Customer Reviews

Introducing The Beatles

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the first album of the BEATLES music released in the USA. There are two versions to this album. Version One has Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You on it. Version Two substituted Please Please Me and Ask Me Why for the aformentioned songs - probably because PLEASE PLEASE ME was a number one hit, and LOVE ME DO only hit #20 on the charts.

The Russian two/fer CD has Version 2 on it. In addition, the Russian CD was released in mono. The Single album CD is Version 1 and it is in STEREO, and the audio difference is amazing. There are two versions to the Version 1 CD. One has the AD back - the other has the column back. The column back shows the track listing on the back of the jewel case, the Ad back shows the earliest cover used by VJ on the back of the jewel case. There is also a Version 2 of the album available. It has Please Please Me, and Ask Me Why. It is also in stereo.

Take note that the songs LOVE ME DO, and P.S. I LOVE YOU are only available in mono no matter what collection or compilation you find them on. They were the earliest recordings done by the BEATLES and no stereo recordings have survived.

For many people who are full-fledged fans of the fab four from Liverpool, this remarkable album, entitled "Introducing The Beatles", sums up a lot of great memories from that bygone time in musical history when these 4 talented boys from England totally shook up the music world and set off an international frenzy that would become the epidemic known as "Beatlemania". This classic LP was first released in early January of 1964, just a few weeks prior to them landing in New York to make their historic appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February. Originally, the album contained the songs "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" as part of its line-up. However, due to a series of legal wrangling with EMI's American subsidiary label, Capitol records, Vee-Jay were forced to remove these songs. Fortunately for all of us, they only had to substitute 2 other recordings, "Ask Me Why" and "Please, Please Me" in their place. The result is a brilliant American debut album that still holds a lot of great memories for so many people. The official line-up on this album is practically identical to the same track order on the British album "Please Please Me". It is as follows ;

side one :
1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. Misery
3. Anna (Go To Him)
4. Chains
5. Boys
6. Ask Me Why

side two :
1. Please, Please Me
2. Baby It's You
3. Do You Want To Know A Secret?
4. A Taste Of Honey
5. There's A Place
6. Twist And Shout

The contents of this album were also featured in 2 other albums issued by Vee-Jay during 1964: "Songs, Pictures And Stories Of The Fabulous Beatles" and "The Beatles Vs. The Four Seasons".

By 1965, Vee-Jay's rights to distribute Beatles records had expired, leaving Capitol to completely take over. Once they did, they would dominate the music market with enough Beatles product to last many lifetimes. Their first release of that year was titled "The Early Beatles", which contained 11 of the 14 songs first released by Vee-Jay. The songs "Misery" and "There's A Place" would be issued on special singles as part of Capitol's Star-Line label, but would not become available on an officially-released Beatles album until they were included in the 1980 compilation "Rarities". Meanwhile, the song "I Saw Her Standing There" was already included on the Capitol album "Meet The Beatles!". It marks the only time in which the same Beatles recording of one song would appear on 2 completely different albums issued by seperate record labels at approximately the same time. Whereas on every Capitol release, the song opens with the full "1-2-3-Faa!" count-in; the Vee-Jay versions starts the song with "Faa!", followed by the song. Thus, the Vee-Jay label is the only way to acquire this variation of that song.

"Introducing The Beatles" also holds the unique distinction of being the most counterfeited Beatles album of all time. Legitamite versions of this album are easy to tell in the following manner; version one with "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" were made available in both Mono and Stereo. There were 5 different label variations in Mono and 3 in Stereo. When the version two disc was released with "Ask Me Why" and "Please, Please Me", it was also released in both Mono and Stereo versions; with 13 Mono variations and 10 Stereo. The back cover of the album was released with three different slicks: an original full-color "Ad Back", showing the miniature reproductions of 25 other Vee-Jay album covers and the slogan OTHER FINE ALBUMS OF SIGNIFICANT INTEREST printed across the top; a completely white "Blank Back"; and, a third variation that has the album's song titles shown vertically in 2 columns, with the phrase AMERICA'S GREATEST RECORDING ARTISTS ARE ON VEE-JAY RECORDS, printed across the bottom.

Looking back, this is a milestone in the history of popular music. The same year that Vee-Jay released their Beatles records, the United Artists and Swan record labels also got in on the whole Beatle phenomenon, as well. Altogether, The Beatles' American records appeared on more than 7 different U.S. record labels in 1964 alone! This one turned out to be one of the very best. And, it deserves to be released onto CD!

This album is undoubtedly the most valuable Beatles lp in existance. I absolutely love the music on it, as well as the cover. It was greater than I'd expected. No I'm no Beatles expert, as I'm only 17, but I still feel aht they were and still are the greatest artists in the music industry. This album is a must have for any Beatles fan..just beware of fakes.

i like this album would not buy it again though.
it pops way too much. the person i purchased it from was nice and it arrived in a timely fashion

A definate "Must Own" for collectors of Beatle Memorabilia and music.
The music is great! It took me back to my very early teens.
I paid $50.00 for a copy of this 10 years ago. It's that good!
Dennis Sacto. Ca.

The music on this Album changed the world forever! If you love Early Beatles then you will love this one, it is there second record. The Beatles, forced to Include 6 cover songs on this L.P. There are also 6 Lennon / McCartney gems included here. Be careful when buying this L.P. as an investment, there are at least 15 different versions of this Record that I know of. They are currently worth from $[...] to about $1800 dependent on which version and condition. It's hard rate this Album, 5 stars because it changed the face of music forever for the better. 5 stars because it contains some of the best songs ever (I saw her standing there, Please Please me, Do you want to know a secret). 3 stars because of the way the corporate idiots forced this effort to be about doing other peoples songs COVERS!! Oh but wait, the song "Chains: is one of my favorite Beatles songs, a song written by Louse Goffin and Carl King. 1 Star because if your holding a copy of Vee Jay's Introducing the Beatles and you did not buy it in the U.K. between 1962-1963 you probably have a bootlegged poor quality L.P.. Plenty has been written about the music I would like to tell a much lesser known tale of the rip off of the Beatles that this L.P. represents.
In 1962 the Beatles had been turned down by every major label on both sides of the ocean. Desperate they singed on with Vee Jay Records. Standard Pay at the time was .25 per record, the deal the Beatles got .01 cent per L.P. sold. A guy named Dick James gets 55% of that. The remaining 45 one hundredths of a cent would be split up equally between the 4 Beatles and Brian Epstien. That's a Whopping .09 cents for each record sold! If that wasn't bad enough when the Beatles finally got recognized in America Capital records realized they owned Vee Jay records and forced the Beatles onto Capital records for the same bad deal. At the same time Jay Lasker head of Vee Jay rushed into the production of its version of introducing the Beatles. An estimated 10,000,000 Vee Jay records where sold Illegally and without even paying the 1 penny to the Beatles! Also these sales did not count in the total sales figures. At about that same time Capital records released there version of Introducing the Beatles called Early Beatles (same songs minus a couple of songs that could be released in America at a later date). But there was still some more shenanigans ahead for this record. I got my copy in about 1975 at Kmart there was pile of Vee Jay records about 500 selling for 2.99 each. I was a big fan and knew these where rare records. The book value at the time was about $100 dollars new. The Beatles heard about this also, it didn't make sense the record was out of production for 10 years where were all these new copy's coming from? At the time almost anyone who sold L.P.'s had at least a case or more? The Beatles had to hire a private investigator to find out. It turned out that one of the executives at Capital was making copies of the Vee Jay L.P.`s at an illegal plant just down the road from Capital records and then slipping them into Capitals distribution. Once again cheating the Beatles out of there 1 cent and not counting toward there total sales figures. It also gave the Beatles a bad name because the quality of these bootlegged L.P.s were extremely poor. My copy has the center hole punched off center causing it to sound warped!

Fab. Fab Fab

Even extra songs on it, from the "Orginial"

Def. need it.

Must have for your "Beatles collection" of Albums, Cd's.


luvmusic
12/02/07

The music on this Album changed the world forever! If you love Early Beatles then you will love this one, it is there second record. The Beatles, forced to Include 6 cover songs on this L.P. There are also 6 Lennon / McCartney gems included here. Be careful when buying this L.P. as an investment, there are at least 15 different versions of this Record that I know of. They are currently worth from $10 to about $1800 dependent on which version and condition. It's hard rate this Album, 5 stars because it changed the face of music forever for the better. 5 stars because it contains some of the best songs ever (I saw her standing there, Please Please me, Do you want to know a secret). 3 stars because of the way the corporate idiots forced this effort to be about doing other peoples songs COVERS!! Oh but wait, the song "Chains: is one of my favorite Beatles songs, a song written by Louse Goffin and Carl King. 1 Star because if your holding a copy of Vee Jay's Introducing the Beatles and you did not buy it in the U.K. between 1962-1963 you probably have a bootlegged poor quality L.P.. Plenty has been written about the music I would like to tell a much lesser known tale of the rip off of the Beatles that this L.P. represents.
In 1962 the Beatles had been turned down by every major label on both sides of the ocean. Desperate they singed on with Vee Jay Records. Standard Pay at the time was .25 per record, the deal the Beatles got .01 cent per L.P. sold. A guy named Dick James gets 55% of that. The remaining 45 one hundredths of a cent would be split up equally between the 4 Beatles and Brian Epstien. That's a Whopping .09 cents for each record sold! If that wasn't bad enough when the Beatles finally got recognized in America Capital records realized they owned Vee Jay records and forced the Beatles onto Capital records for the same bad deal. At the same time Jay Lasker head of Vee Jay rushed into the production of its version of introducing the Beatles. An estimated 10,000,000 Vee Jay records where sold Illegally and without even paying the 1 penny to the Beatles! Also these sales did not count in the total sales figures. At about that same time Capital records released there version of Introducing the Beatles called Early Beatles (same songs minus a couple of songs that could be released in America at a later date). But there was still some more shenanigans ahead for this record. I got my copy in about 1975 at Kmart there was pile of Vee Jay records about 500 selling for 2.99 each. I was a big fan and knew these where rare records. The book value at the time was about $100 dollars new. The Beatles heard about this also, it didn't make sense the record was out of production for 10 years where were all these new copy's coming from? At the time almost anyone who sold L.P.'s had at least a case or more? The Beatles had to hire a private investigator to find out. It turned out that one of the executives at Capital was making copies of the Vee Jay L.P.`s at an illegal plant just down the road from Capital records and then slipping them into Capitals distribution. Once again cheating the Beatles out of there 1 cent and not counting toward there total sales figures. It also gave the Beatles a bad name because the quality of these bootlegged L.P.s were extremely poor. My copy has the center hole punched off center causing it to sound warped!

This title has many known pirates. People who buy this online should realize that the pirates are always listed. Any pirate regardless of its history, should not be sold online. These were massed produced after Vee Jay Records lost the rights to the album in Jan 1964. That original was not mass produced in 1964, there by making it the true collectible. It was legally produced for only 8 days. Vee Jay records was a small vinyl producer. So any claims of Mass Production (IE millions) must be refering to the Phoney. The original label has 5 colors on it, the five colors blend together and the hole is centered, with the title and THE BEATLES are above the hole. There were 3 Vee Jay Record plants around the country. Note there were only 3 styles of these a centered song list and left or right side song list, meaning 3 versions of the record, 3 different Jackets include the Blank Cover on back with USA Printed in the corner, The Vee Jay Advertisement back with albums already released and the Column Back with the songs correctly listed "Love Me Do" & "P.S. I Love You.

That means only 3 original different versions, were produced before Capital got a Judge to stop the production. However all the front's of the original covers are similiar, and the hands are showing on the knee along the bottom edge, the shadow is very clear (The Phoney's are faint), and the cover is shiney. (NOTE Pirates are known to be DULL)

What is really important is that the original has non US Songs on them "Love Me Do" & "P.S. I Love You, that Vee Jay records did not have the rights too. The Original the sound is very clear and the record is in Mono not stereo.

The original list includes "Love Me Do" & "P.S. I Love You"; the phony (PIRATE RECORD) has "Ask Me Why" and "Please, Please Me".
The phoney sounds awful, and is usually warped, bad label (3 or 4 colors, or solid black) The true history of the mass release of the pirate album's started in the 70's.

Because the Beatles were not yet overly popular in 63-64, so who would bother mass producing this album, since you could not sell them quickly. All information contributed here can be found online at websites devoted to the original, and the original can be seen at the Library of Congress, (An original appears to have been used for the cover on Amazon) as well as U.S. Federal Court Documents; Vee Jay Records Vs Capitol Records, 1964 to 1965.

Capital records released Meet The Beatles, which is the second Beatle's album not the first.

The music on this Album changed the world forever! If you love Early Beatles then you will love this one, it is there second record. The Beatles, forced to Include 6 cover songs on this L.P. There are also 6 Lennon / McCartney gems included here. Be careful when buying this L.P. as an investment, there are at least 15 different versions of this Record that I know of. They are currently worth from $10 to about $1800 dependent on which version and condition. It's hard rate this Album, 5 stars because it changed the face of music forever for the better. 5 stars because it contains some of the best songs ever (I saw her standing there, Please Please me, Do you want to know a secret). 3 stars because of the way the corporate idiots forced this effort to be about doing other peoples songs COVERS!! Oh but wait, the song "Chains: is one of my favorite Beatles songs, a song written by Louse Goffin and Carl King. 1 Star because if your holding a copy of Vee Jay's Introducing the Beatles and you did not buy it in the U.K. between 1962-1963 you probably have a bootlegged poor quality L.P.. Plenty has been written about the music I would like to tell a much lesser known tale of the rip off of the Beatles that this L.P. represents.
In 1962 the Beatles had been turned down by every major label on both sides of the ocean. Desperate they singed on with Vee Jay Records. Standard Pay at the time was .25 per record, the deal the Beatles got .01 cent per L.P. sold. A guy named Dick James gets 55% of that. The remaining 45 one hundredths of a cent would be split up equally between the 4 Beatles and Brian Epstien. That's a Whopping .09 cents for each record sold! If that wasn't bad enough when the Beatles finally got recognized in America Capital records realized they owned Vee Jay records and forced the Beatles onto Capital records for the same bad deal. At the same time Jay Lasker head of Vee Jay rushed into the production of its version of introducing the Beatles. An estimated 10,000,000 Vee Jay records where sold Illegally and without even paying the 1 penny to the Beatles! Also these sales did not count in the total sales figures. At about that same time Capital records released there version of Introducing the Beatles called Early Beatles (same songs minus a couple of songs that could be released in America at a later date). But there was still some more shenanigans ahead for this record. I got my copy in about 1975 at Kmart there was pile of Vee Jay records about 500 selling for 2.99 each. I was a big fan and knew these where rare records. The book value at the time was about $100 dollars new. The Beatles heard about this also, it didn't make sense the record was out of production for 10 years where were all these new copy's coming from? At the time almost anyone who sold L.P.'s had at least a case or more? The Beatles had to hire a private investigator to find out. It turned out that one of the executives at Capital was making copies of the Vee Jay L.P.`s at an illegal plant just down the road from Capital records and then slipping them into Capitals distribution. Once again cheating the Beatles out of there 1 cent and not counting toward there total sales figures. It also gave the Beatles a bad name because the quality of these bootlegged L.P.s were extremely poor. My copy has the center hole punched off center causing it to sound warped!