america's beatles in 1965

in 1965 the beatles released 4 albums in america. nowadays that would be incomprehensible. of course capitol records used a bit of sleight of hand to pull it off. as soon as capitol realized the golden goose they had with the beatles they began manipulating the albums as to gain the most sales. up until around 1967 albums in england were relased with 14 cuts per lp, 7 on a side and the american standard was 12 tracks an lp, 6 on each side. capitol switched tracks, running orders and created completely new albums from the official british lp's. but no one cared back then, as long as we had a beatle lp in our paws.

it wasn't until the beatle cataloge was released on cd during the 80's did i even realize the vast difference in the u.s. and british records. it took awhile to get used to hearing the albums as they were intended. the american versions were quite burned into my brain by then, as i am sure many others that had grown up listening to the boys in the 60's can attest.

in yet another sure-fire money-making move the powers-that-be at capitol decided a few years ago to repackage the (so far) 8 lp's created for the american market. 2004 saw the first four lps, from 1964, released in both stereo and mono versions on four discs with the original sleeves. a very nice package that brought back a flood of memories and a great sound (no scratches!) to all those that can remember and a bunch that never knew.

last month the second volume, the 4 lp's from 1965, was unleashed. and as soon as it hit the shelves it was in trouble. it seems that the mono mixes on two of the lps were just stereo folds. that is to say, they were mixed using the stereo version to make the mono version, which almost anyone can do at home these days.

a bit o' history is needed here i guess... george martin always worked the mono mixes first, as at the time stereo was not widely seen as the standard format. the beatles very rarely even showed up for the stereo mix downs at all until sgt pepper in 1967. as any major enginneer, and quite a few audiophiles, will tell ya, each mix has things that are different. slight level adjustments, minor editing thingys, and just enuff stuff to make ya listen a bit harder.
so, this dj in philly finds a major glitch with the new box set, alerts capitol and begins a damage control to spare the public from getting a deal it wasn't offered. it appears some idiot sent the stereo-to-mono mixes of two of the new boxset cd's (beatles VI and rubber soul) to the pressing plant. i am pretty sure that most that got the bogus cd's weren't even aware. ahhh, but to those that know, this is borderline criminal. as of now it seems the prob is fixed, the updated sets have an 'sk1' on the outer sticker and are said to be the real mono mixes, i guess i'll wait and see.
what i really want is the white album mono mix. if i wait for apple to get it out i may be too old to remember it, anybody got one?

npr has a great show up on the new beatles capitol albums volume 2 box set featuring mr bruce spizer (the lawyer, new orleans native, beatle know-it-all and author of quite a few great books on the evolution of the beatles and their records). it is an informative and entertaining few minutes. and if ya look around the site there is alot more beatle-related shows for streaming. (if ya ask, i got 'em all on mp3)...

the snafu with the new beatle box set.
the snafu with box set fixed?

in 1966 robert whitaker photographed the cover below, this was the beatles response to the 'butchered' albums released by capitol in america. it was yanked before it hit the shelves but the company took the butchered copies and glued a new cover on them, then let them out. as soon as word got out thousands of kids were spending valuable time standing over a boiling pot of water trying to reveal the banned original. some had it, most didn't. i knew a girl in vegas in 1968 that was so proud of her ripped up, badly peeled copy (looked like shit, but i was soooo jealous)... i wonder if she still has it...


to finish off this, yet, another beatle post, i submit as much of 'tomorrow never knows' as i have found in my travels... i know, i know, this is from the first of the revolver sessions in 1966, but since there is one more american lp left outta the boxsets, i wonder how they will handle 'revolver', perhaps a very nice cd of alternate mixes of all the 1966 beatle output, how could they not do something really nice for their 2nd to best album?

... in 1967 sgt pepper was released and every lp after fell in line with the british releases.

here, by the power of yousendit, (for a short time), some mp3s from various people of that beatle song ....
guided by voices - tomorrow never knows
king crimson - tomorrow never knows
utopia - tomorrow never knows
the helio sequence - tomorrow never knows
our lady peace - tomorrow never knows
les claypool's flying frog brigade - tomorrow never knows
govt mule - tomorrow never knows
living colour - tomorrow never knows
david lee roth - tomorrow never knows