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The Beatles Capitol Albums - Volume 2
Confirmed! Capitol Albums Volume 2 available April 11!
by Bruce Spizer
The CD box set contains stereo and mono versions of the four Beatles albums released by Capitol in 1965, namely The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, the Help! soundtrack and the American version of Rubber Soul. These albums were mastered from the original Capitol tapes by Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound using 24-bit digital technology. As was the case with The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1, the discs sound superb and capture the magic of the original Capitol albums.
The Early Beatles marks the stereo debut on CD of nine early Beatles classics, including Please Please Me and Twist And Shout. It also contains the first CD release of the fake stereo mixes of Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You prepared by George Martin for the stereo version of the group's first Parlophone LP. Nine of the eleven mono tracks are unique Capitol stereo-to-mono mixdowns appearing for the first time on CD.
Beatles VI marks the stereo debut on CD of five Beatles recordings, including cover versions of Kansas City and Words Of Love, as well as Lennon and McCartney's What You're Doing, Every Little Thing and I Don't Want To Spoil The Party. The stereo album also contains the CD debut of Capitol's unique duophonic mix of Yes It Is. The mono album also includes many CD firsts: the appearance of four songs in their original 1965 George Martin mono mixes (You Like Me Too Much, Bad Boy, Dizzy Miss Lizzie and Tell Me What You See) and five songs in their unique Capitol remixes with added echo and reverb (Kansas City, I Don't Want To Spoil The Party, Words Of Love, What You're Doing and Every Little Thing).
The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 marks the first appearance on CD of the Help! soundtrack album. Six of its tracks have never been issued on CD in mono or stereo, namely the edit of Help! with its James Bond-derived introduction and five instrumental tracks from the film, including From Me To You Fantasy and Another Hard Day's Night. When the British Help! LP was issued on CD in 1987, it contained George Martin stereo remixes of the songs, which have been used on subsequent CD compilations. The Capitol soundtrack album marks the CD debut of five songs in their original 1965 George Martin stereo mixes (The Night Before, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Need You, Another Girl and You're Gonna Lose That Girl). The stereo album also contains the CD debut of Capitol's unique duophonic mix of Ticket To Ride. The mono album marks the mono debut on CD of five songs (The Night Before, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, I Need You, Another Girl and You're Gonna Lose That Girl), which appear in unique Capitol stereo-to-mono mixdowns.
The Capitol version of Rubber Soul contains the CD debut of twelve songs in their original 1965 George Martin stereo mixes. When these songs first appeared on CD in 1987, they were stereo remixes of the songs prepared by George Martin. The album's twelve songs are also making their mono debut on CD, this time with George Martin's original mono mixes from 1965.
Because the 46 songs on The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 appear in both stereo and mono mixes, the box set contains 92 total tracks. Out of this number, 82 are versions not previously available on CD.
Track listings and release details:
THE EARLY BEATLES
Love Me Do [2]
Twist And Shout [1][3]
Anna [1][3]
Chains [1][3]
Boys [1][3]
Ask Me Why [1][3]
Please Please Me [1][3]
P.S. I Love You [2]
Baby It's You [1][3]
A Taste Of Honey [1][3]
Do You Want To Know A Secret [1][3]
[1] Stereo debut on CD (9 tracks)
[2] First CD appearance of 1963 simulated stereo mix from first U.K. LP (2 tracks)
[3] First CD appearance of unique Capitol stereo-to-mono mixdown (9 tracks)
BEATLES VI
Kansas City [1][5]
Eight Days A Week
You Like Me Too Much [4] *
Bad Boy [4]
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party [1][5]
Words Of Love [1][5]
What You're Doing [1][5]
Yes It Is [6]
Dizzy Miss Lizzie [4]
Tell Me What You See [4]
Every Little Thing [1][5]
[1] Stereo debut on CD (5 tracks)
[4] Mono debut on CD (4 tracks)
[5] First CD appearance of unique Capitol remixes with echo and reverb (5 tracks)
[6] First CD appearance of unique Capitol duophonic mix (1 track)
HELP!
Help! (with James Bond intro) [3][7]
The Night Before [3][4][8]
From Me To You Fantasy (Instrumental) [3][7]
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away [3][4][8]
I Need You [3][4][8]
In The Tyrol (Instrumental) [3][7]
Another Girl [3][4][8]
Another Hard Day's Night (Instrumental) [3][7]
Ticket To Ride [6]
The Bitter End/You Can't Do That (Instrumental) [3][7]
You're Gonna Lose That Girl [3][4][8]
The Chase (Instrumental) [3][7]
[3] First CD appearance of unique Capitol stereo-to-mono mixdown (11 tracks)
[4] Mono debut on CD (5 tracks)
[6] First CD appearance of unique Capitol duophonic mix (1 track)
[7] First CD appearance in any version (6 tracks)
[8] First CD appearance of original 1965 George Martin stereo mix (5 tracks)
RUBBER SOUL
I've Just Seen A Face [4][8]
Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) [4][8]
You Won't See Me [4][8] *
Think For Yourself [4][8]
The Word [4][8]
Michelle [4][8] *
It's Only Love [4][8] *
Girl [4][8]
I'm Looking Through You [4][8]
In My Life [4][8]
Wait [4][8]
Run For Your Life [4][8]
[4] Mono debut on CD (12 tracks)
[8] First CD appearance of original 1965 George Martin stereo mix (12 tracks)
* These four tracks appeared in mono on the limited edition British EP Collection set, but for most fans this will be first time these tracks are heard in mono on a commercially released mainstream Beatles CD.
The box set's packaging is similar to that of The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1. Each of the four CDs is housed in a cardboard sleeve featuring the album's original cover artwork. The labels to the CDs mimic each album's original Capitol rainbow label. The box set contains a colorful 56-page booklet full of rare photographs and quotes from the Beatles. I wrote the essay contained in the set's booklet, and I also served as a consultant on the project.
Article by Bruce Spizer and Copyright © 2006, 498 Productions, LLC. Used here with his most gracious permission.
It was originally published at http://www.beatle.net/. For a wealth of information on the Capitol albums and other Beatles' related matters, please visit