The last Beatles album released while all four of them were still here. The front cover seems a little strange to see now, as John Lennon looks a little on the ghostly side in this shot. I'd seen it around a couple of times before I picked up a second-hand vinyl copy of it for five bucks at Drastic Plastic, not long after my 12th birthday. Some of the songs on there were ones that I was not familiar with, which made it interesting, not to mention a few different mixes of songs that were already well-known by me at that point.
In 1978, there was a boxed set of all the Beatles' albums in one go, plus a new bonus disc in it called "Rarities", featuring many songs on it that were heard on various singles and EP's, but were never on a Beatles album up to that point yet. In Britain, anyway. The same set was released on this side of the pond, with the same "bonus disc", but to American ears, there was nothing truthfully "rare" about the song selection that was presented (other than an early mix of "Across The Universe", minus the strings and choir). Capitol pressed up some copies for a potential release in October of 1979, on their new "budget line" reissue line, featuring green labels, but they cancelled it when they decided to revamp the track-listing for this new album (a number of copies were smuggled from the pressing plant, but had no covers to go with them!), and then went to work to rectify this!
This set kicks off with the original single version of "Love Me Do" with Ringo on the drums, which is fun and historically important, but it sounds kind of flat and lifeless without the tambourine (truth be told!). "Misery" and "There's A Place" were a pair of fine rockers that were originally on Vee Jay's Introducing...The Beatles, but were left off of Capitol's cut-down version of that one, The Early Beatles, and released as a budget-priced single on the Capitol-Starline label (which was left to fade into oblivion). The German-sung version of "She Loves You" was a lot of fun, but the versions of "Help!" and "I'm Only Sleeping" were not really all that different from the British versions.
Side two gets into some interesting territory. There's the promo-only version of "Penny Lane" with the last few notes on the trumpet at the end (ever since hearing this version, I can't help but hear it whenever I hear the original mix that doesn't have it!). Then a couple of cuts from the monaural "White Album" that are, indeed, very differently mixed than the stereo counterparts. The inclusion of "The Inner Light" and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" were a little on the questionable side; they're both fun, but they were still in print on the B-sides of "Lady Madonna" and "Let It Be"...but this was the first time they'd been on a Capitol album by this point, so there we go. There's also the "wildlife" mix of "Across The Universe", which seems sped up, when compared to the slowed-down version from the Let It Be album. At least the strings and choir aren't on it!
"You Know My Name"...many people hate this one, but I've always liked it ever since hearing it on here. I've heard a weird and funny story from a friend who knew someone who hated the Beatles and everything they ever did musically...but for some odd reason, the guy actually liked this one, and said that it was the only "good song" that they ever did. I don't know what to make of that, but what an interesting song to balance it out by!
All in all, a fun little compilation, with some treasures on it, although it was put out to pasture when the Beatles' catalog came out on CD, and many of the songs were released across the two volumes of Past Masters (1988), and Rarities was deleted.
One aspect that many fans weren't too happy with was the fact that the legendary "Butcher Cover" photo was printed on the inside gatefold cover, and not the outside; many thought that Capitol chickened out by putting it on the inside.
