Thursday, January 8, 2009

Beatles Discography

Although most fans in the United States didn't realize it at the time, Beatles LPs did not correspond to the LPs released in Great Britain by Parlophone, a division of EMI. One reason is that George Martin believed that singles (the radio "hits") did not belong on an LP. Below is the discography for Beatle LPs in both the United States and Great Britain. The LPs released by Capital Records in the United States are now available at most music stores in the U.S., and a link for the Capitol releases may also be found at the official Beatles wesbite (see sidebar or sitemap)and many other places on the web.

The Capital LPs have brought more than just nostalgia to Americans who heard Beatles songs for the first time on these records, for in remastering the tapes for digitalization, Capital has made the sounds clearer than ever, and it is actually possible to hear more nuance in the music and vocals on these Capital versions than on the original CD Parlophone releases. The question of whether vinyl is superior to all of the above will be discussed in a post in the near future since much of the "reverb" was removed when George Martin prepared the original recordings for CD release.

Note also that after a certain point--around the time of Revolver--the albums were no longer issued in two different formats. The Beatles were never happy about the dual nature of the releases to begin with and were particularly displeased by the United Artists release in the United States of A Hard Day's Night soundtrack.

UK/Parlophone and Apple Releases:

Please Please Me: 1963
With the Beatles: 1963
A Hard Day’s Night: 1964
Beatles for Sale: 1964
Help!: 1965
Rubber Soul: 1965
Revolver: 1966
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: 1967
Magical Mystery Tour: 1967
The White Album: 1968 (Apple)
Yellow Submarine: 1969 (Apple)
Abbey Road: 1969 (Apple) … actually recorded last.
Let It Be: 1970 (Apple)

US Releases by Capitol and Apple:

Introducing the Beatles: 1963 (Vee Jay)
Meet the Beatles: 1964
The Beatles Second Album: 1964
A Hard Day’s Night (United Artists): 1964
Something New: 1964
Beatles ’65: 1964
The Early Beatles: 1965
Beatles VI: 1965
Help!: 1965
Rubber Soul: 1966
Yesterday and Today: 1966
Revolver: 1966
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: 1967
Magical Mystery Tour: 1967
The White Album: 1968 (Apple)
Yellow Submarine: 1969 (Apple)
Abbey Road: 1969 (Apple)
Hey Jude: 1970 (Apple)
Let It Be: 1970 (Apple)

Solo Discographies for each Beatle may be found on the following pages of Beatles.org.:

John Lennon Albums: The Complete Discography
George HarrisonAlbums: The Complete Discography
Paul McCartney Albums: The Complete Discography
Ringo Starr Albums: The Complete Discography

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