The Capitol Albums Vol. 2

Capitol Records' release of The Capitol Albums Volume 2, a collection of the four Capitol albums by the Beatles from 1965, was timed to celebrate the 42nd anniversary of the Beatles holding 14 of the top 100 hits, including 5 in the top 10, on April 11th, 1964.  The prior week, April 4th, they held the top 5 positions on the U.S. charts.

 

The box set marks the CD debut of The Early Beatles, Beatles VI, the US version of Help! and the collectible American version of Rubber Soul.

 

The Early Beatles marks the stereo debut on CD of nine early Beatles classics, including "Please Please Me" and "Twist And Shout."

 

Beatles VI marks the stereo debut on CD of five Beatles recordings and the CD debut of four Beatles songs in their original 1965 George Martin mono mixes.

 

The Help! soundtrack album contains seven Beatles songs and five instrumentals. The Capitol soundtrack album marks the CD debut of five songs in their original 1965 George Martin stereo mixes.

 

The Capitol version of Rubber Soul contains, for the first time on CD, the original 1965 George Martin stereo mixes, several of which were unique to America. For example, on the stereo versions, "I'm Looking Through You" featured false starts at the beginning and "The Word" had a doubled-tracked lead vocal.

 

The Capitol Albums Volumes 1 & 2 have been carefully mastered from the original master tapes, taken from the vaults of Capitol Records, to ensure that they sound as they did when first released in 1964 and 1965. Each disc in the box sets presents each album in stereo and then in mono.

 

In the '60s, American record labels often chose to reformat British records to suit the needs of the U.S. market. In America, singles were generally included on current albums, where as in the UK, albums and singles were most often separate releases.

 

Higher music publishing costs in the U.S. also made it impractical to include as many songs on American albums. In addition, in the case of the Beatles, some of the recordings on the American albums were given more echo than the British versions, to "Americanize" their sound.

 

In Volume 2, all but four of the tracks on the stereo albums are actual stereo mixes, with two being unique Capitol "duophonic mixes,"  created from mono masters by emphasizing the treble in one channel, boosting the bass in the other, and running the two channels slightly out-of-sync to simulate a stereo sound. In addition, five of the mono tracks are unique Capitol stereo-to-mono mixdowns with added echo and reverb.

 

Because the 46 songs included in Volume 2 are presented in both stereo and mono mixes, there are 92 tracks in the box set. Out of this number, 82 tracks appear in versions not previously available on CD.

 

When the Beatles' catalog appeared on CD for the first time in 1987, releases were standardized on a worldwide basis. A short time later, the U.S. albums, which had last appeared on vinyl and cassette, were deleted from the Capitol catalog.

 

The Capitol Albums Volume 2 includes all 4 of the group's 1965 Capitol album releases. Each of the discs is housed in a miniature replica of the original album cover. The box set contains a 60-page booklet featuring rare photos and clippings from that amazing year.