1962–1966

Album covers

During the shoot for the group's 1963 debut LP Please Please Me, photographer Angus McBean took the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI House (EMI's London headquarters in Manchester Square, demolished in 1995). The cover for the 1963 EP The Beatles (No. 1) used a picture from the same shoot.

In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although one of the 1969 photographs was originally intended for the planned Get Back album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as Let It Be. Instead, another 1969 photograph, along with an unused one from the 1963 photo shoot, were used for both this LP and the cover of 1967–1970.

The inner gatefold photo for both LPs has been attributed to both Stephen Goldblatt and Don McCullin, and is from the "Mad Day Out" photo session in London on Sunday 28 July 1968.

The album cover was designed by Tom Wilkes.

Release variations

• Original 1973 UK release: Apple PCSP 7171-2
• Original 1973 US release: Apple SKBO-3403 (whole and sliced apples on red background)
• Second 1976 US pressings: Capitol SKBO-3403 (Capitol target logo on back of album cover, red labels with "Capitol" in light red at bottom. There are also copies erroneously pressed with the BLUE labels for the 1967–1970 pressings.)
• 1978 first US red vinyl issue: Capitol SEBX-11842 (Capitol dome logo on back of album cover, large dome logo at top of labels)

The British and American versions of the vinyl album contain notable differences; for example, "Help!" on the American edition includes the same pseudo-James Bond intro as found on the American Help! soundtrack LP, while the same song on the British edition does not. Also, the British LP uses the stereo "whispering intro" mix of "I Feel Fine", while the U.S. LP uses the mono mix from Beatles '65, which is drenched in additional reverb. In the liner notes associating the songs with their original albums, the U.S. editions referenced the Capitol albums while the UK editions used the British albums.

The first compact disc version was released on 20 September 1993. It was released on two discs for the price of two albums, though it could have fit onto a single disc; EMI stated that this was done to match the release of 1967–1970. The CD version used new digital masters. The first four tracks on the CD release are in mono; the rest of the tracks are in stereo. The tracks "All My Loving", "Can't Buy Me Love", "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her" and "Eight Days a Week" made their CD stereo debut with this release. The 1993 versions were also issued on vinyl in the UK.

2010 remastered version

EMI announced on 10 August 2010, that the album had been remastered for a second time and, once again, would be released as a two-CD package. The album was released worldwide on 18 October 2010, and 19 October 2010 in North America.

2014 mastered vinyl

The album was reissued on 180g vinyl in 2014, prepared from the original UK 1973 compilation master. The fake stereo mixes of the Andy White version of "Love Me Do" (with Starr on tambourine) and "She Loves You" were replaced by the true mono versions, but while the Side 1 label indicated “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You” being mono, they were, in fact, the stereo versions.

2023 remixed editions

The compilation, along with its counterpart, was rereleased with an expanded track listing on 10 November 2023.

The 12 additional tracks are: "I Saw Her Standing There", "Twist and Shout", "This Boy", "Roll Over Beethoven", "You Really Got a Hold on Me", "You Can't Do That", "If I Needed Someone", "Taxman", "Got to Get You into My Life", "I'm Only Sleeping", "Here, There and Everywhere", and "Tomorrow Never Knows". Additionally, the version of "Love Me Do" with Ringo Starr on drums, originally issued only on first pressings of the 1962 UK single, replaced the version with Andy White on drums and Starr on tambourine formerly used for this compilation.

Thirty out of the 38 songs on the album received a new stereo mix, while the remaining eight used mixes from the 2022 Revolver: Special Edition set. The album is also available in Dolby Atmos surround sound. On the CD and digital editions, the additional tracks are inserted into the track list in chronological order of each track's original issue, while on the vinyl edition, the first two LPs retain the track list of the 1973 release, with the additional tracks placed on a third LP.

A press conference for the release, along with "Now and Then", was held at the Dolby Screening Room in New York City on 27 September 2023. Tracks from the release were played in the theatre in their newly mixed form.

Rolling Stone called the original red and blue albums "eight of the most-perfect album sides ever devised" and said that the bonus discs "fix the holes in the originals", noting the addition of songs written by Harrison, cover songs and more tracks from Revolver. They said tracks in the compilation "have never thundered like this before". Giles Martin, who mixed the new versions, said of the new mixes, "I never thought it would happen", as Martin has been credited for stating the early recordings were impossible to work with this kind of mix. He said in an interview, "Technically, on the early tracks, it's completely mind-blowing to me how we made them sound. I didn't think it was possible for us to do that to the early tracks. As I've told you, I didn't think that we could do the work we've done on things like 'I Saw Her Standing There' or 'All My Loving' or 'Twist and Shout.' The power of Ringo's drumming, for example, on those early tracks, it's been unearthed. But the playing is just really good. That's joy." The Sunday Times Magazine called the new mixes "extraordinary", and that, on the Red Album particularly, they "sound so fresh it could be by some up-and-coming garage rock band". They also quoted Martin "rejecting the cynicism some people have about reissues". Salon.com said the tracks "came roaring to life with previously unrealised dimensions", and praised the separation of the tracks. For example, they said the mix of bonus track "I Saw Her Standing There" allows the Beatles to be heard "in splendid isolation, all working in the stead of a time-eclipsing song". Tidal Magazine added, "the 2023 revisions are sequenced not like LPs but like playlists, allowing for slight digressions and offering a more immersive experience. It's not quite the same vibe as the original records, yet these 50th-anniversary reissues do hearken back to the origins of the Red and Blue Albums." They also added that "they repurpose the Beatles to suit the habits of streaming listeners — just like how the originals were designed with an LP audience in mind."

On 3 November 2023, the 2023 mix of "Love Me Do" was released alongside "Now and Then".

Track listing

• Although it appeared on the Vee-Jay compilation Jolly What! The Beatles and Frank Ifield on Stage, this is the first appearance of "From Me to You" on a U.S. Capitol album.
• "A Hard Day's Night" also makes its U.S. Capitol album debut here, having previously only appeared on the United Artists soundtrack album of the film of the same name.

All tracks are written by Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.

Charts

Weekly charts

Original release

1993 reissue

2010 reissue

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

In the US, the album sold 1,215,338 LPs by 31 December 1973 and 5,475,942 LPs by the end of the decade.

References

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