Meet the Beatles!

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Meet The Beatles!
Compilation album by The Beatles

Publication
(s)

20th January 1964

Label (s) Capitol Records , EMI , Universal Music

Format (s)

LP , CD , download

Title (number)

12

running time

26 min 43 s

occupation

production

George Martin

Studio (s)

Abbey Road Studios

chronology
Introducing ... The Beatles
(1964) 		Meet The Beatles! The Beatles' Second Album
(1964)

Meet the Beatles! ( English Meet the Beatles! ) is the second album released in the USA by the British band The Beatles . It was released on January 20, 1964. It is the Beatles' first album to be distributed by Capitol Records . The album is largely based on With the Beatles , the group's second British album.

Emergence

After Capitol Records had turned down the offer to take over the EMI distribution rights for the USA for the Beatles, Vee-Jay Records signed a contract with the Beatles. It wasn't until December 1963 that Brian Epstein , the manager of the Beatles, signed a recording deal with Capitol Records for future Beatles releases. On December 26, 1963, the Beatles' first single, I Want to Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There, was released on Capitol Records. The single rose to number 45 on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 18, 1964 . Two weeks later, I Want to Hold Your Hand topped the charts. It was the commercial breakthrough for the Beatles in the United States.

USA tour route in February 1964

On January 20, 1964, ten days after the release of the album Introducing… The Beatles by Vee-Jay Records, the album Meet the Beatles! in the US, which is essentially based on the British album With the Beatles . While in the UK the album format could contain 14 songs, in the US twelve or fewer songs were the rule for an album. Furthermore, in the USA successful singles of the Beatles were added to the studio albums, in contrast to Great Britain, so that a number of songs remained, which were then used for "new" albums. Meet the Beatles! included nine songs from the album With the Beatles , the single I Want to Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There and This Boy the British single B-side of I Want to Hold Your Hand . When compiling the songs, care was taken to ensure that as many of the Beatles' own compositions as possible were included on the album in order to show the American audience that the Beatles are also talented composers and not just interpreters of songs. The only foreign composition was Till There Was You . From February 7 to February 22, 1964, the Beatles went on a promotional tour of the United States. On February 7, 1964, the Beatles landed in a PanAm plane at New York Airport , where 5,000 fans and 200 journalists met them on the tarmac. On February 9, 1964, the Beatles appeared on the popular Ed Sullivan Show with five songs ( All My Loving , Till There Was You , She Loves You , I Saw Her Standing There, and I Want to Hold Your Hand ) . 73.7 million viewers on the television set followed the live broadcast. The Beatles' first concert in the United States took place on February 11, 1964 at the Washington Coliseum ( Washington, DC ), the second concert took place in New York's Carnegie Hall , followed by another appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 16, which took place at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach .

The album reached number one position on February 15, 1964 on the US Billboard 200 , where it stayed for eleven weeks. By the end of 1966, more than five million copies had been sold in the United States. The British album With the Beatles did not appear regularly in the USA until 1987 as part of the CD releases.

The album was released in a mono and a stereo version. The mono version is the downmixed British stereo version. In the stereo version of the album, no stereo mixes of the songs I Want to Hold Your Hand and This Boy were used , but so-called duophonic mixes (fake stereo).

The album Meet the Beatles! was also released in Mexico , Jamaica , Colombia, and Canada .

Cover design

For the album Meet the Beatles! the cover photo was taken by Robert Freeman for the album With the Beatles .

Track list

The nine titles in bold are on the album With the Beatles .

page 1

No. song author Lead vocals length
01 I want to hold your hand Lennon / McCartney Lennon and McCartney 2:24
02 I saw her standing there Lennon / McCartney Paul McCartney 2:50
03 This boy Lennon / McCartney Lennon, McCartney
and Harrison 		2:11
04th It won't be long Lennon / McCartney Lennon 2:13
05 All I've Got to Do Lennon / McCartney Lennon 2:03
06th All my loving Lennon / McCartney McCartney 2:08

Page 2

No. song author Lead vocals length
07th Don't bother me Harrison Harrison 2:28
08th Little Child Lennon / McCartney Lennon 1:46
09 Till There Was You Meredith Willson McCartney 2:14
10 Hold me tight Lennon / McCartney McCartney 2:32
11 I want to be your man Lennon / McCartney Rigid 1:59
12 Not a second time Lennon / McCartney Lennon 2:07

Republication

The album Meet the Beatles! was first released on CD in November 2004 as part of the The Capitol Albums Vol. 1 compilation . The CD contains the mono and the stereo version of the album. In January 2014, Meet the Beatles! Released as part of the CD box The US Albums , it was also released separately and again contains the mono and stereo versions of the album. While the original submasters from Capitol Records and not the original masters from Abbey Road Studios were used in the boxes The Capitol Albums Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 , the albums in The US Albums Box were essentially remastered in September 2009 by the British Mono and stereo tapes used. The album has been available as a download from iTunes since January 17, 2014 .

Chart positions of the album

album Release Date Best placement in the charts Label
catalog no.
Type title GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany
compilation Meet the Beatles! - Jan. 20, 1964 - nv 1 nv - Capitol
T 2047 (mono)
ST 2047 (stereo) 		-

Outcouplings

Singles

single Release Date Best placement in the charts Label
catalog no.
A side / B side GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany
I Want to Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There - Jan. 13, 1964 - nv 01 / 14th nv - Capitol 5112 -

Singles released in Canada were partially imported into the United States. Two of these imports reached chart positions, the songs of one of the two singles are on the album Meet the Beatles! :

A side / B side Publ. Best pos. Label
catalog no.
All My Loving / This Boy 09 Mar 1964 45 Capitol 72144

Extended Plays (EPs)

EP Release Date Best placement in the charts Label
catalog no.
title Songs A-Side / B-Side GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany GB United KingdomUnited Kingdom US United StatesUnited States DE GermanyGermany
Four by the Beatles Roll Over Beethoven ; All My Loving / This Boy ; Please Mr. Postman - May 11, 1964 - nv 92 nv - Capitol
EAP-1-2121 		-

US promotional EPs

title content publication Label
catalog no.
Meet The Beatles (USA-Jukebox EP) It Won't Be Long / This Boy / All My Loving / Don't Bother Me / All I've Got To Do / I Wanna Be Your Man  Jan. 1964 Capitol SXA-2047
The Beatles' Interview (USA Promo EP) Open End Interview / I Want To Hold Your Hand / This Boy / It Won't Be Long  Jan. 1964 Capitol Pro-2548/9

Japanese publication

The debut album Meet the Beatles! Was released in Japan on April 5, 1964 . (Catalog number ODEON OR-7041), only in mono . The album contains not only 14 instead of 12 songs as in the USA, but also a different track list. The first edition of the long-playing record was pressed on red vinyl.

Track list

page 1

  1. I Want to Hold Your Hand - 2:24
  2. She Loves You - 2:19
  3. From Me to You - 1:56
  4. Twist and Shout - 2:30
  5. Love Me Do - 2:19
  6. Baby It's You - 2:40
  7. Don't Bother Me - 2:28

Page 2

  1. Please Please Me - 2:00
  2. I Saw Her Standing There - 2:50
  3. PS I Love You - 2:06
  4. Little Child - 1:46
  5. All My Loving - 2:04
  6. Hold Me Tight - 2:30
  7. Please Mister Postman - 2:34

Republication

The album Meet the Beatles! was first released on CD in June 2014 as part of The Japan Box . The CD contains the mono version of the album.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruce Spizer: The Beatles Are Coming! 498 Productions, New Orleans 2003, ISBN 0-9662649-8-3 , pp. 82 f.
  2. ↑ Multi-platinum award
  3. ↑ Mexican version: Meet the Beatles
  4. ↑ Jamaica Version: Meet the Beatles
  5. ↑ Colombian version: Meet the Beatles
  6. ↑ Canadian version: Meet the Beatles
  7. ↑ Cover of the album Meet the Beatles!
  8. ↑ Jukebox EP Meet The Beatles
  9. ↑ Promotional EP The Beatles' Interview