Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I have a few of my original 60's copies floating around. Meet The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper, and a VeeJay Introducng The Beatles. Most of the rest are repackages. I also have a couple of Tollie versions, one with a nice picture sleeve, and a rare EP w/pic sleeve: Four by the Beatles. Anybody want to buy any of these?

Some coveted rarities:

U.S. mono MMT and Sgt. Pepper
U.S. Capitol record club issues
U.S. Can't Buy Me Love picture sleeve
U.S. eps Capitol & VJ
U.S. Beatles on Apple sleeve without a die cut hole

U.K. Please Please Me black & gold label lp
U.K. Love Me Do & Please Please Me red Parlophone 1st issues
U.K. Nowhere Man ep 1st issue
U.K. mono MMT double ep 1st issue
U.K. White Album mono top loader
U.K. Let It Be box set

Capitol didn't actually butcher the Beatles albums. Remember that in the mid-sixties, American albums only had 11 or 12 songs on them, while British LP's typically had 14. U.S. albums always included the hit singles, while U.K. singles were generally a stand alone product. Couple that with the fact that the Beatles didn't hit here in the States until 1964 - After they had already released two albums and three singles in England.

This left Capitol with a cache of 34 Beatles songs in January, 1964 - Enough for three albums. And a brand new album (and a four song EP) was due to be released in a couple of months. Capitol simply repackaged the albums to appeal to the American market, and get 'caught up' as quickly as possible.

As for the mixes - Capitol was given stereo (twin track) tape masters of the albums, and mono tape masters of the singles, which hadn't been mixed for stereo at that point. So those songs suffered Capitol's 'Duophonic' treatment when mastered for stereo albums in the U.S. The one thing Capitol should not have done was add reverb to the songs like they did. They apparently were trying to fill the 'hole in the middle' created when the original albums were mixed in twin track (vocals on one side, instruments on the other). They also must have felt the songs needed more punch to be a hit with the American teenagers.

You can say what you want about Capitol's handling of the Beatles material, but they did (extremely) successfully market the group in the States.

Kris, my beef with Capitol was all the 'recycling' they did with songs by repackaging them under new LP's. 'Love Songs', 'Reel Music' and 'Rarities' to name a few. Strictly to line their pockets a little more. As far as Capitol's marketing goes. Ed Sullivan had already done most of it for them, and future releases required very little, if any, promotion, other than promoting a release date. There was little doubt the singles or albums would sell.

Capitol didn't even want to release the Beatles in the beginning. It was only out of their contractual agreements with EMI that they were forced into it. The powers that be at Capitol considered the Beatles to be an albatross to the label. This obviously changed, and Capitol obviously prospered greatly from it.

I'll agree that all the repackaging of Beatles material was excessive, and in some cases, just plain stupid - especially in light of altered mixes that they had already altered! But not all repackages fared as badly. Look at 1 - Here was an album with unaltered original mixes and no new songs, pictures or text. Both Capitol and Billboard thought the album might sell half a million copies. It sold much more than that on the day of release! It has gone on to be the second best selling album of all time.

Rarities really does not belong in the same category as Love Songs or Reel Music, as it contained versions of songs previously not available in the U.S. But I do agree that Capitol's repackaging was excessive.

True, Capitol did not want to release Beatles records at first, claiming that no British act was ever a hit in the States. They quickly changed their tune, however, seeing the success of She Loves You in the Philadelphia area and a few other regional U.S. markets. They also saw the effect Beatlemania had sweeping across Europe in 1963. Capitol spent $50,000 (an unprecedented sum for a pop group at that time) in promotion with their The Beatles are Coming... campaign in December, 1963 and January, 1964. By the time the Beatles first appeared on the Ed Sullivan show on February 9th, 1964, both the single I Want To Hold Your Hand and the album Meet The Beatles had been released and were in the top three of Billboard's charts (IWTHYH was number 1).

Good factual points, Kris, but the Beatles success still had very little to do with Capitol's assistance. But Capitol's future wealth would have very much to do with the Beatles. The $40,000 they spent was when they discovered they had a potential gold mine ( I've also read Epstein demanded Capitol spend that much). While the release of 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' preceded the Sullivan show by just over a month (Dec 26th), I'm not ready to heap praise on Capitol for the record(s) success just because they finally gave into EMI's pressure and released it. Radio stations and Ed Sullivan are due more credit, IMO.

Again, my only real beef with Capitol was the rehashed LP's they sold. Their contribution was inconsequential to me.
Opinions may vary, because we all have one

Any of you guys have the Vee Jay LP Introducing the Beatles with the the label they used for singles on the LP?

Would that be a Rainbow-Ring surrounding a black background w/silver print under a large white VJ w/small VEE JAY RECORDS inside large white brackets? That's the one I have. VJLP 1062

Just checked the official ITB site. Mine is a Version 2 mono, worth about $100-$150. Cool. Anybody want it?

Yes, I've got a mono copy of Introducing The Beatles with the 45 sized label. I've got nine different label variations of the album. They're all originals. That album is just about the most counterfeited album in history.

Stan wrote:
"Good factual points, Kris, but the Beatles success still had very little to do with Capitol's assistance."

For a fascinating read on the Beatles invasion of America, pick up a copy of The Beatles Are Coming by Bruce Spizer. Bruce has the definitive guides to American Beatles records, and all his books are highly recommended for the serious Beatles vinyl collector.

Bruce is also publishing the new Perry Cox Beatles Record Price Guide, due out in July. See Bruce's books here:

http://www.beatle.net/

Yes, Capitol has done a lot of stuff that's pretty hard to defend. And they didn't just take songs off of lps, they did stuff like put singles ON lps (I Want to Hold Your Hand on Meet the Beatles, etc.) And let's not even get into some of the weirdness they did with reissues of original albums by North American groups in the 70s (anyone come across these? This is when they stripped songs off of Capitol's own alums. I picked up a copy of "The Band" in the 80s and it had two songs stripped off of it, one of them being "King Harvest." This would be like repressing Pepper without "A Day in the Life.") That company is whacked.

Thanks, Kris, I already have the book, and Spizer's books about the Beatles on Capitol Records.