Many of us who grew up with the American versions of the Beatles albums were confounded when we discovered that the United Kingdom albums were different. For instance, Beatles For Sale on Parlophone generated the majority of songs for two Capitol albums in the United States, Beatles ’65 and Beatles VI.
“Beatles For Sale was released on 4th December 1964 – just 21 weeks after A Hard Day’s Night. It was The Beatles’ fourth album release in less than two years.” Some fans and critics consider it the band’s least successful collection. It contains six covers, probably because the band was busy with touring and moviemaking; this was the last time the band relied on so many outside songs for their albums. Here are the links.
Beatles ’65 also came out in December ’64, just before Christmas. All are by Lennon/McCartney except when otherwise indicated. If they’re from Beatles for Sale, they’ll be indicated as B4S. Here are the tracks.
Side 1
No Reply – B4S
I’m A Loser – B4S
Baby’s In Black—B4S. Is there a greater string of downer songs in the catalog than these?
Rock and Roll Music (Chuck Berry) – B4S
I’ll Follow The Sun – B4S, written by Paul c. 1958
Mr. Moonlight (Roy Lee Johnson) – B4S. One of the least popular Beatles tracks.
Side 2
Honey Don’t (Carl Perkins) – B4S. The Ringo vocal.
I’ll Be Back – the last song on the UK A Hard Day’s Night album
She’s A Woman – the B-side of the single. Unlike UK albums, which thought of LPs and 45s as separate entities, music producers in the US feared fans wouldn’t buy the album without the single.
I’ll Feel Fine – the A-side of the single.
Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby (Perkins) – B4S. George loved Carl Perkins.
An interlude
The next Capitol Record was The Early Beatles (March 1965), which included 11 of the 14 songs on the UK’s Please Me album (March 1963). I Saw Her Standing There showed up on the Capitol album Meet The Beatles! (January 1964). The other two songs, Misery and There’s a Place, never appeared on a Capitol/Apple album until the US version of Rarities in March 1980.
Those 14 songs, 12 at a time, also appeared in one of the iterations of VeeJay’s Introducing…the Beatles, just before and after Meet The Beatles!
The sixth Capitol album, excluding The Beatles Story
Beatles VI was released in June 1965, the first Beatles album I ever purchased. Here are the tracks.
Side 1
Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller/Richard Penniman) – B4S. Note that the latter song was not listed on the album cover.
Eight Days a Week – B4S
You Like Me Too Much – the Harrison track was from Side 2 of the upcoming UK Help! album
Bad Boy (Larry Williams) – The group recorded material especially for the North American market. This song’s first UK release was on A Collection of Beatles Oldies in 1966 and later appeared on the UK Rarities album in 1978.
I Don’t Want to Spoil the Party – B4S
Words of Love (Buddy Holly) – B4S
Side 2
What You’re Doing -B4S
Yes It Is – the B-side to the single Ticket To Ride
Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Williams) – recorded material especially for the North American market. But it showed up on the upcoming UK Help album.
Tell Me What You See – from the upcoming UK Help album
Every Little Thing -B4S
The Story of The Beatles Cartoons & Why They Will Never Be Shown Again