The Capitol Albums, Volume 2

The Capitol Albums, Volume 2
Box set by The Beatles
Released	11 April 2006
Recorded	1962–1965, Abbey Road Studios, London, United Kingdom
Genre	Rock, rock and roll
Length	226:56
Label	Apple, Capitol
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles chronology
The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 (2004) The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 (2006) Love (2006)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Pitchfork	7.5/10[2]

The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 is a box set compilation composed of The Beatles' 1965 American Capitol Records releases. The set, which contains stereo and mono versions of all 92 tracks (with all of the tracks on The Early Beatles and many of the tracks on Beatles VI being released in stereo on compact disc for the first time) was announced on 22 March 2006. Like The Capitol Albums, Volume 1, the CDs did not contain the original George Martin mixes released in Britain in the 1960s. Instead, the CDs were mastered from mixes prepared by Capitol A&R executive Dave Dexter, Jr., who, in 1965 took the submaster tapes from Capitol Records' vaults and added reverb to several tracks and simulated stereo on mono tracks (the proof that these are Dexter's mixes being the false start on "I'm Looking Through You"). Initially, however, the CDs only used Dexter's stereo mixes, with the mono tracks consisting of the two stereo channels folded into a single channel. Dexter's mono mixes were made available on the second pressings of these albums.

The official release date of 11 April 2006, was the 42nd anniversary of The Beatles holding a record 14 positions in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. This was one week after The Beatles monopolised the Top 5 positions in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

The box set debuted on the Billboard 200 album chart on 29 April 2006, at number 46, with approximate sales of 27,000 copies. It was awarded a gold record by the RIAA on 19 May 2006.

Incorrect mono mixes

A number of box sets and sampler discs made available prior to the 11 April release date (a result of an earlier UK release date as well as pre-orders shipping early and advance copies) have the incorrect mono mixes on Beatles VI and Rubber Soul. While the original mono mixes were intended, these sets only have mono fold-downs of the stereo versions. The mistake was understandable, as the US mono mixes of the vinyl release of The Early Beatles and Help! were fold-downs of the stereo mixes. But, the US vinyl release of both Beatles VI and Rubber Soul actually had different mixes. It was initially unknown whether this error was restricted to one pressing plant, or all pressings, but now seems to involve all sets prior to the issue of the "corrected" version.

Beatles author Bruce Spizer, who also wrote the set's in-depth liner notes, told The Beatles fan website whatgoeson.com that a "third party mastering facility incorrectly sent stereo-to-mono mixdowns" to be pressed rather than the vintage mono mixes.^[3]

An explanation for the mistake given at the time was that Capitol anticipated that the stereo versions would sometimes be played back in mono, and wanted to test how they would sound if played that way, (for Beatles VI and Rubber Soul; this concern not being an issue for the other two) and so made fold down copies of the stereo versions of these just to test how they would sound in mono, and by mistake someone caused these recordings to be issued in lieu of the true mono mixes.

The "folded down stereo mixes" are actually the stereo mix consolidated into both speakers. Although the mixes are technically in mono (in the sense that the sound in both the right and left channels is the same), they are not the actual mono mixes released by Capitol in 1965. There are some very noticeable differences, such as the actual mono mix of "I'm Looking Through You" (on Rubber Soul) lacking the false start found on the stereo mix, while the fold-down mono includes the false start. The differences between the stereo and mono mixes are one of the main draws for collectors.

The easiest way to tell if the set has the correct mono mixes is to check the total playing time of the discs on a CD player. The discs with the correct mono mixes have a slightly longer playing time.

Disc 1 = 52:25
Disc 2 = 56:16 (disc with incorrect mono mix is 56:01)
Disc 3 = 59:07
Disc 4 = 59:08 (disc with incorrect mono mix is 59:01)

Disc listing

• Each disc in the collection contains both the stereo and mono versions of each album.

In the weeks prior to the official release of the boxed set, a promotional disc was circulated. Like the previous "Volume 1", it contains both the stereo and mono versions of 8 songs.

Notes