| Meet The Beatles! | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by The Beatles | ||||
| Released | 20 January 1964 | |||
| Recorded | 11 February – 23 October 1963, EMI Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Rock, rock and roll | |||
| Length | 27:00 | |||
| Language | English | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| The Beatles American chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [1] |
Meet The Beatles! is the second Beatles' album released in the United States, despite the "first album" claim on its cover. Released on 20 January 1964, it was the first Capitol Records Beatles album, issued in both mono and stereo. Capitol is a sister company to Parlophone, the Beatles' British label, and both are subsidiaries of EMI.
Ten days prior to the release of Meet the Beatles!, Chicago's Vee-Jay Records released The Beatles' first album, Introducing... The Beatles, which had been delayed for release from the previous summer. Perhaps as a result of the Vee-Jay release, Liberty Music Shops advertised in the New York Times of 12 January 1964 that Meet The Beatles was available for purchase, an ad not authorized by Capitol.[2]
The cover featured Robert Freeman's portrait that was used for the U.K. With The Beatles release with a tinted blue hue added to the original, stark black-and-white photograph.
"Meet The Beatles!" reached the number one spot on Billboard album charts starting on February 15th, 1964. It remained at number one for an impressive 11 weeks before being replaced by "The Beatles' Second Album"; the first time that an artist replaced itself at the number one album position.
In 2004, the album was released on CD in stereo and mono as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set with the catalogue number CDP 7243 8 66875 2 4.
In 2003, Meet The Beatles! was ranked number 59 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.[3]
Contents |
Meet The Beatles! opens with the December 1963 Capitol single "I Want to Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There", and the B-side "This Boy" from the original November 1963 Parlophone single of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". It contains many of the tracks from the earlier British album With The Beatles and shares the same cover photograph. However, "You Really Got a Hold On Me", "Devil in Her Heart", "Money (That's What I Want)", "Please Mister Postman" and "Roll Over Beethoven" were omitted from Meet The Beatles! and released on the next Capitol album, The Beatles' Second Album.[4] The latter two tracks were also released on the EP Four by The Beatles.[5]
The track "I Want to Hold Your Hand" was originally released as a UK (and US) single A-side and "This Boy" was originally released on the "I Want to Hold Your Hand" B-side in the UK. "I Saw Her Standing There" was from Please Please Me, and the remaining tracks were from With The Beatles. The songs "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" are also in duophonic [fake] stereo, due to the lack of a proper stereo mix that was supposed to be given to Capitol. In addition, "I Saw Her Standing There" has a special mono remix done specifically for the American single and album release.
All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except where noted. See also: Lennon–McCartney.
| Preceded by The Singing Nun by Soeur Sourire, The Singing Nun |
Billboard 200 number-one album 15 February – 1 May 1964 |
Succeeded by The Beatles' Second Album by The Beatles |