Favorite Beatles Capitol Album (US + Canada)

They should have found room for "From Me To You" on this one. That song was orphaned everywhere until it showed up on the UK "Oldies" comp in '66.

 

Agreed, the mix would have been sent from the UK, as per all Beatles recordings. What I'd like to know is how Horzu was able to do this in '71, in true stereo, but not Capitol.

 

If an album was originally released with a Capitol label, it’s a Capitol album. If it didn’t, it’s not.

The fact that Apple labels appeared on reissues of Capitol albums is irrelevant.

 

Er, it’s King Lear, not Hamlet.

In late 1970, while studying King Lear at school, I was astonished to come across the lines “What, is he dead?/Sit you down, father. Rest you”. So that was where the end of I Am The Walrus came from!

As far as I remember, no-one else batted an eyelid on hearing/reading that bit.

Which probably means I’m the only one in that particular class who’s a member of this forum.

 

Just be aware, the 1971 German Magical Mystery Tour side two B1 cut is the same as the US side two with 3 fake stereo tracks. The side two B3 cut has all the true stereo tracks, same as the CDs. Walrus on side one is the only track that is a different mix than the CDs.

The fake stereo tracks on Magical Mystery Tour would have been created in the US. They had the multitracks in England so would have not created fake stereo for those. Maybe Capitol was just toning down their duophonic process, perhaps to sound better when played on mono players.

 

Same mixes on the CD and the German Magical Mystery Tour. Maybe you read that the stereo mix of Strawberry Fields Forever on the Capitol Magical Mystery Tour is different from the German LP and the CDs, which is correct.

 

Not irrelevant at all. I’m having a hard time finding Spizer’s quote which directly quoted what I’m saying. But I did find this. Whenever he referred to the initial release of any post MMT album, he specifically worded it as Parlophone/Capitol issuing the album AS “Apple.. followed by the catalogue number”.

 

Except Walrus.

 

Yes, I was thinking there was a minor difference.

 

They had room...side two only had five tracks. A number of "orphaned" Beatle songs could have been added to American Beatle albums.

 

No, it was released as a single in the UK of course (and in Canada on the Twist and Shout album). There were a lot of singles and b sides not issued on albums.

 

Rubber Soul got my vote. Nearly went for Meet the Beatles! That's a great one too.

 

Unless my ears deceive me, the three Revolver tracks on Yesterday And Today also have that type of fake stereo. It certainly isn't Duophonic. My Apple-label pressing from the early 70s only has "And Your Bird Can Sing" in fake stereo, and that's my reference.

On the three MMT tracks in question, there's also some added reverb, which is especially noticeable on "Penny Lane". Nonetheless, they sound awful.

The German LP uses a different edit of the U.S. mix of "I Am the Walrus" (it has the longer six-beat intro instead of the four-beat), but other than that, the mixes on the CDs are the same.

 

I find both Penny Lane and All You Need is Love on the US stereo MMT album unlistenable. But they both sound even worse on the seventies, yellow vinyl UK pressing of the album on Parlophone. That is my worst sounding copy of the album, bar none. By the time MMT came out in the UK as a "full" album, all the side two songs existed in very nice true stereo; why they used the Capitol master tape (as did the EAS Japanese pressing of the album) is a mystery to me (albeit, I'm sure I've read the reason somewhere at some point in time and old age has gotten the best of my memory cells...what can you do...)

 

it's great due to the fact of the music of course, but it was the first top selling Beatles introductory album which rides on Introducing The Beatles...2 perfect albums that helped starting Beatlemania in the USA!

 

The Beatles' Second Album.

 

"Baby, You're a Rich Man" is the worst of the three, IMO, mostly due to the tape drag at the beginning. "Penny Lane" is very ice-picky. The album is still necessary for the original stereo mix of "Strawberry Fields Forever", though.

Using a copy of the Capitol master for the UK LP was a very asinine thing to do, considering they released the cassette with all true stereo mixes just three years prior, and that all the side 2 songs except for "Baby, You're a Rich Man" were released in true stereo on the Blue Album and Yellow Submarine. It also would've been nice if they made their own master for the Love Songs compilation instead of using the Capitol master, because that probably would've given us true stereo mixes of "Yes It Is" and "This Boy" on AAA vinyl.

 

I forgot about Love Songs….an even bigger disappointment than MMT. I recall being excited when I found a used Parlophone copy of it a couple of years ago. Not what I expected.

 

Yep, best to stick with a U.S. pressing if you must have that album. IMO, it's worth it just for the packaging. The embossed cover, the gatefold, the parchment paper booklet and inner sleeves...all very cool, and, AFAIK, not included on the UK edition (other than the gatefold). I have a Wally cut; it's a bit on the noisy side, and, like many double albums from that era, it is pressed with sides 1/4 on the first record and 2/3 on the second. Other than the Rubber Soul tracks, which are obviously narrowed, and "I'll Be Back", which doesn't have the extra reverb like it does on Beatles '65 (which I doubt is actually on the master for that album, as the Capitol Albums CD doesn't have it), the songs all sound like they do on whichever Capitol album they were from (as opposed to reworked copies of copies of UK tapes, as on Rock 'n' Roll Music). "Every Little Thing" is narrowed a bit on mine, though; I'm not sure if that was intentional or if my particular pressing was cut that way. It might just be channel bleed.

I did make a CD-R of it using the 2009 CDs (with "Yes It Is" and "This Boy" in true stereo, and "P.S. I Love You" in mono), and I listen to that far more often than I do the LP. It's the Parlophone version that should've been.

 

giving another listen to VI and Something New, after 30 or so years of UK versions

forgot most of the order and contents, these are interesting mixes on the US side

 

All Magical Mystery Tour CDs have the six-beat intro. I wasn't sure if you meant they didn't. That's the standard UK mix.

 

The German LP uses the same mix as the U.S. LP, but it has the six-beat intro instead of the four-beat (suggesting that it was edited for the U.S. album as to match the mono mix). That's what I meant. The U.S. mix is not just the UK mix with the intro shortened.

 

What's the other difference between the US and UK stereo mixes? I remember reading something about it.
It's not on the old Joe Brennan site.

 

On the "I'm crying" part, there's no tambourine, and the editing is rather sloppy (noticeable EQ changes, volume drop on the rhythm track, etc.)

There's probably some other minute differences, but I cannot recall them off the top of my head. I prefer the UK mix; it sounds particularly good on the Blue Album (either the original UK or the 2014 reissue).

Also, I believe the mono mix used for the much loved Capitol LP differs slightly from the one on the UK single, EP and the mono box CD.

 

It's blasphemous, I know, but having grown up with the US Rubber Soul, I actually prefer it to the UK version (!!!). That said, the UK Revolver blows the US version out of the water.