1962-1966 (The Red Album)

The Beatles

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 5, 1993)
• Original Release Date: April 2, 1973
• Number of Discs: 2
• Label: Capitol
• ASIN: B000002UYZ
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (213 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #650 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #13 in	Music > Classic Rock > Supergroups
  #22 in	Music > Classic Rock > British Invasion
  #25 in	Music > Classic Rock > Psychedelic Rock

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Love Me Do

2. Please Please Me

3. From Me to You

4. She Loves You

5. I Want to Hold Your Hand

6. All My Loving

7. Can't Buy Me Love

8. Hard Day's Night

9. And I Love Her

10. Eight Days a Week

See all 13 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. Help!

2. You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

3. We Can Work It Out

4. Day Tripper

5. Drive My Car

6. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

7. Nowhere Man

8. Michelle

9. In My Life

10. Girl

See all 13 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

The closest the Beatles came to a greatest hits package, this document of the early part of their career features hit singles (in chronological order) and selected album tracks, running from "Love Me Do" through the groundbreaking Rubber Soul and Revolver albums. While this may be an excellent intro for beginners, real fans will never be content with only selections, especially when you're dealing with those aforementioned albums. Capitol packages the collection on two discs, copying the original vinyl version--but, of course, CDs hold more music than records did. Still, you do get 26 bona fide classics, so there's no real need to complain. --Bill Holdship

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

115 of 121 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A terrific anthology ruined by executive greed, January 11, 2000

By	Brian O'Marra (Little Rock, AR USA) - See all my reviews

I bought the red and the blue on vinyl when they were released in 1973. At that time, album sides could not hold 30 minutes of music, hence the need for a double album.

The CD version was planned for 1992 then delayed until 1993. Prior to both projected release dates, it was announced that it would be a double disc affair even though the entire two albums could fit on one disc with 15 minutes to spare.

If this is due to the desire of preserving the original appearance of the album as a double anthology, I don't buy it.

Today, double discs are now presented in the slim CD case that look like single CDs. Therefore, they should release its blue album this way, put the red album on one disc and they would look comparable.

That way we would save a few bucks. Now for the music...

The first four songs are mono. The two track stereo tapes for Love Me Do and She Loves You are no longer in existence.

When The Beatles rerecorded their two biggest hits I Want To Hold Your Hand and She Loves You in German in early 1964, they were able to just record the vocal track over the existing backing track of Hand. Since She Loves You's two tracks had been erased, they had to record a whole new rendition.

Please Please Me and From Me To You are also in mono. There are stereo masters for these but since Please Please Me in stereo has a vocal flub it was not used. It was announced there was no clean stereo master for From Me To You.

I do enjoy this compilation. It's great to have these songs remastered in the early 1990's, and I love hearing All My Loving, Can't Buy Me Love, A Hard Day's Night, And I Love Her, and Eight Days A Week in stereo.

In fact, this blows the excuse out of the water that the first four albums would sound terrible in stereo, so present them in mono only.

However, I wish they had used the US stereo mix of Day Tripper. This was on both US and UK versions of the red album. It is a cleaner mix, with less obtrusive echo on the vocal, has a longer fade out, and doesn't try to hide a vocal flub with a volume knob twist. The fade out should have been sung: Day Tripper...Day Tripper Yeh! The Beatles accidently sung it: Day Tripper Yeh!...Day Tripper Yeh! No attempts were made to have them resing the vocal. They just lowered the volume during the mistake. What that did was lower the entire backing track with it.

Still, it is a nice anthology with unpublished photos and the lyrics to all the songs (correct lyrics this time. Just compare the lyrics of A Hard Day's Night on the vinyl to the CD. "So why on earth should I moan, cos' when I get you alone" is correct)

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't compare, please!, November 19, 1999

By	"[e-mail]" (Oakley, KS USA) - See all my reviews

Sure, there are other places to get all these songs (the original albums and Past Masters, Vol.1 & 2), and sure, Capital could have issued this on 1 cd and saved us a lot of money. But they decided to be true to the LP release (and make themselves much weathier), and this is what we've got. So here are the facts:

The music here rates 5 stars. The remastering is far superior to the other releases that contain these songs. So, if you are new to the Bealtes and want the best fidelity, you should bite the bullet on the price and buy it. If you're a Bealtemaniac, then you'll need it because of the superior sonics. If you don't like the Beatles, what are you doing here?

22 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Start With This and the Blue Album!, October 15, 2000

By	W. Langan "take403" (the end of the world to your town!) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

My only complaint is that this collection is on 2 CD's when it could've been on just one (EMI claimed they wanted to keep in the "tradition" with the original LP release). If it were up to me, I would've included more songs from the earlier albums like "Twist and Shout", "She's a Woman", "Don't Bother Me", and "Rain".

Aside from that, this includes a few pictures not included in the original in the CD booklet, making it more attractive. The sound quality is excellent, too! It begins with their 1st single "Love Me Do", has the essentials like "Yesterday" (the most covered Beatles tune in history), "A Hard Day's Night", "She Loves You", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (their 1st single in America), "Eleanor Rigby" (the beginning of their experimental phase), "Help!" (which was literally John's plea for help), and "In My Life". They feature the 1st ever "intentional" feedback on "I Feel Fine" and John once called the "Ticket to Ride" "1st heavy metal song" (Come on, John! It's a rocker but not the Yardbirds!). "Nowhere Man" is a song John wrote about himself, but really it's about all of us! Unfortunately, George doesn't get any songs of his on here but did a great job with the sitar on "Norweign Wood".

If you like the music of the Beatles but don't have any of their albums, this and 1967-70 (the "Blue" album) are the best place to start!