Beatles on Capitol

In 1964, the Capitol Records, U.S. home to the Beatles, released four compilations - 'Meet The Beatles', 'Beatles Second Album', 'Something New' & 'Beatles '65.' Each set sold over one million copies & still remains popular among the Beatlemania. The sets became out of print in 1987, but 17 years have passed & they are now available again in a deluxe four-disc box set. 'Beatles Capitol Albums Volume 1', due Nov. 16, will collect the four albums with a 48-page special booklet. All the tracks have been digitally mastered using 24-bit technology & available in both stereo & mono versions. Twelve of the forty five tracks were not available in the U.K. original edition. EMI. 2004.

Essential: a masterpiece of Rock music
I share my LP of Abbey Road to fatten the collection.
An early Capitol reissue (Purple label, 1978), mastered by Jay Maynard (JAM) and pressed by Goldisc Recording Products, Inc. (GOL). It’s a treat!

Essential: a masterpiece of Rock music
The turn is for Let It Be… to fatten The Beatles collection.
This is another early Capitol reissue (Purple label, 1979), mastered nothing less by master sound engineer Wally Traugott (Wally) and pressed by Capitol Records Pressing Plant, Los Angeles.

Appearing in the U.S. just two months prior to the band's April 1970 breakup, Hey Jude is one of the odder Beatles records released during the group's lifespan. Essentially a clearinghouse for singles that never appeared on album, the record relies heavily on songs released between 1968 and 1969, but it also stretches back to get both sides of the 1966 single "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" and "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better," two 1964 songs that never appeared on a Capitol LP (but did show up on the soundtrack to A Hard Day's Night, which was released by United Artists in 1964). This scope inadvertently showcases the Beatles' versatility and growth, as they move from the exuberance of Beatlemania to the intense psychedelia of the mid-'60s and then settle into rich post-Pepper days, where John, Paul, and George (Ringo sings no songs here) were all pursuing their own obsessions.

Capitol Records initially planned to release a live album from the Beatles in 1964, recording the band's August 23 concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Nobody at the label found the results satisfactory so they attempted it again almost exactly a year later, taping the August 29 and 30, 1965 shows at the Hollywood Bowl but, once again, it proved hard to hear the Fab Four from underneath the roar of the crowd, so those tapes were also shelved. They remained in the vaults until 1977, when Capitol president Bhaskar Menon asked George Martin to assemble a listenable live album from the two sets of Hollywood Bowl tapes, all with the idea of combating the rise of bootlegs and quasi-legit Beatles live albums. It was a difficult task, yet Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick managed to assemble a 13-track LP of highlights that was quite well received upon its 1977 release yet managed to earn a reputation as something of a disappointment in part due to the screams that overwhelmed the band…

Capitol Records initially planned to release a live album from the Beatles in 1964, recording the band's August 23 concert at the Hollywood Bowl. Nobody at the label found the results satisfactory so they attempted it again almost exactly a year later, taping the August 29 and 30, 1965 shows at the Hollywood Bowl but, once again, it proved hard to hear the Fab Four from underneath the roar of the crowd, so those tapes were also shelved. They remained in the vaults until 1977, when Capitol president Bhaskar Menon asked George Martin to assemble a listenable live album from the two sets of Hollywood Bowl tapes, all with the idea of combating the rise of bootlegs and quasi-legit Beatles live albums. It was a difficult task, yet Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick managed to assemble a 13-track LP of highlights that was quite well received upon its 1977 release yet managed to earn a reputation as something of a disappointment in part due to the screams that overwhelmed the band…