HEY JUDE

This is a compilation L.P. released initially in the U.S. and in some countries, like Mexico. It was also released in the U.K. as an import, and curiously, it also was manufactured in the U.K. to be distributed as an Import in some countries in the early 70s. I also think that in the late 70s this album was finally released in the U.K. This album has not been re-issued in the C.D. format.

I never considered their U.S. L.P.s as in the same level as their U.K. L.P.s, because most of their U.S. L.P.s until 1966 had combinations of songs which belonged to different L.P.s released in the U.K. They also had different mixes in a lot of songs done by their U.S. label, Capitol Records. Obviously, my preference is for the "real mixes approved by The Beatles" . But this L.P. and the "Magical Mystery Tour" L.P. are the only two L.P.s of their U.S. discography that deserve my attention.

This "Hey Jude" L.P. was originally titled "The Beatles Again" in the first pressing, but the title was changed after that (the Mexican L.P. had the "Hey Jude" title in the spine of the cover, but in the label it said "The Beatles Again"). As a compilation it is good. It includes some songs released as singles and their B-sides, with the exception of "The Inner Light",which was not included, it was the B-side of the "Lady Madonna" single released in 1968, and "Get Back", a single released in 1969, is also not included, but "Don`t Let Me Down", its B-side, it`s included. Capitol also included two older songs which were not released before on a Stereo L.P. in the U.S. : "Can`t Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better", both from their "A Hard Day`s Night" U.K. album.

This album has "Paperback Writer" in "Reversed Stereo" in comparison to the original U.K. version: the channels are reversed! Another curiosity is that the final seconds of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" were edited out. Apparently all other songs have the same mixings as the original versions released in the U.K.

Another important thing to comment about this L.P. is that it has in the cover some of the photos of the last photo session of The Beatles as a band, which were taken in John`s house in August 1969, a few days after they finished the recording and mixing of their "Abbey Road" album.

All the songs included in this L.P. are available in the "Past Masters Volume 2" C.D., with the exception of "Can`t Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better".