On February 7, 1964, The Beatles arrived at New York’s John F.
Kennedy Airport, greeted by scores of screaming, swooning fans
who rushed the gate to catch a glimpse of John Lennon, Paul
McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr as they took their
first steps on American soil. Two nights later, on Sunday,
February 9, 73 million viewers in the U.S. and millions more in
Canada tuned in to CBS to watch The Beatles make their American
television debut on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.’ In what remains one
of the world’s top-viewed television events of all time, The
Beatles performed five songs on the live broadcast and
‘Beatlemania,’ already in full, feverish bloom in The Beatles’
native U.K., was unleashed with blissful fervor across America
and around the world. The British Invasion had be. The new 13
CD box set THE U.S. ALBUMS commemorates the 50th anniversary of
these history-making events, spanning 1964’s MEET THE BEATLES! to
1970’s HEY JUDE. The Beatles’ U.S. albums differed from the
band’s U.K. albums in a variety of ways, including different
track lists, song mixes, album titles, and art. The box set
includes the following titles: (Disc 1) MEET THE BEATLES!, (Disc
2) THE BEATLES’ SECOND ALBUM, (Disc 3) A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
[ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK], (Disc 4) SOMETHING NEW,
(Disc 5) THE BEATLES’ STORY, (Disc 6) BEATLES ’65, (Disc 7) THE
EARLY BEATLES, (Disc 8) BEATLES VI, (Disc 9) HELP! [ORIGINAL
MOTION PICTURE SOUNDTRACK] , (Disc 10) RUBBER SOUL, (Disc 11)
YESTERDAY AND TODAY, (Disc 12) REVOLVER, (Disc 13) HEY JUDE.
These albums were originally issued between 1964 and 1970 by
Capitol Records, Apple Records, and United Artists in the United
States. These new releases seek to replicate the unique listening
experience heard by Americans at the time by preserving the
sequences, timings, and artwork found on the albums. Capitol’s
engineers in the 1960s took great care to produce what they
believed to be the best possible sound for the playback equipment
in use at that time. Due to the limitations of the record players
of the day, engineers often compressed the sound by raising the
volume of the softer passages and lowering the volume for the
louder parts of the songs. They also reduced the bass frequencies
since too much bass could cause the record to skip. In some
cases, reverb was added to the tracks to make them sound more
“American.” The CDs are packaged in miniature vinyl sleeves that
faithfully recreate the original U.S. LP releases down to the
finest detail, including the inner sleeves. 11 original U.S.
albums presented in both mono and stereo. Hey Jude and The
Beatles’ Story are in stereo only. A Hard Day’s Night [Original
Motion Picture Soundtrack], The Beatles’ Story, Yesterday And
Today, Hey Jude and the U.S. version of Revolver are presented on
CD for the first time. Yesterday And Today features the original
album cover of The Beatles posing with raw meat and baby dolls.
The package also comes with a collectible sticker of the
subsequent Yesterday And Today cover art. Also included is a
64-page booklet which includes a new essay examining the U.S.
albums and their historical significance, written by American
author and television executive Bill Flanagan. The box set’s
dimensions are: 6 inches wide x 6 1/8 inches tall x 3 ¼ inches
thick.