Highly Collectible Beatles Singles Box Set Announced

The set contains the 22 singles that the group released in the UK between 1962 and 1970, plus a new double A-side of the mid-1990s singles ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love.’

Published on

October 16, 2019

Paul Sexton

Beatles Singles Collection box set packshot

The highly collectible, limited edition new box set The Beatles: The Singles Collection will be released by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe on 22 November. It contains the 22 singles, featuring 44 tracks, that the group released in the UK between 1962 and 1970, plus a new double A-side of the mid-1990s singles ‘Free As A Bird’ and ‘Real Love.’

Twenty-nine of the featured tracks were not included on original Beatles studio albums at the time. The singles have been newly cut for vinyl from their original mono and stereo master tapes by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios in London. The 46 tracks, on 23 seven-inch, 180 gram vinyl singles, are in faithfully reproduced international picture sleeves. The set also contains a 40-page booklet with photogrpahs, ephemera and detailed essays by noted Beatles historian Kevin Howlett.

The Beatles - The Singles Collection (2019)

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The singles collection gives a vivid insight into the creative trajectory of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr during their eight-year recording tenure as a quartet. As one example of The Beatles’ dramatic sonic and creative evolution, there are, for example, only three and a half years between 1963’s ‘She Loves You; and 1967’s ‘Strawberry Fields Forever.’ The set takes listeners from their 1962 debut ‘Love Me Do’ and its B-side ‘P.S. I Love You’ to the 1970 finale ‘Let It Be’/’You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).

Picture sleeves were rare among UK singles releases in the 1960s, so the discs in the box set are presented in reproduced picture sleeves from their original appearances in several countries. These include Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Chile, Denmark, France, Greece, Holland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, the US and West Germany.

The Beatles: The Singles Collection follows the 50th anniversary release on 27 September release of The Beatles’ Abbey Road album in a suite of new editions. This returned the album to chart summits around the world, including in the UK, where Abbey Road reclaimed the No. 1 position after 49 years and 252 days. The achievement broke The Beatles’ own Guinness World Record previously held by Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which went back to No. 1 in June 2017, following its own 50th anniversary reissue, after 49 years and 125 days.

The Beatles: The Singles Collection is released on 22 November. Scroll down for the full tracklisting, and pre-order it here.

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The Beatles: The Singles Collection

1962 [sleeve art: U.S.]
A: Love Me Do
B: P. S. I Love You

1963 [sleeve art: Italy]
A: Please Please Me
B: Ask Me Why

1963 [sleeve art: Norway]
A: From Me To You
B: Thank You Girl

1963 [sleeve art: Greece]
A: She Loves You
B: I’ll Get You

1963 [sleeve art: Chile]
A: I Want To Hold Your Hand
B: This Boy

1964 [sleeve art: Austria]
A: Can’t Buy Me Love
B: You Can’t Do That

1964 [sleeve art: Holland]
A: A Hard Day’s Night
B: Things We Said Today

1964 [sleeve art: Sweden]
A: I Feel Fine
B: She’s A Woman

1965 [sleeve art: Spain]
A: Ticket To Ride
B: Yes It Is