MEET THE BEATLES: AGAIN???

 

It was February of 1964 when we all met the Beatles. Now Capitol Records would like us to meet them all over again, like the millions of dollars we gave them the first time were not enough! Anyway, Capitol has reissued all of the original American Beatles LPs on special CDs, which feature all the tracks in both mono and stereo. Which is a great gimmick, I must admit. We'll get into those reissues in a moment, but first a brief look back at how Beatlemania got off the ground. Meet the Beatles! was the title of what Capitol Records would have us believe was their first album. The first of many lies and untimely tampering with the music of the greatest group of all time. Capitol felt that the group's recordings, done in England by "primitive" producers and engineers, needed some Americanization, and general re-merchandising. (Yes, of course George Martin is now widely considered to be a hack. Not!) Most of these tracks were taken from the group's second UK LP With the Beatles, which all United Kingdom fans had well ahead of the USA item pictured above.

 

You may note the similarity in the photos of both albums! A look at the back covers tells the story of what songs the two albums shared.

 

 Three of the songs from With the Beatles ended up in the USA on The Beatles Second Album.

 

Capitol made sure the big singles were featured on their albums. I Want To Hold Your Hand and I Saw Her Standing There were on Meet the Beatles and She Loves You was the prime draw on the Second Album.

 

All of this jockeying around usually overlooks the Beatles real first album, Introducing the Beatles, which was the USA title for Please Please Me, the original UK debut for the Fab Four.

 

 

The main cheat on us was that the British LPs had 14 tracks and ours had 12 and eventually 11. Capitol kept a few tracks back from each new release to create additional albums for the USA market. The most prominent and popular were Beatles 65 and Beatles VI.  We will take a closer look at those two, which I actually purchased. I own all of the British LPs and most of the CDs, but these two were among my teen years favorites by John, Paul, George, and Ringo.

 

 

I was especially looking forward to hearing these songs in true stereo, which was not always the case with the original releases.

 

Capitol has even included miniature versions of the inner sleeves from the original albums, another nice touch.

 

Beatles '65 sleeve. Everyone remember the Teen Set? A decent magazine, as I recall.

 

 

Beatles VI sleeve 

 

Capitol has even duplicated the original record labels! 

 

Many of the songs on these came from the UK release Beatles For Sale.

 

A look at the back covers shows what was taken from this for the USA-only albums.

Another reissue of interest for the stereo aspect is The Early Beatles, which essentially stole its tracks from Please Please Me/Introducing the Beatles. I always found it unusual that both the VeeJay and Capitol labels laid claim to the track I Saw Her Standing There, which showed up on both Meet the Beatles and Introducing the Beatles. It was also a single for Capitol, as the B side of I Want To Hold Your Hand. The VeeJay album was practically impossible to obtain in stereo, and much of The Early Beatles was in Capitol's "duophonic" sound, a distasteful attempt to pass mono off as a 2-channel experience. So this CD will be a treasure to many Beatles fans.

 

Just about every Beatles LP up to Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is part of this new promotion. Starting with Pepper's, British and American Beatles albums were identical, at the insistence of the Beatles, God bless them.

 

There are two CDs to avoid, in this critic's opinion: A Hard Day's Night and Help!

 

The problem is that in duplicating the USA albums, they are just doing us the same injustice twice. The UK editions of these film soundtracks stand head and shoulders above what Capitol did to them in the USA. Her are the back covers of the American releases, followed by those of the British. Note how many songs went missing from the ones offered to us in America.

 

 

Both of the UK LPs contained several songs that Capitol did not wish to share with hungry American fans like me. I had a friend who went to France pick me up a copy of the French release of Help!, which was identical to the British version, so I was the only Beatles fan I knew in this country with such a treasure. The missing tracks eventually became parts of those "extra" Capitol LPs like Yesterday and Today. Tracks were also withheld from Rubber Soul and Revolver.

 

 
One additional "extra" on the CD reissue of Yesterday and Today is the inclusion of the infamous "butcher cover," which had the lads in hospital attire doing horrible things to new born babies. Those with a need to see this lapse of good taste (which was promptly removed from stores and the cover above slapped over it) should definitely buy this CD reissue.

 

I highly recommend the original UK releases (on vinyl or CD) of A Hard Day's Night and Help! Those allow you to experience these classics the way the Beatles wanted you to. All of the irritating instrumental tracks by the George Martin Orchestra which took the place of all those great Beatles tracks are all dutifully included on these reissues. George Martin was a great producer and a true friend to the Beatles, but his contributions to these two American albums are just filler taking the place of greatness. Greatness by Martin can be found in all of the great producing he did for the Beatles. For that we will be forever in his debt.

 

Other titles in this reissue package which are of some interest include Something New, for which Capitol helped themselves to several tracks from the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack, which had been released in America by previous agreement on the United Artists label. Capitol never took kindly to any other label selling Beatles records but them. Also of interest on this one is the German version of I Want To Hold Your Hand, Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand.

 

 

We'll give a mild endorsement to the reissues of  Rubber Soul and Revolver. My complaint remains the same: Capitol held back songs from us that the rest of the world was enjoying.

Well, I guess this brings us to the end of this minor magical mystery tour. I understand the desire to own these. I had a hard time keeping myself to two. These albums are ingrained in the memory of so many Baby Boomers, including myself. I guess I should give Capitol some praise for bringing these back, whatever the motive may have been. There have been so many Beatles CD reissues that I don't imagine the sales of these are making anyone rich, except what's left of the Beatles, of course. Hats off to Paul and Ringo. I would love to hear their thoughts on these. We wish them, and George Martin, long and happy lives. Thank You For the Music, as ABBA would sing.