This week, a new article was published regarding the making of the Beatles 1964 mono vinyl box set, including discussion of the Dexter issues and what they found when trying to recreate the original US LP versions for this box of LPs. It's quite interesting.
[I suggest that you read the article Clark is referring to prior to reading his notes and coments - you'll find the link below - kk]
The Beatles in Mono According to Kevin
This is a very good and INTERESTING article, covering many topics that we already knew a lot about, but
they put more into this article than many, and yet explain none of the
questionable things Capitol did. I started listing things below as I
read through it and all these came off the top of my head as to all the Capitol
miscues. Please note that some may not coincide with your thoughts and may be totally off base ... and
some may not be Capitol's fault (?)
Taking things point by point ...
As to Lennon's "lousy harmonica," one COULD argue that those parts at times in "Thank You Girl" and even in "Love Me Do" COULD
have been re-recorded to get a couple of places played better where he
kind of half-plays notes in a place or two. (Dexter "fixed" Thank You
Girl for The Beatles 2nd Album by adding MORE Lennon "lousy" harmonica???) STILL, the UK sales should have flagged him. If not, WHY did he release
MULTIPLE 45s by Gerry & the Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas in the fall of 1963 ON
CAPITOL in the US and not the Beatles?
I'm thinking that Brian's
constant badgering might have been part of it and yet, both the Pacemakers and
Kramer were Epstein artists, too. Plus, Capitol kinda set a precedent when two-time UK hit-maker Frank Ifield, had two US HITS
starting in 1962 and still over a year later was still on VJ here. In
the fall of 1963, Capitol finally saw the light of day when VJ released the
then UK #1 hit "I'm Confessin'." In short order, Capitol decided to issue
it on top of VJ's release and got a US hit out of it instead of VJ!
That closed VJ's door on any more Ifield releases. Add to that, the fact that Del Shannon's "From Me To You" charted in June of 1963 on the Hot 100 and was STILL bubbling under
in September! That could have been the Beatles making money for
Capitol!
What about "You Were Made For Me?" Did Capitol play with that
US 45, too? The UK 45 had parts edited and moved around for the US 45
version! Both it and "I'm Telling You Now" were early Capitol US issued
releases, but did nothing, so Capitol relegated them to subsidiary Tower
Records for reissue in 1965 and both were hits. Of course, Capitol also
released all those VJ Beatles hits on Capitol Starline 45s (6 in total, all at
once) in the fall of '65 and created (or tried to) a new Beatlemania with WABC,
WLS and stations all over playing (and the Hot 100 CHARTING) Starline
issued "Boys" / "Kansas City" as a CURRENT hit along with their then current hits "Help!" and "Yesterday" (not a 45 in UK!) "Boys" being plugged as a new 45 was stopped BY Capitol after I think
the group complained. There was much more hanky panky going on than
just adding echo to Beatles songs and changing LP lists.
My
fave Beatles LP, "Beatles VI," still slays me. You could NOT look at
the LP's back cover for what song was coming next as you played it!
Sure, it was a conglomerate of two releases plus the still UK-unissued "Bad Boy" to begin with, but the LP LISTED all the songs NOT in their correct running
order. The front cover even had the gall to say in print below the titles
"See label for correct playing order" (below). WHAT? How can I read
that when the LP is revolving around?
Then, there's those US COVERS he says they worked so hard
on. "Yesterday & Today" had the butcher cover BECAUSE the boys
were mad at Capitol! SO, Capitol comes back at their biggest artist
with that horrible trunk cover? Again, an LP that was a mishmash of UK
tracks not yet issued here and added echo to some. In fact, so many US
LPs were basically issues with half the tracks being OLD 45 hits:
Beatles 2nd, Something New (most were issued on soundtrack a month
earlier PLUS "Hold Your Hand" in German), Early Beatles, Yesterday and
Today AND remember that this article is not correct in saying the US
stopped changing things after Sgt Peppers ... Magical Mystery Tour was
NEVER an LP in UK. It was a double EP of NEW tracks, while in US, they
concocted the LP version again of half old 45s.
[In all fairness, the "Magical Mystery Tour" LP became the standard for all Beatles releases moving forward once their catalog was released on CD for the very first time. It is probably the one real feather in Capitol's cap. That being said, I can't tell you how many times I've rea over the years that fans worldwide seem to prefer the US version of "Rubber Soul" over its British counterpart. - kk]
AND
what about Capitol's "Great" sound mixes? Duophonic was horrible and
then there was the "I'm Looking Thru You" leaving the opening start flub
on the US version? Look at the US covers they made "so much better"?
Beatles VI is a boring cover with "Beatles VI" print almost as big as
the fabs' photo! "Early Beatles" cover makes their faces look like
ghosts. The "Help!" cover reduces the UK cover group photo to such a
small part of the US cover. Look at the US 45 picture sleeves. 12 of
their 1964-66 sleeves had the exact same "THE BEATLES" block printing at
the top. The UK releases always had innovative design ideas for the
group name on the 45s, while the US was just "plug it in" again. Later
on, look at how cool the US pic sleeve for "Hello Goodbye" was followed
by the atrocious "Lady Madonna" one.
US Capitol tried to cash in on the Fabs right away with
Capitol HITS "My Boyfriend Got a Beatle Haircut" and "A Letter to the
Beatles," both making fun of the label's band and making Hot 100 noise
reaching #83 and #85 respectively ON CAPITOL! BOTH were the label's last
chart records for both artists. Of course, the UK had the "Pop Goes The Workers" 45s, cashing in on the Fabs, BUT those were on Columbia and not
the UK Beatles' Parlophone label. Then, the embarrassment of US Capitol
getting a front page story in Billboard in February, 1964, when WLS was
singled out for playing a song the Beatles did not have out here in ANY
form on vinyl: "Roll Over Beethoven." It wasn't on "Meet" or
"Introducing" or on any VJ or Capitol 45! The Billboard article finally says
they don't know WHERE WLS got that song from! It was actually a NEW 45
issued by CAPITOL of CANADA in December, 1963 (between "She Loves You"
in September, 1963 and "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in January, 1964)! Capitol US did not
know where it came from? 38 songs being played constantly on the air
here in the US and NO ONE had issued this one track yet? Along with
"All My Loving," Capitol of Canada had TWO 45s being imported to the US
and hitting Billboard Hot 100 reaching #68 and #45 before US Capitol put
the clamps on those. Toss in all the money made off old Capitol
rejected songs issued as hits on Tollie, VJ, Swan, Atco and MGM and Capitol left a goldmine behind due to their shortsightedness.
As
pointed out in Lawyer Bruce Spizer's Beatles books, had VJ made one
move in court in the Beatles hearings of Capitol vs VJ and VJ could have
locked the Beatles up thru the Sgt Peppers LP era in the US!
How
about those four 45s issued from "A Hard Day's Night???"
"I'll Cry Instead"
and "Slow Down" were released as A sides on two of these? HOW could you NOT choose "Things We Said Today" as an A side over those two choices? It would have helped sales of
'Something New", as this song was NOT on the Soundtrack LP.
"Slow Down" / "Matchbox" were covers and also only on "Something New" AND
gained no publishing royalties for Lennon-Macca like "Things We Said Today" would
have!
As
far as the mono/stereo issue, I find that almost every day, playing
songs in stereo on my home stereo or in my car, there is always some
song that needs the balance moved or something sounds off when I hear
stereo in the speakers. YES, it is very cool to hear things coming out of
different speakers and often it is a true revelation, but those odd
moments when I can't hear what I should be hearing in a song make me want
the mono much more often.
Scotch 201
tapes? Well, if these are the same 1/4" tapes I used as a kid on my
reel to reel, they are really bad for drop out today (60+ years hard
labor) with stretching and breakage. However, I taped and re-taped on
them as a kid, so I cannot say how bad they were then, but now, they are
not what I would ever issue as quality on an LP. There are lots of
tapes where I recorded line recordings off 45s then and they do have
lots of drop out now. IF you baked them, likely they would
disintegrate! I'll stop here!
