The Beatles’ fourth EP to be released in the United Kingdom contained a mix of songs from the albums Please Please Me and With The Beatles.
The All My Loving EP was released, like all the group’s UK output so far, on the EMI subsidiary label Parlophone. It was issued only in mono, with the catalogue number GEP 8891.
Side one contained ‘All My Loving’ and ‘Ask Me Why’, while the second side featured Money (That’s What I Want) and ‘PS I Love You’.
Although all the songs had been available for some time, the EP sold strongly. It even peaking at number 12 in the singles chart, which in the early 1960s was based on all sales regardless of disc size.
In the EP chart it spent eight weeks at number one, and was eventually replaced by the Long Tall Sally EP.
As with their three previous EPs, All My Loving had sleeve notes penned by the group’s press officer Tony Barrow.
John… Paul… George… Ringo. Names which meant little or nothing eighteen months ago. Today there is an almost legendary magic about John and Paul and George and Ringo. The very mention of any one sends sharp shivers of excitement down the spines of young girls. The names belong to four vigorous-voiced, multi-talented artists who have the 1964 pop music world spread out about their stomping feet. The four command a kingdom of gold and silver trophies. They rule supreme from the hit parade heights. They dominate the thoughts, moods and hearts of a million devoted fans. They fascinate many more millions of longer-range admirers from every walk of life and every living generation. They have pioneered and cultivated a dozen different trends in teenage fashions and musical motions. They have altered the course of their contemporary segment of show-business history. They are, with less than eighteen months of national importance behind them, amongst the most sensational successes the entertainment world has ever known. They are, in one meaningful word, Beatles.The Beatles abhor the contrived, venerate the unconventional. They are what every young girl would wish they boy next door to be. They have made the phrase ‘pop idol’ obsolete. John… Paul… George… Ringo. Four forceful personalities backed up by rare and genuine talent.
Also on this day...
- 2013: Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band live: CBS Canterbury Arena, Christchurch
- 2012: Paul McCartney to headline Queen’s diamond jubilee concert
- 2012: US album release: Kisses On The Bottom by Paul McCartney
- 1970: John Lennon and Yoko Ono appear on The Simon Dee Show
- 1970: George Harrison produces Govinda by Radha Krshna Temple
- 1967: Filming: Penny Lane
- 1965: John and Cynthia Lennon return to England from Switzerland
- 1964: The Beatles’ American invasion begins
- 1963: The Beatles live: ABC Cinema, Wakefield
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (evening)
- 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
- 1961: The Beatles live: Merseyside Civil Service Club, Liverpool
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
I get the impression Tony Barrow didn’t like the Beatles much.
Actually Tony Barrow DID like the Beatles. He wrote this on The Beatles Hit, cover:
“The four numbers on this EP have been selected from The Lennon & McCartney Songbook. If that description sounds a trifle pompous perhaps I may suggest you preserve this sleeve for ten years, exhume it from your collection somewhere around the middle of 1973 and write me a very nasty letter if the pop people of the 70’s aren’t talking with respect about at least two of these titles as “early examples of modern beat standards taken from The Lennon & McCartney Songbook”.
The success of The Beatles as a bill-topping, chart-topping team of vocalist/instrumentalist entertainers hasn’t been far short of unique. What makes this foursome’s history quite unprecedented is the fact that two of the boys write (with an output rate which is prolific-plus!) all the songs which The Beatles take to the top of the hit parade. We’ve had successful songwriters before and we’ve had golden-touch recording stars before but the two entirely different facts of Tin Pan Alley fame have never before combined themselves so brilliantly in the all-round, do-it-yourself versatility of a single singing/playing/composing unit.
Chronologically speaking, this exciting little session starts with Love Me Do. In the autumn of ’62 this number went out to the disc stores on the top deck of The Beatles’ first Parlophone single. 48 hours later it had notched up sufficient sales to put it into the charts.
Next came Please Please Me which stayed in the charts throughout February and March of 1963, reached the coveted Number One slot, earned The Beatles their first Silver Disc award and eventually gave its name to a twelve-inch LP programme which was destined to become one of the fastest-selling album releases of the year.
For their third single The Beatles coupled From Me To You with Thank You Girl. The former zoomed to the pop peak in the middle of April and defended its mighty position against all comers for a total of seven spectacular weeks. (Incidentally it was Do You Want To Know A Secret, another item from The Lennon & McCartney Songbook, which replaced From Me To You at the Number One position in June!)
Thank You Girl found another way of proving its undoubted popularity by making a prolonged appearance amongst the nation’s list of best-selling sheet music.
P.S. In case you still doubt my opening paragraph prophesy, you should know that Messrs. Lennon & McCartney have written enough songs to keep them in singles and albums from now until 1973 even if their composing talent were to wither and die in the immediate future!”
Tony Barrow
If vinyl LPs are making a comeback, why not EPs and 45s?
But this time release the EPs in North America.