The Beatles' Story
The Beatles' Story is the sixth album by the Beatles in the United States, issued on 23 November 1964 by Capitol Records in both mono and stereo formats (although the mono was merely a fold-down of the stereo mix). It is a documentary double album featuring interviews, press conferences, and song snippets with voice-overs, and was issued in response to interviews of the Beatles collected on the Vee-Jay Records release, Hear the Beatles Tell All.
Development
Originally, Capitol Records intended to release the group's 1964 performance at the Hollywood Bowl, but due to a lack of advanced studio technology and the excessive amount of loud screaming fans on tape the album was shelved. Another plan was to release a 2 LP 'Greatest Hits' album for the Christmas market. Four songs were to make their Capitol debut on this album: "A Hard Day's Night," "Misery," "There's a Place," and "From Me to You." The album was compiled, but never issued.
Release and reception
The Beatles' Story entered the Billboard Pop Albums on 12 December at number 97, and on 2 January 1965 it reached its peak position at number seven, where it remained for four weeks before beginning its slide down the charts. It has been certified a gold record by the RIAA;[2] it was also released in Canada and is currently out of print. It was released by Toshiba EMI in Japan on the Apple label (in stereo) in a box set with a deluxe 24 page 12"x12" booklet that contains the entire text of the script in English and Japanese.
The album contains a brief stereo excerpt of "Twist and Shout" performed at their 1964 Hollywood Bowl concert. The album was only released on cassette tape in Canada (4XBB 2222) and Japan (ZR44-1019), and was never issued at all on a stereo 8-track cartridge tape. The Beatles' Story was being prepared for release on digital audio tape in 1996, but when the format failed commercially the plan was scrapped. In 2014, The Beatles Story was made available on CD for the first time in the Beatles boxed set, The U.S. Albums.
Track listing
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| 1. | "On Stage with the Beatles" | 1:03 | | 2. | "How Beatlemania Began" | 1:20 | | 3. | "Beatlemania in Action" | 1:25 | | 4. | "Man Behind the Beatles – Brian Epstein" | 2:47 | | 5. | "John Lennon" | 5:50 | | 6. | "Who's a Millionaire?" | 0:39 |
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| 1. | "The Beatles Look at Life" | 2:05 | | 2. | "Victims of Beatlemania" | 1:10 | | 3. | "Beatle Medley" | 3:58 | | 4. | "Ringo Starr" | 6:24 | | 5. | "Liverpool and All the World!" | 1:05 |
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Charts and certifications
Notes
- Stannard, Neville (1981). The Long and Winding Road: A History Of The Beatles On Record. London: Virgin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-907080-96-0.
- Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 0-89820-183-7
References
- ↑ "American album certifications – Beatles, The – The Beatles_ Story". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 7 June 2012. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
- ↑ The Beatles' Story at AllMusic
- ↑ Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (Editors). The Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1st edition, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979, p. 26.
- ↑ Whitburn 2010, p. 65.
- ↑ "American album certifications – Beatles, The – The Beatles_ Story". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 15 September 2013. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH
External links
