Recorded: 1 June; 11, 14 August; 30 September; 8, 18, 26 October 1964
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 15 December 1964
Personnel
John Lennon: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, harmonica, tambourine, handclaps
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, Hammond organ, handclaps
George Harrison: vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, African drum, handclaps
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums, tambourine, chocalho, percussion, handclaps
George Martin: piano
Tracklisting
‘No Reply’
‘I’m A Loser’
‘Baby’s In Black’
‘Rock And Roll Music’
‘I’ll Follow The Sun’
‘Mr Moonlight’
‘Honey Don’t’
‘I’ll Be Back’
‘She’s A Woman’
‘I Feel Fine’
‘Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby’
Beatles ’65 was The Beatles’ fifth Capitol Records album, released in the US and Canada in December 1964.
The album contained eleven songs, eight of which were released on the UK album Beatles For Sale. The others were ‘I’ll Be Back’ from A Hard Day’s Night, and the songs from the standalone single ‘I Feel Fine’/‘She’s A Woman’.
Seven of the songs were Lennon-McCartney originals, plus cover versions of ‘Rock And Roll Music’ (Chuck Berry), ‘Mr Moonlight’ (Roy Lee Johnson), and ‘Honey Don’t’ and ‘Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby’ (Carl Perkins).
‘I Feel Fine’ and ‘She’s A Woman’ were issued in duophonic (mock) stereo, which involved lowering the treble from one side of the stereo spectrum, and the bass from the other, to mask the lack of a true stereo mix, and Capitol Records’ executive Dave Dexter added reverb to the songs.
The mono mix of ‘I’ll Be Back’ was slightly different from the UK version, both of which were created by The Beatles’ producer George Martin.
Capitol also released Beatles ’65 on 8-track tape, adding ‘You Can’t Do That’ to balance the running order. The 8-track had ‘No Reply’, ‘I’m A Loser’, and ‘Rock And Roll Music’ on program 1; ‘I’ll Follow The Sun’, ‘Mr Moonlight’, and ‘Honey Don’t’ on program 2; ‘Baby’s In Black’, ‘I’ll Be Back’, and ‘She’s A Woman’ on program 3; and ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby’, and ‘You Can’t Do That’ on program 4.
The release
Beatles ’65 was released in the USA and Canada on 15 December 1964, in mono and stereo. It came out just three weeks after the documentary album The Beatles’ Story.
The album was also issued in stereo in West Germany on 4 May 1965, by the Odeon label.
In the US it charted at number 98 on the Billboard Top LPs chart, but jumped to number one the following week, the highest move to the top spot in Billboard’s history. It spent nine consecutive weeks at number one from 9 January 1965.
Beatles ’65 had sold 1,967,261 copies in the US by 31 December 1965, and by the end of the decade had sold 2,327,186.
The album was released on compact disc for the first time in 2004, as part of the Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set. The single disc contained the original mono and stereo mixes.
It was released again in 2014, both individually and as part of the box set The US Albums. However, unlike the early reissue, the 2014 box set used the UK remasters rather than Capitol’s variants.
Sleeve notes
Some said it couldn’t really be happening; that it was just publicity. And the fabulous Beatles proved them wrong. Others said they couldn’t last more than a month or two; that nobody could hang onto that kind of fame. The Beatles, of course, proved them wrong too. Then when their first movie was released, and even the critics liked it, people began to wonder if all those Beatle fans hadn’t really discovered something after all.But you, the Beatles’ fans, knew all along. You knew that the Beatles really do have a style and a sound like there’s never been before. And it’s simply because you like them (and they like you) that this fantastic success story has happened, and continues to happen more and more all the time.
And now here’s what you’ve been waiting for – a new Beatles album with all the new Beatles songs, most of them, like No Reply; I’m a Loser; Baby’s in Black; I’ll Follow the Sun; I’ll be Back; She’s a Woman and I Feel Fine, composed by that hit song-writing team of John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
These are the new favorites by the four boys who have proven themselves to be the biggest favorites of all. Here’s BEATLES ’65!
Produced in England by George Martin and in the U.S.A. with the assistance of Dave Dexter, Jr.
