''1962–1966'', also known as the Red Album, is a
compilation album
A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
of songs 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 ...
, spanning the years indicated in the title. Released with its counterpart ''
1967–1970
''1967–1970'', also known as the Blue Album, is a compilation album of songs by the English rock band the Beatles, spanning the years indicated in the title. A double LP, it was released with ''1962–1966'' (the "Red Album") in April 1973. ...
'' (the "Blue Album") in 1973, the double LP peaked at number 3 in the United Kingdom. In the United States, it topped the ''
Cash Box
''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is 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 ...
'' albums chart and peaked at number 3 on the
''Billboard'' Top LPs & Tape chart while ''1967–1970'' reached the top spot. The album was re-released in September 1993 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 ...
, charting at number 3 in the UK.
The album was instigated by
Apple Records
Apple Records is a British record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists inclu ...
manager
Allen Klein
Allen Klein (December 18, 1931 – July 4, 2009) was an American businessman whose aggressive negotiation tactics affected industry standards for compensating recording artists. He founded ABKCO Music & Records Incorporated. Klein increased pr ...
shortly before he was dismissed from his position. Even though the group had success with
cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of songs, particularly "
Twist and Shout", the original release of ''1962–1966'' contains only songs composed by the Beatles. It also omits any
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 ...
compositions from the era, such as "
Taxman", and as such, consists entirely of
Lennon–McCartney
Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...
originals.
As with ''1967–1970'', the compilation was created by Apple and
EMI/
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 ...
in response to a
bootleg collection titled ''Alpha Omega'', which had been sold on television the previous year. Print advertising for the two records made a point of declaring them "the only collection of the Beatles".
The success of the two official double LP compilations inspired Capitol's repackaging of
the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their f ...
' 1960s hits, starting with the 1974 album ''
Endless Summer''.
A deluxe expanded version of the album was released in 2023. The new release contained remixes of a majority of the tracks, and it added tracks not on the original release, including songs written by Harrison, cover songs and more tracks from ''
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating handgun with at least one barrel and a revolving cylinder containing multiple chambers (each holding a single cartridge) for firing. Because most revolver models hold six cartridges before needing to be reloaded, ...
''.
Album covers
For the group's 1963 debut
LP ''
Please Please Me'', photographer
Angus McBean took the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI House (
EMI's London headquarters in
Manchester Square, demolished in 1995). The cover for the 1963 EP ''
The Beatles (No. 1)'' used a picture from the same shoot.
In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although one of the 1969 photographs was originally intended for the planned ''Get Back'' album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as ''
Let It Be''. Instead, another 1969 photograph, along with an unused one from the 1963 photo shoot, were used for both this LP and the cover of ''
1967–1970
''1967–1970'', also known as the Blue Album, is a compilation album of songs by the English rock band the Beatles, spanning the years indicated in the title. A double LP, it was released with ''1962–1966'' (the "Red Album") in April 1973. ...
''.
The inner gatefold photo for both LPs has been attributed to both
Stephen Goldblatt and
Don McCullin
Sir Donald McCullin (born 9 October 1935) is a British photojournalist, particularly recognised for his war photography and images of urban strife. His career, which began in 1959, has specialised in examining the Social documentary photograph ...
, and is from the "Mad Day Out" photo session in London on Sunday 28 July 1968.
The album cover was designed by
Tom Wilkes.
Release variations
* Original 1973 UK release: Apple PCSP 7171-2
* Original 1973 US release: Apple SKBO-3403 (whole and sliced apples on red background)
* Second 1976 US pressings: Capitol SKBO-3403 (Capitol target logo on back of album cover, red labels with "Capitol" in light red at bottom. There are also copies erroneously pressed with the BLUE labels for the 1967–1970 pressings.)
* 1978 first US red vinyl issue: Capitol SEBX-11842 (Capitol dome logo on back of album cover, large dome logo at top of labels)
The British and American versions of the vinyl album contain notable differences; for example, "
Help!
''Help!'' is the fifth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles and the soundtrack to their Help! (film), film of the same name. It was released on 6 August 1965 by Parlophone. Seven of the fourteen songs, including the sin ...
" on the American edition includes the same pseudo-
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...
intro as found on the American ''Help!''
soundtrack LP, while the same song on the British edition does not. Also, the British LP uses the stereo "whispering intro" mix of "
I Feel Fine", while the U.S. LP uses the mono mix from ''
Beatles '65'', which is drenched in additional
reverb
In acoustics, reverberation (commonly shortened to reverb) is a persistence of sound after it is produced. It is often created when a sound is reflected on surfaces, causing multiple reflections that build up and then decay as the sound is a ...
. In the liner notes associating the songs with their original albums, the U.S. editions referenced the Capitol albums while the UK editions used the British albums.

The first
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 ...
version was released on 20 September 1993.
It was released on two discs for the price of two albums, though it could have fit onto a single disc;
EMI stated that this was done to match the release of ''1967–1970''. The CD version used new digital masters. The first four tracks on the CD release are in mono; the rest of the tracks are in stereo. The tracks "
All My Loving", "
Can't Buy Me Love", "
A Hard Day's Night", "
And I Love Her" and "
Eight Days a Week" made their CD stereo debut with this release.
The 1993 versions were also issued on vinyl in the UK.
2010 remastered version
EMI announced on 10 August 2010, that the album had been remastered for a second time and, once again, would be released as a two-CD package. The album was released worldwide on 18 October 2010, and 19 October 2010 in North America.
2014 mastered vinyl
The album was reissued on 180g vinyl in 2014, prepared from the original UK 1973 compilation master. The fake stereo mixes of the
Andy White version of "
Love Me Do" (with Starr on tambourine) and "
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 ...
" were replaced by the true mono versions, but while the Side 1 label indicated “
Please Please Me” and “
From Me To You
"From Me to You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the UK Singles ...
” being mono, they were, in fact, the stereo versions.
2023 remixed editions
The compilation, along with its counterpart, was rereleased with an expanded track listing on 10 November 2023.
The 12 additional tracks are: "
I Saw Her Standing There", "
Twist and Shout", "
This Boy", "
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", "
You Can't Do That", "
If I Needed Someone", "
Taxman", "
Got to Get You into My Life", "
I'm Only Sleeping
"I'm Only Sleeping" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 studio album ''Revolver''. In the United States and Canada, it was one of the three tracks that Capitol Records cut from the album and instead included on '' Yes ...
", "
Here, There and Everywhere", and "
Tomorrow Never Knows
"Tomorrow Never Knows" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in August 1966 as the final track on their album ''Revolver'', although it was the firs ...
". Additionally, the version of "
Love Me Do" with Ringo Starr on drums, originally issued only on first pressings of the 1962 UK single, replaced the version with
Andy White on drums and Starr on tambourine formerly used for this compilation.
Thirty out of the 38 songs on the album received a new stereo mix, while the remaining eight used mixes from the 2022 ''
Revolver: Special Edition'' set. The album is also available in
Dolby Atmos
Dolby Atmos is a surround sound technology developed by Dolby Laboratories. It expands on existing surround sound systems by adding height channels as well as free-moving sound objects, interpreted as three-dimensional objects with neither horiz ...
surround sound. On the CD and digital editions, the additional tracks are inserted into the track list in chronological order of each track's original issue, while on the vinyl edition, the first two LPs retain the track list of the 1973 release, with the additional tracks placed on a third LP.
A press conference for the release, along with "
Now and Then", was held at the Dolby Screening Room in New York City on 27 September, 2023. Tracks from the release were played in the theatre in their newly mixed form.
''
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 ...
'' called the original red and blue albums "eight of the most-perfect album sides ever devised" and said that the bonus discs "fix the holes in the originals", noting the addition of songs written by Harrison, cover songs and more tracks from ''Revolver''.
They said tracks in the compilation "have never thundered like this before".
Giles Martin, who mixed the new versions, said of the new mixes, "I never thought it would happen", as Martin has been credited for stating the early recordings were impossible to work with this kind of mix. He said in an interview, "Technically, on the early tracks, it's completely mind-blowing to me how we made them sound. I didn't think it was possible for us to do that to the early tracks. As I've told you, I didn't think that we could do the work we've done on things like 'I Saw Her Standing There' or 'All My Loving' or 'Twist and Shout.' The power of Ringo's drumming, for example, on those early tracks, it's been unearthed. But the playing is just ''really'' good. That's joy."
''
The Sunday Times Magazine
''The Sunday Times Magazine'' is a magazine included with ''The Sunday Times''. In 1962 it became the first colour supplement to be published as a supplement to a UK newspaper, and its arrival "broke the mould of weekend newspaper publishing".
...
'' called the new mixes "extraordinary", and that, on the Red Album particularly, they "sound so fresh it could be by some up-and-coming garage rock band". They also quoted Martin "rejecting the cynicism some people have about reissues". ''
Salon.com'' said the tracks "came roaring to life with previously unrealised dimensions", and praised the separation of the tracks. For example, they said the mix of bonus track "I Saw Her Standing There" allows the Beatles to be heard "in splendid isolation, all working in the stead of a time-eclipsing song".
Tidal Magazine added, "the 2023 revisions are sequenced not like LPs but like playlists, allowing for slight digressions and offering a more immersive experience. It's not quite the same vibe as the original records, yet these 50th-anniversary reissues do hearken back to the origins of the Red and Blue Albums." They also added that "they repurpose the Beatles to suit the habits of streaming listeners — just like how the originals were designed with an LP audience in mind."
On 3 November 2023, the 2023 mix of "Love Me Do" was released alongside "Now and Then".
Track listing
* Although it appeared on the
Vee-Jay compilation ''
Jolly What! The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage'', this is the first appearance of "From Me to You" on a U.S. Capitol album.
* "
A Hard Day's Night" also makes its U.S. Capitol album debut here, having previously only appeared on the United Artists soundtrack album of the
film of the same name.
All tracks are written by
Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.
Charts
Weekly charts
Original release
1993 reissue
2010 reissue
Year-end charts
Certifications and sales
In the US, the album sold 1,215,338 LPs by 31 December 1973 and 5,475,942 LPs by the end of the decade.
See also
*
Outline of the Beatles
*
The Beatles timeline
References
External links
Notes on released versions
{{DEFAULTSORT:1962-1966
1973 compilation albums
Albums arranged by George Martin
Albums arranged by Paul McCartney
Albums produced by George Martin
Apple Records compilation albums
The Beatles compilation albums