Friday, December 23, 2011

THE BEATLES CHRONOLOGY

The Beatles,being the most famous and most successful rock band in the world,has released an astonishing 13 albums during the height of their career as a recording unit from 1963  to 1970,well it may vary on what place or country you grew up with,but its the 13 albums that made a standard with EMI doing  a unification that the original British albums be recognized as official worldwide albums in 1987.Actually the original UK albums was already released in the UK and worldwide in the 1960s except in the United States where the British LPs were considered as imports back then.With two singles compilation called Past Masters,compiled in 1988 plus the 13 albums released during the band's heyday,you have all the Beatles recordings --well at least most of it--released by the band on their awesome fame that would last for generations to come.

Well I guess it wont be that complicated if Capitol Records didn't "butcher" the band's first seven albums in the sixties.But the nice thing to know is that most countries in the world apart from the UK has released the band's albums in their original British formats,well sadly,except for the United States where the only album that Capitol didn't touch was from Sgt Pepper to Let It Be but like I said,thanks to unification-the original British albums in 1987 was finally available in the US not as an import but a real album.

So the so-called "American" albums caused a lot of confusion and I think the first seven albums of the Beatles could have performed far better on Billboard if they weren't literally butchered by Capitol.Well a lot of people including new generations of Americans were asking a few questions why the first seven albums were altered by Capitol but there was not one or two satisfying answers.One answered on my forum at Paul McCartney's as the reason Capitol altered the first seven albums is to Americanized the sound--really? When does a British rock band sounded American?  Well,I dont get it,you chop an album into pieces and put songs here and there to make it sound American? I dont think so.Even Rolling Stone magazine itself praised the original British albums as the albums with the great number of songs and with the  most cleverly arranged ones.

Another reason others were saying was the copyright grounds on which Veejay Records could've released Please Please Me in the US but Capitol got the copyright and so and so..Others commented by laying down the line saying that money was the first reason the US distributor Capitol butchered the first seven albums-you chop an album in two and you get to create more albums and thus more sales,well at least,I guess that makes a lot more sense,but not as sensible as far as Beatles fans were concerned.

There are singles such as "I Want To Hold Your Hand" "She Loves You" "Day Tripper" "Hey Jude" that were neither on the 13 original albums,but in 1988 they were compiled as Past Masters with all the singles both A and B sides that weren't on any of the albums.If you have the 13 albums plus the Past Masters Singles compilation you have everything that the Beatles released on the seven year of their career from 1963 to 1970.

A lot of Beatles projects have surfaced and continues to come out even after the band broke up, and after the deaths of both Lennon and Harrison,one is the reunion project called Beatles Anthology where the then three surviving Beatles overdubbed on two of John Lennon's demo tapes and released three Anthology albums together with the outtakes and some early demos made by the band.Another is the 2003 rearrangement of the album Let It Be called Let It Be..Naked where the album was remixed and reformatted as close as possible to the band's artistic vision.

Well,here are the Beatles' albums presented on their original format,the 13  albums plus the Past Masters Singles compilation the Beatles' released from 1963 to 1970.Songs were arranged by the way,according to its CD format.

1.PLEASE PLEASE ME

Please Please Me is the debut album by the band.Released worldwide(except the US and with one album with a different configuration in Canada wherein Capitol is also the main distributor) on March 22,1963 wherein Parlophone was said to have the album rushed to capitalise the success of its singles which includes "Love Me Do","I Saw Her Standing There" and "Please Please Me".


The debut album was an instant smash hit particularly in the UK and has produced many of the Beatles' early signature songs.There are different variations of the album wherein one song sequences differ from each other-like the old cassette version I think from the seventies or eighties which was released in the Philippines* ++ wherein Misery was the opening song for the album instead of I Saw Her Standing There.Though the LP released in that country were of the same sequence as the UK album(the album's opening song was also "I Saw Her Standing There")

However,this album was released in a different title and different song sequence in the United States where Vee-Jay Records was having a copyright battle with Capitol.Vee-Jay claimed it could've released the whole Please Please Me album but had a legal battle with Capitol so they had to change the title and the song sequences(????)..The US incarnation of this album however was "Introducing The Beatles" distributed by Vee Jay Records released almost a year later after it was released in the UK and worldwide.Sadly,Capitol won the dispute over Vee-jay and thus the butchering started on the band's first seven albums which made the Beatles furious and released the Butcher album Yesterday And Today in 1966 as a protest.

The album is also noted for the songwriting credits wherein Paul McCartney's name appeared before that of John Lennon's.

TRACK LISTING:

1.I Saw Her Standing There (McCartney-Lennon)
2.Misery (McCartney-Lennon)
3.Anna(Go To Him) (Alexander)
4.Chains (Goffin-King)
5.Boys  (Dixon-Farrell)
6.Ask Me Why (McCartney-Lennon)
7.Please Please Me (McCartney-Lennon)
8.Love Me Do (McCartney-Lennon)
9.P.S. I Love You (McCartney-Lennon)
10.Baby It's You (David-Williams-Bacharach)
11.Do You Want To Know A Secret (McCartney-Lennon)
12. A Taste Of Honey (Scott-Marlow)
13.There's A Place (McCartney-Lennon)
14.Twist And Shout (Medley-Russell)


2. WITH THE BEATLES

 With The Beatles is the second album released by the band in late 1963.The album consists of eight original compositions and it features the first ever song ever written by George Harrison called "Don't Bother Me".Together with six cover songs  mostly were Motown and R&B classics,the album remains one of the best early Beatles albums in the band's entire catalogue.

The album cover was adapted by Capitol to release a butchered album called Meet The Beatles considered by many as the band's debut album in the US[though Introducing the Beatles was released by Veejay in early 1964].Most of the tracks on the said butchered album were from With The Beatles and with singles the band never issued on either of their UK LPs.This famous photo by the way,was taken by Robert Freeman who will go on to be the band's official photographer until 1966.

With The Beatles,together with the early six albums released by the band was finally released domestically in the US in 1987[the album was considered as an import back in the sixties] through the unification made by EMI to avoid further confusion on behalf of the American fans.The so-called US albums were by then deleted and got available only in bootleggers and box sets.

TRACK LISTING

1.It Won't Be Long (Lennon-McCartney)
2.All I've Got To Do (Lennon-McCartney)
3.All My Loving (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Don't Bother Me (Harrison)
5.Little Child (Lennon-McCartney)
6.Till There Was You (Willson)
7.Please Mister Postman (Dobbins-Garrett-Gorman-Holland-Bateman)
8.Roll Over Beethoven (Berry)
9.Hold Me Tight (Lennon-McCartney)
10.You Really Got A Hold On Me (Robinson)
11.I Wanna Be Your Man (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Devil In Her Heart (Drapkin)
13.Not A Second Time (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Money(That's What I Want) (Bradford-Gordy)




3. A HARD DAY'S NIGHT

This is the Beatles' third album and soundtrack to their first movie of the same title.The album released in the UK and worldwide(again,except North America in 1964) consists of 13 songs,with the first seven that were featured and sung on the film and the other six that weren't on the said movie.

The Beatles were reportedly appalled when they heard that Capitol released the album in the US by completely deleting the side two and putting an orchestral score from the film instead.Though the butchered album went straight to number one on Billboard-Paul McCartney expressed his feelings of bitterness towards both Capitol and United Artists that distributed the said album in the US.

This album together with the other six was released domestically in the US in 1987--again,thanks to unification made by EMI.

TRACK LISTING

All songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney

1.A HARD DAY'S NIGHT
2.I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER
3.IF I FELL
4.I'M HAPPY JUST TO DANCE WITH YOU
5.AND I LOVE HER
6.TELL ME WHY
7.CAN'T BUY ME LOVE
8.ANY TIME AT ALL
9.I'LL CRY INSTEAD
10.THINGS WE SAID TODAY
11.WHEN I GET HOME
12.YOU CAN'T DO THAT
13.I'LL BE BACK


4.BEATLES FOR SALE

Its quite astonishing to hear the band managed to release two official albums in 1964 and at the same time touring non-stop throughout the US and other parts of the world.It must've been exhausting for bands today to do such a thing.Newer bands today would release one album and would tour non-stop and it would take them years to follow up their latest effort.But the Beatles never ran dry and there was an average of two albums released by the band every year(not counting the singles that were neither on any albums) plus non-stop concert tours around the world.Though the band had quit touring in 1966,their album's astonishing release pattern was maintained until their breaking up phase in 1970,making them the best rock band ever.

This album like the other six were one of the albums butchered by Capitol with the label naming the US release as Beatles '65 with some songs from this album and together with songs from side two of A Hard Day's Night.

Beatles For Sale was first released in the UK and worldwide***(except  the US) on December 4,1964.This album was issued domestically in the US in 1987 through unification made by EMI.


TRACK LISTING

1.No Reply (Lennon-McCartney)
2.I'm A Loser (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Baby's In Black (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Rock And Roll Music (Berry)
5.I'll Follow The Sun (Lennon-McCartney)
6.Mr Moonlight (Johnson)
7.Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey (Llieber-Stoller-Penniman)
8.Eight Days A Week (Lennon-McCartney)
9.Words Of Love (Holly)
10.Honey Don't (Perkins)
11.Every Little Thing (Lennon-McCartney)
12. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party (Lennon-McCartney)
13.What You're Doing (Lennon-McCartney)
14. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby (Perkins)



 5. HELP!

Help! is the fifth album released by the band.It also served as a soundtrack to the fab four's second film of the same title.


The album was first released in the UK and worldwide(except the US and Canada) on August 6,1965.The US version of the album however was released a week later on August 13 of the same year.The original album contains 14 songs with side one featuring all the songs sung on the film and side two featuring seven more songs.The original album also featured "Yesterday"--which was hailed by Guinness Book Of World Records as the most covered song ever written.

The album again,unfortunately was among the first seven albums butchered by Capitol Records with the North American release featuring only the seven songs performed on the film together with the background music similar to what they did on A hard Day's Night which made the band  a little sheepish towards their North American distributor.In the US version of the album,the song Yesterday and the whole of side two was ripped off being replaced by the original film score.Songs like "I've Just Seen A Face" and "Its Only Love" was included instead on the butchered US version of Rubber Soul which was originally the sixth Beatles album.And other songs like "Yesterday"  and "Act Naturally" was included on the US album Yesterday And Today in which the band made a controversial cover photo showing them on butcher suits with dolls having their heads ripped off and several chunks of meat and animal blood splattered on them.The cover is known to be a protest the band made as how they felt towards their North American distributor as Capitol continued to butcher two more albums.

In 1987,with the unification effort made by EMI,the original 14 track Help! album was finally issued as a real album in the US[Help! together with the other six albums was available only as an import in North America back in the 60s] with the original UK 14 track replacing the butchered US version and the latter being deleted and was available only in bootleggers and box sets.

And I will say it again--thank God for unification.

TRACK LISTING

1.Help! (Lennon-McCartney)
2.The Night Before (Lennon-McCartney)
3.You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (Lennon-McCartney)
4.I Need You (Harrison)
5.Another Girl (Lennon-McCartney)
6.You're Going To Lose That Girl (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Ticket To Ride (Lennon-McCartney)

8.Act Naturally (Morrison-Russell)
9.Its Only Love (Lennon-McCartney)
10.You Like Me Too Much (Harrison)
11.Tell Me What You See (Lennon-McCartney)

12.I've Just Seen A Face (Lennon-McCartney)
13.Yesterday (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Williams)




6.RUBBER SOUL

Rubber Soul is the sixth album by the Beatles.The album was known to have a folk rock feel and was considered to be the album where the band's sound was finally being established on their own.

The butchered US album consists of  two songs from the side two of Help! "Its Only Love" and "I've Just Seen A Face".

The album was first released in the UK and worldwide(except the US) on December 3,1965.The butchered US version of the album was released three days later.

Through the unification made by EMI the album with its original 14 song lineup was domestically released in the US in 1987 after having been considered as an import in the past.

TRACK LISTING

1.Drive My Car (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (Lennon-McCartney)
3.You Won't See Me (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Nowhere Man (Lennon-McCartney)
5.Think For Yourself (Harrison)
6.The Word (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Michelle (Lennon-McCartney)
8.What Goes On (Lennon-McCartney-Starkey)
9.Girl (Lennon-McCartney)
10.I'm Looking Through You (Lennon-McCartney)
11.In My Life (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Wait (Lennon-McCartney)
13.If I Needed Someone (Harrison)
14.Run For Your Life (Lennon-McCartney)



7.REVOLVER

Revolver is the seventh studio album by the Beatles.This is the seventh and the last album that was butchered by Capitol Records in the sixties.

Revolver was known for its harder electric guitar sound compared to its predecessor Rubber Soul which has more of a folk rock feel.The Beatles' sound at this time was slowly moving towards psychedelic and hard rock.

The original 14 song lineup was first released in the UK and worldwide(again,except the US) on August 5,1966.

The butchered US version of the album consists only of 11 songs.Three of its tracks were removed "Im Only Sleeping","And Your Bird Can Sing" and "Doctor Robert" were instead included on the butchered album Yesterday And Today(with the controversial 'butcher' cover) together with songs from Help! and Rubber Soul.

TRACK LISTING:

1.Taxman (Harrison)
2.Eleanor Rigby (Lennon-McCartney)
3.I'm Only Sleeping (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Love You To (Harrison)
5.Here,There And Everywhere (Lennon-McCartney)
6.Yellow Submarine (Lennon-McCartney)
7.She Said She Said (Lennon-McCartney)
8.Good Day Sunshine (Lennon-McCartney)

9.And Your Bird Can Sing (Lennon-McCartney)
10.For No One (Lennon-McCartney)
11.Doctor Robert (Lennon-McCartney)
12.I Want To Tell You (Harrison)
13.Got To Get You Into My Life (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Tomorrow Never Knows (Lennon-McCartney)




8.SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND


Released in June 1,1967,Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band or Sgt Pepper to call it short highlighted the summer of love in the late 1960s.The Beatles-having proved themselves as the greatest rock group on the planet released this concept album which was praised by many as a masterpiece.Though not really the first concept album[Frank Zappa's Freak Out in 1966 was considered to be the first concept album in rock music]--Sgt Pepper broke barriers and took rock music to a new level and thus having noticeable changes to the band's sound and image.

The album had seven grammy nominations and won four of each with Album Of The Year,Best Album Cover,Best Engineering and Contemporary Album.

For the first time ever,the Beatles created an album that is actually impossible to replicate in concert.And thus,being a rock concept album,this is the first time Capitol didn't butcher a Beatles record.From Sgt Pepper this year in 1967 onwards to their last album Let It Be. The album was released worldwide,this time with no alterations in the United States by Capitol Records on June 1,1967.The first time ever in the Beatles' then four year career.

It was only four years since the Beatles released their debut album Please Please Me and Sgt Pepper is the concrete proof on how rock music is rapidly evolving and mutating in the flower power sixties.

TRACK LISTING:

All songs by Lennon-McCartney,except noted:

1.Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band
2.With A Little Help From My Friends
3.Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4.Getting Better
5.Fixing A Hole
6.She's Leaving Home
7.Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite
8.Within You Without You words and music by George Harrison
9.When I'm Sixty Four
10.Lovely Rita
11.Good Morning Good Morning
12.Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band(Reprise)
13.A Day In The Life



9.MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

The film's soundtrack album is the Beatles' ninth album in the band's album catalogue.Though Capitol is taking credit for the album's conception,the film and album was said to have been masterminded by Paul McCartney shortly after the death of their manager Brian Epstein as an excuse to have fun and forget the sad moments concerning Epstein's death while making music and filming a movie at the same time.With six songs from the film and five more songs on side two,the album was released in November 27,1967 in the US and was re-issued later in 1973.With the UK and worldwide re-issue that same year,the double EP was deleted and the 11 song album replaced it on cassette and LP formats.

The album was added to the Beatles' catalogue in 1976 thus completing the album lineup for record collectors.Magical Mystery Tour went to number one in January 1968 trouncing off the Monkees' Pisces,Aquarius and Jones Ltd from the top spot.When EMI unified the Beatles' albums in 1987, the 11 song album Magical Mystery Tour was included with the original 12 British LPs.


TRACK LISTING:

1.Magical Mystery Tour (Lennon-McCartney)

2.The Fool On The Hill (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Flying (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
4.Blue Jay Way (Harrison)
5.Your Mother Should Know (Lennon-McCartney)
6.I Am The Walrus (Lennon-McCartney)

7.Hello Goodbye (Lennon-McCartney)
8.Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon-McCartney)

9.Penny Lane (Lennon-McCartney)
10.Baby You're A Rich Man (Lennon-McCartney)

11.All You Need Is Love (Lennon-McCartney)



10.THE BEATLES

"The Beatles",quickly dubbed as the White Album,is the band's tenth album.Its been a year since their manager Brian Epstein died and this is the album where noticeable changes with the band's relationship with each other was noticed.Having completed the Magical Mystery Tour film and album shortly after Epstein's death(which was said to be all masterminded by McCartney),the Beatles had claimed to have lost a father figure and direction behind the music they were making in the studio.Arguments and differences surfaced within the group,and the album's sessions were noted for the Beatles' walking off each other's songs.But in spite of all that,the Beatles still managed to create a rock driven album with all new sounds and slowly moving the band to a more hard rocking concept.Though the album is also filled with some acoustic songs,notably McCartney's "I Will" and "Blackbird",the album itself contains a contrasts of different personalities the Beatles were writing and recording on the studio."Helter Skelter" is the song which Mojo magazine is praising as the invention of heavy metal by Paul McCartney himself.Other hard rocking songs like "Birthday" "Yer Blues" and "Everybodys Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" shows the Beatles' cutting edge rock music written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

The album was also noted by the guest appearance of guitar god Eric Clapton playing lead guitar on George Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

With 30 songs on a double LP, the White Album was released worldwide,again with no alterations in the US by Capitol on November 22,1968.It reached the top spot of the Billboard charts on December 28,1968 remaining there for six weeks until February 1969 and it eventually came back to the top spot again a week later on February 15,1969 where it remained for another 3 weeks.

TRACK LISTING

Disc One

All songs by Lennon and McCartney,except noted:

1.Back In The USSR
2.Dear Prudence
3.Glass Onion
4.Ob-La-di Ob-La-Da
5.Wild Honey Pie
6.The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
7.While My Guitar Gently Weeps words and music by George Harrison
8.Happiness Is  A Warm Gun
9.Martha My Dear
10.I'm So Tired
11.Blackbird
12.Piggies words and music by George Harrison
13.Rocky Raccoon
14.Don't Pass Me By words and music by Richard Starkey
15.Why Don't We Do It In The Road
16.I Will
17.Julia

Disc 2
All songs written by Lennon and McCartney,except noted:

1.Birthday
2.Yer Blues
3.Mother Nature's Son
4.Everybodys Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
5.Sexy Sadie
6.Helter Skelter
7.Long Long Long words and music by George Harrison
8.Revolution 1
9.Honey Pie
10.Savoy Truffle words and music by George Harrison
11.Cry Baby Cry
12.Revolution 9
13.Good Night



 11.YELLOW SUBMARINE

The album Yellow Submarine was a soundtrack album to an animated film released seven months earlier.The animated film in which none of the Beatles participated(except a cameo appearance in the end part),was considered the Beatles' fourth movie-though the talking voices were provided by other actors,the songs of the band were widely used in the movie,including past songs from their recent albums Sgt Pepper,Rubber Soul,Magical Mystery Tour and Revolver.The film title by the way,was based on the song Yellow Submarine in 1966 from the Beatles' seventh album Revolver.


The album was released worldwide on January 17,1969,though the UK and US albums differed on cover,inner sleeve and back cover,the song sequences were exactly the same,except for the merging of the titles Sea Of Time and Sea Of Holes.The 1969 US release contains no subtitle of Nothing Is Real,no White Album review on the inner sleeve but instead a fictitious story of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.The 1987 unification issue which was released in the US contains the album covers and inner sleeve features to that of the UK.Though the album's release worldwide back in 1969 contains the physical features of the UK release(except the US alone).

In 1999,when the film was re-issued on both video and DVD,Paul and the then two surviving Beatles released a somewhat revised edition of the film's soundtrack called Yellow Submarine Songtrack which features all the songs on the film and omitting the side two of the original soundtrack album,thereby deleting the film score created by George Martin.Though the songtrack album fared well in the charts,the original album with George Martin's film score is still available for Beatles collectors.

TRACK LISTING:

1.Yellow Submarine (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Only A Northern Song (Harrison)
3.All Together Now (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Hey Bulldog (Lennon-McCartney)
5.Its All Too Much (Harrison)
6.All You Need Is Love (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Pepperland*** (Martin)
8.Sea Of Time***(Martin)
9.Sea Of Holes***(Martin)
10.Sea Of Monsters***(Martin)
11.March Of The Meanies***(Martin)
12.Pepperland Laid Waste***(Martin)
13.Yellow Submarine In Pepperland*** (Lennon-McCartney,arr. by George Martin)

***-original film score



12.ABBEY ROAD

Abbey Road is the second to the last Beatles album,though many people saw Let It Be as the last album released by the band,the Beatles themselves consider this as their last album.Working on what would be their last LP Let It Be has begun as far back as January 1969 and has a record of one of the longest recording sessions in history with furthermore overdubs in early 1970.

Abbey Road,on the other hand,was released on September 26,1969.Like the other albums post-Revolver in the 1960s,the album wasn't altered by Capitol and was released with the same song sequences in the US.

The album reached number one on Billboard 200 on November 1,1969 remaining there for six weeks,until it was knocked over by Led Zeppelin II,Abbey Road went back to number one January 3,1970 remaining there for another 3 weeks and went back to number one again for the third time on January 24,1970 remaining there for another week.

TRACK LISTING

1.Come Together (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Something (Harrison)
3.Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Lennon-McCartney)
4.Oh! Darling (Lennon-McCartney)
5.Octopus's Garden (Starkey)
6.I Want You(She's So Heavy) (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Here Comes The Sun (Harrison)
8.Because (Lennon-McCartney)
9.You Never Give Me Your Money (Lennon-McCartney)
10.Sun King (Lenon-McCartney)
11.Mean Mr Mustard (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Polythene Pam (Lennon-McCartney)
13.She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Lennon-McCartney)
14.Golden Slumbers (Lennon-McCartney)
15.Carry That Weight (Lennon-McCartney)
16.The End (Lennon-McCartney)
17.Her Majesty (Lennon-McCartney)





13.LET IT BE

Let It Be is the 13th and last album the Beatles released during their heyday as a recording unit.Both the carrier song and the album had a very long recording history,dating as far back as January 1969,known as the Get Back sessions.The album was retitled to a more appropriate name about Paul's song of reflection and surrender,perhaps the song mirrors whats going on within the band as the Beatles were slowly disintegrating leading to its breakup.

The Beatles had hired engineer Glyn Johns(who also recorded with Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones) to supervise the sessions and after rejecting his final mixes for the supposed to be LP,the Beatles managed only to release two singles from Johns' mixes--Get Back and Don't Let Me Down.With the band's disagreement over different musical tastes,the group decided to shelf the project and did Abbey Road in August 1969.

Phil Spector was finally brought in to review the tapes and most of the songs in the album were mixed using his so-called Wall Of Sound technique in which Paul McCartney was reportedly unhappy with the results including Spector's orchestration of his song "The Long And Winding Road".Nevertheless,the other three Beatles approved of Spector's re-working of the tapes which alienated McCartney from the rest of his bandmates.

The album was released in the UK and worldwide on May 8,1970,however,the US release was delayed a month later to coincide with the US release and premiere of the film.Paul McCartney had announced the breakup of the Beatles a month earlier on April 10,1970 which made the album a closing curtain to the band's seven year career.

The album went to number one on Billboard on June 13,1970 where it stayed there for 3 weeks,trouncing off Paul McCartney's first solo album off the number one spot.

In 2003,the album was remixed according to Paul McCartney's real vision of the said supposed to be comeback album for the band,thus the de-Spectorised version of the album having the title Let It Be...Naked which sold a million copies worldwide and hitting number one in other countries.

TRACK LISTING

1.Two Of Us (Lennon-McCartney)
2.Dig A Pony (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Across The Universe (Lennon-McCartney)
4.I Me Mine (Harrison)
5.Dig It (Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
6.Let It Be (Lennon-McCartney)
7.Maggie Mae (Trad. arr. Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey)
8.I've Got A Feeling (Lennon-McCartney)
9.One After 909 (Lennon-McCartney)
10.The Long And Winding Road (Lennon-McCartney)
11.For You Blue (Harrison)
12.Get Back (Lennon-McCartney)


PAST MASTERS

In 1988,the singles(the 45 rpms) which were neither on the original 13 albums were compiled by EMI for Beatles collectors.Sure there were American albums,compilations that included those singles but what they do is that they repeat other songs that were already released on the original albums.So the Past Masters album was conceived which included all the singles that were neither on the albums,B sides of major singles,including alternate versions of other songs that were already on the albums but sounded different nonetheless.


The Past Masters compilation album was first released in two volumes and then re-packaged later as a double album for a single purchase for Beatles fans to enjoy.




photos: above the re-packaged Past Masters singles compilation album,past masters volume one,right,past masters volume two














TRACK LISTING

Disc 1/volume one

1.Love Me Do--1962 single,different version from the Please Please Me album track,Ringo Starr on drums (Lennon-McCartney)
2.From Me To You--A side single April 11,1963 (Lennon-McCartney)
3.Thank You Girl--B side of From Me To You (Lennon-McCartney)
4.She Loves You--A side single Aug 23,1963 (Lennon-McCartney)
5.I'll Get You--B side of She Loves You (Lennon-McCartney)
6.I Want To Hold Your Hand--A side single November 29,1963 (Lennon-McCartney)
7.This Boy--B side of I Want To Hold Your Hand (Lennon-McCartney)
8.Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand--German version of I Want To Hold Your Hand (Lennon-McCartney)
9.Sie Liebt Dich--German version of She Loves You,double A side single with Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand (Lennon-McCartney)
10.Long Tall Sally--from Long Tall Sally EP (Johnson-Blackwell-Penniman)
11.I Call Your Name--from Long Tall Sally EP (Lennon-McCartney)
12.Slow Down--from Long Tall Sally EP (Lennon-McCartney)
13.Matchbox--from Long Tall Sally EP (Perkins)
14.I Feel Fine--A side single,November 27,1964 (Lennon-McCartney)
15.She's A Woman--B side of  I Feel Fine (Lennon-McCartney)
16.Bad Boy (Williams)
17.Yes It Is--April 9,1965 B-side of Ticket To Ride (Lennon-McCartney)
18.I'm Down--July 23,1965 B side of Help! (Lennon-McCartney)


Disc 2/volume two

All songs by Lennon-McCartney,except noted

1.Day Tripper--December 3,1965 double A side single with We Can Work It Out,the single was released simultaneously with Rubber Soul,remarkably,neither of the songs appeared on the said album.

2.We Can Work It Out--double A side single with Day Tripper

3.Paperback Writer--A side single June 10,1966

4.Rain--B side of Paperback Writer

5.Lady Madonna--A side single March 15,1968

6.The Inner Light--B side of Lady Madonna and the first George Harrison composition to come out as a single.

7.Hey Jude--A side single,August 30,1968

8.Revolution--B side of Hey Jude

9.Get Back--A side single,April 11,1969, with an extended track,this version was a different one compared to the closing song on the Let It Be album

10.Don't Let Me Down--B side of Get Back

11.The Ballad Of John And Yoko--A side single,May 30,1969

12.Old Brown Shoe--B side of The Ballad Of John And Yoko,written by George Harrison

13.Across The Universe--wildlife version with flapping wings heard on the beginning and this version of the song was a bit faster and more folk-influenced compared to the slow and well orchestrated version on the Let It Be album

14.Let It Be--A side single,March 6,1970,shorter version compared to the song on the album of the same title,has less orchestration and different guitar solo compared to the album version.

15.You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)--B side of Let It Be


CREDITS AND FOOTNOTES

Philippines*--special thanks to my friend Mrs Helen Dela Cruz,who used to work in Dyna Records in Manila in the Philippines in the sixties and seventies for providing me that information about the Please Please Me cassette.Dyna Records was the sole distributor of Beatles albums in the Philippines from the 1960s to the 1980s.All Beatles albums issued in the country were in their original British formats.

Worldwide***--Countries in the sixties apart from the UK--Hong Kong,Malaysia,Japan and Philippine editions and other countries in the rest of Europe were issued on their original UK formats.Though Japanese distributors Toshiba and Odeon,have issued two US albums Meet The Beatles and The Beatles Second Album between A Hard Day's Night and Beatles For Sale releases in 1964,the rest of the albums issued in Japan were in their original British formats.Australia and New Zealand editions in the sixties were also patterned to that of the UK.The only version that was different that time in pattern and song sequences was that of the United States(the first seven Beatles albums pre-Sgt Pepper).


(c) Keith Vernon Adagio

2 comments:

  1. Since I live in the US I originally bought the Capitol albums when they were first released and it never occurred to me that our Beatle albums were different until I heard mention that "Sgt. Pepper" was the 1st standardized Beatle album around the world. This really isn't completely true because the Capitol album didn't include the "inner groove." When Capitol would hold back a couple of songs from each UK release it was done most likely to create new albums for release in the US ($$$$$$$) to make up for their lack of foresight when they refused to release the "Please Please Me" album (which would eventually be released almost in its entirety as "The Early Beatles") and the Beatles first few singles which included "She Loves You." The UK albums may be superior in content but they don't have something that the Capitol albums have (for me).......memories.

    To this day when I hear "Drive My Car" I expect to hear "I'm Only Sleeping" next as it was on the US album "Yesterday And Today" instead of "Norwegian Wood" as it is on the UK "Rubber Soul" and there are many more. But "in the end" it doesn't matter what the sequence is, all that matters is the music, from "Love Me Do" to "Let It Be."

    So because of Capitol's wanting to maximize its profits we in the US not only got shortchanged in the number of songs on each album but we also were always playing catch-up with some songs from their last album combined with songs from their most current. However being able to listen to music sequences that no one else in the world was listening to and having each track after track still residing in a little corner of our Beatle music memory.....I consider that a gift.

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.