Beatles, first American albums reissued on vinyl

And while we are all anxiously awaiting the Special Deluxe Edition of “Rubber Soul”, Apple takes us by surprise and publishes (instead or also? we’ll find out in a bit.

) ‘The Beatles: 1964 US Albums In Mono’: seven albums released in America between January 1964 and March 1965. They are “Meet the Beatles”, released on 20 January 1964; “The Beatles’ Second Album”; released on 10 April; the original soundtrack of “A Hard Day’s Night” (released on June 26 by United Artist, with seven songs from the film and four instrumental tracks composed for the film by George Martin; “Something New”, with five more songs from “A Hard Day’s Night” and other Beatles songs; “The Beatles’ Story”, a sort of audio documentary with interviews and jokes by the band members, song fragments, instrumental versions of Beatles songs performed by the Hollyridge Strings, anecdotes and stories about the band by John Babcock and others (the double album with gatefold cover has a relatively short total running time of 50 minutes spread over four sides); “Beatles for Sale”, released on December 15. On March 22, 1965, “The early Beatles” was released, recovering songs initially released on 45 rpm by Vee-Jay).

These records are now being reissued in mono, on 180-gram vinyl LPs, analog cuttings from the original Mono masters, with faithfully reproduced original covers and booklets with historical information written by Bruce Spitzer. Six of these are also available for sale separately, while “The Beatles’ Story” is included only in the box set (here is the link to the Universal store; the pre-order box is sold for 274.90 euros).

In the tracklists that you will find at the end of the article it is clear how the American editions of the Beatles’ records are different, and not only in the titles, from the canonical ones of the British discography; partly because Capitol, which had woken up a little late, was forced to chase the publications of the British albums, the first of which, “Please please me”, came out in 1963, on March 22; partly because by choice the Beatles did not include in the albums the songs already released on 45 rpm; and finally partly because in the United States the albums, for reasons of royalties, did not include more than twelve songs.

Who is the target audience for this vinyl reissue? Surely the American public, for whom the reference discography of the Beatles is the one re-proposed here, and who for reasons of pure and simple nostalgia want to find those albums as they first knew them.

Since I already own all of these American albums, I can assure you that the listening experience of these LPs is alienating, because the sequence of the songs, different from the one we have in our memory, those of us who bought the Beatles’ records at the time of their release, surprises us and disturbs us a little. The pure and hard collectors – of which I am not one – are already fighting on the forums to determine whether the versions of the songs published in the USA – often manipulated in sound for commercial reasons, on the instructions of Dave Dexter of Capitol – are better or worse than the originals (but believe me, the differences are really minimal, except for the audiophile). .

The American Albums

Meet the Beatles

‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’
‘I Saw Her Standing There’
‘This Boy’
‘It Won’t Be Long’
‘All I’ve Got To Do’
‘All My Loving’
‘Don’t Bother Me’
‘Little Child’
‘Till There Was You’
‘Hold Me Tight’
‘I Wanna Be Your Man’
‘Not A Second Time’

The Beatles’ second album

‘Roll Over Beethoven’
‘Thank You Girl’
‘You Really Got A Hold On Me’
‘Devil In Her Heart’
‘Money (That’s What I Want)’
‘You Can’t Do That’
‘Long Tall Sally’
‘I Call Your Name’
‘Please Mister Postman’

‘I’ll Get You’
‘She Loves You’

A Hard Day’s Night

‘A Hard Day’s Night’
‘Tell Me Why’
‘I’ll Cry Instead’
‘I Should Have Known Better’ (orchestral instrumental)
‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’
‘And I Love Her’ (orchestral instrumental)
‘I Should Have Known Better’
‘If I Fell’
‘And I Love Her’
Ringo’s Theme (This Boy) (orchestral instrumental)
‘Can’t Buy Me Love’
‘A Hard Day’s Night’ (orchestral instrumental)

Something new

‘I’ll Cry Instead’
‘Things We Said Today’
‘Any Time At All’
‘When I Get Home’
‘Slow Down’
‘Matchbox’
‘Tell Me Why’
‘And I Love Her’
‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’
‘If I Fell’

‘Come, Give Me Your Hand’

The Beatles’ story

‘How Beatlemania Began’
‘Beatlemania In Action’
‘Man Behind The Beatles – Brian Epstein’
‘John Lennon’
‘Who’s A Millionaire?’
‘Beatles Will Be Beatles’
‘Man Behind The Music – George Martin’
‘George Harrison’
‘A Hard Day’s Night – Their First Movie’

‘Paul McCartney’
‘Sneaky Haircuts And More About Paul’
‘The Beatles Look At Life’
”Victims’ Of Beatlemania’
‘Beatle Medley’
‘Ringo Starr’
‘Liverpool And All The World!
November 23, 1964
Capitol TBO-2222 (mono)
Capitol STBO-2222 (stereo)’On Stage With The Beatles’
‘How Beatlemania Began’
‘Beatlemania In Action’
‘Man Behind The Beatles – Brian Epstein’
‘John Lennon’
‘Who’s A Millionaire?’
‘Beatles Will Be Beatles’
‘Man Behind The Music – George Martin’
‘George Harrison’
‘A Hard Day’s Night – Their First Movie’
‘Paul McCartney’
‘Sneaky Haircuts And More About Paul’
‘The Beatles Look At Life’
”Victims’ Of Beatlemania’
‘Beatle Medley’
‘Ringo Starr’
‘Liverpool And All The World!

Beatles ’65

‘No Reply’
‘I’m A Loser’
‘Baby’s In Black’
‘Rock And Roll Music’
‘I’ll Follow The Sun’
‘Mr Moonlight’
‘Honey Don’t’
‘I’ll Be Back’
‘She’s A Woman’
‘I Feel Fine’
‘Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby’

The Early Beatles

‘Love Me Do’
‘Twist And Shout’
‘Anna (Go To Him)’
‘Chains’
‘Boys’
‘Ask Me Why’
‘Please Please Me’
‘PS I Love You’
‘Baby It’s You’
‘A Taste Of Honey’
‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’

On January 10, 1964, VeeJay released “Introducing the Beatles”, which of course is not part of this re-release:

‘I Saw Her Standing There’
‘Misery’
‘Anna (Go To Him)’
‘Chains’
‘Boys’
‘Love Me Do’
‘PS I Love You’
‘Baby It’s You’
‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’
‘A Taste Of Honey’
‘There’s A Place’
‘Twist And Shout’