Customer Reviews

1962-1966 (Red)

5 star:		(144)
4 star:		(42)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(17)

 

 

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)

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?

The Beatles are THE most written-about recording group of all time, so any broad statements would just be repetitive. Suffice to say, the "Red Album" is a mannered look at the Beatles' early singles, all of which are hook-laden, strong classics. With the exceptions of "Norwegian Wood" and "Eleanor Rigby", there is little indication of the mind-blowing experimentalism of their later work. Like their British compatriots the Yardbirds and the Animals (among others), the Beatles grew up listening to and eventually covering the early rock pioneers (Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley being the most overt influences). The "Red Album" documents the band's attempt to capitalize on their American obsessions while breaking new lyrical ground. Lennon and McCartney are working so closely together here that their individual contributions are practically indistinguishable. The songs are starkly emotional and are stripped of any pretense that may have marred some of their subsequent recordings. The Beatles are still such an amazing cultural force, it really should go without saying that the "Red" and "Blue" albums both should be a prerequisite to any complete music collection. Without them, an individual is missing a very large piece of rock and roll heritage. Personal Favorites: the sitar-driven narrative of "Norwegian Wood", the melancholy classic "Yesterday", and the bittersweet recollections found "In My Life". Representative Lyrics: "Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church/ Where a wedding has been/ Lives in a dream/ Waits at the window wearing a face/ That she keeps in a jar by the door/ Who is it for?" ("Eleanor Rigby"); "I give her all my love/ That's all I do/ And if you saw my love/ You'd love her too" ("And I Love Her")

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!

Previewing the song selection before purchase, one scratches their heads at the sheer volume of Beatles songs that are a part of our shared culture. Suddenly all rational thought and sense of logic are thrown out the window when our friendly little "imaginary consumer" remembers that this is less than a mere ½ of the Beatles enduring legacy; part II, the "Blue" series is still necessary, as are their individual albums which continue to stand as landmark achievements in songwriting and recording. However, after gawking over the sheer magnitude of the hits on this compilation, our imaginary customer may now look at the price tag and begin to have doubts about it's value. I now realize that I can no longer stand passively on the side lines; for the greater good of humanity as a whole, and the betterment of the personal psyche of "imaginary consumer", I must wholeheartedly and without prejudice recommend this amazing listening experience!

Sheer numbers of "mega hits" aside, the amount of growth exhibited in the brief four year span that this disc covers is remarkable. As a young musician learning his first guitar chords, it may very well come to pass that disc one of this compilation will guide you through your darkest hour of musical doubts; indeed, it is humanly possible to progress from the relatively simple composition of a "Please Please Me" or "Love Me Do" to the orchestral grandeur of a "Yesterday", and this merely encompasses one single disc, an unbelievable span of three years of songwriting growth! Or perhaps our listener is learning his first lessons of love, feeling helplessly alone in suddenly harsh world, yet the soothing strains of "Yesterday" remind him that he is certainly not alone in this seemingly uncaring world. The listener then puts in disc two, and if any doubt remains that he is alone in the darkness of love lost, the opening trilogy of "Help!", "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and "We Can Work It Out" will serve as a loving embrace and a reminder that indeed, you are not alone!!

There are however among us a group of individuals who are widely known as "cynics", a pleasant group indeed, but certainly a group that may not relate to my psychological story above. They have been shaking their heads all the while during my time on the podium, their eyes having still not left the price tag section of the disc. It is at this time that I typically resolve to save my breath and allow the cynics their fair loss. My heart grips me however, and I realize that I must relate to them the reasons why, even from a coldly economic standpoint, the purchase of this compilation is worthwhile. Many of the songs on this compilation, "Paperback Writer" for instance, were originally released as "Singles" and are thus more difficult to locate on a typical compact disc format. To collect all of these songs by purchasing the many discs on which they are contained would likely cost triple or even quadruple the price of this compilation!! Added to the fact that you have lyrics for everything, several lovely pictures (each one shows the Fab Four's hair growing slightly longer), and a crisp and clean remastered sound quality, it becomes necessary for me to advise even the harshest cynics of the world that this is a necessary purchase.

I now thankfully alight from my soapbox, as warm fuzzy feelings of charity towards my fellow man engulfs my heart. Perhaps my words today have inspired a real life "Eleanor Rigby" or "Father MacKenzie" to not feel so alone in this world, or at the very least allowed somebody to escape into the musical equivalent of heaven for the all too brief listening experience that is "The Beatles, 1962-1966".

In 1973, three years after the Beatles called it quits, two double albums of Beatle hits were released on vinyl. This compilation, quickly nicknamed the Red Album, covers their early years. But this digs deeper than the ONE greatest hits collection (released in 2000) because it also includes some B sides and essential album tracks.

As with any compilation, the song selection can be second-guessed. None of the Beatles' great cover songs are to be found -- no "Twist and Shout," no "You Really Got a Hold on Me," no "Rock and Roll Music," no "Kansas City." But these oversights are almost forgiveable because licensing restrictions may have gotten in the way. Less forgiveable are the omissions of Beatle originals such as "I Saw Her Standing There," "Taxman," and "Got to Get You into My Life." Another oddity is that there are six songs from RUBBER SOUL (nothing wrong with that) but only two from REVOLVER. A curious imbalance, considering that the consensus among fans and critics is that REVOLVER is the (slightly) better album.

When this album was finally issued on CD in 1993 there were a couple of improvements. The remastered sound is noticeably better than on most Beatle albums. The liner notes contain complete lyrics as well as rare photographs not included in the vinyl release. The bad news is that this was put on two CDs when there was no need to do so. Each CD runs barely 31 minutes. The songs could have easily fit on one CD, and there still would have been plenty of room to include the great songs that were left out. Can you spell R-I-P-O-F-F? Yet you have to wonder what kind of a windfall Capitol/EMI is really getting, considering how manufacturing a double CD also drives up their production costs.

Listening to this album should make anyone appreciate how great the Beatles really were. One hit is stacked on top of another and they just keep coming at you. But the key to their success was that they did not just milk the same formula over and over. The band that made "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me" sounds almost nothing like the band that made "Norwegian Wood" and "Eleanor Rigby" -- and even that evolution only hinted at what was to come.

THE BEATLES 1962-1966 is a compilation album covering the first four years of the band's commercial existence. Often referred to as "The Red Album," this with THE BEATLES 1967-1970 ("The Blue Album") is the quintessential Beatles "Greatest Hits" collection. They were both released in 1973 as double albums to chronicle the band's career. The double album THE BEATLES ("The White Album") is of course part of the formal Beatles discography. Capitol has chosen to re-release them all as twin CD collections in keeping with the initial vinyl releases. This profit-driven decision did drive up the purchase price, but critics of this policy need to consider that neither The Red Album nor The Blue Album are absolute "must haves" for a Beatles collection. If price is a consideration, simply give these two a pass and buy the original albums.

The true drawback to The Red Album is that a devoted Beatles fan will own (or want to own) the entire formal disc collection. Therefore, these compilations become somewhat extraneous.

Still, they are worth having, even if just to listen to in the car, or for variation. The Red Album has several slightly different mixes than the original release recordings or other Beatles collections, and purists or pundits will want them.

For casual listening, The Red Album is an excellent Beatles sampler. It carries the band from the innocent monaural days of "Love Me Do" all the way to the psychedelic era of "Yellow Submarine." We get to hear The Beatles mature and grow, experiment and experience. For anyone who was there, this is an encapsulation of the early '60s.

As an aside, another excellent collection is 1976's hard-to-find THE BEATLES ROCK 'N' ROLL MUSIC, which provides us with early Beatles covers of other performers' material.

Remembering, as I do, the first time I ever heard, "I Want To Hold Your Hand," circa the summer of 1964, sitting in the backseat of my father's 1960 Impala convertible, The Red Album becomes my private time machine. It is amazing how far The Beatles came in just four short years, and how they managed to bring us with them.

Together with The Blue Album this collection IS the Magical Mystery Tour.

I grew up and learned my english with this album when I was a kid. I bought this album so my kids could do the same, one generation later.
All themes are classical, sound is good, some of the songs have the voices on one channel and the music on the other so you can "sing along".
A CD everyone should have at home, You will never get tired of listening to it.

To the "music fan" who gave this and the accompanying blue 1967-1970 compilation only 'one' star -- and trashes both because he/she thought they were a bad excuse for making a CD... I have one thing to say: PLEASE read the release date! It's quite apparent & obvious, you were NOT around when the Beatles were still together, or when vinyl records were king. These two wonderful, and ORIGINAL 'best of' compilations of the Beatles were originally released on vinyl back in 1973. For those that didn't want to buy all their original albums, or CD's (later)... this is a terrific choice! Especially if you had them on vinyl a long time ago. To others listening... follow the advice of a 'true' music fan (who WAS around when the Beatles were together)... and when record companies could only fit so many songs on a vinyl disc. These two compilations are truly classic! I'm sure many would agree.

The Beatles: 1962-1966 contains 26 of the best "early" Beatles songs, covering the albums from "Please Please Me" to "Revolver." Of course, as any serious Beatles fan knows, there were more than 26 good Beatles songs written in this period. This album only covers the biggest "hits," and while it might be great for someone who is just becoming familiar with the Beatles, it's a waste of money for those who already know the Beatles' early songs well.

There are many great songs that aren't included on this album. The most glaring omissions are songs from Revolver. I get the feeling that whoever compiled this was biased in favor of the "early" Beatles sound, as opposed to the experimental and sometimes bizarre sound of Revolver. Revolver gets two songs on the album--Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine--whereas Rubber Soul gets six. Among those left out are "Tomorrow Never Knows," "And Your Bird Can Sing," "Here, There and Everywhere," and even the relatively popular "Good Day Sunshine." And The Beatles: 1967-1970 picks up with Sgt. Pepper, so they're not covered there either. Of course, there are also other omissions beyond those from Revolver: "If I Fell," "I'll Be Back," "No Reply," "The Night Before," "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You," "I Don't Want to Spoil The Party," etc......so much great music missing.

My advice: pay the extra money and buy the original albums. There are so many great Beatles songs in the early period that I doubt that any compilation could cover them adequately. On the other hand, the songs that are included ARE great, and if you only care about the Beatles' biggest hits, this might be a good investment. Just read the song list and make sure you know what you're getting.