MEET THE BEATLES

The history about The Beatles`s U. S. discography has been known to many people since a long time ago. But I want to comment about it. In 1963 they recorded two albums for the U .K. market. In the U. S. Vee Jay Records released an album called "Introducing The Beatles", twice, with little changes to the songs list. When Capitol Records, which initially refused to release their albums in the U.S. (despite being an EMI company, and that is why Vee Jay and other small labels released a few albums and singles there) realised how popular the band was becoming in other countries, they finally agreed to release their material in the U. S. in 1964. To do this, they sued Vee Jay, and they finally won the rights to release the band´s material. So, this "Meet The Beatles" album was released in early 1964, with a title wanting to say to the U.S fans "this is really their first official album in the U.S. " (which of course, it wasn`t). Everything could be very fine if they respected the titles of their U.K. albums and the content of the songs included in the albums. But no... they didn`t. They even didn`t respect the mxing of the songs, even doing their own mixings for the U. S. market. This album is no exception. My late father bought this album in 1979. I listened to it recently, and the sound is not very good in comparison to other Capitol Records albums from The Beatles.

This album is essentially the "WithThe Beatles" album from the U.K with some variations in content. For example: "I Saw Her Standing There" was taken from their "Please Please Me" L.P from the U.K. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" were electronically created Stereo versions of Mono recordings from the U.K. single. Capitol did almost the same treatments for several years for their own albums until they released the "Sgt. Pepper" album. So, the U. S. discography of the band was in those days with more albums than in the U.K., because to include 12 tracks in albums in the U.S was the norm there in comparison to 14 tracks per album in the U.K. In my opinion, that was done exclusively to make more money from the band`s success.

For some years, the Stereo mixings from these Capitol albums (original and not original) were the only available Stereo versions from many songs, because in the U.K. EMI released their first 4 albums on CD only in Mono sound in 1987. Fortunately, their U.K. albums have been recently remastered and re-issued and the Stereo mixings from their original albums are available again, but with remixings. In this case, they were done by people associated with the band.

In my opinion, their U.S. albums are now only important for nostalgic collectors.

As Guillermo previously wrote, this was not the first Beatles album released in the United States, but the first Capitol labeled album released here. Thus, it was their breakout album in the U.S. (however big they already were, due to international acclaim). In that, it is an historic release. And I suppose, in some way, they were bringing something different to the rock world. But at this point, I just don't hear it. They were very good pop songs for their time. Extremely catchy and infectious, but nothing terribly special, and with no hints of what the band would become in just a few short years.

Meet them if you want.

This is an LP I found some years ago while I was rummaging in my parents' shelf of records, there were actually few albums I was interested in listening to. I've never been a Beatles fan, but anyway I wanted to listen to it back then and kept it. So the last weekend I listened to different LPs I had not played for long time, one of them was this. Well, I'll be honest to you. Out of the twelve tracks included in this "Meet the Beatles" album, I can say I enjoy one or two songs at most. Some of you may kill me but my love for The Beatles is actually incredibly limited, I respect them, but for me they are just an average band whose value was to be in the right place at the right moment, nothing more.

Here you can listen to songs like "I want to hold your hand", "All my loving" or "Hold me tight"; short tracks (two minutes average) that together make 25 minutes of 60´s rock pop music. If you really want to know The Beatles, then get some full-length CD's or better "best of" albums. For those who love them, this LP may be actually good. But for me, it is only for completionists. So, one star is my final grade.

The American release of the Capitol album "Meet The Beatles" was important in 1964 to bring the mop head's music to the masses outside of the cosy homeland of England. It was essential that The Beatles span out to other countries and why not hit the Big Apple, which can make or break any rock band. Thankfully the Americans loved it and the fanbase widened to increasing proportions. And why not with such material as I Want to Hold Your Hand, I Saw Her Standing There, All My Loving, Don't Bother Me and Hold Me Tight. There are a few tracks that I am not a fan of but this is an early release, before I was born, so it can be forgiven. The 60s will never be repeated and I admit tracks such as Till There Was You, This Boy and All I've Got to Do had their place back then. Find this on vinyl if you are a collector.