The Beatles vs. the Four Seasons
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''Introducing... The Beatles'' is the first
studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
released by the English rock band
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
in the United States. Originally scheduled for a July 1963 release, the LP came out on 10 January 1964, on Vee-Jay Records, ten days before Capitol's '' Meet the Beatles!''. The latter album, however, entered the U.S. album chart one week before the former. Consequently, when ''Meet The Beatles!'' peaked at for eleven consecutive weeks, ''Introducing...The Beatles'' stalled at where it remained for nine consecutive weeks. It was the subject of much legal wrangling, but ultimately, Vee-Jay was permitted to sell the album until late 1964, by which time it had sold more than 1.3 million copies. On 24 July 2014 the album was certified gold and platinum by the RIAA.


Initial non-release

The Beatles' recording contract that began May 1962 with Parlophone in the United Kingdom gave the parent corporation
EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...
rights to offer any of the group's recordings to the various labels EMI owned in many countries of the world. However, EMI's United States subsidiary,
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, declined to release the "
Please Please Me ''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two sin ...
" single. Following this, Transglobal, an EMI affiliate that worked to place foreign masters with US record companies, negotiated with several labels before Vee-Jay Records signed a licensing agreement giving it the right of first refusal on Beatles' records for five years. As part of that agreement, even after its singles releases of "Please Please Me" and " From Me to You" failed to chart above No. 116 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Vee-Jay planned to release the ''
Please Please Me ''Please Please Me'' is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom, following the success of the band's first two sin ...
'' album in the US, and received copies of the mono and stereo master tapes in late April or early May 1963. Originally, Vee-Jay considered releasing the ''Please Please Me'' LP unaltered, as it appeared in the UK. A surviving acetate made by Universal Recording Corporation of Chicago, probably in May 1963, contains all 14 songs in the same order as on the UK album, with the title still listed as ''Please Please Me''. But in keeping with the American norm of a 12-song album, Vee-Jay chose instead to omit "Please Please Me" and " Ask Me Why" (which had comprised the first single release) and change the album's title to ''Introducing... The Beatles''. Also, the engineer at Universal in Chicago thought that
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
's count-in at the start of " I Saw Her Standing There" was extraneous rather than intentionally placed there, so he snipped the "one, two, three" (leaving the "four") from Vee-Jay's mono and stereo masters. Except for those omissions, the order and contents of the album were untouched, resulting in a US album that bore the closest resemblance to a British Beatles LP until ''
Revolver A revolver (also called a wheel gun) is a repeating handgun that has at least one barrel and uses a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold up to six roun ...
'' in 1966. Preparations for the LP's release continued in late June and early July 1963, including the manufacturing of masters and metal parts and the printing of 6,000 front covers. But, despite the claims of many older Beatles books and discographies that ''Introducing... The Beatles'' was first released on 22 July 1963, no documentation exists to confirm that the album was released at any time in 1963. A management shake-up at Vee-Jay, which included the resignation of the label's president
Ewart Abner Ewart Gladstone Abner, Jr. (May 11, 1923 – December 27, 1997) was a major American record company executive who was President of Motown Records from 1973 to 1975 and was personal and business manager for Stevie Wonder for 10 years. In his ex ...
after he used company money to cover personal gambling debts, resulted in the cancellation of the release of ''Introducing... The Beatles'' and albums by Frank Ifield, Alma Cogan and a Jewish cantor.


Version one

Vee-Jay's financial problems forced it to take care of its most pressing debt first. Because the Beatles and Ifield were low priorities, the label chose not to report royalties on their sales. As a result, Transglobal declared its contract with Vee-Jay null and void on 8 August 1963. The next single, " She Loves You", was licensed by Transglobal to the
Swan Swans are birds of the family (biology), family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. 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 t ...
label of Philadelphia. On 14 December 1963, ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' magazine mentioned that
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
planned an all-out promotional campaign for the Beatles in the United States. Following that, the single " I Want to Hold Your Hand" was rush released on 26 December. On 7 January 1964, Vee-Jay's board of directors met for the first time since the single was released, and it discussed the Beatles' material it had in the vault. Desperate for cash, the board decided to release ''Introducing... The Beatles'', even if it meant legal trouble in the future. Metal parts were already at Vee-Jay's three primary pressing plants, and 6,000 front covers were already printed. But it had no back cover prepared. So, as a stopgap, the label used a back cover slick made from one side of its standard inner sleeve, consisting of full-colour reproductions of the covers of 25 "other fine albums of significant interest". This cover is known by collectors as the "Ad Back" version and is highly sought. A second stopgap back cover was used when the "Ad Back" slicks were exhausted; because it is all-white with no printing at all, it is known by collectors as the "Blank Back" edition and is also very rare. Finally, third editions contain Vee-Jay's official back cover, with ''Introducing The Beatles'' near the top and the song titles in two columns underneath. All of these were available on the market within days of the 10 January release date. Also in January, "Please Please Me" was reissued as a single, this time with "From Me to You" as the B-side. But on 16 January 1964, less than a week after ''Introducing... The Beatles'' was released, Vee-Jay was served with a restraining order stopping further distribution. Beechwood Music, Inc., Capitol Records' publishing subsidiary, owned the American publishing rights to "
Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the official 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 ...
" and " P.S. I Love You", and because the two songs had not yet been officially released in the US, Beechwood refused to issue a license for Vee-Jay to release them. Approximately 80,000 copies of ''Introducing... The Beatles'' had been released with the two songs on them, with only 2,000 or so in stereo.


Version two

To circumvent the restraining order, Vee-Jay quickly reconfigured ''Introducing... The Beatles''. It removed "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" and replaced them with the previously omitted "Ask Me Why" and "Please Please Me", though some pressings of the album did not alter the track list. The new versions were prepared in late January and began appearing in stores around 10 February 1964. Because of the initial restraining order, version two of ''Introducing... The Beatles'' did not enter the ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' charts until three weeks after Capitol's '' Meet the Beatles!'' album. Once it did, it quickly rose to the number two spot, where it stayed for nine straight weeks. It also peaked at number two in ''
Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...
'', and it got to number one in ''
Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...
'' magazine. This success inspired a host of other Vee-Jay releases. First came the album '' Jolly What! England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage'' issued on 26 February, containing the Beatles tracks "Please Please Me", "From Me to You", "Ask Me Why" and "Thank You Girl" from the 1963 singles and ''Introducing...'', and other tracks from Frank Ifield. The rereleased single "Please Please Me" rose to number three on the ''Hot 100'', ''Cash Box'' and ''Record World''. Soon after, " Twist and Shout" was released 2 March on the subsidiary Tollie label with "
There's a Place "There's a Place" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their debut album, ''Please Please Me'', released in March 1963. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to McCartney–Lennon. In the United States, the song ...
" as the B-side, and " Do You Want to Know a Secret", with "
Thank You Girl "Thank You Girl" is a song recorded by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It was issued as the B-side of the single "From Me to You", which was recorded on the same day (5 March 1963). While not rele ...
" on the B-side, was issued on 23 March. Both singles went up to number two on the ''Hot 100'', with "Twist and Shout" reaching number one on both ''Cash Box'' and ''Record World''. Also a Beatles EP titled '' Souvenir of Their Visit to America'' was released by Vee-Jay on 23 March, featuring " Misery", "
A Taste of Honey ''A Taste of Honey'' is the first play by the British dramatist Shelagh Delaney, written when she was 19. It was intended as a novel, but she turned it into a play because she hoped to revitalise British theatre and address social issues that ...
", " Ask Me Why", and "
Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 1221) ...
". Even with the replacement of the two Beechwood Music songs, Vee-Jay and Capitol battled in court throughout the early part of 1964. Injunctions against Vee-Jay's album were issued, lifted and restored more than once. Because the album was often pressed quickly between restraining orders, there are almost two dozen different label variations, including mono and stereo copies, manufactured at numerous pressing plants. Finally, on 9 April 1964, the two labels settled. Vee-Jay was granted a license giving it the right to issue the 16 Beatles' songs it controlled, in any way it saw fit, until 15 October 1964. At that time, its license expired, and all rights would revert to Capitol. During the time ''Introducing... The Beatles'' was available, it sold approximately 1,300,000 mono copies and approximately 41,000 stereo copies. Because only 3.1 percent of all of the LPs were in stereo, true stereo copies are rare. After the settlement, the Beechwood songs were issued by Vee-Jay as a single, on 27 April on Tollie. "
Love Me Do "Love Me Do" is the official 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 ...
"/" P.S. I Love You" rose to become the Beatles' fourth number one single on ''Billboard'' and their fifth on both ''Cash Box'' and ''Record World''.


Other versions

Twice before its license expired, Vee-Jay repackaged ''Introducing... The Beatles''. Although neither album contained any new music, both of them made the ''Billboard'' album charts.


VJ 1062 (with photos)

One of these was ''Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles'' (Vee-Jay VJLP(S)-1062), which featured a three-quarters gatefold cover, portrait paintings of the four musicians and the text: :"Look inside. Complete story of their favourite male and female singer, their favourite foods, types of girls, sport, hobby, songs, colours, real name, birthplace, birthdays, height, education, color of hair & eyes." The inside cover text describes Paul as the "Nut Beatle" or "Beatle Nut", John as "nearsighted" and the "Chief Beatle", George as the "quietest" and the "one with the deadpan face" and Ringo as the "shortest Beatle" who "will send his steak back if it is not blood red". The back sleeve shows outlines of hearts below each Beatle-photo and holds instructions of how to fill the hearts with personal photos. It also erroneously features a second portrait of Paul in place of George, despite being labeled as George. The record inside the cover did not even contain the new name; it still stated ''Introducing... The Beatles'' on the label. ''Songs, Pictures and Stories'' was released either in late July 1964 or 12 October 1964, with the latter the more likely date, because it entered the ''Billboard'' album chart on 31 October. It eventually peaked at number 63.


VJ 1065 (with the Four Seasons)

The other repackaging was the two-record set ''The Beatles vs the Four Seasons'', which contained copies of ''Introducing... The Beatles'' in one pocket of the gatefold cover and ''
Golden Hits of the Four Seasons ''Golden Hits of the Four Seasons'' is an LP album by the Four Seasons, released by Vee-Jay Records under catalog number LP-1065 as a monophonic recording in 1963, and later in stereo under catalog number SR-1065 the same year. It reached numb ...
'' (VJLP 1065) in the other. This Vee-Jay creation spent three weeks on the ''Billboard'' chart in October 1964 and peaked at number 142. The cover artwork for this version was later parodied for the bootleg release ''The Beatles vs the Third Reich'', featuring the band's 1962 Star-Club recordings. Though Vee-Jay could not manufacture or distribute any Beatles product after 15 October 1964, it took a long time for the records to vanish from retail stores. Both ''Introducing... The Beatles'' and ''Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles'' remained on the ''Billboard'' LP chart until 9 January 1965.


After Vee Jay license expired: ''The Early Beatles'', ''Rarities''

From the start of Beatlemania in the United States until the October 1964 expiration of its rights to Beatles music, Vee-Jay issued four LP albums, four singles, and an EP out of the 16 tracks it gained from its 1963 license period. On 22 March 1965, Capitol issued ''
The Early Beatles ''The Early Beatles'' is the Beatles' sixth album released on Capitol Records, and their eighth album overall for the American market. All of the tracks on this album had previously been issued on the early 1964 Vee-Jay Records release '' Intro ...
'', which contained 11 of the 14 tracks that had previously been issued on ''Introducing... The Beatles''. " Misery" and "
There's a Place "There's a Place" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their debut album, ''Please Please Me'', released in March 1963. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to McCartney–Lennon. In the United States, the song ...
", two of the other three songs, would not make their Capitol Records LP debut until 1980, on the US version of '' Rarities''. The other ''Introducing...'' song was "I Saw Her Standing There", first released in the UK on the ''Please Please Me'' LP. The song appeared in the US on both the Vee-Jay album as well as Capitol's ''Meet The Beatles!'' LP. These two albums marked the only time that two different Beatles' albums, each from a different record label, were released in the same month with one song appearing on both albums. There is a difference between the two tracks in that Paul's count-off is cut short on the Vee-Jay release by three numbers leaving only "four!" on the intro. Later, in the summer of 1964, Capitol would release '' Something New'' in the United States with five songs that had already appeared on the American '' A Hard Day's Night'' soundtrack album released by
United Artists Records United Artists Records was an American record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B. History Genres In 1959, ...
about one month earlier. ''Introducing... The Beatles'' has never been officially released on compact disc, although several unauthorized CD reproductions have circulated in both mono and stereo versions, mostly with the version two line-up (with "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why").


Counterfeits

Starting in the late 1960s and continuing through the 1990s, ''Introducing... The Beatles'' was frequently
counterfeit To counterfeit means to imitate something authentic, with the intent to steal, destroy, or replace the original, for use in illegal transactions, or otherwise to deceive individuals into believing that the fake is of equal or greater value tha ...
ed. These counterfeits can be identified by the cover printing and quality, the label, or the sound quality. Counterfeits have some significant differences from the commercial issue. Some of the more common variations include... *Labels with the title of the album and the group's name separated by the center spindle hole (as shown in the photo to the right) *Labels with color bands that are off-center and/or missing the color green (as shown in the photo to the right) *Labels with large white "brackets" (no color band) *Album covers with dark brown borders *Dating from the late 1970s,
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
's shadow is not visible on the right side of the cover. (However, all legitimate copies of the album and even most counterfeits include his shadow.) *Hype stickers that read "Featuring Twist and Shout" and "P.S. I Love You" (Legitimate hype stickers show "Twist and Shout" and "Please, Please Me") Nearly all fakes claim to be in stereo (though the actual sound of the record is often in mono). As legitimate stereo copies of ''Introducing... The Beatles'' are rare, the majority of copies with "stereo" or "stereophonic" printed on the cover are counterfeits. There are also known fake versions of ''Songs, Pictures, and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles''. These counterfeits often omit "''Stories''" from the album title, since they are circulated without the gatefold cover and the text inside, renaming it ''Songs and Pictures of the Fabulous Beatles''. These versions have three songs not on the original album. "From Me To You" (in place of "Anna"), "Love Me Do" (in place of "Ask Me Why") and "P.S I Love You", which opens side 2 rather than "Please Please Me" (The song is rather placed on side 1, track 3).


Track listing


Version one


Version two


Personnel

Personnel per MacDonald The Beatles *
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
 – rhythm guitar,
harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...
, vocals *
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...
 – bass guitar, vocals *
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
 – lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Chains" and "Do You Want to Know a Secret" *
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...
 – drums, lead vocals on "Boys",
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, though ...
on "Love Me Do", maracas on "P.S. I Love You" Additional and production * Andy White - drums on "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" *
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 B ...
 – producer, piano on "Misery",
celesta The celesta or celeste , also called a bell-piano, is a struck idiophone operated by a keyboard. It looks similar to an upright piano (four- or five-octave), albeit with smaller keys and a much smaller cabinet, or a large wooden music box ( ...
on "Baby It's You"


Charts and certifications


Chart performance


Certifications


Notes

*


References

* * * * * * *


External links


Bruce Spizer's ''Songs, Pictures and Stories of the Fabulous Beatles Records on Vee-Jay'' website
{{Authority control 1964 albums Albums produced by George Martin The Beatles albums Vee-Jay Records albums