Album release: Yellow Submarine Songtrack

The Beatles album Yellow Submarine Songtrack was released on 13 September 1999 (14 September in the USA). It contained 15 remixed Beatles songs originally featured in the 1968 film Yellow Submarine.

The film was also re-released in cinemas and for home video on 13/14 September 1999. The new print also had sound remixed in Dolby 5.1, and restored ‘Hey Bulldog’, which was previously shown only in Europe. The home video and DVD release also included the 1968 documentary A Mod Odyssey.

To coincide with the 1999 reissue, Apple Corps released a brand new stereo remix of all the songs featured in the film. With George Martin having retired, the new stereo and 5.1 mixes were created by Peter Cobbin, a sound engineer at Abbey Road Studios. The remixed audio was released as Yellow Submarine Songtrack. This was the first Beatles remix project since Anthology, and paved the way for the Love album and Giles Martin’s remixes of The Beatles’ other albums.

The album was released on compact disc, and yellow vinyl and standard black vinyl, with tracks 1-9 on side one, and 10-15 on side two.

To coincide with the release, Apple Corps distributed a newly clip of The Beatles recording ‘Hey Bulldog’ in February 1968. The footage had originally used to promote the ‘Lady Madonna’ single, but was newly-rediscovered in 1999 and edited to fit the ‘Hey Bulldog’ audio.

Yellow Submarine Songtrack entered the UK charts at number eight. It sold 19,000 copies in its first week, and was awarded Gold status in early October 1999.

In the United States, the album sold 67,000 copies in its first week, and entered the Billboard chart at number 15. It also made the top ten in Austria, Belgium, and Japan.

On 20 March 2012, Apple Corps announced that the Yellow Submarine film had been restored by hand for DVD and Blu-ray release. The restoration was supervised by Paul Rutan Jr and his team, which included Chris Dusendschon, Rayan Raghuram and Randy Walker.

The film’s soundtrack album will be reissued on CD on the same date. The film has been restored in 4K digital resolution for the first time – all done by hand, frame by frame.

Yellow Submarine Songtrack was reissued on CD on 4 June 2012 (the following day in North America), along with the DVD and Blu-ray of the film.