The Beatles On Capitol Records And Why You Should Collect Them

Taking a quick look at the Beatles on Capitol Records in the USA

[festersuncle]

Beatles Purple Capitol and 80's Rainbows are a collectors secret. Beautiful pressings.

[michaelhurley]

Spot on John impression! I walk around the house doing Beatles impressions. My young adult kids look at me like I'm crazy. But they know The Beatles. I was raised on the UK Parlophone stereo vinyl pressings. Now i am hunting for the Capitol Stereo pressings just for fun! Well done sir!

[vinniecella]

The American version of Rubber Soul is great, especially with the false start on I'm looking through you. I still like it better with the false start

[farrellmcnulty]

Watching in September, 2022 - Last month I went to Beatlefest with the intent of picking up a mono mix of Sgt Pepper on Capitol (memories being what they are, you know) and found one for $20. Pretty good shape - the cover's not split, it only skips once and there's not very much surface noise. It mostly sounds all right. What kills me is I had 2 copies of the 2014 reissues on vinyl, but after the 2017 mix came out, I thought maybe I should sell this and keep the other, then ended up selling the other one, too. Big mistake - I had no iea they'd been out of print by the time the Pepper remix came along. But it was nice to get a Capitol pressing, it was like being a kid again.

[ConglomerationCat]

I grew up with the Capitol pressings of their albums. I really like how spacious "Something New" sounds to me. It has a great energy to it...

[jimk]

I am a first generation Beatles fan...As an American the Capitol albums are what I grew up with and I imagine not very many US fans back then even knew that they had different albums/versions in the UK. I did not pay much attention to that until 1987 when they released the UK only versions on CD. I still prefer the US releases that is how I heard the songs and I can probably tell you which album a song is on and in what order the songs are listed I can't do that with the UK versions (other than the later albums of course).

[debessar]

1 Magical Mystery Tour
2 Rubber Soul
3 Love Songs
4 The Beatles Again
5 Yesterday And Today
6 Beatles VI
7 Help!
8 A Hard Day's Night
9. Meet The Beatles
10 The Beatles Story

[michaelmckenna]

Before hating Dave Dexter for his initial refusal to sign the Beatles on Capitol, one must remember that the US record market was very hard for a foreign artist to break into. Most of the big names in Europe would barely dent the American market and if they did, they would’ve been seen as little more than a curiosity or a novelty.
Dave Dexter had an incredible tracking record at discovering new talent with far more successes than losses.

[diegorivas]

Other than the people who grew with those albums, hardcore Beatles collectors or completists, there's little to no appeal for music collectors worldwide to own them due to chopped tracklists, subpar mixes and poor quality control.
The same for the local variants of every country, such as the translated texts on the covers.
I do give the merit to Capitol for keep relevant the Beatles legacy through the 70s with their theme compilations albums, the Live At The Hollywood Bowl live album, and their version of Rarities, all of this while EMI just didn't care anymore.

[resident-zm]

I find that Capitol Albums on cassette far more interesting. The mixes were different. I'll Get You, She Loves You, and Thank You Girl are the last three songs on The Beatles' Second Album on side two on the cassette. I recreated that with the U.S Albums boxset in mono on CD.

[artmanjohn]

Ever since I first bought the MFSL pressing of "Rubber Soul" back in the early 80s, I thought all versions Of "Rubber Soul" were like the US pressing with the same song choices and even the False Start on "I'm Looking Through You". Thanks to Capital Records always adding and removing songs on the US releases of Beatles Albums, Rubber Soul had two songs replaced for financial and promotional reasons plus someone at Capital wanted "Rubber Soul" to have more of a Folk sound and feel to the album. I love the US Version of Rubber Soul and when I hear the UK version I get pissed off instantly when "Drive My Car" starts tracking, that one suppose to be on "Yesterday and Today", I won't even listen to my MFSL pressing anymore. Brian Wilson said when he first heard "Rubber Soul" he said it was a master piece and the Best Album he ever heard in his life and it inspired him to write "Pet Sounds". The version of "Rubber Soul" Brian heard was the US pressing! I rest my case. Just those two songs being switched out totally changed the feel and esthetics of the whole album. I'd love to know what you think. I'm getting ready to turn 73 this November and I've been a fan of the Beatles since the very beginning! Great Video!

[beatledavetherecordcollector]

Great video, very entertaining, and yes a great impression of john

[GeorgeCrosley]

I'm glad you mentioned Dave Dexter Jr. adding echo to the Capitol releases. I hate to admit it, but I really enjoy it on She's a Woman and I Feel Fine.

[farrellmcnulty]

I wish I'm Down would have been part of a Capitol album, but itwould have had to be sandwiched on either Beatles '65 or Beatles VI because since it wasn't featured in the HELP movie, it couldn't have been part of "The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack". Right after the album HELP, they went into Rubber Soul, and it wouldn't have fit that format since there weren't any rockers on that one. As for Beatles VI, while Bad Boy has always been cute and amusing, I'm Down wipes the floor with Bad Boy...not to mention the fact it's an original composition.

[fruitfly]

I have the Capitol promo album called, Collectors Items. Like it says on the cover, mine is, "Not for sale."

[Ricecooker]

I recently got something new it came in a fresh looking first press mono cover but I opened it and found a stereo apple pressing of it. I swear the look on my face...

[bb]

The Capitol Beatles album to get is Rubber Soul. The US version of that album had a huge impact on folk and folk rock music in the states.

[peterwarwick]

Thanks for your post. A Collection of Beatles Oldies LP, UK Dec1966 had 'I Want To Hold Your Hand" other singles not previously on UK Albums. Also this has the first UK release of 'Bad Boy" As a collector I do find the US Capitol Albums a must for my collection.

[JustFortheRecord]

The purple label, large dome Capitol reissues from the late 70s to early 80s were the best mastered and cut pressings of the stereo US albums. It’s also worth collecting the original mono pressings from the 60s for the unique mono mixes Capitol had used.

[SQDLVR]

I have the green capitol target labels and some rainbow ones from childhood.