‘The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono’ To Be Reissued As Collection
Many of the albums in the collection will be available individually as well.
Seven albums from The Beatles originally compiled for U.S. release between January 1964 and March 1965 by Capitol Records and United Artists have been analog cut for 180-gram audiophile vinyl from their original mono master tapes.
These will be available for purchase on November 22 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe. Out of print on vinyl since 1995, the seven mono albums are available now for preorder in a new eight-LP box set titled The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono, with six of the titles also available individually.
All seven albums – Meet The Beatles!; The Beatles’ Second Album; A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack); Something New; The Beatles’ Story (2LP); Beatles ’65; and The Early Beatles – feature faithfully replicated artwork.
They also feature new four-panel inserts with essays written by American Beatles historian and author Bruce Spizer. The albums’ new vinyl lacquers were cut by Kevin Reeves at Nashville’s East Iris Studios. The box set collects the seven albums, and all except The Beatles’ Story are also available individually.
On February 7, 1964, scores of screaming, swooning fans came to John F. Kennedy International Airport to catch a glimpse of John, Paul, George, and Ringo as The Beatles took their first steps on American soil. Two nights later, on 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 this cultural watershed moment in American history, The Beatles performed five songs on the live broadcast. “Beatlemania,” already in full, feverish bloom in The Beatles’ native U.K. and developing in the U.S., exploded with blissful fervor across America and around the world. The British Invasion had begun.
Shortly before The Beatles’ history-making Stateside visit, Capitol Records secured exclusive U.S. rights to release the band’s recordings in a deal with EMI. The storied, already iconic record label rush released Meet The Beatles! on January 20, 1964.
