The Beatles Album Poll

[Ringo]

I own all the albums pictured in the first post, except "Yellow Submarine" and "Past Masters". BTW Even if I was American I wouldn't want the US versions of their albums. I think they're a waste of time - the albums were never intended to be like that, they just threw some songs together and added horrible cover art. It's hard for me to understand why they even made them.

 

[LG]

^^I never understood that myself Ringo, I mean if it's good enough for England, then why the hell not just release the same set list on albums in North America?

 

[CP/M User]

Lord Grendel wrote:

^^I never understood that myself Ringo, I mean if it's good enough for England, then why the hell not just release the same set list on albums in North America?

The Moody Blues did exactly the same thing with their first album The Magnificent Moodies in 1965 - so there was an UK version of it and an US version of it. The version I have on CD has the UK version of the album intact, but the bonus tracks includes the tracks which were found on the US version of the album and even the extra one track which was found on the 1985 release of the album that was rearranged and called "Go Now".

Personally I'm not sure why - my best guess is the Record Company thought the album might have done better with the alternative songs in both countries.

The initial 60s Bee Gees album "Idea" which was released in the UK is slightly different in the US and Australia in that it has a totally different album cover and the UK version of the album has a picture of a light bulb with the Bee Gees stuck under the light. Most of the tracks are the same as well, though the initial album which was released in the UK didn't include "I've Gotta Get A Message To You" mostly due to it being a late entry and when the US & Australian albums were released it simply included it.

 

[Craig in Indy]

I've owned all the Brit albums (with the exception of the red and blue compilations) plus a couple of the early American albums in some combination of LPs and CDs over the years, and I still have the original Abbey Road on LP, both in the original English issue, as well as a MoFi version, plus an early "best of" LP that was called Lady Madonna (like Past Masters it contained all their singles to date that hadn't appeared on any LPs).

Now though, thanks to my lovely wife, I can get rid of my collection of the initial CD releases. For Christmas she gave me the new remastered stereo boxed set of all the British albums plus everything from both volumes of Past Masters (both discs now combined into a single, two-disc package). Only the new mono box is supposed to have better sound, but I prefer stereo, and besides the mono collection has fewer albums and a much, much, much higher price now.

I haven't had a chance to do any listening, comparison or otherwise, as one of my little ASL monoblocks kind of blew up the other day in a small explosion of arcing and sparks (I only hope it didn't damage my no-longer-made speakers) and I haven't had a minute to myself to swap out the amps. I know, what am I doing here instead? Good question.

 

[Odysseus]

I have the later ones - White album, Abbey Road, Let it Be on vinyl. All the rest on CD, the remastered British releases. I also have a few of the bootlegs, acquired way before that stuff turned up "officially" on the Anthology.

The Beatles, geez, where do you begin? As a kid, I listened to all that through my older brother who's first Beatle album (birthday present) was A Hard Day's Night back in 1969 when he was 10 and I was 6. From there it was the rest as the years ticked off.

I never get tired of their music. Brilliant on all levels. Picking a favorite is like asking who's your favorite child although if push came to shove, the 65-67 period (Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, Pepper) would be my desert island discs. But then I find myself listening to Hold Me Tight on With the Beatles, Things We Said Today on Hard Day's Night, Only A northern Song - Yellow Sub. and I'm like, man, Ringo, what a great drum lick, Paul's bass chugging along and I smile, stuff like that.

It's alot like that for me with them, hec, with pretty much all the bands discussed on this forum. I listen to this peerless music in the moment with simple enjoyment but there is also that bonus of time travel that upon hearing a song, it can vividly recall what you were doing, who you were with, the euphoria it creates on so many different levels.

 

[PinkFreud]

I now own Abbey Road thanks to Christmas "Something" is my favorite song off of it

 

[Craig in Indy]

^^I never understood that myself Ringo, I mean if it's good enough for England, then why the hell not just release the same set list on albums in North America?

It's because the American releases were assigned to a Capitol Records A&R man named Dave Dexter, Jr., who never understood them or their music. Plus Capitol wanted to make more money off the band and felt the English LPs had too many cuts on them. They thought there should be fewer songs per record (usually 12 to the original 14 or so) so they could sell more records. So they decided all on their own to resequence the songs into completely different, shorter albums for the US market. They were also fond of taking the last two-channel mixes (that EMI subsequently mixed down to mono for the English LPs) and putting them out with all the instruments in one channel and all the vocals in the other. Stereo, yes, but not very listenable.

AMG has a pretty good little article about Dexter and his "work" on the Beatles' albums:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gbfwxqrgld6e~T1

 

[LG]

Thanks Craig, I had a feeling it had something to do with Marketing...

 

[Craig in Indy]

I've been working my way through the stereo remasters over the last couple of days, putting them on my computer so I can do quick and dirty A/Bs with the original CDs. The differences are sometimes minimal, sometimes substantial, but always audible, and always, IMO, improvements. I'm going to try to do a detailed report on each album, from Please Please Me through Past Masters, maybe song-by-song if I can, with my impressions on the new sound. For now I'll just say that in my opinion it's absolutely worth it, if you're up for spending that kind of money on a second go-round with these records. If anyone does decide to get them, and you still have the initial CD releases, try comparing them first with either headphones or in a near-field speaker setup. I think they're more apparent that way.

 

[LG]

Post away my Knowledgeable friend, I have all the new remasters but only 4 of the original CD's, plus my White Album on vinyl.