The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1 | 
| Artist: The Beatles
Label: Toshiba EMI Japan
Category: Music
List Price: $170.98
Buy New: $24.25
You Save: $146.73 (86%)
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Rating:  246 reviews
Sales Rank: 302824
Format: Box Set, Import
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 10.7 x 5.4 x 0.8
EAN: 4988006824768
ASIN: B00068X53U
Release Date: November 29, 2004
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Tracks:
Disc 1
| • | I Want to Hold Your Hand [Stereo] | | • | I Saw Her Standing There [Stereo] | | • | This Boy [Stereo] | | • | It Won't Be Long [Stereo] | | • | All I've Got to Do [Stereo] | | • | All My Loving [Stereo] | | • | Don't Bother Me [Stereo] | | • | Little Child [Stereo] | | • | Till There Was You [Stereo] | | • | Hold Me Tight [Stereo] | | • | I Wanna Be Your Man [Stereo] | | • | Not a Second Time [Stereo] | | • | I Want to Hold Your Hand [Mono Version] | | • | I Saw Her Standing There [Mono Version] | | • | This Boy [Mono Version] | | • | It Won't Be Long [Mono Version] | | • | All I've Got to Do [Mono Version] | | • | All My Loving [Mono Version] | | • | Don't Bother Me [Mono Version] | | • | Little Child [Mono Version] | | • | Till There Was You [Mono Version] | | • | Hold Me Tight [Mono Version] | | • | I Wanna Be Your Man [Mono Version] | | • | Not a Second Time [Mono Version] |
Disc 2
| • | Roll Over Beethoven [Stereo] | | • | Thank You Girl [Stereo] | | • | You Really Got a Hold on Me [Stereo] | | • | Devil in Her Heart [Stereo] | | • | Money (That's What I Want) [Stereo] | | • | You Can't Do That [Stereo] | | • | Long Tall Sally [Stereo] | | • | I Call Your Name [Stereo] | | • | Please Mr. Postman [Stereo] | | • | I'll Get You [Stereo] | | • | She Loves You [Stereo] | | • | Roll Over Beethoven [Mono Version] | | • | Thank You Girl [Mono Version] | | • | You Really Got a Hold on Me [Mono Version] | | • | Devil in Her Heart [Mono Version] | | • | Money (That's What I Want) [Mono Version] | | • | You Can't Do That [Mono Version] | | • | Long Tall Sally [Mono Version] | | • | I Call Your Name [Mono Version] | | • | Please Mr. Postman [Mono Version] | | • | I'll Get You [Mono Version] | | • | She Loves You [Mono Version] |
Disc 3
| • | I'll Cry Instead [Stereo] | | • | Things We Said Today [Stereo] | | • | Any Time at All [Stereo] | | • | When I Get Home [Stereo] | | • | Slow Down [Stereo] | | • | Matchbox [Stereo] | | • | Tell Me Why [Stereo] | | • | And I Love Her [Stereo] | | • | I'm Happy Just to Dance With You [Stereo] | | • | If I Fell [Stereo] | | • | Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand (I Want to Hold Your Hand) [Stereo] | | • | I'll Cry Instead [Mono Version] | | • | Things We Said Today [Mono Version] | | • | Any Time at All [Mono Version] | | • | When I Get Home [Mono Version] | | • | Slow Down [Mono Version] | | • | Matchbox [Mono Version] | | • | Tell Me Why [Mono Version] | | • | And I Love Her [Mono Version] | | • | I'm Happy Just to Dance With You [Mono Version] | | • | If I Fell [Mono Version] | | • | Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand (I Want to Hold Your Hand) [Mono Version] |
Disc 4
| • | No Reply [Stereo] | | • | I'm a Loser [Stereo] | | • | Baby's in Black [Stereo] | | • | Rock and Roll Music [Stereo] | | • | I'll Follow the Sun [Stereo] | | • | Mr. Moonlight [Stereo] | | • | Honey Don't [Stereo] | | • | I'll Be Back [Stereo] | | • | She's a Woman [Stereo] | | • | I Feel Fine [Stereo] | | • | Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby [Stereo] | | • | No Reply [Mono Version] | | • | I'm a Loser [Mono Version] | | • | Baby's in Black [Mono Version] | | • | Rock and Roll Music [Mono Version] | | • | I'll Follow the Sun [Mono Version] | | • | Mr. Moonlight [Mono Version] | | • | Honey Don't [Mono Version] | | • | I'll Be Back [Mono Version] | | • | She's a Woman [Mono Version] | | • | I Feel Fine [Mono Version] | | • | Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby [Mono Version] |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
When the Beatles catalog was first issued on CD in the '80s, an attempt was made to standardize the releases (which often varied wildly in content internationally) by using their original British format. But this confounded many Fabs fans in the U.S. who now found CDs with track listings that often differed dramatically from their original American LPs. More maddening, the initial four releases were only available in not-so-glorious mono mixes. This four-CD collection of the band's 1964 American album releases finally addresses those concerns, and then some. Meet the Beatles, The Beatles Second Album, Something New, and Beatles '65 have been digitally prepared from Capitol's vintage album masters and presented in both the original stereo and mono mixes released back in '64. This set gives younger fans a chance to finally hear the band's epochal early music in stereo--and should please an older generation by returning massive hit singles like "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "She's a Woman," and "I Feel Fine" to their original American album contexts. The booklet contains a wealth of rare photos and concise notes by noted Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn. --Jerry McCulley
Album Description
*First Time Ever on CD...Meet The Beatles, The Beatles' Second Album, Something New and Beatles `65....presented in both Stereo and Mono *Compiled from the original U.S. master tapes *Special packaging including original album cover artwork and 48 page collectors booklet
Album Details
Japanese Pressing of the First-ever CD Reissue of Four Albums Originally Released from Us Capitol Records in 1964 ("Meet the Beatles", "The Beatles' Second Album", "Something New", and "Beatles '65"), which Feature Us-original Tracklisting. Each Disc Contains Both Mono and Stereo Versions of Each Album.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 241 more reviews...
You'll love it for the music! You'll hate the packaging! November 16, 2004
Michelle S. (Shinagawa, Tokyo Japan)
366 out of 372 found this review helpful
For those of you who have been waiting breathlessly for Capitol Records' infamous "Duophonic" (fake stereo) versions of the Beatles' catalog to appear on CD, well has Capitol got a treat for you!
"The Capitol Albums Vol. 1" contains the first four of Capitol Records' Beatles' albums (well, their first four music releases, as the 2-LP documentary "The Beatles' Story" came out on Capitol before "Beatles '65"...)
Yep, these are the reverb-laden Capitol mixes we all grew up with! For good or bad, this is what most of us remember. They're not the Beatles' albums as the Beatles envisioned them, but so what? They are a lot of fun to listen to!
So, what's good? Well, you get both the stereo and mono mixes of each album. When the Beatles' catalog was released on CD in 1987, only mono mixes of the first four albums were made available. This release is therefore the only place where you can get stereo mixes (albeit *reverb-laden* stereo mixes...). What's more, the sound quality is much better than the sound quality of the many "Capitol albums" bootlegs that have been on the market for years. It's great to have discs mastered from the original tapes! (Although, there is a glitch / dropout 18 seconds into the stereo version of "Don't Bother Me"...)
So, what's bad? That's easy! The packaging *really* stinks!
So, how is the packaging lousy? Well, the discs are inside small "reproductions" of the original jackets that aren't 100% faithful to the originals (compare them to your old LP's to see for yourself). The CDs themselves are also put into the jackets without any sort of protective inner sleeves. (There is a reason why records used to have protective inner sleeves! Unprotected records / CDs are easily scratched!) The CDs fall out very easily, so great care must be used when opening the set. The CD jackets are also quite shoddy looking with fuzzy printing and mismatched folds. Capitol should have spent more care in creating true "Mini LP" sleeves for this release. If bootleggers can create 100% accurate sleeve reproductions, then why can't Capitol/Apple?
Most of you will want to stop reading here. But, for you hardcore Beatle collectors out there, there's more!
These really *are* the original Capitol masters! The stereo version of "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" *has* the strange noise in the vocal channel before the singing starts! The mono version of "When I Get Home" *has* the alternate vocal line! The mono version of "Any Time At All" *has* the mixed down piano during the instrumental break! For those of us who need to have all the known mixes, you *will* find the original Capitol mixes here!
And, even though Capitol's "Duophonic" (fake stereo) mixes are infamous, the fact is Capitol only really used them when true stereo mixes weren't available. These are the only songs in Duophonic:
Meet The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand, This Boy
The Beatles' Second Album - You Can't Do That, I'll Get You, She Loves You
Something New - (all are true stereo)
Beatles `65 - She's A Woman, I Feel Fine
One final note: The Japanese version of this title (on the Toshiba / EMI label) has slightly larger packaging, complete with nicely printed inner jackets and inner sleeves to put the CDs in. But, the Japanese release also contains "Copy Controlled" CDs, so that set isn't perfect either...)
Dock one star for the packaging November 17, 2004
Peter Lavezzoli (Ft. Lauderdale, FL USA)
42 out of 43 found this review helpful
Capitol did a tremendous job with the music here. They did exactly what they were supposed to do: take the original American Capitol stereo and mono mixes, transfer them cleanly and leave them alone. All of the original anomalies are here: Lennon's harmonica overdub on Thank You Girl, which was only in America, guitar overdub in Money, the extra verse in the US mono I'll Cry Instead (but not the stereo), the single-track McCartney vocal in the US mono And I Love Her, the extra reverb on both stereo and mono US versions of She's a Woman/I Feel Fine, the double-track intro vocal on the US stereo If I Fell, and so on. These are all here, exactly as they were on the US albums. And for that, Capitol deserves applause, because frankly I've been disappointed with the Yellow Submarine remaster, and Let It Be Naked. I don't like tampering. This box set is the genuine (American) article.
And it's worth preserving for what it was and is. The Beatles and George Martin both knew exactly why Capitol was releasing different versions of these records in America, and George Martin gave Capitol his stereo mixes for that purpose, after which Capitol added some reverb on certain songs, but the fact of the matter is that both Martin and the Beatles had no problem whatsoever with this practice. And by the way, the butcher cover of Y&T was NOT a protest against these American releases. That photo was a protest against the carnage of the Vietnam War. The band said it, and the photographer also says it. So stop the myth that it was an anti-Capitol photo. It was an ANTI-WAR photo.
I actually like the fake stereo and reverb from these US albums...it was a product of the times and of the era, and in fact the first four mono UK albums as they sound on the current EMI CDs are very flat, dull, and dry. This new Meet the Beatles beats the pants off With the Beatles. It's big and bold. The Beatles 65 material has never sounded better, listen to Baby's in Black. No comparison to the Beatles For Sale CD. For those who really wish to hear a cleaner version of With the Beatles, you can have some fun by taking these new mono mixes in this box set, and reconstructing With the Beatles from the tracks here on MTB and the 2nd Album. You'll make yourself a new version of WTB that sounds way better than the flimsy EMI disc.
With all of this said, I dock one star for the packaging. The album covers look discolored, not their original colors, worst offense. The sleeves force you to pull the disc out by your fingers and possibly smudge the disc, second offense. The cardboard packaging is ridiculously cheap, third offense, and the booklet is irrelevant and useless, fourth offense.
My suggestion? Get the "Beatles On Capitol Records" book, scan the covers from there because they look much better, print out your own front and back covers, and put these discs in jewel cases to keep them safe. That's what I've just spent an hour doing, and the packaging is now in the trash. Terrible job on the packaging, but I have to say, kudos to Capitol, they did a great job musically by cleaning up the American tapes, and then leaving them the hell alone.
 I Want to Hold Your Band!!! August 29, 2005
Harvey M. Canter (tarzana, ca United States)
18 out of 18 found this review helpful
I am about as big a fan of the Beatles' music as there is, yet this will constitute the 3rd negative review I have made of a recent Beatles release (see also my excoriating blasts at the HDN DVD and Let It Be Naked fiascos). The big music execs just can't get it right when it comes to the Fab Four. They are getting right for the Stones and the Who, though it took 2 or 3 times around the catalog for the Bowie, Hendrix, Kinks, and Elvis Costello people to get it right. The Beatles need and deserve remastering of the basic albums (AND MOVIES), great packaging, and lots of extras for the digital age. Is that so difficult to grasp? Apparently so, as we continue to get hack jobs done to material that is really culturally and artistically sacred.
Here, the music part is not so bad, really. I have been listening a lot to the stereo versions on a boom box in the bathroom, or in the car, and they sound great to me. I have not scrutinized them sonically, as I am just transported by having the music in the order that I originally heard it, and which my brain is wired for. In the car, I found that Beatles '65 was skipping a lot, which to me indicates an inferior CD pressing. Plus, the packaging is SO bad (see below)that I did not want to risk an accident trying to handle it in the car. So, I am a happy idiot when it comes to the music part: these are the versions I used to play on my little red Mattel "Show n' Tell" record player, and the ones I heard on the Beatles cartoon show. (Now THERE'S an item that should be put on DVD!) I easily accepted the British issues when they came out on CD, as I already had many of the imports on vinyl, and was used to the "official" versions. But, I must admit, I like these Capitol versions a tad better due to the deep neurological factor. If you are about 45 or older you will know what I am talking about.
After reading about 50 or so customer reviews, I think the consensus about the packaging is clear: it is hazardous to the health of your pricey Capitol CD's. The discs slide into cute little paper sleeves and there is nothing to protect the CD, and it very easily slips out unless you are ready to catch it. In fact, the entire guts of this package falls out if you let your guard down for one sec. But when you put the sleeves back in--well, they catch on some inner folds and then it takes quite a lot of effort to put the whole thing back together. And the printing is painfully small, esp. considering the 45+ nostalgia crowd this dingus is aimed at: HELLO!!--we are all suffering from failing vision in this age group. Really, about the crappiest box set design I've ever seen. In the pre-release stage, how could this fundament get past record execs, consumer focus groups, Beatle lawyers/reps/family members etc., not to mention Paul and Ringo? I mean, how many interested parties were asleep at the wheel here even BEFORE the set came out?
It is all part of the ongoing, disturbing way that the Beatles are being "handled" by the industry--and by themselves. It really shows a lack of respect for consumers and for the Beatles' music & legacy. Paul & Ringo (and George Martin for that matter)--where are you guys? This was your gift to the world--why let it be treated so shoddy now, when great (though lesser) artists get the royal red carpet treatment? Wake up, lads, and let's get it right!!!
(And, while you're at it--make sure that the Hollywood Bowl and Rarities albums get put out, and how about the Shea Stadium concert on DVD, or a whole series of live DVD's--and the cartoon show. The bootleggers make 'em and sell 'em, and even though they are of dubious quality, lots of people buy them. And, of course, HELP! and Let It Be need a respectable release on DVD. Or, just continue to let flunkeys put out inferior pablum. I would quit my day job to help out, so just let me know when and where to show up!
 The way the Beatles were meant to be heard July 13, 2006
H. Rettop (Dallas, Tx)
19 out of 20 found this review helpful
Superb! Excellent!
Over the years, I've bought well over five hundred items from Amazon; but this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review.
If you're a Beatles aficionado (especially of the early Beatles ((and especially if you were there to witness the `60s)) )- these CD's are an absolute MUST for your collection!
When I first heard them- I went through a real mind-shift regarding something that had haunted me for years. It was something that pertained to the quality of digital sound:
Back in the late `80's- when I first began my CD collection- I was quite let down by the sound quality of compact discs- the sounds seemed sterile, frozen- almost lifeless. After a while, I came to the conclusion that it was simply due to the newness of digital technology and perhaps a lack of digital expertise by the engineers involved. When I got these albums a few weeks ago- all of my previous opinions changed. Suddenly, I realized that the very first CD's I'd bought for my collection were the newly released British Beatles CD's (which- up until now- had been the only official Beatles CD's on the market)- and I very quickly realized why these first CD's had sounded so frozen and lifeless to me: the simple fact is- the British versions are very different soundwise from the American (or Capitol) versions I'd been used to up until that time. While the British versions are dry and understated; the Capitol versions are tastefully iced over with reverb and a variety of effects that greatly enhance their songs. These Capitol versions were the Beatles that I'd been hardwired with from an early age (and much, much prefer!). It was almost like an epiphany after all these years as I realized that it wasn't the digitizing of the records that had made my first CD's sound sterile- but instead- the dry understated sound of the original British albums themselves.
I'd be very interested to find out what was done to enhance and Americanize the original tapes- and who did it. There's definitely reverb slathered on as well as a fine-tuning of the frequencies (someone really knew how to carve out their frequency niches) and maybe some tweaking of the RPM's. To me, one of the truer tests of a good mix is if you can actually hear the bass guitar as a separate enhancing instrument- and here- every instrument is very much definable (when listening to these CD's in my car- I almost feel like I'm in the middle of the fellows onstage). Anyway, whatever was done- it was done quite well. The American versions not only leave the essence of the Beatles intact, but also add a vibrantly haunting quality that nearly makes these records a living entity.
If you buy these CD's- here's something interesting to do to compare the Brit vs. Yank versions (it's sort of fun). Burn a CD with the following sequence of songs:
First record "Things We Said Today" from the British version of "A Hard Day's Night"-
Followed by "Things We Said Today" from the Capitol "Something New"-
Followed by "I'll Be Back" from the British version of "A Hard Day's Night"-
Followed by the stereo version of "I'll Be Back" from the Capitol "Beatles `65"-
Followed by "If I Fell" from the British version of "A Hard Day's Night"-
Finally following all of this with "If I Fell" from the Capitol "Something New."
I think you'll find that the A/B contrast between the Brit versions and the American versions is mind boggling and inspiring to say the least.
Anyway- after all these years- I'm really glad to hear these sounds again!
Early Beatles, U.S. style November 20, 2004
George Porter (USA)
14 out of 14 found this review helpful
When EMI released the Beatles' albums on CD in 1987, American collectors who in their youth wore out copies of albums with titles like "Meet the Beatles," "Something New," "Beatles '65" and "Yesterday and Today" were unable to find those discs.
The 1987 CDs were not the albums American collectors knew, and given the size of the American market that is not an insignificant point. For millions of listeners in the United States, when the first CD's were released, American fans discovered albums that bore only a vague resemblance to those they knew.
Many listeners have been dissatisfied ever since and have filled fan magazines and Beatles-related Web sites with pleas for the release of the albums they knew and loved. With the release today of "The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1", a set that brings together "Meet the Beatles," "The Beatles' Second Album," "Something New" and "Beatles '65," all from 1964, these collectors can begin to rest easy.
As it turns out, even collectors who were never particularly nostalgic about the American albums and who believe that EMI and Apple should be pursuing other priorities have reason to admire this set. The label has gone the extra mile in dealing with fan obsessiveness. It has used the Capitol masters from the 1960's, rather than remixing the tracks or recompiling them from the existing CD's. That was necessary because Capitol's postproduction methods yielded a sound quite unlike that of the British recordings.
Moreover, the set includes both the mono and stereo mixes of each album, a move that not only restores more than 30 stereo tracks to the catalog (never been released on CD in stereo before), but also preserves mixing and editing anomalies that are unavailable elsewhere. An example: the mono version of "I'll Cry Instead" has an extra verse spliced in, something not found in the American stereo or British mono and stereo versions.
I'm finding this set a great pleasure. I grew up with these albums, and I played them to death. Now, at last, they're on CD. Thank you, Capitol for tihs fabulous box set of the year!
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