Ticket 2 Ride

Capitol Records really screwed up the Beatles’ album catalogue in the early 1960s. Capitol was late to Beatlemania, even though Capitol was an American branch of EMI, the Beatles’ British record label.

Capitol felt the Beatles were nothing special and would not release their first singles. Once the Beatles started topping the Billboard charts, Capitol reversed field and released Beatle singles and albums.

Until the Sgt. Pepper album, the Capitol and EMI Beatle albums were different. Capitol now decided the Beatles were big business and did what any greedy American company does: squeeze more albums from the generous supply of Beatles tunes. For example, instead of releasing the exact number of tracks on Revolver, Capitol withheld several songs, and combined these with songs released as singles (songs that didn’t appear on an albums) to get an album worth of tracks. It’s only money and teenagers were the new consumer market!

Outside of North America, the Beatles’ Rubber Soul was followed by Revolver. In America, Capitol packaged together a few songs from each of those two albums along with “We Can Work it Out” and “Day Tripper,” two song released as a single. Record buyers had to shell out for another album but also got those two song on what was known as The Beatles, Yesterday and Today.

So, jump ahead to 1970, the Beatles had Let it Be ready for release amid news of their breakup. Beatles manager Allen Klein authorized the album’s compilation and released, owing Capitol another compilation. A selection of mostly recent Beatles singles and B sides not appearing on North American albums made up what would be called, Hey Jude, in honor of the song by the same name. Presto! Another Beatles album!

Released February 26, 1970, Hey Jude would climb to number 2 on the Billboard chart and eventually sell more than 3 million copies. It was released in other parts of the world, including England.

While this was a compilation of previously released music, there are some gems that I hadn’t really enjoyed for a while because they were only on 45s. I had forgotten how incredibly rockin’ “I Should Have Known Better” sounded, and how timeless it still sounds.

From the first time I heard “Rain” on my transistor radio, I loved the mid-tempo psychedelic feel of the song. Beatle B sides were not clunkers or throwaways, “Rain” is as good as any Beatle A side. John Lennon had a knack for writing deceptively influential rock classics. McCartney was getting more of the A sides, but there was Lennon treasure on the flip sides.

“Revolution” would stump record label engineers because of the highly distorted guitar. Something must be wrong, they thought. Who said the Beatles didn’t rock hard? “Don’t Let Me Down” is another sly Lennon tune. Left off of Let it Be, it made its debut as the flip side of “Get Back.” The original song list of Let it Be was supposed to include “Don’t Let Me Down,” and it can be found on Let it Be ….Naked, and the Let it Be boxset.

“The Ballad of John and Yoko” has never been a favorite, although over time I’ve grown to like it. Besides being a story song, the music is rather ordinary. Only Lennon and McCartney play on the song, providing all of the instruments and vocals.

And finally, “Old Brown Shoe” written by George Harrison, is a fast-moving, delightful song with great slide guitar, quickly becoming Harrison’s favorite guitar style. Harrison reportedly played Hammond organ and supplied the bass while McCartney played piano. Harrison said that he composed the song on the piano.

Side one

1. “Can’t Buy Me Love” (single, 1964; later included on A Hard Day’s Night, 1964) 2:19
2. “I Should Have Known Better” (from A Hard Day’s Night, 1964; B-side, 1964) 2:44
3. “Paperback Writer” (non-album single, 1966) 2:19
4. “Rain” (B-side, 1966) 3:02
5. “Lady Madonna” (non-album single, 1968) 2:19
6. “Revolution” (B-side, 1968) 3:25

Side two

7. “Hey Jude” (non-album single, 1968) 7:10
8. “Old Brown Shoe” (George Harrison; B-side, 1969) 3:21
9. “Don’t Let Me Down” (B-side, 1969) 3:36
10. “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (non-album single, 1969)