THE BEATLES

Origin: Liverpool, England
Genre(s): Pop, Rock and roll, Psychedelic rock
Years active: 1960 – 1970 (Partial reunion:1995)

Website: http://www.beatles.com

Members:
John Lennon (1960–1970)
Paul McCartney (1960–1970)
George Harrison (1960–1970)
Ringo Starr (1962–1970)

Former members:
Pete Best (1960–1962)
Stuart Sutcliffe (1960–1961)

John had the vision, Paul had the heart, George had the spirit, and Ringo had two fried eggs on toast, please. Together, they were the Beatles, four working-class Liverpool boys who came out of nowhere to conquer the world with the greatest songs ever heard.

In case you're from Mars, John Lennon (the Smart One) and Paul McCartney (the Cute One) wrote the tunes. George Harrison (the Quiet One) played lead guitar. Ringo Starr (the Drummer) played drums. They all sang. They invented the idea of the self-contained rock band, writing their own hits and playing their own instruments. They invented the idea that the world's biggest pop group could grow up into arty, innovative musicians. For that matter, they invented the idea that there was any such thing as the world's biggest pop group. They also invented drugs, beards, bed-ins, India, concept albums, round glasses, the Queen, breaking up, and vegetarians.

The Beatles left behind more great music than anybody can process in a lifetime. Sheer abundance is part of their story: Life with the Beatles means vaguely disliking a chestnut like "Nowhere Man" or "Blackbird" for years until it sneaks up and gets into your blood for good. Just check out "I Want to Hold Your Hand," which explodes out of the speakers with the most passionate singing, drumming, lyrics, guitars, and girl-crazy howls ever -- it's no insult to the Beatles to say they never topped this song because nobody else has either, although the lads came pretty close themselves with "You're Going to Lose That Girl." It's the most joyous three minutes in the history of human noise.

The Beatles were already bar-band veterans when they released their 1962 debut single, "Love Me Do," toughened by speed-fueled all-nighters in the sleazy clubs of Hamburg. They banged out Please Please Me in one marathon 10-hour session with producer George Martin on February 11, 1963. It's a blueprint of everything the Beatles would ever do, mixing up doo-wop, country, R&B, girl groups, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and Tin Pan Alley into their own exuberant sound. John and Paul sang the openhearted originals "Ask Me Why," "There's a Place," and "I Saw Her Standing There." Ringo shouted, "All right, George!" in his gender-flipped cover of the Shirelles' ultrafemme "Boys." All four Beatles sang and played with total emotional urgency, holding nothing back, knowing their first shot at getting out of Liverpool could have been their last. You can hear John completely blow out his voice in the last track, "Twist and Shout."

On With the Beatles, the mop-tops stepped out with a bunch of great Motown tributes: "Please Mister Postman," "You Really Got a Hold on Me," and the window-rattler "Money (That's What I Want)." They also shone with the originals "It Won't Be Long" and "All My Loving," George's "Don't Bother Me," and the Ringo showcase, "I Wanna Be Your Man." Unfortunately, there's also some real crapola here, such as "Little Child" and "Devil in Her Heart." The old show tune "Till There Was You" would rank as the Beatles' all-time ghastliest moment -- if not for the horrifying "Hold Me Tight" ( "It's you!/You, you, you!") which happens to be an original.

The full-length originals didn't come out in America until 1987. Today, the out-of-print U.S. versions don't even have nostalgia value, except maybe Meet the Beatles. The U.S. Rubber Soul adds acoustic tunes from Help! for an interesting album more conceptually unified than the U.K. original -- although shorter, and not as good.

A Hard Day's Night, the soundtrack from the Bea-tles' superb debut film ( "Don't touch Ringo's drums -- they loom large in his legend"), was also the first album comprised entirely of Lennon-McCartney originals. Although they were now the four most famous people in the world, the toppermost of the poppermost, bigger than Elvis, bigger than Jesus, they were still holding nothing back emotionally or musically: Just listen to "If I Fell" or "You Can't Do That."

The strain of Beatlemania shows in Beatles for Sale, as the lads unload some of the ickiest covers from their bar-band days. But they keep growing with "What You're Doing" and "I'm a Loser." The harmonies of "Baby's in Black," the hair-raising "I still loooove her" climax of "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party," the eager hand claps in "Eight Days a Week" -- it all makes "Mr. Moonlight" easy to forgive.

Help! was a big step forward, exploring doubt, loneliness, alienation, adult sexual longing, acous-tic guitars, electric piano, bongos, castanets, and the finest George songs known to man. The Cute One suddenly proved he was also the Smart One, the Smart One proved he could sound cuter than the Cute One, the Quiet One got Smart as well as Cute, and "Act Naturally" proved how much they all loved Ringo. Help! was utterly ruined in its U.S. version, which cut half the songs and added worthless orchestral soundtrack filler, so it's always been underrated. But Help! is the first chapter in the astounding creative takeoff the Beatles were just beginning: the soulful bereavement of "Ticket to Ride," the impossibly erotic gentleness of "Tell Me What You See," the desperate falsetto and electric punch of "You're Going to Lose That Girl."

On Rubber Soul, the Beatles grew up with an album of bittersweet romance, singing adult love ballads that feel worldly but not jaded. "Drive My Car" was a brash pop-life satire featuring Ringo's hottest drumming, while "Girl" upped the folk-rock ante on Bob Dylan. "Norwegian Wood" wove sitar and acoustic guitar together as John cryptically sang about an affair so his wife wouldn't guess what the song was about. (The rest of us can get confused as well -- does he light up a joint at the end or burn the girl's house down?) John and Paul both took off as singers: "Nowhere Man" might be slight as social commentary but it's heartbreaking as music, while "I'm Looking Through You" and "Wait" bare the vulnerable emotion in Paul's vocals. "In My Life" was one of the last Lennon-McCartney songs that the pair actually wrote together, and it could well be a loving farewell to each other before the friendship turned sour.

For Revolver, the Fabs tuned in to Dylan, the Stones, the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and decided to top them all. They also decided to make Ringo sing the one about the yellow submarine. On top of the world, at the peak of their powers, competing with one another because nobody else could touch them, the Beatles breezed through acid rock ("She Said She Said"), chamber music ("For No One"), raga ("Love You To"), R&B ("Got to Get You Into My Life"), and everything in between with superhuman confidence. It contains their prettiest music ("Here, There, and Everywhere"), their bitchiest ("And Your Bird Can Sing"), their friendliest ("I Want to Tell You"), and their scariest (the screaming-seagull acid-nightmare "Tomorrow Never Knows"). John's songs are the best, but Paul gets in the funniest line: "If I am true I'll never leave,/and if I do I know the way there."

Revolver got butchered particularly badly in its U.S. release, which only gave John three songs, the same number as George. Incredibly, Americans didn't get to hear the uncut Revolver until the CD came out in 1987. Ever since Revolver has steadily climbed in public estimation. These days, Revolver has earned its reputation as the best album the Beatles ever made, which means the best album by anybody.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the psychedelic soundtrack of the Summer of Love, was the first Beatles album released in its original uncut version in America, where fans hadn't even heard the full Revolver yet. So it was a revelation of how far artists could go in a recording studio with only four tracks, plenty of imagination, and a drug or two. It's a masterwork of sonics, not songwriting -- the words and melodies are a lot more rickety than on the previous three albums. But with Paul overdubbing every instrument under the sun and George Martin fixing the holes, Sgt. Pepper still sparkles, especially the jangly "Getting Better," the half-past-dead "A Day in the Life," and Ringo's greatest hit, "With a Little Help from My Friends."

Sgt. Pepper marked a turning point: No longer playing live, increasingly dimmed by drugs, the Beatles were drifting apart. They collaborated less and worked solo, isolating John's caustic rock edge, Paul's light pop whimsy, and George's sere spiritualism. Magical Mystery Tour was a lot goopier than Sgt. Pepper, though lifted by the cheerful "All You Need Is Love" and the ghostly "Strawberry Fields Forever." Her Majesty the Queen had the best comment: "The Beatles are turning awfully funny, aren't they?" By now, the Beatles didn't need to push -- they could have hit #1 with a tape of themselves blowing their noses, which would have been catchier than "Hello Goodbye" or "Lady Madonna." Yellow Submarine was a flat soundtrack rather than a real album, but here's a question: Why is George's "It's All Too Much" not heralded as one of the top five all-time psychedelic freakouts in rock history?

The Beatles wrote most of the White Album on acoustic guitars while on retreat in Rishikesh, India, a place where they had no drug connections, which probably explains why they came up with their sturdiest tunes since Revolver. As John recalled, "We sat in the mountains eating lousy vegetarian food and writing all these songs." Even Ringo: a big hand, please, for the man who wrote "Don't Pass Me By." The double-disc White Album, officially entitled The Beatles, has loads of self-indulgent filler -- even the justly maligned "Revolution #9" is more fun than "Honey Pie" or "Yer Blues." Before CDs, most people just made a 45-minute tape of highlights for actual listening; now you can program "Sexy Sadie" and "Long, Long, Long" without having to lift the needle to skip over "Helter Skelter." But nobody would pick the same highlights, which is part of the fun, and besides, if the Beatles had edited it down to one disc, "Rocky Raccoon" would have been the first to go, which would have been tragic. "Martha My Dear," "Blackbird," "Dear Prudence," "Julia," "Cry, Baby, Cry," "Savoy Truffle," and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" are all among the Beatles' finest songs, even if nobody will ever understand how they talked George Martin into permitting that godawful bass feedback at the end of the otherwise perfect "Julia."

As a strange footnote, the White Album acquired permanent notoriety during Charles Manson's 1969 trial, when an L.A. district attorney floated the theory that the album had inspired an alleged hippie murder cult. Silly stuff, but the accusation stuck, even though there's never been any evidence behind it; as Charlie himself admitted, he was more of a Bing Crosby man. Oh, well -- "Helter Skelter" still sucks anyway.

Despite its solo vocals, the White Album was the last Beatles album to evoke the old team spirit. Let It Be, the ill-fated documentary soundtrack, wasn't even released until 1970. The singing, playing, and writing are weak, despite the White Album-style gems "Dig A Pony" and "Two of Us." "The Long and Winding Road" is actually a not-terrible tune under Phil Spector's orchestral dreck (just listen to Aretha Franklin sing it on Young, Gifted, and Black). Fortunately, the band decided not to go out like that, and reconvened to make the farewell Abbey Road. Slick, polished to the point of easy listening, Abbey Road devotes side two to a Paul-dominated "pop symphony," as George's "Here Comes the Sun" gives way to a medley of inspired tunelets such as "Golden Slumbers," "Sun King," and "The End." The spottier side one has John's "I Want You (She's So Heavy)," his de facto sequel to "I Want to Hold Your Hand," and Ringo's kiddie fave "Octopus's Garden," which makes "Yellow Submarine" sound like "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald." Good night, everybody. Everybody, everywhere. Good night.

Beatles reissues are a story in themselves. Over the years, Capitol has cranked out Beatles anthologies from every conceivable angle -- Love Songs, Reel Music, Rock & Roll Music, Rarities, and so on. Hardly any of them have been rip-offs, however; Elvis Presley should be so lucky as to have his legacy preserved with this much care. The Beatles 1962-1966 and 1967-1970, the "Red" and "Blue" albums, became the canonical sets in the '70s, and they still sound great, although they're overpriced, each spreading a single CD's worth of great music over two discs -- and nobody has ever explained what the hell "Old Brown Shoe" is doing on the Blue Album. Hollywood Bowl is a loving tribute to the screaming girl fans who drown out the band in these 1964Đ65 shows; those girls were heroes on the rock & roll frontier, and they deserve to be the lead instrument on a Beatles album of their own. Live at the Star Club is a dull live set from the tail end of the group's early Hamburg days, right about the time the Beatles were making it at home and going through the motions in Hamburg. Past Masters collects their singles on two CDs, including essential nonalbum cuts such as "She Loves You," "Hey Jude," "Yes It Is," and "Rain." The 1977 Love Songs had a nice cover.

The long-bootlegged Live at the BBC has excellent radio performances of the lads chattering, nattering, cracking one another up, dedicating songs to their aunties out there in radio land, and playing many otherwise unrecorded covers, as well as the great original "I'll Be On My Way." The all-outtakes Anthology sets are too much of a good thing, good for only a couple of listens apiece, although Anthology 3 has "Junk," a sweet acoustic White Album ballad Paul revived on his solo debut. The three surviving Beatles reunited in 1995 to touch up the John outtake "Free as a Bird," which in retrospect wasn't a bad song at all, although the very idea was dead grotty. The song peaked at #2 in the U.K. and therefore missed inclusion on 1, the budget-priced collection of #1 hits that shocked the music business by selling zillions of copies, even though everybody on earth already has all the songs. In fact, the Beatles were the top-selling act of 2001. "Free as a Bird," no doubt, will appear on the inevitable sequel 2, which will also have "Please Please Me" and "Strawberry Fields Forever"; also brace yourself for the Beatles' H, so everybody can buy new copies of "Help!," "Hello Goodbye," "Hey Bulldog," and "Her Majesty."The Paul-supervised Let It Be . . . Naked remix isn't worth the trouble.

In the late 1990s, George Harrison was diagnosed with lung cancer. He succumbed to the disease on 29 November 2001.

In 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin remixed original Beatles recordings to create a soundtrack to accompany Cirque du Soleil's theatrical production Love. In 2007, McCartney and Starr reunited for an interview on Larry King Live to discuss their thoughts on the show. Beatles widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison also appeared with McCartney and Starr in Las Vegas for the one-year anniversary of Love.

Also in 2007, reports circulated that McCartney was hoping to complete "Now and Then", the third Lennon track the band worked on during the Anthology sessions, as a "Lennon/McCartney composition" by writing new verses, laying down a new drum track recorded by Starr, and utilizing archival recordings of Harrison's guitar work.

Towards the end of 2007, the surviving members of The Beatles and relatives of John Lennon and George Harrison were asked to go to Israel and be part of Israel's 60th anniversary celebration. This was 43 years after the group was banned from performing there.

Lawyers for The Beatles sued on March 21, 2008 to prevent the distribution of unreleased recordings purportedly made during Ringo Starr's first performance with the group in 1962. The dispute between Apple Corps Ltd. and Fuego Entertainment Inc. of Miami Lakes stems from recordings apparently made during a performance at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany.

Discography

UK

Studio Albums in UK:
1963 - Please Please Me (#1 UK)
1963 - With the Beatles (#1 UK)
1964 - A Hard Day's Night (#1 UK)
1964 - Beatles for Sale (#1 UK)
1965 - Help! (#1 UK)
1965 - Rubber Soul (#1 UK)
1966 - Revolver (#1 UK)
1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#1 UK)
1968 - The Beatles ("The White Album") (#1 UK)
1969 - Yellow Submarine (#3 UK)
1969 - Abbey Road (#1 UK)
1970 - Let It Be (#1 UK)

Compilations and other releases in the UK:
* A Collection of Beatles' Oldies Parlophone Records (1966-12-10) #7
* The Beatles' First Polydor Records (1967-08-04) (British issue of the 1964 German LP)
* 1962-1966 (the "Red Album") Apple Records #3(1973-04-19) (Re-released in Sep 1993 and hit UK number 3)
* 1967-1970 (the "Blue Album") Apple Records #2(1973-04-19) (Re-released in Sep 1993 and hit UK number 4)
* Rock 'n' Roll Music Parlophone Records (1976-06-10) #11
* Magical Mystery Tour Parlophone Records (1976-11-19) [sic] (Official UK issue of the American album using the Capitol masters, except for "Penny Lane," "Baby You're a Rich Man," and "All You Need is Love," which were the German mixes released on the HĂśr Zu! label in 1971. It became part of the official catalogue with its release on CD with every track in true-stereo. As an American import, the album peaked at #31 in 1968. Continued sales of the album as an import led to this release.)
* The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl Parlophone Records (1977-05-06) (Live performances from 1964-08-23 and 1965-08-30 at the Hollywood Bowl) #1
* Love Songs Parlophone Records (1977-11-19) #7
* The Beatles Collection Parlophone Records (1977-11-02) (A 14-record box set containing all of The Beatles' original Parlophone/Apple LPs along with Rarities)
* Rarities Parlophone Records (1978-12-02) (B-sides, songs in German ("Sie Liebt Dich" and "Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand") and others) #71
* Hey Jude Parlophone Records (1979-05-11) (Official UK issue of American album)
* The Beatles' Ballads Parlophone Records (1980-10-13) (compilation) #17
* Reel Music Parlophone Records (1982-03-29) (compilation of tracks from The Beatles' films) Did not chart
* The Beatles Mono Collection Parlophone/Apple (1982-10-??) (box set - 10 chronological mono Beatle albums from Please Please Me to Yellow Submarine excluding A Collection of Beatles' Oldies. Intended for export, originally in a red box similar to The Beatles Collection, reissued later in black)
* 20 Greatest Hits Parlophone Records (1982) #10
* Past Masters, Volume One Parlophone Records (1988-03-07) (singles from 1962-1965 and other songs that were left off earlier albums) #49
* Past Masters, Volume Two Parlophone Records (1988-03-07) (singles from 1965-1970 and other songs that were left off later albums) #46
* The Beatles Box Set Apple/Parlophone Records (1988-12-05) (contains the official Apple/Parlophone Beatle catalogue on CD including the two Past Masters volumes along with a soft cover book by Mark Lewisohn describing every track in this collection which is contained in a roll top wooden box)
* Live at the BBC Apple Records (1994-11-30) (Contains 69 songs The Beatles recorded for various BBC radio shows that never were recorded for Parlophone/Capitol/EMI. This collection only emphasises how much The Beatles as the #1 band on the globe worked like dogs in 1963 and 1964, sometimes recording 18 songs in a session for the BBC.) #1
* Anthology 1 Apple Records (1995) (Containing early performances, live shows, demos, out-takes in the period 1958 to 1964 and the first "new" Beatles song since the band broke up in 1970) #2
* Anthology 2 Apple Records (1996) (Containing unreleased tracks, live shows, demos, and out-takes from 1965 to 1968) #1
* Anthology 3 Apple Records (1996) (Containing unreleased tracks, demos, and out-takes in the period 1968 to 1970) #4
* Yellow Submarine Songtrack Apple Records (1999-09-13) #8
* The Beatles 1 Apple Records (2000-11-13) (A collection of The Beatles' #1 hits on the Billboard [U.S.] and Record Retailer [UK] charts, including both sides of their double-A sided singles if both hit the top slot. The collection has 27 songs in it.) #1
* Let It Be… Naked Apple Records (2003-11-17) (Remastered and remixed cut from the original sessions, devoid of arrangements by "re-producer" Phil Spector. The first copies released shipped with a 21-minute Fly on the Wall bonus disc.) #7
* The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 Apple/Capitol/Parlophone Records (2004-11-15) (A re-issuing of the first four Beatles albums that Capitol released in the U.S. Both versions, mono and stereo)
* The Capitol Albums, Volume 2 Apple/Capitol/Parlophone Records (2006-04-11) (A re-issuing of The Beatles albums that Capitol released in the U.S. in 1965. Both versions, mono and stereo)
* Love Apple Records (2006-11-20) #3

Christmas Records:
The Beatles also recorded annual Christmas records for their fan club members. From 1963 to 1969 these were released as 7" flexidiscs on LYN. In 1970 the 7 previous records were put onto a 12" vinyl record. These remain largely unavailable today, with the exception of one track, "Christmas Time Is Here Again", which was edited and released on the Free As a Bird CD single in 1994:
* The Beatles Christmas Record, LYN 492 (1963)
* Season's Greetings from The Beatles, LYN 757 (1964)
* The Beatles 3rd Christmas Record, LYN 948 (1965)
* Everywhere It's Christmas, LYN 1145 (1966)
* Christmas Time Is Here Again, LYN 1360 (1967)
* Beatles 1968 Christmas Record, LYN 1743/4 (1968)
* Happy Christmas 1969, LYN 1970/1 (1969)
* From Then to You, (UK) Apple LYN 2154 / The Beatles' Christmas Album (U.S.) Apple SBC 100 (1970)

EPs:
* Twist and Shout (1963-07-12)
* The Beatles' Hits (1963-09-06)
* The Beatles (No. 1) (1963-11-01)
* All My Loving (1964-02-07)
* Long Tall Sally (1964-06-19) The first Beatles EP to feature otherwise unavailable material, including the Lennon-McCartney original "I Call Your Name".
* A Hard Day's Night (Extracts from the film) (1964-11-04)
* A Hard Day's Night (Extracts from the album) (1964-11-06)
* Beatles for Sale (1965-04-06)
* Beatles for Sale (No. 2) (1965-06-04)
* The Beatles' Million Sellers (1965-12-06)
* Yesterday (1966-03-04)
* Nowhere Man (1966)
* Magical Mystery Tour (1967); #2 (in the UK singles chart topped by "Hello, Goodbye"). The second Beatles EP to feature otherwise unavailable material. This record consisted of the original songs recorded by the Beatles for the "Magical Mystery Tour" film.
* The Beatles EP Collection, Parlophone (1981-12-07) (15-disc 7" EP set, featuring all 13 Beatles British EP's, with both mono and stereo editions of Magical Mystery Tour plus an EP of 4 stereo mixes, new to the UK, of "The Inner Light", "Baby You're a Rich Man", "She's a Woman" and "This Boy", housed in a blue flip-top box similar to The Beatles Collection. The set was issued on CD in a black box for the first time in the U.K. on (1992-05-26 with releases in the U.S. and Japan in the following month)
* The Beatles (1981-12-07) (a rarities' EP featuring "The Inner Light", "Baby You're a Rich Man", "She's a Woman" and "This Boy")

CANADA

Studio Albums released in Canada:
1963 - Beatlemania! With the Beatles (#1 CAN)
1964 - Twist and Shout (#1 CAN)
1964 - The Beatles' Long Tall Sally (#1 CAN)
After this album, Capitol of Canada synchronised its catalogue production with the US market, beginning with United Artists' A Hard Day's Night and concluding with Apple's Hey Jude. Notably, though the albums "Something New" and "The Beatles' Story" were only produced in mono when originally released. American albums such as Meet the Beatles!, The Beatles' Second Album and The Early Beatles did not see release in Canada until 1967. The 1967 issuing of the American back catalogue was of the following LP's:
1967 - The Beatles' Second Album, ST 2080 (Stereo)/ T 2080 (Mono)
1967 - Meet The Beatles, ST 2047 (Stereo)
1967 - Something New, ST 2108
1968 - The Beatles' Story, STBO 2222 (Stereo)
1968 - The Early Beatles, ST 2309 (Stereo)
The Beatles with Tony Sheridan recordings that had been released in various form and on various labels were released in Canada as "Very Together".
1969 - Very Together
1970 - Let It Be (#1 CAN)

Compilation in Canada:
All Post-Beatles albums were released exactly the same in Canada as in the U.S.A., with the one exception of The Beatles' Ballads LP and was given the catalogue number SL 9612.

US

In the United States, as noted above, The Beatles albums were rearranged, retitled and remixed. Some of the U.S. releases were nearly identical to their UK counterparts, often only varying by one or two songs. Most releases contained songs that were also found on other records, which made things difficult for the American Beatles fan trying to purchase the band's entire catalog. By 1967, all U.S. releases matched the UK releases exactly. Some of the U.S. releases included:
1964 - Introducing... The Beatles (#2 U.S.)
1964 - Meet the Beatles! (#1 U.S.)
1964 - The Beatles' Second Album (#1 U.S.)
1964 - A Hard Day's Night (#1 U.S.)
1964 - Something New (#2 U.S.)
1964 - The Beatles' Story (#7 U.S.)
1965 - Beatles '65 (#1 U.S.)
1965 - The Early Beatles (#43 U.S.)
1965 - Beatles VI (#1 U.S.)
1965 - Help! (#1 U.S.)
1965 - Rubber Soul (#1 U.S.)
1966 - Yesterday… and Today (#1 U.S.)
1966 - Revolver (#1 U.S.)
1967 - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (#1 U.S.)
1967 - Magical Mystery Tour (#1 U.S.)
1968 - The Beatles (#1 U.S.)
1969 - Yellow Submarine (#2 U.S.)
1969 - Abbey Road (#1 U.S.)
1970 - Hey Jude (#2 U.S.)
1970 - Let It Be (#1 U.S.)

Compilations and other releases in the U.S.:
* In The Beginning (Circa 1960), Polydor Records (1970-05-04) #117
* 1962–1966 (the "Red Album"), Capitol Records (1973-04-02) #3
* 1967–1970 (the "Blue Album"), Capitol Records (1973-04-02) #1
* Rock 'n' Roll Music, Capitol Records (1976-06-07) #2
* The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl, Capitol Records (1977-05-04) #2
* Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962, Lingasong (1977) #111
* Love Songs, Capitol Records (1977-10-21) #24
* The Beatles Collection, Capitol Records (1979-12-01) (Unlike the British release, the American issue was a limited edition with only 3,000 copies made. The British release which was not a limited edition became a popular import for the U.S. market as a result.)
* Rarities, Capitol Records (1980-03-24) #21
* Rock 'n' Roll Music Vol. 1, Music For Pleasure (1980-10-27) #11
* Rock 'n' Roll Music Vol. 2, Music For Pleasure (1980-10-27) #7
* Reel Music, Capitol Records (1982-03-22) #19
* 20 Greatest Hits, Capitol Records (1982-10-11) #50
* Please Please Me, Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-02-26)
* With the Beatles, Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-02-26)
* A Hard Day's Night (British version), Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-02-26)
* Beatles For Sale, Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-02-26)
* Help! (British version), Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-04-30)
* Rubber Soul (British version), Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-04-30)
* Revolver (British version), Parlophone/Capitol Records (1987-04-30)
(The above 1987 CD releases mark the first official releases for The Beatles' early British albums in the U.S.)
* Past Masters, Volume One, Parlophone/Capitol Records (1988-03-07) #149
* Past Masters, Volume Two, Parlophone/Capitol Records (1988-03-07) #121
(Past Masters as a 2-LP set was issued by Capitol Records on 1988-10-24)
* The Beatles Box Set Parlophone/Capitol Records (1988-11-15)
* Live at the BBC, Capitol Records (1994-12-06) #3
* Anthology 1, Capitol Records (1995-11-21) #1
* Anthology 2, Capitol Records (1996-03-19) #1
* Anthology 3, Capitol Records (1996-10-29) #1
* Yellow Submarine Songtrack, Capitol Records (1999-09-14) #15
* The Beatles 1, Capitol Records (2000-11-14) #1
* Let It Be… Naked, Capitol Records (2003) #5
* The Capitol Albums, Volume 1, Capitol Records (2004-11-16) #35
* The Capitol Albums, Volume 2, Capitol Records (2006-04-11) #46
* Love, Capitol Records (2006-11-21) #4

EPs:
* Souvenir of Their Visit to America (Vee Jay Records) (1964-03-23)
* Four by the Beatles (1964-05-11)
* 4-by the Beatles (1965-02-01)
* Baby It's You (1995-03-23) (Maxi-CD single)
* Free as a Bird (1995-12-12) (Maxi-CD single)
* Real Love (1996-03-05) (Maxi-CD single)

* The Beatles Singles > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_discography
* The Beatles Bootlegs > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_bootlegs