Hey Jude (album)
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| Hey Jude | |||||
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| Compilation album by The Beatles | |||||
| Released | 26 February 1970 (U.S.) 11 May 1979 (UK) |
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| Recorded | Abbey Road and Trident Studios 1964–1969 | ||||
| Genre | Rock | ||||
| Length | 32:25 | ||||
| Label | Apple Capitol SW 385 (U.S.) Parlophone PCS 7184 (UK) |
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| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| The Beatles U.S. chronology | |||||
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Hey Jude (original title: The Beatles Again) is a 1970 collection of non-album Beatles singles and B-sides, as well as "I Should Have Known Better" and "Can't Buy Me Love", two singles released by Capitol Records whose only previous American album appearance had been on the A Hard Day's Night soundtrack album which had been released by United Artists Records.
The Hey Jude album was not compiled by Capitol, although many American fans wrongly assumed that this was the case. In actuality, the project was conceived by Allen Klein and Apple Records. Klein had negotiated a more lucrative contract for the group in 1969 and was anxious to sweeten the pot with an additional album. He directed Allan Stickler of Abkco/Apple to work on an album. Steckler chose songs that had not appeared on a Capitol album in the USA and which spanned the group's career. He also focused more on more recent singles than on earlier material. The absence of the songs from a US Capitol album was partially a consequence of the Beatles' unwillingness to include single releases on their contemporaneous albums, partially a consequence with their arrangement with United Artists in 1964, and partially due to the habit (of EMI affiliates worldwide) of recompiling the Beatles' British releases for local markets. Steckler chose not to include "A Hard Day's Night", which had been released as a single by Capitol and was available on the United Artists soundtrack album, "I'm Down", which was the B-Side of "Help!", and "The Inner Light", which was the B-Side of "Lady Madonna". He also overlooked "From Me to You", "Misery" and "There's a Place", three early Beatles songs, the first of which was released as a single by Vee Jay Records and latter two of which had been included on the long out-of-print Vee Jay album, Introducing... The Beatles and on Capitol Star Line singles. "Sie Liebt Dich", a German-language version of "She Loves You" was also ignored.
Steckler and Apple had become disappointed with the Capitol Records release schedules and determined to promote the new album themselves. Steckler also took the tapes to Sam Feldman at Bell Sound Studios (in New York), rather than delivering them to Capitol. He would do this for several releases thereafter.
Originally, the album was to be named The Beatles Again. Shortly before the record was released, however, the title was changed to Hey Jude, in order to promote the inclusion of the top-selling song that led off side two. Unfortunately, the name change occurred after the labels were printed, and an untold number of copies of the album were sold with an Apple label sporting the title The Beatles Again. This was also true for cassette copies of the album, which retained the original title. (Neither the front nor the back of the album displayed the record's title, but most copies were sold in a jacket whose spine read Hey Jude. Furthermore, in an attempt to clear up any confusion caused by the preprinted label, initial copies of the album also displayed a sticker on the cover bearing the title Hey Jude.) The edition of the album with the The Beatles Again label bore catalogue number SO-385 on the label, but not on the jacket. This is because of a similarly-timed decision to reduce the price from $6.98 (SO- prefix) to $5.98 (SW- prefix). The record jacket was prepared late enough so that it lists the catalogue number as SW-385. The SW-385 catalogue number appears on the label of later pressings that bear the title Hey Jude on the label.
The front and back cover pictures were taken at the last-ever Beatles photo session, on 22 August 1969, at John Lennon's new house, Tittenhurst Park (seven years to the day after they were filmed at the Cavern in Liverpool performing Some Other Guy (22 August 1962). Allen Klein authorized release of the album as a sales buffer during post-production of the delayed Let It Be. In 2007 Neil Aspinall claimed that the back cover was supposed to be the front cover and vice-verse, but that Klein had reversed them in error. [1] This is not entirely true. At least three prototype cover designs are known to exist, with the earliest of those showing the photos "reversed." Apparently, the art department made the determination that the photo that now appears on the front cover was better suited for that purpose. Bruce Spizer's [2] book, The Beatles on Apple Records, contains many previously-unknown details about the release.
The compilation was originally released in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, Greece, Japan, and most of South America. It was also available to other countries as an "export" from England (Parlophone/Apple CPCS-106) but was not at first issued in England, although it was a popular import to the U.K. Because of its popularity worldwide, Parlophone finally released Hey Jude in Britain in 1979. (If a fan who owned all twelve studio British Beatles albums augmented his or her collection with Hey Jude, Magical Mystery Tour, A Collection of Beatles Oldies, and the British version of Rarities, his or her collection would include every official Beatles song, although a number of officially-released alternate mixes would still be missing.) Until the release of 1967–1970 in 1973, Hey Jude was the only way to own the extremely popular "Hey Jude" single on LP or in a stereo mix. The songs "Lady Madonna", "Don't Let Me Down", "Paperback Writer", "Rain", and "Revolution" also appeared for the first time in stereo on this album. Prior to the release of the "Get Back" single (45 RPM record) in Spring, 1969, all Beatles singles were issued in monophonic in the USA. If nothing else, this compilation showcased stereo versions of previously single-only mono Beatles songs. Several other countries wound up with the original "Beatles Again" title, with Spain's perhaps being the most interesting -- because "the Ballad of John and Yoko" was clipped from the album, having been deemed offensive (either due to its reference to Christ, or to the fact of Lennon's referral of "Gibraltar near Spain", at a time when Spain's Franco administration with contending with the UK over the ownership of Gibraltar. This is discussed further in the article for Ballad of John and Yoko).
Interestingly, on two audio tape versions of this album (Reel-to-Reel and Cassette Tape), sides one and two are inversed. Although it is clear on the vinyl version that "Hey Jude" opens side two, when compiling this issue for audio tape, some compilers (at Capitol and Ampex) thought to make the change, which resulted in "Hey Jude" leading off the album. This was done because side two was the longer side, and it was the practice in some tape formats to lead the album with the longer side. The four-track tape, prepared by Ampex along with the reel-to-reel tape, has the songs in the original, chronological order. (The eight-track tape was treated to the usual re-ordering that eight tracks received.)
Contents |
[edit] Track listing
All tracks written by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted.
[edit] Side one
- "Can't Buy Me Love" (1964) – 2:19
- "I Should Have Known Better" (1964) – 2:39
- "Paperback Writer" (1966) – 2:14
- "Rain" (1966) – 2:58
- "Lady Madonna" (1968) – 2:14
- "Revolution" (1968) – 3:21
[edit] Side two
- "Hey Jude" (1968) – 7:06
- "Old Brown Shoe" (1969) (Harrison) – 3:16
- "Don't Let Me Down" (1969) – 3:30
- "Ballad of John and Yoko" (1969) – 2:55
[edit] Current availability
The CD era saw the standardizing of the Beatles' discographies worldwide, and the Hey Jude album, as originally released, is not being offered on compact disc. All of the tracks contained on 'Hey Jude' can be found on 'A Hard Day's Night and Past Masters, Volume Two.
A compact disc version exists which contains both the Abbey Road and Hey Jude albums. This CD, which was originally produced for select European and Asian markets, is occasionally be found for sale on online on sites such as eBAY.
[edit] Notes
- ^ "Beatles Ready for Legal Downloading Soon" Friedman, Roger. FOX News, accessed on 13 February 2007
- ^ [1] Bruce Spizer's
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