Maybe my favorite Capital album. After all, We Can Work It Out is on Yesterday and Today. Also, as Beatles fans know, two of the tracks ended up on the UK Revolver, released a month later.
Actually on the UK Yellow Submarine Sea Of Time and Sea Of Holes is 2 separate tracks making the total of 13 tracks. The US version combines those 2 tracks into a medley. Making that total 12 tracks. The UK version of Let It Be has Dig A Pony while the US version has [I] Dig A Pony.
I started listening to the Beatles in 1982 at 7 years old, so the records I was getting was still the US versions. It wasn't until CD's came out in 1987 that I found out about the UK versions. I remember seeing Rubber Soul on CD, looking at the track list on the back, and saying "what the hell is going on"? I flipped through the rest of the CD's and recognized some, like Sgt Pepper, the White Album, Let it Be, and Abbey Road, but others like 'Beatles For Sale' I had never heard of, and the others I had heard of had more and different songs on them. It was a little confusing at first, but an exciting time. For the most part the UK albums are far superior, but I still bought the Capitol albums box, and the US albums box when they came out on CD because those were the albums I knew when I started listening to the Beatles. I like hearing 'I've just seen a face' kick off Rubber Soul sometimes, and honestly think 'Meet the Beatles' (had it on 8 track) is a better "Beatle album" than 'With the Beatles' because it has almost all Beatles songs on it.
Agreed with 'Meet The Beatles'. As far as tracks chosen goes, it's better than 'With The Beatles', even though the fake stereo versions of the odd song sounded like crap. Even though the US version of 'Rubber Soul' is rather strange with the track listings, it was one of Capitol's better albums. And: both US MTB and RS had 12 tracks on them. The 'Magical Mystery Tour' album made more sense as opposed to the UK double EP set. Although the fake stereo versions of 3 of the 5 B-side tracks sounded like crap. Of course, there was the German version ,in the early 70's, that corrected this, as did the 1987 CD release. The reasoning for the fake stereo versions on US albums was: Capitol didn't have access to the stereo mixes. So they frankensteined their own distorted mono versions.
Now do a similar chart for the Rolling Stones. When I was on a Rolling Stones marathon a few months ago, i found it so frustrating cos I didn't which country's version I should listen to.
No, "Introducing the Beatles" was not released until January 1964. Yours is a popular misconception. You're correct that the first release had "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" on it, while subsequent releases replaced these with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why." But all of this happened in 1964.
@@BigStar303 Yep. 'Introducing The Beatles' was originally going to be released in the summer of '63 ,but, it's release was delayed until January 1964.
It's fun to laugh at the US albums, but when you grew up with them as I did, they still have a special place in your heart. I still remember how excited I was on Christmas in 1977 to rip open the wrapping paper and see Beatles VI. Also a lot of people including me think the USA version of Rubber Soul was better than the UK. It's More cohesive. It was called the "smoke and wood" album. Having said that the UK version is great as well.
The only clunker on the American rubber soul is it's only love, a song John Lennon detested. If they had put nowhere man at the start of side 2, or if I needed someone, it would've been fantastic....
I'm sorry there is no way the US version of Rubber Soul is better than the UK version except maybe to you Americans, im pretty certain most of the rest of the world would go for the UK version.
@@ChrisCrossClash Well that's your opinion and you're welcome to it. Maybe whatever version you grew up with is the version closest to your heart. I know that growing up with the US versions and then slowly buying the UK versions one by one as I got older, I always thought the UK versions were better with the exception of Rubber Soul. This is a not just my opinion. As I've stated earlier, Brian Wilson was inspired to make his masterpiece Pet Sounds from listening to the cohesiveness of the US RS. Drive my Car, What Goes On and Nowhere Man and If I Needed Someone are great songs, but they don't fit the "smoke and wood" feel of the US version of the album.
Here is an article about Rarities and a Capitol album called Collectors Items, that Capitol ordered destroyed. Including the copy that I have. " The release of The Beatles Collection (boxed set) in 1978 was a thoughtful one. On the European side, the 12 original albums were included, as well as one extra album, called simply Rarities. This was a compilation of cuts and tracks not found on UK albums, and was indeed a rarity for the UK Beatle fan. However, most UK fans were already in possession of the other 12 albums, and frustrated shop owners were culling the coveted Rarities album from the rest of the set in order to satisfy the wants of their demanding customers. This was almost surely in response to EMI's statement to the intent that the Rarities album would not be available in the future as a stand-alone record. Capitol concurred with EMI in this intention, and released their own 13-volume boxed set in America. This set was identical to the UK set, with the exception of 2 tracks: the German versions of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" were supplied on the UK release, while in America, the English versions were substituted. However rare the tracks were for the European fan (6 "B" sides previously available on singles only, plus the previously unreleased German versions made for 8 rarities indeed), in America this was not the case. There were only 2 songs on the album not found on earlier American releases, and "Across The Universe" was the only completely new track. In 1979, Capitol reversed itself (apparently due to the rather unrareness of The Beatles Rarities offerings), and announced its intention to release a package of true American rarities on its budget line in November of that year. SN 12009 hit the presses in October ... but a conundrum arose. Someone at Capitol had already begun work on a rare package, given it a catalog number (SPRO 9462), a title (Collectors Items), pressed it and released it with the following offerings: "Love Me Do" (the original version, with Ringo on drums), "All My Loving" (with hi hat intro), "This Boy" (in true stereo this time), "Sie Liebt Dich", "She's A Woman" (another stereo first), and "I'm Down" (which was thought previously unavailable in stereo). Side 2 included the promotional version of "Penny Lane" and a stereo version of "Baby, You're A Rich Man", and "Across The Universe" (only released once in America on the previous Rarities album). When it came out that "I'm Down" had indeed been released in stereo (on the Rock'N'Roll Music double album), a different stereo mix of "Paperback Writer" was substituted, and the catalog number was changed to SPRO 9463. Still later, plans changed once again, and The Collectors Items LP was scrapped altogether, all copies ordered destroyed. Rarities was scheduled for release in November ... but Capitol revised its plans once again, releasing a revamped Rarities album on March 24, 1980, which included many of the track offerings on the Collectors Items LP. Yet again, another bootlegged version of Capitol's rare album hit the market. Casualties (SPRO 9469 - Capitol's promotional series), like the bootlegged versions of Collectors Items, carried an authentic Capitol sleeve, logo, credits and all, with an interesting "for promotional use only - not for sale" legend across the cover. Most of the recordings on this album were simply different mono or stereo mixes of tracks already available in the USA. Who knows for sure where all these "rare" albums came from? For the avid Beatle nut, it surely didn't matter ... rare is rare, and therefore desirable. What follows is the "official" Capitol offerings of the Rarities album. "
@@robertjordinelli3041 Thanks to that album I have the correct versions of Thank You Girl, From Me To You, All My Loving, Penny Lane, and Across The Universe.
I didn’t get super into the Beatles until after high school (1987), so I had access to the standard catalog from the beginning of my fanship, and never bothered with the US albums. I knew they were fouled up, but didn’t know how FUBAR things really were. The way you not only made a graphically excellent diagram but also explained the context and reasons behind it all is truly outstanding.
the american version of rubber soul is actually what inspired Pet Sounds and the tracklist is actually a major factor as to why it sold so well in the US, although im sure the UK listing would have sold fine.
How can you say the tracklist is the reason it sold so well when we literally can’t know the counterfactual. It would have been hard for it to flop independent of track list.
Great content! Very informative and enjoyable to watch. A couple of things.... Tollie label was a label owned by Vee Jay, in essence the same company that first released the first few Beatles singles. "Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove" first appeared in the US version of the 'Rarities' album in 1980. The UK and US 'Rarities' albums are very different from each other and only shares a few tracks. When The Beatles compact discs were released in the late 80's, Past Masters was sold as two separate discs, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, although the vinyl version combined both volumes and was sold as a double album.
I've been trying to unravel their whole discography for about 45 years now and this helps. The Beatles releases are so friggin complicated and so confusing and hard to reconcile. That's what made them so great and that's what made it so hard to pick out my favorites and to put them in some kind of order - it's like trying to solve a puzzle. Think I'll just go with the original UK records
Totally cool pictograph! Tells the story at a glance! I guess I always considered the Hey Jude album a legitimate Capitol album and not in the compilation category. This was fun to watch. Thanks!
This is very interesting. I much prefer the UK versions of the Beatles albums except for Magical Mystery Tour. That one was done right in the US. Here’s how someone should get into the Beatles: 1. Please Please Me 2. With the Beatles 3. A Hard Day’s Night 4. Beatles for Sale 5. Help! 6. Past Masters Volume 1 7. Rubber Soul 8. Revolver 9. Sgt. Pepper’s 10. Magical Mystery Tour 11. Yellow Submarine 12. The White Album 13. Let It Be 14. Abbey Road 15. Past Masters Volume 2 My way of listening to the Beatles in chronological order: 1. Please Please Me and With the Beatles with 1963 singles and b-sides 2. A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale with 1964 singles and b-sides 3. Help with 1965 singles and b-sides 4. Rubber Soul with the two singles and Revolver with the two singles 5. Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour with the four songs from Yellow Submarine 6. The White Album with 1968 singles and b-sides 7. Let It Be and Abbey Road with 1969 and 1970 singles and b-sides
Great video, although one correction; Apple Records was not the reason that Beatles releases became fully standardized worldwide White Album and after, but the real reason was that the Beatles signed a new contract with EMI, which prevented Capitol from messing with albums. The recordings were still owned by EMI/Parlophone.
I had an idea on how the US could’ve at least save “Revolver” from the butcher: Yesterday & Today: side 1: Drive My Car Paperback Writer Nowhere Man I’m Down Yesterday Act Naturally side 2: Rain If I Needed Someone We Can Work it Out What Goes On Day Tripper Hey Jude (or “The Beatles Again) side 1 Can’t Buy Me Love I Should’ve Known Better Leave My Kitten Alone Lady Madonna The Inner Light Revolution side 2 Hey Jude Old Brown Shoe Don’t Let Me Down The Balled Of John & Yoko
Capitol should have had 'I'm Down', 'Paperback Writer' & 'Rain' on 'Yesterday & Today'. An 11 track 'Revolver' is a disaster with 3 Lennon songs left out.
In all that rigamarole, how did Capital overlook “I’m Down” having it not appear on a US LP (and tape) until 1976 on the “Rock& Roll Music” compilation album?
I think the reason there is so much Beatles' is because there was a standing order that no Beatles recording was to ever be disposed of. That's how "Her Majesty" ended up at the end of "Abbey Road." The track was rejected, so a recording engineer, inkeeping with the standing order, tacked it on at the end of the tape after "The End." McCartney heard it there, liked it, and so there it stayed.
What an excellent, lucid (if madly complicated) setting out of these releases! One small footnote: Past Masters originally came out as two seperately available CDs-a black one and a white one. But since 2009, it's been a single two disc set, decked out in black only.
I consider the Collectors Items LP to be a Capitol record. On the back cover, they list all the Capitol albums from Meet The Beatles to Love Songs. Only Rarities and Reel Music are not on it.
Congratulations, this is great work. The use of lines also indicates when the sequencing was also altered. I'd encourage a revised version to include the early UK 45 not included, remove the US "B" side of IWTHYH, add Help!/I'm Down 45, Collection of Oldies etc, so rather than being a UK vs US albums chart it becomes full UK releases vs US. The added detail will only increase the potential sales. Me for one. The use of twisted or patterned lines could also be used for those few tracks where it was a different mix used in the territories. (3 UK Revolver tracks, I am The Walrus ep vs single, etc).
One important observation...until I Want To Hold Your Hand and the Meet The Beatles LP, the group were virtual unknowns in the U.S. They were big in England, but so was Cliff Richard. Yes, they borrowed the cover from With The Beatles, but the difference is stunning! The Please Please Me cover was lame. The fact that Parlaphone didn't put their hit singles on the albums was a crime. Without I Want To Hold Your Hand and the "Meet..." album the group would never have made it in the U.S.
The US actually "heard" sgt peppers "inner groove" on "rarities" in 1980, although it's not a main release. Edit: just saw someone else pointed this out. PS. 16:53 "Goo goo gaguub?... You mean coo coo cachoo.:p
Hey Jude was NOT a Capitol album. It was conceived by the Beatles then-manager Allen Klein and put together by Allan Steckler of Apple/Abkco in London in early 1970. Capitol didn't even master or distribute the US album, that was done by Bell Sound studios in New York.
Haven't watched the entire video and haven't read all of the comments, but a couple of things: 1. I do see that someone corrected your statement that Vee-Jay released a Beatles single on their Tollie label in 1963. As noted, not so..."Twist and Shout"/"There's a Place" wasn't released until 1964. 2. Though your chart (which is very cool...kudos!) reflects this, I think you might have made more of the fact that "From Me to You" is truly the forgotten early Beatles track as far as the U.S. is concerned - in that, if you didn't own the original Vee-Jay single, you had no further opportunity to play it on your record player during the lifetime of The Beatles and beyond. (That is, unless you owned the rather obscure "The Beatles and Frank Ifield" album - or the counterfeited version of it.) It was completely unavailable to U.S. consumers until the "1962-1966" compilation. 3. By the same token - and perhaps you do mention this later - it's a crime that "Misery" and "There's a Place" (the latter one of the greatest of all early Beatles tracks) were omitted from the "Early Beatles" album. 4. Finally, there is some rather snide slagging of the U.S. remixes of some Beatles songs. This is certainly justified for the Duophonic Stereo stuff and perhaps most other examples. But sorry, UK fans, it is NOT true for the added reverb for the U.S. mixes of "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman." The UK mixes of these songs are wimpy, lame and dull piles of excrement. The U.S. mixes jump through the speakers - whether of transistor radios or high-fidelity set-ups - with power, impact and all of the true excitement that is the early Beatles. If you're inclined to argue, save your breath - you will never convince me otherwise!
VeeJay was particularly underhanded and devious in their practice of releasing Introducing the Beatles with 3 separate titles, including Songs, pictures and stories of the Beatles and The Beatles vs the 4 Seasons. All the same album.
@@robertjordinelli3041 Yes they were. All these, along with 'The Beatles On Stage with Frank Ifield', which it was not. Just some of the same recycled Beatles tracks. They did release an interview album 'Hear The Beatles Tell All' though. I actually prefer it to Capitol's 'The Beatles Story'. I still have my HTBTA album.
Vee Jay Records also released an interveiw album called 'Hear the Beatles Tell All' in late '64 as well, with an interview with John Lennon on one side and on the road chatter with the band on the other. I actually prefer it to 'The Beatles Story'. I still have it.
maravillosa explicación, así me resuelves muchas dudas respecto a las versiones USA contra UK, me encanto tu presentación PDF, me voy a hacer un poster!
You're right that the positions are rearranged on the UK vs. US albums. However, The Beatles are spelling neither "HELP" nor "HPEL." The semaphore positions they take in fact spell "NUJV" and "NVUJ" respectively.
Awesome compilation & history - love the poster as well. However, I cannot find the poster to download (or purchase, which I would) at the site indicated in the video. Could you please re-load the poster or make it available in another form? This took an amazing amount of research and organization, and it would be a shame if it weren’t shared much more widely. Thanks for your excellent video!
I hate that the early US albums were so butchered, except they excelled, in a way, by including most of their singles onto albums, then using Hey Jude to release the rest of the singles. When CD’s came out I wanted and got the UK versions, including the two Past Masters albums. Of all the compilations, I loved buying the Red and Blue double albums on vinyl when they came out-such good compilations, and they do include singles. I have those on CD as well. And, as mentioned, the US version of Magical Mystery tour was far superior, and when I bought the UK CDs, by then the US version was the standard, as mentioned in the video. It’s all good, in the end.
Great Comparison Chart. I personally don’t mind the US album slander as much (I have even called the weird in the past), but the way some people have fought over Capitol’s justification, the quality of the US and even UK releases and wether the Beatles would have even been successful in the US if the singles were excluded has actually left me doubting myself, essentially making me a little afraid to listen to Anything that would have been eligible for the Red Album (1962-1966), including my personal favourite album, Revolver. All simply because many viewers can not agree about almost any of the older releases.
Two clarifications re: Sgt. Pepper as I understand them: The inner groove was actually first available to US listeners in 1980 (the Rarities album) and not in 1987 for the CD release; and a major difference between UK and US versions is that She's Leaving Home is slowed down in the US [which is actually the superior version of the song] :-)
You're right about "Inner Groove" appearing on Rarities in 1980. The slowed-down "She's Leaving Home" is only on the stereo vs. mono mix (not UK vs. US)
Actually, the two different speeds for "She's Leaving Home" appear on the US mono vs. the US stereo release of Sgt. Pepper. The mono is at the correct speed, whereas the stereo has been slowed down. I'm sure much depends on which version you heard first. I bought the mono version the day it came out, and didn't even hear the stereo version for the first time until possibly three years later. But to my ears, Paul's voice sounds unnaturally slow on the stereo version, whereas it sounds like a perfectly normal Paul voice on the mono.
@@BigStar303 I don't recall which I heard first, but in contrast I prefer the slower version, as it adds more gravitas to the story. But to each his/her own, I say.
we will talk about the beatles the next 300 years, the same way we talk about mozart and beethoven today. I would say all other bands will probably be forgotten the next 200-300 years, but not elvis and beatles. Elvis is a historical person just like julius caesar. and beatles are a historical group that changed litreally everything
The US albums are, without exception, terrible, and were detested by The Beatles and George Martin. And Dave Dexter's decision to bath everything in reverb is ridiculous - compare the US versions of "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" with their UK counterparts for a particularly extreme example. He was also responsible for pulling Beatles product to bits and reassembling it for US consumption. But here's the galling thing: Dexter was right. These are the albums and that was the sound that sold The Beatles to America. The four US albums in 1964 simply matched the four UK albums of 1963/64, and it meant that Capitol always had product to push, keeping The Beatles in the US charts and in public view. Without these albums, the Beatles would simply be a band which was very popular in Europe half a century ago, instead of the legendary status that they currently enjoy.
Interesante descripción ¡buen trabajo!; y qué decir de las versiones mono y estéreo. En México también tenemos una gran y diversa discografía beatle nacional. La discografía mundial de los muchachos de Liverpool es interminable y fascinante. Saludos.
God Bless you Jared! This is outstanding and I hope you know how grateful every Beatle fan is. I just wanted to say that there were some things that the Capitol versions had that the Parlophone versions didn't . The rainbow label was beautiful, and more professional than the ugly Parlophone black and silver. I was 4 when they released Meet The Beatles and with two older sisters in the house, I was surrounded by great music before I could, well, do a lot of things. Pretty much all other record labels were one color with black print.,but Capitol's labels was professional and a pleasure to look at. I also really prefer Capitol's release of HELP! When you listened to an album it was from start to finish, you didn't jump over the songs you didn't like. With HELP! you were in the movie, it was a soundtrack, you listened to the orchestral songs as well as The Beatles songs. To hear a song that that wasn't in the movie would have been a "What? What's that? That wasn't in the movie!" and it took you out of the joyous mindset of The Beatles in their flat, or in Austria or the Bahamas. You grew to love them all, even the orchestral pieces. Now when I watch the movie I know ALL the music which makes the viewing a complete experience. As far as Revolver and Rubber Soul, the Capitol versions had a feeling - Rubber Soul has been called their "Wood and smoke" album, which matches all the album artwork. The Parlophone release added songs that didn't quite fit that theme. The Capitol release of Revolver has a far more psychedelic feeling to it due to the song selection. I know, I know, The Beatles had a LOT to say about track selection and order, but in the end it didn't really matter. They were going to blow the doors off every record store no matter where the songs were. So don't be so hard on Capitol - and remember - Parlophone was just as greedy in their own way. And yes I did grow up with the Capitol releases and I've got no complaints. Incidentally, you should listen to the Parlophone mono versions vs the Capitol stereo version. The purist will insist that the mono version is better but the stereo version is more enjoyable to the ears and lets you hear the individual parts better. But that's just me - it's just my opinion. :)
Completely understand. Honestly, I love the James Bond opening of Help, and all the other orchestral cues. I'm surprised that no one at Parlophone thought UK fans would enjoy hearing them!
@@MusicBoxRox A fav (after the opening Bond into the title cut) is the piece right before Ticket to Ride - that one last flute note and then into that rich guitar opening. It's like opening a Christmas present.
The UK Help! album has all the soundtrack songs on side 1, just as in AHDN, so you wouldn't have that strange problem you talk about. Capitol's Revolver is just the UK version minus three songs, how can it be "more psychedelic"? In fact, one of the songs they left out was I'm Only Sleeping, probably the most psychedelic sounding, with the backwards guitar and xylophone. I think many of you American look for justifications for the Capitol albums, but they make no sense. Just accept you grew up with those versions and have an emotional attachment with them. I respect that.
@@marty48 "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the most psychedelic song on "Revolver", not "I'm Only Sleeping". The US "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" album are "soundtracks" whereas the UK versions are albums. Yes. We know the UK records are a million times better. What does that mean, "make no sense"? Maybe to a Brit but not to Americans and Canadians of the 1960s. These were the albums which were released in those regions. No American / Canadian fans walked into the stores to buy "Beatles '65" and said " Hey" Wait a minute! I wonder if this album is different overseas?! I'd better not buy it!" Same applied to all the Brits buying the proper releases who had zero clue the US releases were unique. "Just accept you grew up with those versions"? So, we are supposed to just say they are absolutely awful, forget they ever existed, outsold every other country's releases and were the the prime source of Beatles music in North America? Not happening. There's zero reason to justify them as they were, and still are, phenomenal creations. More North American fans like them than most other people assume. The Beatles seem to think these albums deserve respect as they first released "The Capitol Years Volume 1 & 2" boxes, and then, "The US Albums" box. If they were so traumatized by their existence, why would they give the green light for these sets? I would think they'd do everything in their power to keep them buried. At least they did make some moves and delete the crummy fake stereo mixes which wound up on many of the US albums (NOTE: there are four fake stereo songs on the original UK stereo albums). They also added the US "Magical Mystery Tour" into the regular discography. Funny how the Beatles had a problem with Capitol US messing with their releases but never once complained about the amount of royalties they received from their sales. What about the discographies in places like Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Scandinavia etc? They all had releases the Beatles never endorsed and yet, the US versions are always the ones which are scrutinized. It's old hat. We're all aware the UK versions are better but to dismiss the American albums and singles? Not happening.
@@gretschviking I didn't say the albums didn't make sense, I said your justifications don't make sense, like saying the US Revolver is more psychedelic, when it's the same album without three songs, one of them very psychedelic. MMT is a different case because there wasn't a UK album to butcher, and The Beatles approved it. And of course The Beatles took their royalties from Capitol, why wouldn't they? It was their music!! They were in their right to criticize Capitol's butchering and take their hard earned money too.
I just finished collecting all the beatles discography when i just found out that i only collected the UK versions. Wtf? I didn't know there was "U.S. versions". Which ones are better??
Fantastic work and great video -- my only disagreement concerns REVERB!!! :-) I think She's A Woman is much better in the US version; the UK version is too dry and a bit lifeless. But that's just a minor matter -- the chart is an incredible piece of work. Thanks.
Also “The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl” was first released in 1977. It was reworked by Giles Martin (son of George M), as a tie in for Rob Reiner’s 2016 film, “Eight Days A Week: The Beatles Touring Years”, but retained the album’s original title as well.
Call me crazy, but I like some of the American releases. The U.S. Capital albums were more singlescentric and the American Rubber Soul has a more thematic folk/Dylan/Byrds sound than its UK counterpart. Magical Mystery Tour in its US guise is part of the official Cannon and the only early UK album that is categorically better is Revolver.
The American Rubber Soul is my favorite Beatles album plus I like the American cover better it’s more pleasing to the eye. I grew up with the Capitol albums. I didn’t care for his snarky attitude towards the American albums. The British lps don’t have the singles on them which in my opinion make the Capitol Records superior (except for A Hard Day’s Night Help! And Revolver)
@@ChrisCrossClash No, certainly, the UK issues are for the most part are the definitive versions. However, as I said, the Capitol versions of Meet the Beatles, the Beatles' Second Album, Something Else, Beatles '65, Beatles 6, Rubber Soul, etc. are fun and collectable as individual albums in their own right. I like how you Englishmen use the word twaddle!
The normal number for US lps was 12 tracks. It was Capitol with the Beatles who found out they could get away with only putting out 11 tracks on an album. Other labels followed suit. The US RUBBER SOUL reverted to 12 tracks for the first time since MEET THE BEATLES
I can understand the reasoning behind doing 'catchup' albums when the Beatles first made it in the States, but by '65 and especially Rubber Soul, Capitol should have put out what the band intended to be heard. And of course, that was the argument until Pepper.
When I was 16 I essentially created this entire chart myself (at least up to Revolver) on two pages of a graph paper notebook. Your snotty attitude towards some of the American albums could use some adjusting. First of all, there were differences in the ways the royalty rates for multiple songs were calculated in the US & UK at the time that made 14 tracks the ideal number of tracks to put on an album in the UK financially and 11 or 12 the ideal number for US albums financially. Also, while the UK's way of thinking regarding not repeating songs on albums that had been previously released as singles may have seemed a valid point of view in the moment, over the longer term the American philosophy has proved more enduring, as many 60's British albums today seem distinctly lacking compared to their American versions due to their missing what tended to be the strongest material produced around the time of the album's creation (a particularly striking case being the UK version of Are You Experienced, although it does partially make up for it with the inclusion of Red House) See also any of the Rolling Stones pre-1967 albums. And while granted, many of the Beatles US albums were indeed bizarrely random collections that only worked because, let's face it, it's pretty near impossible to put out an actually bad album of Beatles recordings, occasionally they randomly stumbled onto something that really clicked. The US Rubber Soul (the version that so blew Brian Wilson's mind, made him realize the potential of the album as it's own unique, cohesive artistic statement and as such directly inspired the creation of Pet Sounds), has long been praised as its own listening experience, showcasing the folky side of the Beatles better than their own albums ever did. Many also love the covers-heavy Second Album, with it's particularly heavy reverb working well with all the covers of American Motown-type songs that were made for this sort of treatment. (Or at the very least, collecting all the covers here actually allowed Meet The Beatles to be a much better showcase of the Beatles as original songwriters than it's original UK version) And Yesterday And Today has always been praised as a brilliant collection as well, even if its snatching of the Revolver tracks makes for a much diminished US version of one of The Beatles greatest albums.
Thank you I hated his snarky attitude about the Capitol Records. I grew up with the Capitol releases. The American Rubber Soul is my favorite album to this day. The Capitol Records had some great covers Beatles 65 Beatles VI Meet the Beatles is in my opinion a better cover than with the Beatles and Rubber Soul is a much more pleasant cover to look at over the muddy and orange Rubber Soul. Now Revolver on the other hand, the British version hands down is superior but there is no Yesterday and Today (aka the Butcher). It also was better to have the American albums because they had the singles on the albums. Now A Hard Day’s Night and Help! Are filled with non Beatles sound track music. At least there are much better channels on TH-cam that have a lot better information on the Beatles LPs like Parlogram who has a kinder opinion of the Capitol Records releases.
The catalogue was standardised in 1987 globally for its release on CD, that included all the UK Albums, the US Magical Mystery Tour, and when I mean standardised it was what was intended by The Beatles and George Martin originally for the UK Albums, The only US album covers the MMT tracks from that Double EP and the 1967 stand alone singles. I say globally as With The Beatles had a different cover in Australia which John Lennon hated when he saw it, when The Beatles toured Australia in 1964, so in 1987 it was finally released officially in Australia with the originally intended cover. Past Masters does have a strange release in 1988, released as seperate CDs Volume 1 and 2, but then released as a Double LP as Volume 1 and 2 later in the year. It was odd that by 1987 EMI/Apple Corps needed someone to compile what should have been easy to do, but they did ask someone and that was Mark Lewisohn. However for the 2009 remasters it was then renamed Past Masters and released in the 2009 Box set and individually as Past Masters with Mark Lewisohn's name taken off. What is also forgotten in 2009 the Mono CD Box Set was released, with Mono Masters being released as Double CD with all the dedicated mono mixes, including for the first time the true mono mixes of the four dedicated Yellow Submarine album songs (Previously the Mono Yellow Submarine album was a fold down of the stereo mix). Released as a Vinyl Box Set in 2014 as a triple LP with all Mono Albums available individually. All the UK Albums could be bought as imports in the US at the time, but became more readily available from the late 1960s as The Collection of Beatles Oldies was popular for the simple reason is that true US Beatles fans could hear them as was originally intended and there is a letter in the Los Angeles Times in 2004 titled Meet The Greedy from John Zaversky who stated that the UK Albums were commonly availble in the USA until its 1987 offical release. It was the time of the Capitol Albums Volume 1 Box Set being released. There is one person who considered the UK Albums as their intention, and it is John Lennon on the Dennis Elsas Show, WNEW-FM, 28 September 1974 and the transcript is available on John Lennon's Website, and on here in multi parts on John Lennon's official channel.
"Bad Boy" was finally available to British fans on A Collection of Beatles Oldies (1966)
We had to wait until Beatles Rock N Roll Music to get a decent sounding copy. A Collection Of Oldies is one of the worst sounding Beatles' records.
Are you British?@@ianz9916
The Beatles "Yesterday...And Today" is truly a franken-album. Parts from here, pieces from there...
After listening to it for the first time, completely agree
Guess you could the pieces were come “Here, there, and Everywhere” 😂
Maybe my favorite Capital album. After all, We Can Work It Out is on Yesterday and Today. Also, as Beatles fans know, two of the tracks ended up on the UK Revolver, released a month later.
wow great video, this made it really easy to see how the us and uk albums differed
Great video. One observation: the Sgt. Pepper Inner Groove track first appeared in the US in 1980 on Capitol’s Rarities compilation, not in 1987.
Oh dang, you're right! I just glossed over the 2 different versions of Rarities, but that's an entirely separate rabbit hole!
Actually, it appeared in the 1978 vinyl box set that was released in the US that contained the UK albums for the first time.
And the cover of the US Rarities was different from the UK one you have on your chart in the video.
It's okay everybody makes mistakes sometimes.
Actually on the UK Yellow Submarine Sea Of Time and Sea Of Holes is 2 separate tracks making the total of 13 tracks. The US version combines those 2 tracks into a medley. Making that total 12 tracks.
The UK version of Let It Be has Dig A Pony while the US version has [I] Dig A Pony.
"In 1964, the Beatles put out five albums in one year!"
King Gizzard: "Hold our Foster's"
This is amazing. It would make an incredible poster!
I started listening to the Beatles in 1982 at 7 years old, so the records I was getting was still the US versions. It wasn't until CD's came out in 1987 that I found out about the UK versions. I remember seeing Rubber Soul on CD, looking at the track list on the back, and saying "what the hell is going on"? I flipped through the rest of the CD's and recognized some, like Sgt Pepper, the White Album, Let it Be, and Abbey Road, but others like 'Beatles For Sale' I had never heard of, and the others I had heard of had more and different songs on them. It was a little confusing at first, but an exciting time. For the most part the UK albums are far superior, but I still bought the Capitol albums box, and the US albums box when they came out on CD because those were the albums I knew when I started listening to the Beatles. I like hearing 'I've just seen a face' kick off Rubber Soul sometimes, and honestly think 'Meet the Beatles' (had it on 8 track) is a better "Beatle album" than 'With the Beatles' because it has almost all Beatles songs on it.
Agreed with 'Meet The Beatles'. As far as tracks chosen goes, it's better than 'With The Beatles', even though the fake stereo versions of the odd song sounded like crap. Even though the US version of 'Rubber Soul' is rather strange with the track listings, it was one of Capitol's better albums. And: both US MTB and RS had 12 tracks on them. The 'Magical Mystery Tour' album made more sense as opposed to the UK double EP set. Although the fake stereo versions of 3 of the 5 B-side tracks sounded like crap. Of course, there was the German version ,in the early 70's, that corrected this, as did the 1987 CD release. The reasoning for the fake stereo versions on US albums was: Capitol didn't have access to the stereo mixes.
So they frankensteined their own distorted mono versions.
Prob. the best presentation on the 🤪 subject matter of which I've had lots of questions about for years. A GREAT release chart 📊 too. 💪
Now do a similar chart for the Rolling Stones. When I was on a Rolling Stones marathon a few months ago, i found it so frustrating cos I didn't which country's version I should listen to.
Great video. Now do the Rolling Stones for additional headaches 🤣
I've been told the Smiths catalog is even worse.
No...this is only for good music...in other words Beatles. 2. Get a lot of Acetaminophen cause it's not stopping anytime soon.
Introducing the Beatles was released in 1963, with "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You." They replaced those tracks with PPM and Ask Me Why in 1964.
No, "Introducing the Beatles" was not released until January 1964. Yours is a popular misconception. You're correct that the first release had "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" on it, while subsequent releases replaced these with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why." But all of this happened in 1964.
@@BigStar303 Yep. 'Introducing The Beatles' was originally going to be released in the summer of '63 ,but, it's release was delayed until January 1964.
It's fun to laugh at the US albums, but when you grew up with them as I did, they still have a special place in your heart. I still remember how excited I was on Christmas in 1977 to rip open the wrapping paper and see Beatles VI. Also a lot of people including me think the USA version of Rubber Soul was better than the UK. It's More cohesive. It was called the "smoke and wood" album. Having said that the UK version is great as well.
None of the people who think the USA version of Rubber Soul is better were in The Beatles. Lennon hated the way Capitol messed with his work.
That's why the Capiphone project reworks the original Capitol albums to resemble the Parlophones more.
The only clunker on the American rubber soul is it's only love, a song John Lennon detested. If they had put nowhere man at the start of side 2, or if I needed someone, it would've been fantastic....
I'm sorry there is no way the US version of Rubber Soul is better than the UK version except maybe to you Americans, im pretty certain most of the rest of the world would go for the UK version.
@@ChrisCrossClash Well that's your opinion and you're welcome to it. Maybe whatever version you grew up with is the version closest to your heart. I know that growing up with the US versions and then slowly buying the UK versions one by one as I got older, I always thought the UK versions were better with the exception of Rubber Soul. This is a not just my opinion. As I've stated earlier, Brian Wilson was inspired to make his masterpiece Pet Sounds from listening to the cohesiveness of the US RS. Drive my Car, What Goes On and Nowhere Man and If I Needed Someone are great songs, but they don't fit the "smoke and wood" feel of the US version of the album.
Thank you ! The best video ever comparing the differences between the UK and US versions ! :-)
I purchased The Beatles Story in the late 60’s ! I wish I had kept it !
I had "Hear the Beatles tell all " on VJ, which must have been a bootleg as I bought it brand new at Zody's in 1981 and VJ was long defunct.
Here is an article about Rarities and a Capitol album called Collectors Items, that Capitol ordered destroyed. Including the copy that I have.
" The release of The Beatles Collection (boxed set)
in 1978 was a thoughtful one. On the European side, the 12 original albums were included, as well as one extra album, called simply Rarities. This was a compilation of cuts and tracks not found on UK albums, and was indeed a rarity for the UK Beatle fan. However, most UK fans were already in possession of the other 12 albums, and frustrated shop owners were culling the coveted Rarities album from the rest of the set in order to satisfy the wants of their demanding customers. This was almost surely in response to EMI's statement to the intent that the Rarities album would not be available in the future as a stand-alone record.
Capitol concurred with EMI in this intention, and released their own 13-volume boxed set in America. This set was identical to the UK set, with the exception of 2 tracks: the German versions of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" were supplied on the UK release, while in America, the English versions were substituted. However rare the tracks were for the European fan (6 "B" sides previously available on singles only, plus the previously unreleased German versions made for 8 rarities indeed), in America this was not the case. There were only 2 songs on the album not found on earlier American releases, and "Across The Universe" was the only completely new track.
In 1979, Capitol reversed itself (apparently due to the rather unrareness of The Beatles Rarities offerings), and announced its intention to release a package of true American rarities on its budget line in November of that year. SN 12009 hit the presses in October ... but a conundrum arose. Someone at Capitol had already begun work on a rare package, given it a catalog number (SPRO 9462), a title (Collectors Items), pressed it and released it with the following offerings: "Love Me Do" (the original version, with Ringo on drums), "All My Loving" (with hi hat intro), "This Boy" (in true stereo this time), "Sie Liebt Dich", "She's A Woman" (another stereo first), and "I'm Down" (which was thought previously unavailable in stereo). Side 2 included the promotional version of "Penny Lane" and a stereo version of "Baby, You're A Rich Man", and "Across The Universe" (only released once in America on the previous Rarities album). When it came out that "I'm Down" had indeed been released in stereo (on the Rock'N'Roll Music double album), a different stereo mix of "Paperback Writer" was substituted, and the catalog number was changed to SPRO 9463. Still later, plans changed once again, and The Collectors Items LP was scrapped altogether, all copies ordered destroyed.
Rarities was scheduled for release in November ... but Capitol revised its plans once again, releasing a revamped Rarities album on March 24, 1980, which included many of the track offerings on the Collectors Items LP. Yet again, another bootlegged version of Capitol's rare album hit the market. Casualties (SPRO 9469 - Capitol's promotional series), like the bootlegged versions of Collectors Items, carried an authentic Capitol sleeve, logo, credits and all, with an interesting "for promotional use only - not for sale" legend across the cover. Most of the recordings on this album were simply different mono or stereo mixes of tracks already available in the USA. Who knows for sure where all these "rare" albums came from? For the avid Beatle nut, it surely didn't matter ... rare is rare, and therefore desirable. What follows is the "official" Capitol offerings of the Rarities album. "
I owned that album, bought it new around 1981.
@@robertjordinelli3041 Do you still have yours? It was from Collectors Items that I found out there was a Ringo on drums version of Love Me Do.
@@robertjordinelli3041 Thanks to that album I have the correct versions of Thank You Girl, From Me To You, All My Loving, Penny Lane, and Across The Universe.
@@Cove-o4d No. I sold all my Beatles vinyl.
I didn’t get super into the Beatles until after high school (1987), so I had access to the standard catalog from the beginning of my fanship, and never bothered with the US albums. I knew they were fouled up, but didn’t know how FUBAR things really were. The way you not only made a graphically excellent diagram but also explained the context and reasons behind it all is truly outstanding.
the american version of rubber soul is actually what inspired Pet Sounds and the tracklist is actually a major factor as to why it sold so well in the US, although im sure the UK listing would have sold fine.
How can you say the tracklist is the reason it sold so well when we literally can’t know the counterfactual. It would have been hard for it to flop independent of track list.
I would like to see how having “Nowhere Man” and maybe “If I Needed Someone” on the US Rubber Soul would have effected Pet Sounds and probably Smile
Great video. Very well done. Thank you for your work and for the chart.
Great content! Very informative and enjoyable to watch. A couple of things.... Tollie label was a label owned by Vee Jay, in essence the same company that first released the first few Beatles singles. "Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove" first appeared in the US version of the 'Rarities' album in 1980. The UK and US 'Rarities' albums are very different from each other and only shares a few tracks. When The Beatles compact discs were released in the late 80's, Past Masters was sold as two separate discs, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, although the vinyl version combined both volumes and was sold as a double album.
I've been trying to unravel their whole discography for about 45 years now and this helps. The Beatles releases are so friggin complicated and so confusing and hard to reconcile. That's what made them so great and that's what made it so hard to pick out my favorites and to put them in some kind of order - it's like trying to solve a puzzle. Think I'll just go with the original UK records
Years? To unravel? Years?? I'll help you just Google it and it will all be there, doesn't have to take years
What a great video. Very interesting. So funny how the music industry was so different back then!
Excellent, thoroughly enjoyed that, even though I knew most of it anyway.
Seeing the UK/US albums in your visualised chart is very clever, well done 👍
Totally cool pictograph! Tells the story at a glance!
I guess I always considered the Hey Jude album a legitimate Capitol album and not in the compilation category. This was fun to watch. Thanks!
I had a an automatic return on my record player, so I never heard the runout groove collage until I got the Cd !
This is very interesting. I much prefer the UK versions of the Beatles albums except for Magical Mystery Tour. That one was done right in the US.
Here’s how someone should get into the Beatles:
1. Please Please Me
2. With the Beatles
3. A Hard Day’s Night
4. Beatles for Sale
5. Help!
6. Past Masters Volume 1
7. Rubber Soul
8. Revolver
9. Sgt. Pepper’s
10. Magical Mystery Tour
11. Yellow Submarine
12. The White Album
13. Let It Be
14. Abbey Road
15. Past Masters Volume 2
My way of listening to the Beatles in chronological order:
1. Please Please Me and With the Beatles with 1963 singles and b-sides
2. A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles for Sale with 1964 singles and b-sides
3. Help with 1965 singles and b-sides
4. Rubber Soul with the two singles and Revolver with the two singles
5. Sgt. Pepper’s and Magical Mystery Tour with the four songs from Yellow Submarine
6. The White Album with 1968 singles and b-sides
7. Let It Be and Abbey Road with 1969 and 1970 singles and b-sides
Great video, although one correction; Apple Records was not the reason that Beatles releases became fully standardized worldwide White Album and after, but the real reason was that the Beatles signed a new contract with EMI, which prevented Capitol from messing with albums. The recordings were still owned by EMI/Parlophone.
I had an idea on how the US could’ve at least save “Revolver” from the butcher:
Yesterday & Today:
side 1:
Drive My Car
Paperback Writer
Nowhere Man
I’m Down
Yesterday
Act Naturally
side 2:
Rain
If I Needed Someone
We Can Work it Out
What Goes On
Day Tripper
Hey Jude (or “The Beatles Again)
side 1
Can’t Buy Me Love
I Should’ve Known Better
Leave My Kitten Alone
Lady Madonna
The Inner Light
Revolution
side 2
Hey Jude
Old Brown Shoe
Don’t Let Me Down
The Balled Of John & Yoko
Capitol should have used Paperback writer/Rain and I'm down and left Revolver intact. Unforgivable sin.
Why Capitol didn’t put Paperback Writer and Rain on the US Revolver is a mystery to me
Capitol should have had 'I'm Down', 'Paperback Writer' & 'Rain' on 'Yesterday & Today'. An 11 track 'Revolver' is a disaster with 3 Lennon songs left out.
In all that rigamarole, how did Capital overlook “I’m Down” having it not appear on a US LP (and tape) until 1976 on the “Rock& Roll Music” compilation album?
Yes, that was an odd omission. It would have fit on the 'Yesterday & Today' album and saved one track from being taken from 'Revolver'.
The Hey Jude album was Alan Klein's idea, and a fine idea it was in my view. It took years before a UK version was available.
I think the reason there is so much Beatles' is because there was a standing order that no Beatles recording was to ever be disposed of. That's how "Her Majesty" ended up at the end of "Abbey Road." The track was rejected, so a recording engineer, inkeeping with the standing order, tacked it on at the end of the tape after "The End." McCartney heard it there, liked it, and so there it stayed.
What an excellent, lucid (if madly complicated) setting out of these releases! One small footnote: Past Masters originally came out as two seperately available CDs-a black one and a white one. But since 2009, it's been a single two disc set, decked out in black only.
Amazing video dude
No bullshit, you just explained everything in a cool and quick way
I consider the Collectors Items LP to be a Capitol record. On the back cover, they list all the Capitol albums from Meet The Beatles to Love Songs. Only Rarities and Reel Music are not on it.
This is cool man. I'm from Liverpool.
thank you very much for such a detailed explanation
Thank you very much for your amazing work my friend! Cheers from Mexico City 🇲🇽 👍
This video has changed my life. 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾
Wow. I learned some new details. I understand the album differences better now.
This is amazing. Can you please make a similar video about the early Rolling Stones albums?
That was a nice start. Now do all the "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers" and "The Silver Beatles" Stuff! : )
Congratulations, this is great work. The use of lines also indicates when the sequencing was also altered. I'd encourage a revised version to include the early UK 45 not included, remove the US "B" side of IWTHYH, add Help!/I'm Down 45, Collection of Oldies etc, so rather than being a UK vs US albums chart it becomes full UK releases vs US. The added detail will only increase the potential sales. Me for one. The use of twisted or patterned lines could also be used for those few tracks where it was a different mix used in the territories. (3 UK Revolver tracks, I am The Walrus ep vs single, etc).
One important observation...until I Want To Hold Your Hand and the Meet The Beatles LP, the group were virtual unknowns in the U.S. They were big in England, but so was Cliff Richard. Yes, they borrowed the cover from With The Beatles, but the difference is stunning! The Please Please Me cover was lame. The fact that Parlaphone didn't put their hit singles on the albums was a crime. Without I Want To Hold Your Hand and the "Meet..." album the group would never have made it in the U.S.
The US actually "heard" sgt peppers "inner groove" on "rarities" in 1980, although it's not a main release.
Edit: just saw someone else pointed this out.
PS. 16:53 "Goo goo gaguub?... You mean coo coo cachoo.:p
Hey Jude was NOT a Capitol album. It was conceived by the Beatles then-manager Allen Klein and put together by Allan Steckler of Apple/Abkco in London in early 1970. Capitol didn't even master or distribute the US album, that was done by Bell Sound studios in New York.
Haven't watched the entire video and haven't read all of the comments, but a couple of things:
1. I do see that someone corrected your statement that Vee-Jay released a Beatles single on their Tollie label in 1963. As noted, not so..."Twist and Shout"/"There's a Place" wasn't released until 1964.
2. Though your chart (which is very cool...kudos!) reflects this, I think you might have made more of the fact that "From Me to You" is truly the forgotten early Beatles track as far as the U.S. is concerned - in that, if you didn't own the original Vee-Jay single, you had no further opportunity to play it on your record player during the lifetime of The Beatles and beyond. (That is, unless you owned the rather obscure "The Beatles and Frank Ifield" album - or the counterfeited version of it.) It was completely unavailable to U.S. consumers until the "1962-1966" compilation.
3. By the same token - and perhaps you do mention this later - it's a crime that "Misery" and "There's a Place" (the latter one of the greatest of all early Beatles tracks) were omitted from the "Early Beatles" album.
4. Finally, there is some rather snide slagging of the U.S. remixes of some Beatles songs. This is certainly justified for the Duophonic Stereo stuff and perhaps most other examples. But sorry, UK fans, it is NOT true for the added reverb for the U.S. mixes of "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman." The UK mixes of these songs are wimpy, lame and dull piles of excrement. The U.S. mixes jump through the speakers - whether of transistor radios or high-fidelity set-ups - with power, impact and all of the true excitement that is the early Beatles. If you're inclined to argue, save your breath - you will never convince me otherwise!
VeeJay was particularly underhanded and devious in their practice of releasing Introducing the Beatles with 3 separate titles, including Songs, pictures and stories of the Beatles and The Beatles vs the 4 Seasons. All the same album.
Songs pictures and stories of Fabulous Beatles I meant.
@@robertjordinelli3041 Yes they were. All these, along with 'The Beatles On Stage with Frank Ifield', which it was not. Just some of the same recycled Beatles tracks. They did release an interview album 'Hear The Beatles Tell All' though. I actually prefer it to Capitol's 'The Beatles Story'. I still have my HTBTA album.
@bandcouver I bought that album around 1982, at a store, can't remember which one, Zody's, Montgomery Ward's, as a new copy. It was bootlegged!
Vee Jay Records also released an interveiw album called 'Hear the Beatles Tell All' in late '64 as well, with an interview with John Lennon on one side and on the road chatter with the band on the other. I actually prefer it to 'The Beatles Story'. I still have it.
maravillosa explicación, así me resuelves muchas dudas respecto a las versiones USA contra UK, me encanto tu presentación PDF, me voy a hacer un poster!
I had Aint She Sweet and My Bonnie on 45 rpms in 1964.
You're right about the two I covers...the enhanced blue cover was MUCH better to look at. The Please Please Me cover was SO lame looking.
Great video and chart! Thank you and thumbs up!
The Beatles UK Help album cover Semaphore is rearranged on the Capitol album so it reads HPEL instead of HELP.
You're right that the positions are rearranged on the UK vs. US albums. However, The Beatles are spelling neither "HELP" nor "HPEL." The semaphore positions they take in fact spell "NUJV" and "NVUJ" respectively.
Awesome compilation & history - love the poster as well. However, I cannot find the poster to download (or purchase, which I would) at the site indicated in the video. Could you please re-load the poster or make it available in another form? This took an amazing amount of research and organization, and it would be a shame if it weren’t shared much more widely. Thanks for your excellent video!
Thanks Elizabeth! Download links are here: beatlesmedleys.blogspot.com/2022/02/the-beatles-uk-vs-us-albums-compleat.html
Amazing video and editing!
The Beatles " White Album" from 1968 was never released in Mono in the USA.
GREAT VIDEO!!! So well explained.
I hate that the early US albums were so butchered, except they excelled, in a way, by including most of their singles onto albums, then using Hey Jude to release the rest of the singles.
When CD’s came out I wanted and got the UK versions, including the two Past Masters albums.
Of all the compilations, I loved buying the Red and Blue double albums on vinyl when they came out-such good compilations, and they do include singles. I have those on CD as well.
And, as mentioned, the US version of Magical Mystery tour was far superior, and when I bought the UK CDs, by then the US version was the standard, as mentioned in the video.
It’s all good, in the end.
ohh man what a great video very good information and material more videos like that
Great Comparison Chart. I personally don’t mind the US album slander as much (I have even called the weird in the past), but the way some people have fought over Capitol’s justification, the quality of the US and even UK releases and wether the Beatles would have even been successful in the US if the singles were excluded has actually left me doubting myself, essentially making me a little afraid to listen to Anything that would have been eligible for the Red Album (1962-1966), including my personal favourite album, Revolver. All simply because many viewers can not agree about almost any of the older releases.
I always was confused by this thanks
That was great, and quite a departure from your normal work. This was extremely informative while being very entertaining, please keep them coming!
Great video! Do you plan on making more of these kinds of videos in the future?
Fantastic video. Thanks!
Very informative for new fans like me, cheers!
This is what I have been studying since 1981. Fascinating. I used to get my information from books, many of which I still have.
watching here sending ny full support
Thank you so much, please also take a look on Japan Box Set for the Beatles :)
Two clarifications re: Sgt. Pepper as I understand them: The inner groove was actually first available to US listeners in 1980 (the Rarities album) and not in 1987 for the CD release; and a major difference between UK and US versions is that She's Leaving Home is slowed down in the US [which is actually the superior version of the song] :-)
You're right about "Inner Groove" appearing on Rarities in 1980. The slowed-down "She's Leaving Home" is only on the stereo vs. mono mix (not UK vs. US)
@@MusicBoxRox Thanks for the info about stereo vs mono.
Actually, the two different speeds for "She's Leaving Home" appear on the US mono vs. the US stereo release of Sgt. Pepper. The mono is at the correct speed, whereas the stereo has been slowed down.
I'm sure much depends on which version you heard first. I bought the mono version the day it came out, and didn't even hear the stereo version for the first time until possibly three years later.
But to my ears, Paul's voice sounds unnaturally slow on the stereo version, whereas it sounds like a perfectly normal Paul voice on the mono.
@@BigStar303 I don't recall which I heard first, but in contrast I prefer the slower version, as it adds more gravitas to the story. But to each his/her own, I say.
Excellent video.
we will talk about the beatles the next 300 years, the same way we talk about mozart and beethoven today. I would say all other bands will probably be forgotten the next 200-300 years, but not elvis and beatles. Elvis is a historical person just like julius caesar. and beatles are a historical group that changed litreally everything
fab vid my man!
Thank you for this video!!! I hate that capital did what they did lol made it so confusing
Ironic as Capital was a British owned subsidiary of EMI at the time ...
Awesome video! Amazing how terribly the US record execs handled the Beatles material early on.
The US albums are, without exception, terrible, and were detested by The Beatles and George Martin. And Dave Dexter's decision to bath everything in reverb is ridiculous - compare the US versions of "I Feel Fine" and "She's a Woman" with their UK counterparts for a particularly extreme example. He was also responsible for pulling Beatles product to bits and reassembling it for US consumption.
But here's the galling thing: Dexter was right. These are the albums and that was the sound that sold The Beatles to America. The four US albums in 1964 simply matched the four UK albums of 1963/64, and it meant that Capitol always had product to push, keeping The Beatles in the US charts and in public view. Without these albums, the Beatles would simply be a band which was very popular in Europe half a century ago, instead of the legendary status that they currently enjoy.
Great stuff, bravo
Great vid! Thanks!
Excellent vid
Interesante descripción ¡buen trabajo!; y qué decir de las versiones mono y estéreo. En México también tenemos una gran y diversa discografía beatle nacional. La discografía mundial de los muchachos de Liverpool es interminable y fascinante. Saludos.
God Bless you Jared! This is outstanding and I hope you know how grateful every Beatle fan is. I just wanted to say that there were some things that the Capitol versions had that the Parlophone versions didn't . The rainbow label was beautiful, and more professional than the ugly Parlophone black and silver. I was 4 when they released Meet The Beatles and with two older sisters in the house, I was surrounded by great music before I could, well, do a lot of things. Pretty much all other record labels were one color with black print.,but Capitol's labels was professional and a pleasure to look at. I also really prefer Capitol's release of HELP! When you listened to an album it was from start to finish, you didn't jump over the songs you didn't like. With HELP! you were in the movie, it was a soundtrack, you listened to the orchestral songs as well as The Beatles songs. To hear a song that that wasn't in the movie would have been a "What? What's that? That wasn't in the movie!" and it took you out of the joyous mindset of The Beatles in their flat, or in Austria or the Bahamas. You grew to love them all, even the orchestral pieces. Now when I watch the movie I know ALL the music which makes the viewing a complete experience.
As far as Revolver and Rubber Soul, the Capitol versions had a feeling - Rubber Soul has been called their "Wood and smoke" album, which matches all the album artwork. The Parlophone release added songs that didn't quite fit that theme. The Capitol release of Revolver has a far more psychedelic feeling to it due to the song selection.
I know, I know, The Beatles had a LOT to say about track selection and order, but in the end it didn't really matter. They were going to blow the doors off every record store no matter where the songs were. So don't be so hard on Capitol - and remember - Parlophone was just as greedy in their own way. And yes I did grow up with the Capitol releases and I've got no complaints. Incidentally, you should listen to the Parlophone mono versions vs the Capitol stereo version. The purist will insist that the mono version is better but the stereo version is more enjoyable to the ears and lets you hear the individual parts better. But that's just me - it's just my opinion. :)
Completely understand. Honestly, I love the James Bond opening of Help, and all the other orchestral cues. I'm surprised that no one at Parlophone thought UK fans would enjoy hearing them!
@@MusicBoxRox A fav (after the opening Bond into the title cut) is the piece right before Ticket to Ride - that one last flute note and then into that rich guitar opening. It's like opening a Christmas present.
The UK Help! album has all the soundtrack songs on side 1, just as in AHDN, so you wouldn't have that strange problem you talk about. Capitol's Revolver is just the UK version minus three songs, how can it be "more psychedelic"? In fact, one of the songs they left out was I'm Only Sleeping, probably the most psychedelic sounding, with the backwards guitar and xylophone.
I think many of you American look for justifications for the Capitol albums, but they make no sense. Just accept you grew up with those versions and have an emotional attachment with them. I respect that.
@@marty48 "Tomorrow Never Knows" is the most psychedelic song on "Revolver", not "I'm Only Sleeping".
The US "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" album are "soundtracks" whereas the UK versions are albums. Yes. We know the UK records are a million times better.
What does that mean, "make no sense"? Maybe to a Brit but not to Americans and Canadians of the 1960s. These were the albums which were released in those regions. No American / Canadian fans walked into the stores to buy "Beatles '65" and said " Hey" Wait a minute! I wonder if this album is different overseas?! I'd better not buy it!" Same applied to all the Brits buying the proper releases who had zero clue the US releases were unique. "Just accept you grew up with those versions"? So, we are supposed to just say they are absolutely awful, forget they ever existed, outsold every other country's releases and were the the prime source of Beatles music in North America? Not happening. There's zero reason to justify them as they were, and still are, phenomenal creations. More North American fans like them than most other people assume. The Beatles seem to think these albums deserve respect as they first released "The Capitol Years Volume 1 & 2" boxes, and then, "The US Albums" box. If they were so traumatized by their existence, why would they give the green light for these sets? I would think they'd do everything in their power to keep them buried. At least they did make some moves and delete the crummy fake stereo mixes which wound up on many of the US albums (NOTE: there are four fake stereo songs on the original UK stereo albums). They also added the US "Magical Mystery Tour" into the regular discography. Funny how the Beatles had a problem with Capitol US messing with their releases but never once complained about the amount of royalties they received from their sales. What about the discographies in places like Germany, France, Australia, Japan, Scandinavia etc? They all had releases the Beatles never endorsed and yet, the US versions are always the ones which are scrutinized. It's old hat. We're all aware the UK versions are better but to dismiss the American albums and singles? Not happening.
@@gretschviking I didn't say the albums didn't make sense, I said your justifications don't make sense, like saying the US Revolver is more psychedelic, when it's the same album without three songs, one of them very psychedelic. MMT is a different case because there wasn't a UK album to butcher, and The Beatles approved it. And of course The Beatles took their royalties from Capitol, why wouldn't they? It was their music!! They were in their right to criticize Capitol's butchering and take their hard earned money too.
That was awesome.
Awesome video! Thank you so much! ❤❤ 🇬🇧 the Beatles dominate , above all! 🌟!
Credit to Capitol for what the did with Magical Mystery Tour
I just finished collecting all the beatles discography when i just found out that i only collected the UK versions. Wtf? I didn't know there was "U.S. versions". Which ones are better??
the US discography is a lot more interesting imo
Fantastic work and great video -- my only disagreement concerns REVERB!!! :-) I think She's A Woman is much better in the US version; the UK version is too dry and a bit lifeless. But that's just a minor matter -- the chart is an incredible piece of work. Thanks.
The track was recorded for a UK audience & sounded great on British record players..
Um….about the Sgt. Pepper inner groove….America DID NOT get it in 1987, but 7 years earlier, on the 1980 Capitol release, “The Beatles Rarities”.
Also “The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl” was first released in 1977. It was reworked by Giles Martin (son of George M), as a tie in for Rob Reiner’s 2016 film, “Eight Days A Week: The Beatles Touring Years”, but retained the album’s original title as well.
Do one for The Stones!
Call me crazy, but I like some of the American releases. The U.S. Capital albums were more singlescentric and the American Rubber Soul has a more thematic folk/Dylan/Byrds sound than its UK counterpart. Magical Mystery Tour in its US guise is part of the official Cannon and the only early UK album that is categorically better is Revolver.
The American Rubber Soul is my favorite Beatles album plus I like the American cover better it’s more pleasing to the eye. I grew up with the Capitol albums. I didn’t care for his snarky attitude towards the American albums. The British lps don’t have the singles on them which in my opinion make the Capitol Records superior (except for A Hard Day’s Night Help! And Revolver)
What a load of Rubbish, you are seriously not implying the U.S albums were better than the UKs? apart from Magical Mystery that is a load of twaddle.
@@ChrisCrossClash No, certainly, the UK issues are for the most part are the definitive versions. However, as I said, the Capitol versions of Meet the Beatles, the Beatles' Second Album, Something Else, Beatles '65, Beatles 6, Rubber Soul, etc. are fun and collectable as individual albums in their own right. I like how you Englishmen use the word twaddle!
@@ChrisCrossClashmeet the Beatles was far better than with the Beatles
@@Miloradsfriend Yeah that's cap and you know it is.
A Collection of Beatles Oldies hade bad boy
Good work! Now do the Four Seasons.
The normal number for US lps was 12 tracks. It was Capitol with the Beatles who found out they could get away with only putting out 11 tracks on an album. Other labels followed suit. The US RUBBER SOUL reverted to 12 tracks for the first time since MEET THE BEATLES
I can understand the reasoning behind doing 'catchup' albums when the Beatles first made it in the States, but by '65 and especially Rubber Soul, Capitol should have put out what the band intended to be heard. And of course, that was the argument until Pepper.
Reason 1 should be Dave Dexter Jr.
Brian told Paul and John that unless they made it in the U.S...they haven't really made it (just ask Cliff Richard)
Now do The Rolling Stones version of this.
My mom doesn’t even know the UK albums!
When I was 16 I essentially created this entire chart myself (at least up to Revolver) on two pages of a graph paper notebook.
Your snotty attitude towards some of the American albums could use some adjusting. First of all, there were differences in the ways the royalty rates for multiple songs were calculated in the US & UK at the time that made 14 tracks the ideal number of tracks to put on an album in the UK financially and 11 or 12 the ideal number for US albums financially. Also, while the UK's way of thinking regarding not repeating songs on albums that had been previously released as singles may have seemed a valid point of view in the moment, over the longer term the American philosophy has proved more enduring, as many 60's British albums today seem distinctly lacking compared to their American versions due to their missing what tended to be the strongest material produced around the time of the album's creation (a particularly striking case being the UK version of Are You Experienced, although it does partially make up for it with the inclusion of Red House) See also any of the Rolling Stones pre-1967 albums.
And while granted, many of the Beatles US albums were indeed bizarrely random collections that only worked because, let's face it, it's pretty near impossible to put out an actually bad album of Beatles recordings, occasionally they randomly stumbled onto something that really clicked. The US Rubber Soul (the version that so blew Brian Wilson's mind, made him realize the potential of the album as it's own unique, cohesive artistic statement and as such directly inspired the creation of Pet Sounds), has long been praised as its own listening experience, showcasing the folky side of the Beatles better than their own albums ever did. Many also love the covers-heavy Second Album, with it's particularly heavy reverb working well with all the covers of American Motown-type songs that were made for this sort of treatment. (Or at the very least, collecting all the covers here actually allowed Meet The Beatles to be a much better showcase of the Beatles as original songwriters than it's original UK version) And Yesterday And Today has always been praised as a brilliant collection as well, even if its snatching of the Revolver tracks makes for a much diminished US version of one of The Beatles greatest albums.
Thank you I hated his snarky attitude about the Capitol Records. I grew up with the Capitol releases. The American Rubber Soul is my favorite album to this day. The Capitol Records had some great covers Beatles 65 Beatles VI Meet the Beatles is in my opinion a better cover than with the Beatles and Rubber Soul is a much more pleasant cover to look at over the muddy and orange Rubber Soul. Now Revolver on the other hand, the British version hands down is superior but there is no Yesterday and Today (aka the Butcher).
It also was better to have the American albums because they had the singles on the albums. Now A Hard Day’s Night and Help! Are filled with non Beatles sound track music.
At least there are much better channels on TH-cam that have a lot better information on the Beatles LPs like Parlogram who has a kinder opinion of the Capitol Records releases.
The catalogue was standardised in 1987 globally for its release on CD, that included all the UK Albums, the US Magical Mystery Tour, and when I mean standardised it was what was intended by The Beatles and George Martin originally for the UK Albums, The only US album covers the MMT tracks from that Double EP and the 1967 stand alone singles. I say globally as With The Beatles had a different cover in Australia which John Lennon hated when he saw it, when The Beatles toured Australia in 1964, so in 1987 it was finally released officially in Australia with the originally intended cover.
Past Masters does have a strange release in 1988, released as seperate CDs Volume 1 and 2, but then released as a Double LP as Volume 1 and 2 later in the year. It was odd that by 1987 EMI/Apple Corps needed someone to compile what should have been easy to do, but they did ask someone and that was Mark Lewisohn. However for the 2009 remasters it was then renamed Past Masters and released in the 2009 Box set and individually as Past Masters with Mark Lewisohn's name taken off.
What is also forgotten in 2009 the Mono CD Box Set was released, with Mono Masters being released as Double CD with all the dedicated mono mixes, including for the first time the true mono mixes of the four dedicated Yellow Submarine album songs (Previously the Mono Yellow Submarine album was a fold down of the stereo mix). Released as a Vinyl Box Set in 2014 as a triple LP with all Mono Albums available individually.
All the UK Albums could be bought as imports in the US at the time, but became more readily available from the late 1960s as The Collection of Beatles Oldies was popular for the simple reason is that true US Beatles fans could hear them as was originally intended and there is a letter in the Los Angeles Times in 2004 titled Meet The Greedy from John Zaversky who stated that the UK Albums were commonly availble in the USA until its 1987 offical release. It was the time of the Capitol Albums Volume 1 Box Set being released.
There is one person who considered the UK Albums as their intention, and it is John Lennon on the Dennis Elsas Show, WNEW-FM, 28 September 1974 and the transcript is available on John Lennon's Website, and on here in multi parts on John Lennon's official channel.
John is barely present on the US version of Revolver.
The U.S. Beatles albums have less songs. And yes The U.K. Beatles lovers always remind us about that. But..... we got to have The Butcher album .