January 2025
Capitol Records—T 2080 Apple Records / Universal Music Group International 0602468019756
Format: LP
Musical Performance
Sound Quality
Overall Enjoyment
The Beatles’ conquest of America in 1964 happened so quickly, it caught the band and its record company, Capitol Records, by surprise. Capitol Records was the US subsidiary of EMI Records, whose Parlophone label had enjoyed unprecedented success with the group in England. Those records, distributed in the US by Vee Jay and Swan, did not do well at first. But “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” which Capitol reluctantly agreed to release after passing up the group’s first three singles, turned out to be a massive hit. And American teens demanded more.
Capitol released eight singles and seven LPs by the Beatles in 1964. The group had already had success with two albums in England as well as with a series of singles and EPs. In England, record companies did not include songs on albums that had already been released as singles. US companies had no such reservations, and Capitol was able to cobble together albums from the recordings the Beatles had released in England.
In honor of the 60th anniversary of Beatlemania in the US, Capitol has gathered all the group’s long players it released in 1964 in an eight-LP box set, The Beatles: 1964 US Albums in Mono. Included in this collection are Meet The Beatles!, The Beatles’ Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track), Something New, The Beatles’ Story (two LPs), Beatles ’65, and The Early Beatles (which is a bit of a stretch as this album was in fact released in March 1965).
According to the notes included in a four-page insert, “this album was cut for vinyl from the original master tapes using a completely analog signal path and with constant reference to the first-generation pressings of the original albums.”
At $299.98, The Beatles: 1964 US Albums in Mono is not cheap. Fortunately, each of the LPs is also available individually for $29.99, in case you’re missing a title or two to complete your collection or need a replacement. Dave Dexter, an executive at Capitol, assembled the Beatles’ American albums from recordings the band had released in England, and mastering engineer Kevin Reeves cut the lacquer for the LPs using the original US master tapes. Most of the US LPs had different titles, short running times, and different song lineups.
That practice continued through 1966 and the release of Revolver. Beginning with Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Beatles LPs released in the US had the same tracks as their UK counterparts. The one exception was Magical Mystery Tour, released as an EP in England but expanded to LP length by Capitol.
The early US Beatles LPs also sounded different. Dexter had reverb and compression applied to them, enhancements that are most discernible in stereo but are still audible in mono. In the early 1980s I acquired some Parlophone pressings and noticed they sounded drier and less aggressive than the Capitol pressings I owned. Initially, I attributed the difference to Capitol’s better-quality vinyl; but after careful listening and some research, I concluded that it must have been due to differences in mastering.
I have many of the Beatles’ US albums, in both mono and stereo, and as much of a purist as I am, I do enjoy them. Until 1987 or so, when Capitol began releasing the UK albums in their original form on CD and vinyl in the US, those American LPs were all we had. The Beatles’ Second Album, which is infused with the group’s full-throttled rock’n’roll spirit, is one of my favorites.
I have a 1964 mono pressing of The Beatles’ Second Album, pressed at Capitol’s plant in Scranton, PA, according to the matrix info in the lead-out groove. As soon as I dropped the needle on the opening track, a storming cover of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven,” I was reminded that these early Beatles records were cut hot. The music jumped out of my speakers at high volume and was very exciting.
It was more exciting still when I switched to the new pressing. The hand clapping behind George Harrison’s guitar on the opening riffs was just a hair more prominent, and it sounded fleshier behind John Lennon’s vocal. Paul McCartney’s bass seemed more robust, and Ringo Starr’s kick drum punched harder.
The group’s version of the Barret Strong Motown hit “Money” begins with the familiar piano riff, which Harrison soon joins with jabbing guitar lines. On the new pressing the guitar sizzled. John Lennon’s lead vocals had more reverb, and the backing vocals were more defined. Likewise, the piano and guitars in the instrumental middle section were better separated on the reissue.
“You Can’t Do That,” the only Lennon/McCartney tune on side 1 of The Beatles’ Second Album, has always been one of my favorite Beatles songs. On my system, Harrison’s 12-string guitar sounded fuller on the new pressing than it did on the earlier one, and McCartney’s percussive cowbell sounded higher-toned, ringing out more solidly, more convincingly. Starr really shines in this song. His snare and kickdrum were presented more crisply on the reissue. Harrison’s concise, razor-sharp solo break was edgier, and Lennon’s vocal was fiercer.
“Long Tall Sally,” by McCartney’s beloved Little Richard, sounded reserved on the old pressing. On the new one, the piano was nudged forward in the mix, and McCartney’s vocal was made more urgent. Reeves’s mastering let the harmonic overtones of Harrison’s guitar on “I Call Your Name” sustain more openly and moved Starr’s cowbell forward—enough to let it drive the song but not dominate it. It’s hard to resist the infectious enthusiasm in the vocal harmonies on “She Loves You” on the new pressing: individual voices are more distinct, and the harmonic layering is more apparent. The sound of Starr’s tom-tom roll in the first seconds of the song carried more weight and authority in the new pressing too.
The Capitol releases have not been available on vinyl since 1988. The label hasn’t released them in mono on LP since 1967. Capitol did release the first eight American Beatles LPs on CDs in two four-album box sets: one in 2004, one in 2006. The sources for those sets were the US masters and included the LPs in stereo and mono on each CD. Ted Jensen did the mastering for the CD releases.
Comparing the mono version of The Beatles’ Second Album on the CD release with this recording on the new LP reissue, I thought they sounded remarkably similar, but I heard a tiny bit more detail in the latter. The new pressing also had more depth and clarity than my old mono LP. Of course, my copy is 60 years old and had probably been played on some questionable turntables by the time I bought it, more than 30 years ago.
It is important to emphasize that although Reeves, through careful mastering, has definitely improved the quality of these recordings, they can never be elevated to an audiophile level. No dramatic transformation is in store for you with the new pressing. Interested listeners will find some technical information about the remastering of this reissue in the liner notes. Reeves is controversial in audiophile circles, but he was careful to stay true to the sonic qualities of the original US releases.
I would have preferred heavier cardboard stock for the cover, but the photo reproduction is very good, and the packaging, generally, is nicely done. The insert includes a photo of the original master-tape container. Bruce Spizer’s excellent liner notes provide historical context for The Beatles’ Second Album. A nice touch is the authentic reproduction of the inner sleeve from 1964. My copy, pressed by MPO in France, was flat and quiet.
As I noted earlier, the full set is a little pricey, but if you have gaps in your collection or favorites that need to be replaced you can grab individual titles. The Beatles’ Story doesn’t appear to have been released separately, but it’s for the most committed fan anyway. The other titles are available and even if you bought them all you’d save 90 bucks. No box, but you could file them with your other Beatles albums.
. . . Joseph Taylor
josepht@soundstagenetwork.com
