The Beatles (GDR album)

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The Beatles
Compilation album by The Beatles

Publication
(s)

April 1965

Label (s) Amiga

Format (s)

LP , MC

Genre (s)

Mersey sound , rock 'n' roll , rock , pop

Title (number)

  • 1965 version: 12
  • 1983 version: 18

running time

  • 1965 version: 26 min 54 s
  • 1983 version: 41 min 3 s
occupation 1965 version:

1983 version:

Additionally with

production

Studio (s)

chronology
- The Beatles GDR:

A Collection of Beatles Oldies
(1974)

The Beatles is the first album by the British band The Beatles to be released in the GDR . The compilation album was released in April 1965. Outside of the GDR, the album was not officially distributed.

Emergence

Amiga logo, 1950s to 1969
Amiga logo, from 1969

In addition to works by artists from the GDR, the Amiga music label also published selected singles and LPs by artists from western countries under license from the mid-1960s . The label belonged to the sound carrier producer VEB Deutsche Schallplatten Berlin and was subordinate to the Ministry of Culture in the VEB . The records were usually sold out quickly because of the small overall supply of Western music and the usually low print runs - Michael Rauhut mentions a contractual agreement of 10,000 copies per license pressing. In most cases, no single albums were licensed, but a compilation of tracks from several albums by the artists. The first licensed LPs included albums by the Beatles and Bob Dylan in the 1960s . The publications became possible because the political leadership of the GDR was of the opinion that the Beatles would ideologically fit the GDR. The GDR youth magazine Neues Leben wrote that “the four working-class boys from Liverpool are protesting against capitalism with their music ”.

The following three Beatles singles were released in the GDR between February and April 1965:

A side / B side Publ. Label catalog no.
Ain't She Sweet / Cry for a Shadow  Feb. 1965 AMIGA 450466
Sweet Georgia Brown / Why  March 1965 AMIGA 450471
It Won't Be Long / Devil in Her Heart  Apr. 1965 AMIGA 450493

The licenses were acquired for the first two singles by Polydor and for the third single by Parlophone / EMI . It was the first Beatles singles to appear in the Eastern Bloc .

In April 1965, an album called The Beatles followed , which contains six songs from the album Please Please Me , three songs from the album With the Beatles , one from the album A Hard Day's Night and two single A-sides. It was only sold in a mono version (catalog number: Amiga 850 040). Like the singles listed, it was the Beatles' first album to be released in the Eastern Bloc. In a few copies, the song It Won't Be Long was erroneously printed on the record label instead of the song A Hard Day's Night contained on the album .

In the GDR in 1965 white sample singles (test pressings) were pressed from three other singles, the songs are on the album The Beatles . However, there was no publication.

Pieces (A side / B side) Label catalog no.
She Loves You / Misery SPU 289/290
I Want to Hold Your Hand / Little Child SPU 291/292
A Hard Day's Night / Please Mister Postman SPU 293/294

The Rolling Stones concert and its accompanying circumstances on September 15, 1965 in West Berlin was used by the Central Committee of the SED as an opportunity to ban music groups based on Western beat music ; The Central Committee resolution of October 11, 1965 read: "That such 'amateur music groups' whose performance consists of decadent Western music, the license will be withdrawn".

The publication policy towards Western beat music, including towards the Beatles, became significantly more restrictive from the 11th plenary session of the SED Central Committee (December 16-18, 1965). So said Walter Ulbricht , Chairman of the State Council of the GDR , at the 11th plenary: "Is it really true that we have nu copy any dirt that comes from the West? I think, comrades, with the monotony of the je-je-je, and whatever it is called, yes, we should put an end to it. "

The next release of a Beatles album was only in January 1974 with A Collection of Beatles Oldies , followed in January 1980 by the 1967-1970 album , which instead of a double album with 28 tracks only contains 14 songs on a single album.

Republication

In January 1983 the album The Beatles was re-released (catalog number: Amiga 850 962, again in mono), this time additionally with the six songs of the singles published in 1965 and with a different title sequence and a different cover. It was also the Beatles' first album to combine recordings from EMI and Polydor record companies, 22 years before the release of Anthology 1 .

The album was pressed both in the GDR and in the Soviet Union by the record company Melodija for the GDR. While the pressed records of the album The Beatles had an exclusively blue label in the GDR, Melodija records were given red and blue labels.

The album The Beatles has not yet been legally released on CD .

Cover design

The design of the album cover comes from the Amiga company's own design department at VEB Gotha-Druck.

The text on the back cover of the 1983 version comes from Peter Wicke.

Track List - 1965

page 1

number song author Lead vocals length Initial release
01 She loves you Lennon / McCartney Lennon and McCartney 2:19 Single A-side
02 Misery McCartney / Lennon Lennon and McCartney 1:49 from the album Please Please Me
03 A taste of honey Ric Marlow / Bobby Scott McCartney 2:03 from the album Please Please Me
04th You Really Got a Hold on Me Smokey Robinson Lennon 3:01 from the album With the Beatles
05 A hard day's night Lennon / McCartney Lennon and
McCartney 		2:34 from the album A Hard Day's Night
06th PS I love you McCartney / Lennon McCartney 2:04 from the album Please Please Me

Page 2

number song author Lead vocals length Initial release
07th I want to hold your hand Lennon / McCartney Lennon and McCartney 2:26 Single A-side
08th Please Please Me McCartney / Lennon Lennon 2:00 from the album Please Please Me
09 Ask me why McCartney / Lennon Lennon 2:24 from the album Please Please Me
10 Do you want to know a secret McCartney / Lennon Harrison 1:56 from the album Please Please Me
11 Little Child Lennon / McCartney Lennon 1:46 from the album With the Beatles
12 Please Mr. Postman Garrett / Dobbins / Brian
Holland / Gorman / Bateman		 Lennon 2:34 from the album With the Beatles

Track List - 1983

page 1

number song author Lead vocals length Initial release
01 I want to hold your hand Lennon / McCartney Lennon and McCartney 2:26 Single A-side
02 Misery McCartney / Lennon Lennon and McCartney 1:49 from the album Please Please Me
03 A hard day's night Lennon / McCartney Lennon and
McCartney 		2:34 from the album A Hard Day's Night
04th You Really Got a Hold on Me Smokey Robinson Lennon 3:01 from the album With the Beatles
05 PS I love you McCartney / Lennon McCartney 2:04 from the album Please Please Me
06th A taste of honey Ric Marlow / Bobby Scott McCartney 2:03 from the album Please Please Me
07th Sweet Georgia Brown Ben Bernie Tony Sheridan 2:03 from the album The Beatles' First
08th Please Mr. Postman Garrett / Dobbins / Brian
Holland / Gorman / Bateman		 Lennon 2:34 from the album With the Beatles
09 Why Compton / Sheridan Tony Sheridan 2:55 from the album The Beatles' First

Page 2

number song author Lead vocals length Initial release
10 She loves you Lennon / McCartney Lennon and McCartney 2:19 Single A-side
11 Devil in Her Heart Richard P. Drapkin Harrison 2:26 from the album With the Beatles
12 Please Please Me McCartney / Lennon Lennon 2:00 from the album Please Please Me
13 It won't be long Lennon / McCartney Lennon 2:13 from the album With the Beatles
14th Ask me why McCartney / Lennon Lennon 2:24 from the album Please Please Me
15th Ain't she sweet Ager / Yellen John Lennon 2:10 from the album The Beatles' First
16 Do you want to know a secret McCartney / Lennon Harrison 1:56 from the album Please Please Me
17th Little Child Lennon / McCartney Lennon 1:46 from the album With the Beatles
18th Cry for a shadow George Harrison / John Lennon Instrumental song 2:22 from the album The Beatles' First

Beatles albums in the GDR

title content publication Label catalog no.
The Beatles  12-track compilation (only released in the GDR)  Apr. 1965 AMIGA 850 040 (mono)
A Collection of Beatles Oldies Original publication: Great Britain from 1966  Jan. 1974 AMIGA 8 55 383
1967-1970 Single long-playing record, as a 14-track compilation with two different cover designs  Jan. 1980 AMIGA 8 55 742
The Beatles  18-track compilation (only published in the GDR; new edition of the album from 1965, with a different title sequence and supplemented by those six songs that had previously appeared on singles in the GDR)  Jan. 1983 AMIGA 850 962 (mono)

The album Love Songs was still pressed in the GDR , the record covers were made in the Federal Republic of Germany and exported to the GDR. The album (catalog number: ODEON / VEB F 666.219 / 20) was only available in GDR Intershops .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Youth opposition in the GDR
  2. ↑ a b Beatles - AMIGA (GDR). In: www.macmoldis.de. Retrieved April 15, 2012 .
  3. ↑ Ban on beat groups in the GDR
  4. ^ Quotes from Walter Ulbricht
  5. ↑ Bagirov: The Anthology of the Beatles records . 2010, p. 971 .
  6. ↑ Bagirov: The Anthology of the Beatles records . 2010, p. 974 .
  7. ^ GDR version of Love Songs
  8. ↑ Alex Bagirov: The Anthology of the Beatles Records , ISBN 978-3-936300-44-4 , pp. 986/987. GDR version of Love Songs