The Beatles 1962-1966

1962–1966 (widely known as The Red Album) is a compilation of The Beatles' greatest hits from 1962 to 1966. It was released with 1967–1970 (The Blue Album), a compilation of their greatest hits from 1967 to 1970. 1962–1966 reached #3 in the UK and managed to reach #1 in the U.S. Cashbox albums chart. However, in the U.S. the official chart was administered by Billboard, where 1962–1966 only peaked at #3, while 1967–1970 managed to meet the summit. The Beatles themselves participated in selecting the songs for inclusion, as well as the colours and pictures. Even though the group had had success with cover versions of songs, most notably with "Twist and Shout", which made #2 on the Billboard charts, only songs composed by The Beatles themselves were included. It is recognised as the first Beatles compilation since their breakup on 31 December 1970. Both it and 1967–1970 were produced by Apple/EMI at least partially in response to a bootleg compilation titled Alpha Omega, which had been sold on television the previous year.

Photos

1962–1966 and 1967–1970 showed The Beatles, looking down from a stairwell in the EMI building in London. The earlier photo was taken from the same session that produced the one used on their first album, Please Please Me (1963). The later photo was taken in early 1969, with Harrison, McCartney, Starr and Lennon replicating their exact poses in the earlier photo. The internal gatefold photo was taken in July 1968, during the "Mad Day Out" photo sessions around London.

Release variations

The British and American versions of the vinyl album contain notable differences. "Help!" on the American edition includes the "James Bond-intro," while the same song on the British edition does not. In addition, the British version of the vinyl album contains mysterious whispering leading into the song, "I Feel Fine," which does not appear on the American edition of the vinyl album. Finally, in a number of instances, the American and British versions of the vinyl album utilized different mixes of the same song. Original 1973 release: Apple SKBO-3403 (Whole and sliced apples in red background) Second 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) First red vinyl issue: Capitol SEBX-11842 (Capitol dome logo on back of album cover, large dome logo at top of labels) The Compact Disc version was released on two discs for the price of two albums, though it could have fit on to 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 and the following tracks made their CD stereo debut with this release: "All My Loving", "Can't Buy Me Love", "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her" and "Eight Days a Week". See Mix Variations below.