On February 7, 1964, scores of screaming, swooning fans gathered at New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport to catch a glimpse of John, Paul, George and Ringo as The Beatles took their first steps on American soil. Two nights later, on February 9, 73 million viewers in the U.S. and millions more in Canada tuned in to CBS to watch The Beatles make their American television debut on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. In this cultural watershed moment in American history, The Beatles performed five songs on the live broadcast. “Beatlemania”, already in full, feverish bloom in The Beatles’ native U.K. and developing in the U.S., exploded with blissful fervor across America and around the world. The British Invasion had begun.

Shortly before The Beatles’ history-making Stateside visit, Capitol Records secured exclusive U.S. rights to release the band’s recordings in a deal with EMI. The storied, already iconic record label rush released Meet The Beatles! on January 20, 1964. The album features 12 tracks drawn largely from the band’s U.K. album With The Beatles (released November 22, 1963). Showcasing the band’s original songwriting, Capitol replaced five cover songs from the U.K. album with three originals: both sides of The Beatle’s first Capitol single (“I Want To Hold Your Hand”/“I Saw Her Standing There”) and the latest U.K. single’s B-side (“This Boy”). The album hit Number 1 and held the top spot for 11 weeks, launching a hitmaking string of Beatles albums compiled, titled and packaged by Capitol for the American market.

By early April, more than 3.6 million Meet The Beatles! albums had been sold, and on the singles front, The Beatles swept the Billboard Hot 100’s top 5 positions on April 4, a stunning chart record that still stands. On April 10, Capitol released The Beatles’ Second Album. Its 11 tracks include the five covers not included on Meet The Beatles!, three songs previously released in the U.S. by the Swan and Vee-Jay labels, plus the B-side to the band’s U.S. “Can’t Buy Me Love” single (“You Can’t Do That”), and two new songs recorded in March during sessions for the band’s soon to be released debut film, A Hard Day’s Night (“I Call Your Name” and a cover of Little Richard’s “Long Tall Sally”). Upon release, The Beatles’ Second Album replaced Meet The Beatles! atop Billboard’s albums chart for five weeks at Number 1.

On June 26, United Artists rush released the U.S. soundtrack album for A Hard Day's Night, which the studio would release to theaters nationwide in August. Along with its buoyant title track, the album features “Can’t Buy Me Love”, “And I Love Her”, and five more Beatles originals, as well as four George Martin-arranged orchestral instrumentals of Beatles songs. The soundtrack topped Billboard’s albums chart at Number 1 for 14 consecutive weeks, tallying a whopping 51 weeks on the chart. Capitol quickly released “A Hard Day’s Night” as a single, topping Billboard’s Hot 100 chart and selling more than a million copies in short order.

Released by Capitol on July 20, The Beatles’ Something New album includes five songs featured in the band’s A Hard Day’s Night film and six tracks new for America, including “Things We Said Today” and “Any Time At All”. Something New held at Number 2 on Billboard’s albums chart for nine weeks, just below the soundtrack.

Released in U.S. theaters in August, A Hard Day’s Night was a box office smash and a critics pick, earning two Academy Awardâ nominations. Within days of the film’s release, The Beatles returned to North America for a monthlong mad dash of 32 concerts across the U.S. and Canada from August 19 to September 20.

Capitol’s next Beatles release was on November 23: The Beatles’ Story, described on its cover as “A Narrative and Music Biography of Beatlemania on 2 Long-Play Records.” A charming audio grab bag of band member interview clips and quips; Beatles song snips; instrumental versions of Beatles songs performed by the Hollyridge Strings; narration and Beatles storytelling by John Babcock and others; plus various other bits and bobs, the gatefold-packaged double album has a relatively short total runtime of 50 minutes across its four sides.

Capitol capped 1964 with the forward-looking Beatles ’65 album, rush released on December 15 and promising “Great New Hits by John * Paul * George * Ringo” on its cover. The album plucks eight tracks from the U.K. Number 1 Beatles For Sale album (released December 4), plus three more songs new for America, including “I’ll Be Back” and both sides of the band’s latest U.K. single (“I Feel Fine”/“She’s A Woman”). Out in time for the holidays, Beatles ’65 sold nearly two million copies within its first two weeks of release and held Number 1 for nine of its 71 weeks on Billboard’s albums chart.

1964 was a banner year for The Beatles in the U.S. (and all around the world), even by the band’s own ‘toppermost of the poppermost’ standards. The Beatles racked up 17 U.S. Top 40 singles including six Number 1s, six Top 10 albums including four Number 1s, and a blockbuster film. By year’s end, Capitol had sold more than 15 million Beatles records.

Capitol released The Early Beatles on March 22, 1965. The album’s 11 tracks were first released in the U.S. by Vee-Jay Records, starting in February 1963 with the “Please Please Me”/“Ask Me Why” single, with the rest issued in January 1964 on Vee-Jay’s Introducing The Beatles album. Vee-Jay also released three songs from that album as hitmaking U.S. singles in early 1964 (“Twist And Shout,” “Do You Want To Know A Secret,” and “Love Me Do”). Capitol’s exclusive American release rights for the tracks took effect in October 1964 upon settlement with Vee-Jay, and The Early Beatles collected them for their Capitol debut.

Sixty years on, Beatlemania is timeless. The Beatles’ beacon is alight evermore, renewed with the wonder of each generation’s joyful discovery and in creative exploration of the band’s music and cultural eminence by musicians, filmmakers, writers, and other fans of all stripes.

The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono (8LP 180g vinyl box set)

[all albums except The Beatles’ Story also available individually]

Meet The Beatles!
[Capitol Records: released January 20, 1964; 11 weeks at No. 1]

The Beatles’ Second Album
[Capitol Records: released April 10, 1964; five weeks at No. 1]

A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track)
[United Artists: released June 26, 1964; 14 weeks at No. 1]

Something New
[Capitol Records: released July 20, 1964; nine weeks at No. 2]

The Beatles’ Story [2LP]
[Capitol Records: released November 23, 1964; peaked at No. 7]

Beatles ’65
[Capitol Records: released December 15, 1964; nine weeks at No. 1]

The Early Beatles
[Capitol Records: released March 22, 1965; peaked at No. 43]

Mastering Notes

These albums were cut for vinyl from the original master tapes using a completely analog signal path and with constant reference to first generation pressings of the original albums. They were made using a Studer A80 master recorder with analog preview & program paths, and a Neumann VMS70 cutting lathe originally installed in Capitol Studios in 1971. This specific all-analog cutting technique allows faithful representation of the full musical range and dynamics present on the original tapes.