''Meet the Beatles!'' is a studio album by the English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, released as their second album in the United States. It was the group's first American album to be issued by

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

, on 20 January 1964 in both mono and

stereo Stereophonic sound, commonly shortened to stereo, is a method of sound reproduction that recreates a multi-directional, 3-dimensional audible perspective. This is usually achieved by using two independent audio channels through a configurat ...

formats. It topped the popular album chart on 15 February 1964 and remained at number one for eleven weeks before being replaced by '' The Beatles' Second Album''. The cover featured Robert Freeman's iconic portrait of the Beatles used in the United Kingdom for ''

With the Beatles ''With the Beatles'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in the United Kingdom on 22 November 1963 on Parlophone, eight months after the release of the band's debut album, '' Please Please Me''. P ...

'', with a blue tint added to the original stark black-and-white photograph. Compared to ''With the Beatles'', ''Meet the Beatles!'' dropped five tracks ("

Roll Over Beethoven "Roll Over Beethoven" is a 1956 song written by Chuck Berry, originally released on Chess Records, with "Drifting Heart" as the A-side and B-side, B-side. The lyrics of the song mention rock and roll and the desire for rhythm and blues to be a ...

", " You Really Got a Hold on Me", "

Devil in Her Heart "Devil in His Heart" is a song written by Richard B. Drapkin, who recorded under the name Ricky Dee. Recordings The song was originally recorded as "Devil in His Heart" in Detroit by the Donays for Correc-tone Records. It was later picked up b ...

", "

Money (That's What I Want) "Money (That's What I Want)" is a rhythm and blues song written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, which was the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise. Barrett Strong recorded it in 1959 as a single for the Tamla label, ...

" and " Please Mr. Postman") and added three others ("

I Want to Hold Your Hand "I Want to Hold Your Hand" is a song by the English rock music, rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Recorded on 17 October 1963 and released on 29 November 1963 in the United Kingdom, it was the first Beatles recor ...

", " I Saw Her Standing There" and " This Boy").

Background

After EMI's subsidiary Capitol Records repeatedly rejected requests by both

Brian Epstein Brian Samuel Epstein ( ; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967. Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put hi ...

and

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

to release Beatles records in the United States,

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

label head Sir Joseph Lockwood sent a deputy to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in November 1963 ordering Capitol Records to commence promoting and releasing Beatles records in the United States. Despite the "first album" claim on the ''Meet the Beatles!'' cover, ten days prior to its release,

Vee-Jay Records Vee-Jay Records is an American record label founded in the 1950s, located in Chicago and specializing in blues, jazz, rhythm and blues and rock and roll. The label was founded in Gary, Indiana, in 1953 by Vivian Carter and James C. Bracken, a ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

beat Capitol to the punch with the release on 10 January 1964 of the Beatles' American debut album '' Introducing... The Beatles,'' which had been delayed for release for various reasons since the previous summer. Perhaps as a result of the Vee-Jay release, Liberty Music Shops advertised in the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' of 12 January 1964 that ''Meet the Beatles!'' was available for purchase, an ad not authorised by Capitol. In 2004, the album was released for the first time on

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...

in both stereo and mono as part of ''

The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 ''The Capitol Albums, Volume 1'' is a boxed set compilation comprising the Beatles' 1964 American Capitol Records releases. The set, which features the first official stereo versions of a number of tracks on CD, was released in late 2004. The ...

box set A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit. Music Artists ...

, containing the original US stereo and mono mixes. In 2014, ''Meet the Beatles!'' was reissued on CD, individually and included in the Beatles boxed set ''

The U.S. Albums ''The U.S. Albums'' is a box set compilation album, compilation comprising the remastered American albums released by the Beatles between 1964 and 1970. The box set was released on 21 January 2014 in the United States, marking the fiftieth anni ...

''. Although following the running order for ''Meet the Beatles!'', the mixes featured in this reissue are the UK mono and stereo mixes.

Music

By November 1963, the Beatles had already recorded over 35 songs for EMI's UK

Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...

label, while Capitol Records in the US planned to release an album and a single, and more at a later date. The US rights to the Beatles' first 14 tracks were held by Vee Jay Records along with a few others. "

She Loves You "She Loves You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released as a single in the United Kingdom on 23 August 1963. The single set and surpassed several sales records in the United Kingdom c ...

" had been issued in America on the

Swan Swans are birds of the genus ''Cygnus'' within the family Anatidae. The swans' closest relatives include the goose, geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe (biology) ...

label and also sold poorly. In Britain, Parlophone was already releasing its second Beatles album ''

'' and had issued several singles which were not included on any UK albums with the exception of the first two ("Please Please Me"/"Ask Me Why" and "

Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the debut single by the English rock band the Beatles, backed by " P.S. I Love You". When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States i ...

"/"PS I Love You"). While the Beatles' first two British albums each contained 14 tracks, in the American market albums were typically limited to 12 tracks and it was expected that albums would include the current hit single. The first three tracks on the album include the December 1963 Capitol single "

" along with the record's US

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

, " I Saw Her Standing There," and its UK B-side, " This Boy," from the original November 1963 release. Neither "I Want to Hold Your Hand" nor "This Boy" had appeared on an album at the time in the UK, while "I Saw Her Standing There" had been the lead-off track to the band's debut album. The other nine tracks on ''Meet the Beatles!'' were duplicated from its nearest UK counterpart album, ''With the Beatles''. Those were original Beatles songs and not cover versions of songs by other artists with the exception of "

Till There Was You "Till There Was You" is a show tune written by Meredith Willson, popularised by his 1957 stage production ''The Music Man'' and its 1962 movie musical adaptation, and further popularised by the Beatles cover. The song became the first To ...

". The remaining five tracks from ''With the Beatles'' were songs originally recorded by other artists. Capitol determined that for their first album they would only include original and fresh material. Capitol executives worried that the covers would turn Americans off the Beatles. The other five songs would appear on Capitol's next American LP, '' The Beatles' Second Album'', released in April 1964. The songs "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" are in a duophonic akestereo, because Capitol had not been provided proper stereo mixes.

Critical reception

The album was included in

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981). In 2001, the album was inducted into

Grammy Hall of Fame The Grammy Hall of Fame is a hall of fame to honor musical recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of ...

. In 2003, the album was ranked at number 59 on ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...

''s

500 Greatest Albums of All Time 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

list, re-ranked at number 53 on the 2012 list, and re-ranked at number 197 in 2020.

Commercial performance

In the U.S., the album debuted at No. 92 on the album chart for the week ending 1 February 1964. Two weeks later, it peaked at #1 where it remained for eleven consecutive weeks, eventually to be replaced by '' The Beatles' Second Album''. It sold 4,045,174 copies by 31 December 1964, and 4,699,348 copies by the end of the decade. It was certified Gold by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

on 3 February 1964, and 5× Platinum on 26 December 1991.

Track listing

All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except where noted.

Personnel

According to

Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...

: The Beatles *

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

lead and backing vocals, rhythm and acoustic guitars, handclaps; harmonica ;

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

lead and backing vocals, bass, handclaps; piano ;

claves Claves (; ) are a percussion instrument consisting of a pair of short, wooden sticks about 20–25 centimeters (8–10 inches) long and about 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) in diameter. Although traditionally made of wood (typically rosewood, ebony ...

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

backing vocals, lead and acoustic guitars, handclaps; lead vocals *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

drums, handclaps;

bongos Bongos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''bongó'') are an Afro-Cubans, Afro-Cuban percussion instrument consisting of a pair of small open bottomed hand drums of different sizes. The pair consists of the larger ''hembra'' () and the smaller ''macho'' ...

;

maraca A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas, also known as tamaracas, were rattles of d ...

s ; lead vocal Additional musician and production *

producer;

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

; piano * Norman Smith

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

Charts and certifications

Chart performance

Certifications

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

* * Bruce Spizer'
''The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records, Part One: Beatlemania and the Singles'' website
*Bruce Spizer'

* ttp://www.whatgoeson.com/story.20041101.html WhatGoesOn.com - ''Beatles Capitol Albums Vol. 1 now two weeks away'' article {{Authority control 1964 albums Albums produced by George Martin The Beatles albums Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients Capitol Records albums