discs are the first in a short series of "theme albums" whose idea originated probably from the Capitol execs in Los Angeles, California, USA. Most of the songs are previous LP tracks and four of the tracks are repeats from the 1962-1966/1967-1970 releases. A good thing about the track listing was the inclusion of the "Help!" single B-side "I'm Down" which was the first time the song appeared in stereo and was available on an LP for UK and North America. The track listing also featured the four "Long Tall Sally" LP tracks (see entry) in stereo and on an LP for the first time in the UK.

The tracks were mixed differently for the North American market and the UK market. The president of Capitol Records, Bhaskar Menon claimed that he could not get hold of any of the Beatles for this release (yeah, right !!) so he contacted George Martin for the approval of the tapes. Capitol used two track dubs which basically had the vocals on one channel and the instruments on the other (similar to the UK mixes). George Martin narrowed the separation and EQ'ed the Capitol tapes. The UK tapes were released in their original form.

"Rock 'N' Roll Music" was also the first release after the expiration of the Beatles' contract with EMI to not feature the Apple label. The North American release reverted back to the Capitol label while the UK release reverted back to the Parlophone label.

The cover for the LP was not recieved very well at the time. It features the art direction of Roy Kohara (who had designed a couple of John and Ringo LP covers in the 70s including "Walls and Bridges", "Rock 'N' Roll", "Shaved Fish", "Goodnight Vienna" and "Blast from Your Past"). The illustrations were by Ignacio Gomez. The front cover featured the Beatles drawn in the "Ed Sullivan" era from a photo previously used on a Capitol LP ("Second Album"). There are two thumbs visible like someone holding the LP cover and the artist title and LP title in neon-like tubing. Not the best cover. The back features a drawing of the Beatles in the same position but from the back. The neon tubing is reversed. Track listing is on the upper left and right. The inside gatefold included 1950s retro symbols such as a cheeseburger, drive in, a drawing of Marilyn Monroe, a glass of Coca-Cola, a tail fin Chevy, a juke box, 45 singles palm trees, music notes and two more thumbs similar to the outside cover. A lot of fans criticized the inside cover saying that it didn't represent the Beatles although (to be fair), the concept of the LP was not the Beatles, but the music that they had covered during the 1950s. Interestingly, the North American version of the LP had custom labels with a glass of Coca-Cola on the label whereby the UK version had the black and silver Parlophone labels. It has been said the John Lennon wrote to EMI requested to design the cover for this project, but was turned down. This brings up my earlier point that Mr. Menon of Capitol states that he could not get hold of any Beatles for final approval of the LP tracking !!!

"Rock 'N' Roll Music" was released in the UK on June 10 1976 (Parlophone PCSP 719) and was released in North America on either June 07 1976 (reference: Stannard) or June 11 1976 (refernce: Spizer) (Capitol SKBO-11537).

It's highest position on the chart was number 10 (in the UK) and number 02 (in North America behind "Wings At the Speed of Sound").

An Un-Strange Single

2011-01-21T14:55:00.002-05:00

The next release by Capitol Records in the US was a single promoting the upcoming post-contract Beatles released of the 2-LP "Rock 'N' Roll Music". The single contained the songs "Got To Get You Into My Life/ Helter Skelter". The commercial single was released on May 31 1976 on Capitol 4274. This single was not released in the UK but only in North America.

There was also a promotional counterpart that used the catalogue number Capitol P-4274 which had also been the catalogue number of a previously promotional single issued to radio stations containing "Helter Skelter" on both sides in mono and stereo (see previous post).

Regardless, this commercial single was a great hit for the Beatles. The single entered the top 30 at number 27 the following month and made it all the way up to number 3 for the week of August 07 1976. The single stayed in the charts for 12 weeks. A picture sleeve was issued for this single which featured a greened-out version of the upcoming front cover for the "Rock 'N' Roll" project.

A Strange Single

2011-01-16T15:01:00.003-05:00

The first single released after the expiration of the Beatles contract from EMI and Capitol was released in North America (I'm not sure if the single was available in Canada). Capitol records decided to issue a promotional single of the song "Helter Skelter". The song appeared on both sides of the 45 with a mono version on one side and a stereo version on the other side.

The mono mix was not the one used on the UK Apple LP/CD "The Beatles (White Album)" but rather a fold down mix of the stereo version. The label of the single is white and the catalogue number is P-4274. The "P" meaning promotional. The single was issued to radio stations in the United States during the spring of 1976. Both sides have the fade out/ fade in with Ringo's comment at the end. This may be a reason that this song was not eventually released commercially as the A-side. The catalogue number was re-used at a later date (more about that in a future post).

It must also be noted that during two days in April 1976 (1 and 2), the CBS television network featured the television film "Helter Skelter" with the subject being the Charles Manson murders adapted from the book of the same name by Vincent Bugliosi. It could be that Capitol released the promotional single in order to garner interest in the song as "Helter Skelter" (the song) would be featured on an upcoming LP from Capitol being prepared for imminent release.

Lastly, it's interesting to note that this release is the only Capitol Records release to feature the group's name as "Beatles" rather than "The Beatles".

The EMI Singles Re-releases.

2011-01-09T11:23:00.002-05:00

The Beatles' contract with EMI and Capitol were pretty much over by February 06 1976. Both EMI and Capitol had the rights to the recordings and could now re-issue these songs in basically any form they wanted to with little input from the group. It would have been great to leave well enough alone but....intregity went out the window (especially with the up coming Capitol releases which we will soon discuss).

The first thing the EMI vultures got thier hands on were the entire singles back catalogue collection. On March 06 1976 EMI released all of the previous 23 singles simultaneously in newly designed picture sleeves (UK only). The back cover photos came in four versions: "Love Me Do" to "A Hard Day's Night" had an early Angus McBean photo, "I Feel Fine" to "Yellow Submarine" had a photo from the "Rain" promo shoot, "Penny Lane" to "Lady Madonna" had a photo from the "Strawberry Fields" promo shoot and lastly "Hey Jude" to "Let It Be" had a photo from a Linda McCartney photographic session (the same photo used for the itunes announcement).

Two days later on March 08 1976, EMI released the single "Yesterday/I Should Have Known Better" (Parlophone R 6013). The A-side had never previously been released in the UK but was available as a single in North America on September 13 1965 as previously discussed (Capitol 5498). The back cover of the single featured a photo from the Beatles' "Beatles '65" seasons photo session in late 1964.

Finally, in the fall of 1977, World Records released all of the above singles and picture sleeves in a box set for the UK. The set was entitled "The Beatles Collection" and the box was gold embossed but not numbered like some later collections. The set was only available through mail order and the box set was deleted by World Records in 1981.

An Oversight: The Hey Jude LP

2011-01-03T11:58:00.004-05:00

As you may or may not have realized, I have basically tried to cover the commercially released Beatles' material in chronological order as best as I can. I've been following the UK discography so please forgive me in the fact that an oversight has occurred.

The Apple LP "Hey Jude" was a compilation LP released in North America on February 26 1970 which contained 10 songs not previously available on Capitol record LPs. The concept for the LP was undertaken by Allen Klein who assigned Allan Steckler (the same guy that produced the song selection for the "red" and "blue" greatest hits package). Mr. Steckler worked for ABKCO/Apple during those days and the idea for the LP was not necessarily a Capitol records undertaking but rather an extra LP devised by Allen Klein to maximize profits under the terms of a new contract.

The Apple LP "Hey Jude" contained mixes supplied by EMI who had specifically mixed certain songs into stereo for the project (see individual songs in my previous blogs). "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better" had already been mixed for stereo by EMI in 1964 for the "A Hard Day's Night" LP in the UK. "Paperback Writer" had already been mixed in stereo in 1966 for the "Collection of Oldies..." LP in the UK. "Rain" recieved a stereo mix for the "Hey Jude" Apple LP in 1969. A stereo mix of "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude", and "Revolution" were all mixed for stereo in 1969 for the "Hey Jude" LP. "Old Brown Shoe", "Don't Let Me Down" and "The Ballad of John And Yoko" all existed as stereo mixes when the concept for the LP was produced and attempted.

The original pressings for the LP labels contained the title as "The Beatles Again". Original pressings also had the catalogue number as (Apple SO-385). The title was changed to "Hey Jude" and the catalogue number was changed to (Apple SW-385). There are labels with the original titles and the SW catalogue number as well. All cover spines show the title as "Hey Jude" and the catalogue number with the "SW" prefix.

The "Hey Jude" LP was released in the UK as Parlophone PCS 7184 in June 1979.

The Beatles 1967-1970

2011-01-02T15:11:00.004-05:00

The second set of the "Greatest Hits" package consisted of a double LP to compliment the "red" album entitled "The Beatles 1967-1970". This double LP set featured a blue background rather than the red one and is henceforth known as the "blue" album.

This double LP set was released simultaneously with the "red" album set. In North America, "The Beatles 1967-1970" was released on April 02 1973 with the Apple catalogue number of SKBO 3404. The set was released in the UK on April 19 1973 with the Apple catalogue number of PCSP 718.

The song selection on this set is much more balanced than the previous "1962-1966" line up. Side one opens with the first single of 1967 (both sides) and four tunes from "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". The side ends with the A-side of the second single of 1967.

Side two opens with the third single of 1967 (both sides) and two songs from "Magical Mystery Tour". The side ends with the first single from 1968 (A-side) and the complete second single of 1968.

Side Three has three songs from "The Beatles (White Album)" and the two early singles of 1969 (both A and B sides).

Finally, Side Four has four tunes from the "Abbey Road" sessions including the two songs pulled out of the LP to create a single in 1969. Three tunes from "Let It Be" conclude the set: two from the LP and the A-side to the 1970 single.

There were still problems with the North American version of the set: For instance, the mix used on "Penny Lane" was duophonic and the song "Hello Goodbye" used the mono mix. Both song had already been mixed in stereo and could have been used if EMI had simply send a copy of the tapes over. Once again as in the previous set, all mixes on the LPs in North America used their own "in house" tapes. The "Get Back" and "Let It Be" versions were from the single mixes and not the LP mixes although the timing on the labels reflect the LP versions.

The cover of the set had the Beatles "Get Back" Angus McBean photo on the front and the "Please Please Me" outtake photo on the back of the cover. The set was originally issued with Apple labels and a blue back ground.

Both the "1962-1966" and "1967-1970" set have been re-issued as Apple/EMI 2-LP/2-CD in 1993 with a much clearer print of the "Get Back/ Please Please Me" cover photos from the previous issue ( issued on vinyl as coloured vinyl in the UK) as well as a remastered Apple/EMI 2-CD version remastered in 2010.

Speaking of coloured vinyl, "The Beatles 1962-1966" (Capitol SEBX-11842) was released in North America on August 21 1978 on two red coloured vinyl LPs. "The Beatles 1967-1970" (Capitol SEBX-11843) was released on the same date on two blue coloured vinyl LPs. In the UK, "The Beatles 1962-1966" was released on red vinyl September 30 1978 (Parlophone PCSPR 717) and "The Beatles 1967-1970" was released on the same day on blue vinyl (Parlophone PCSPB 718).

The Beatles 1962-1966

2011-01-01T14:05:00.002-05:00

The final Beatles project before the end of Apple Records in the 1970s consisted of two double LPs containing selections of key tracks and singles encompassing the Beatles' recording career. The first double LP contains tracks from 1962 to 1966 (hence the title) and is also known as the "red" album.

The concept of this "greatest hits" package came about due to some pirated records that started appearing in television ads and magazine ads in the United States. One of these pirated projects was a four LP set entitled "Alpha Omega" which was released (as Vol. 1 and Vol. 2) through TV Products Inc. of Cleveland, Ohio and Audio Tape Inc. in Ashbury Park, NJ.

The Beatles 1962-1966 was first released in North America on April 02 1973 with the catalogue number Apple SKBO 3403. It was released in the UK two and half weeks later on April 19 1973 with the catalogue number Apple PCSP 717.

The front cover of the double LP has the Beatles posed from the EMI headquarters staircase and is an outtake from the 1963 Angus McBean session for the first Parlophone LP "Please Please Me". The back cover has the Beatles once again posed from the EMI headquarters staircase and is an un-used photo originally planned for the "Get Back" LP cover from the 1969 Angus McBean session. The sleeve is gatefold with a large photo from the July 28 1968 "Mad Day Out" photo session taken by Don McCullin featuring the Beatles behind an iron fence near Pancras Old Church in London. The track listing is below the large photo.

Speaking of song selection, this task was completed by Allan Steckler. The song selection for this LP was lacklustre and (in my opinion) could have been done much better than it was.

Side one consists of the first five singles (A sides only), one LP track from "With The Beatles" and ends with another A side single. Side two has two tracks from "A Hard Day's Night" (including the title track), one LP track from "Beatles For Sale", two A side singles and one LP track from "Help!". Side three has the "Help!" single, another LP track from "Help!", both sides of the single from the "Rubber Soul" sessions and ends with an LP track from "Rubber Soul". Side four consists of four LP tracks from "Rubber Soul" and ends with an A side single and only two LP tracks (later released as a single) from "Revolver".

Unfortunately, the set is extremely unbalanced and I suppose Mr. Steckler's favourite LP is "Rubber Soul" as there are seven tracks from these sessions with only two or three tracks from all other early sessions.

In North America, the track listing was the same as the UK, but with different and inferior mixes(using mono mixes on some tunes when the stereo mix is available). EMI did not supply master tapes for this mainly Capitol incentive.

The LP also came with an insert in North America that had the track listing on one side and featured which LP the song could be found on in the Capitol catalogue (errors include having "A Hard Day's Night" and "From Me To You" on the "Help!" LP). The other side of the insert (in the US only, not in Canada) has a Capitol /Apple Discography for Albums, Cassettes, Eight Tracks and Singles ( an error includes listing Apple 1800 which was not by The Beatles). The Beatles 1962-1966 included Apple labels on the LPs with a red background.

Sweet Loretta Fart

2010-12-29T14:32:00.003-05:00

The final song on the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be" is an original composition by Lennon/McCartney mainly written by Paul entitled "Get Back".

The single version of the song has been discussed in a previous post of September 19 2010 and this post will deal with the LP version (both versions are different).

The LP version of the song was recorded on Monday January 27 1969 at Apple Studios. There were countless takes of "Get Back" played over and over on that day and when it was re-started after a lunch break both the beginning dialogue "Sweet Loretta Fart", "Rosetta" and the count-in. This take would be used on the "Let It Be" LP.

The "Get Back" unreleased LP used an edit piece from a recording made the next day on January 28 1969 at Apple Studios. This piece was simply faded in and faded out with an improvisation from Paul (Ho-ho-ho ing and all that).

The end "audition" comment by John Lennon was cross-faded onto the January 27 1969 take by Phil Spector for the "Let It Be" LP version. The comment was made on the rooftop of the Apple building during the impromptu lunch break concert. The concert took place on January 30 1969. The "Let It Be" film uses an edit of the first two concert takes of "Get Back" as well as the final takes along with the comments.

Five re-mixes of this LP version was completed by Phil Spector on March 26 1970 from room 4 at EMI Studios London.

This version of "Get Back" can be found on the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be". Most of the Beatles' greatest hits compilations would use the single version of "Get Back". ( See entry for this discography history).

Because You're Sweet And Lovely Girl

2010-12-28T11:46:00.002-05:00

The second last song on the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be" is an original George Harrison composition entitled "For You Blue". It's exactly that. A fast blues number with George playing acoustic, John playing the slide, Paul on piano and Ringo on drums.

The song starts off with a bit of dialogue taken from the January 08 1969 rehearsal session at Twickenham Studios with John mentioning: "Queen says 'No' to pot smoking FBI member".

The basic track for the song was recorded on January 25 1969 at Apple Studios. Take one of the song can be heard on the Apple/EMI 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3". Once again, there is confusion in the sources available to me as of which take was used as the backing track for the commercial version. Winn states it is take seven while Lewisohn states that it is take six. Regardless, the basic track with a George guide vocal was used for the unreleased "Get Back" LP. The film performance of "For You Blue" - originally entitled "George's Blues (Because You're Sweet And Lovely)" is an edit of six and nine.

"For You Blue" was mixed for stereo on Monday March 10 1969 for the "Get Back" LP using the guide vocal from January 25 of the same year. This was completed at Olympic Sound Studios in London by Glyn Johns.

Upon listening to the "Get Back" LP line up at the time, George Harrison went into Olympic Sound Studios on January 08 1970 in order to overdub his vocal. This was completed and the song was then mixed in stereo by Glyn Johns. This mix was never used.

On Saturday February 08 1970, Apple engineer Malcolm Davies also attempted to remix the song with eight attempts in stereo, although once again these mixes were not used. The attempts were completed in Room 4 of EMI studios.

Finally, the song was mixed in stereo by Phil Spector in Room 4 of EMI studios with seven attempts. The final mix included the intro from mix five and the rest of the song from mix one.

"For You Blue" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be" as well as the Capitol/Parlophone LP/CD "The Best Of George Harrison". The song was the B-side to the North American single "The Long And Winding Road/For You Blue" on Apple 2832.

"For You Blue" was performed live by George Harrison on his November-December 1974 "Dark Horse" tour. The song was also included in the Genesis Publication as "Songs by George Harrison" CD released in 1987.

"For You Blue" was also performed live at the Concert for George which took place at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29 2002. The performance has vocals by Paul McCartney. This version can be heard on the Warner 2 CD "Concert For George".

Lead Me To Your Door

2010-12-27T08:31:00.002-05:00

The next song on the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be" is an original Lennon/McCartney composition written mainly by Paul entitled "The Long and Winding Road". This piano ballad is considered one of Paul's favourites as he has been playing this song live in concert throughout most of his touring career.

A rehearsal run-through of the song with Paul solo on piano can first be heard during the Twickenham Studios rehearsals of January 09 1969.

The first proper recording of "The Long And Winding Road" took place on Sunday January 26 1969 at Apple Studios whereby the band ran through the song several times in order to teach Billy Preston the chords. After about an hour or so or rehearsal, a take of the song was recorded and used on the Glyn Johns version of the "Get Back" LP. It would also stand that the bases for this version would be overdubbed later and used on the official Apple LP/CD "Let It Be"; but more on that later. This particular version can also be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3".

There are slight differences in my sources for this blog as to the next recording date for "The Long And Winding Road". This is specific to the performances of the song from January 31 1969 at Apple Studios, a day after the rooftop concert. Seven takes (13 to 19) of "The Long And Winding Road" were recorded. Take 19 can be seen and heard in the "Let It Be" film. The J.C. Winn source tells us that none of these takes were used for the Apple "Let It Be" LP/CD while Lewisohn suggests that take 19 was also used for the Apple "Let It Be" LP/CD.

Upon listening to both takes, it is clear that the January 26 1969 recording was more likely used for both the "Get Back" unreleased LP and the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be" commercial release. The liner notes of "Anthology 3" also tell us that the version heard on the Anthology and the commercial version are the same with the difference being the later overdubs.

And so the massacre began on April 01 1970 with Phil Spector in the producer's chair: Both EMI studio one and studio three were used to overdub strings, brass and choir onto "The Long And Winding Road".

The next day on April 02 1970, the stereo mix for "The Long and Winding Road" was a combination of two take edited together from a previous three attempts at the stereo mix. This mix was issued on the Apple LP/CD "Let It Be".

"The Long And Winding Road" was also issued as a single in North America on May 11 1970 with the catalogue number (Apple 2832). The B-side was "For You Blue".

"The Long And Winding Road" can be found on the following : Apple LP/CD "Let It Be", the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1967-1970", the Capitol/EMI 2-LP compilation "Love Songs", the Parlophone/EMI Capitol of Canada LP "The Beatles' Ballads", the Capitol/EMI compilation LP "Reel Music", the Capitol LP "The Beatles: 20 Greatest Hits" (north american issue only), the Apple/EMI compilation 2-LP/CD "1". The version heard on the Apple/EMI LP/CD "Let It Be...naked" is the version recorded on January 31 1969 (the same as heard in the movie).

Live performances by Paul McCartney include the 1975/1976 tours and a version of the song from this tour can be heard on the Capitol/EMI 3-LP/2-CD "Wings Over America". The version of "The Long And Winding Road" that appears on the movie soundtrack for "Give My Regards To Broad Street" was recorded at AIR studios in London in November 1983. This soundtrack version appears on the Columbia LP/CD "Give My Regards To Broad Street". Another live version came from a pre-tour rehearsal in April 1989 at Hog Hill in England. This is avialable on the Odeon/EMI (Japan only) CD "Flowers In The Dirt - Special Package". The song was also performed on the 1989-1990 tour resulting in it's inclusion on the EMI 3-LP/2-CD "Tripping The Live Fantastic" as well as the EMI LP/CD "Tripping The Live Fantastic - Highlights". The song was also performed at the 1993 "New World" tour. It was also performed during the 2002 tour and a version can be heard on the Capitol 2-CD "Back In the US" as well as on the EMI 2-CD "Back in The World". The song has also been performed at the 2005, 2008 and 2010 tours.