Beatles Capitol Versions Vol. 2 listed for April 11 release

...on Amazon and the official Capitol Records site. However, there are no details available outside of that release date. So we'll see...

This is the second set of CDs featuring the Beatles albums as originally released in the United States, i.e. the ones a lot of us grew up with. The track listings, and even names, of these releases differ from the British releases. In some cases, they songs on the albums even sound quite different, featuring added echo and different edits from their British counterparts. As an example, see the recent piece I wrote comparing the U.S. and U.K. versions of "Rubber Soul."

When the Beatles catalog was placed on CD in the 1980s, it was the British--not American--versions that were released.

Capitol Versions Vol. 1 featured Meet the Beatles, The Beatles Second Album, Something New and Beatles '65 in both mono and stereo versions.

If Vol. 2 continues chronologically, with four CDs, the upcoming set would include The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, Help! (American track lineup featuring instrumental tracks from the film) and Rubber Soul (featuring the different track listing detailed here).

That still leaves missing in action Yesterday... and Today and the U.S. version of Revolver. Starting with Sgt. Pepper, the American and British albums are the same.

Of course, it's possible Capitol may choose to expand Vol. 2 to six disks, or skip Help! or Early Beatles, or who knows what.

Also still missing on official CD are the U.S. soundtrack album for A Hard Day's Night, which features Beatles tunes a instrumental selections from the film and the Capitol "audio documentary" album The Beatles Story, which chronicles the band's rise to fame.

And then there are the excellent mono mixes of Sgt. Pepper and White Album...

See the Best Beatles Sites on the Web.


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