From: edc@evolution.bchs.uh.edu (edward s. chen)
Subject: Re: The worst Beatles compilations? (was: Re: The Old Mixmaster)
Organization: Little to none, or maybe not......
Date: Tue, 28 Jul 1992 18:04:02 GMT

In article <1992Jul28.170129.14388@news.columbia.edu> brennan@cunixf.cc.columbia.edu (Joseph Brennan) writes:
>In article <1992Jul28.153852.8020@portal.vpharm.com>
>dap@portal.vpharm.com (David A. Pearlman) writes:
>
>>OK...This brings up an interesting question: What was the worst Beatle-related
>>compilation/rehash?
>
>Easy... pick through those American albums on Atco and MGM and their
>subsidiaries that have 4 Tony Sheridan recordings with unrelated other
>junk.  The Atco probably "wins" because they had someone overdub Pete
>Best's drumming on a couple of them-- thereby making the records even
>less authentic.
>

Nah, the wonderfully deceptive covers with the line:"including the hits 
"I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", and "Please Please Me"  
(not bothering to mention that these renditions were not by the fabs 
themselves, but instead by "The Swallows", or some other equally obnoxious 
"group") easily raise those LP's to minimally useful (if not listenable).
Besides, they are nice as collectables, and momentoes of just how
prevalent Beatlemania actually was...

>Depending on how we do the scoring, Vee Jay's "The Beatles vs the Four
>Seasons" might beat them out on grounds of sheer stupidity.
>

Nah, see above.  Besides, without this LP, we never would have had any
of the great knock-offs on Bootleg.  (Beatles vs. Third Reich, Beatles
vs. Don Ho!)  The "Jolly What!  The Beatles and Frank Ifield!  Live!"
LP is both deceptive (none of the Beatle cuts were actually live),
and created for the sole purpose of selling more records, but the
two cover variations (esp. the "Old Man" cover) save it from being
completely useless.  That honor must go to Capitol...

So, on with the countdown of the five most useless American Beatle 
vinyl repackagings (IMHO):

5.  Past Masters I (vinyl only) -  While useful on CD, this collection
    of tunes was completely unnecessary on vinyl.  All the songs present
    had already been released on other LP's, and the lack of a decent
    cover ear-mark this as one of the more useless LP repackagings. Slightly
    ahead of its twin for the inclusion of mono recordings of some of the
    early cuts.

4.  Past Masters II (vinyl only) - Basically the same as above.  Nice on CD,
    but completely worthless on vinyl.

3.  Reel Music - an embarrasingly amateurish cover, with bizarre sequencing
    (if you're going to put the LP version of "Get Back" on a record, make
    sure John's "...passed the audition" comment comes at the end)  Saved from
    being in the bottom two by a fairly nice booklet (which added an extra 
    dollar to the sale price).

2.  20 Number 1 hits! - ho, hum.  A boring re-packaging of the hits, with the
    added "bonus" of the "radio version" of "Hey Jude".  Who needs the last 
    two minutes of one of the Fabs best songs anyway...

1.  Rock 'n Roll Music - They turned down a cover suggestion by John Lennon
    for this?!  What in the hell does Tail Fins, Coca-Cola glasses, and
    Marilyn Monroe have to do with the Fabs?  Combine with John's distaste
    for the sound of the record(s)  [The fast version of "Revolution" was
    a heavy record.  Here it sounds like...a piece of ice cream!] make for
    the worst, most crass repackaging of the Beatles catalog to date...


I think all we can say is thank goodness none of the latter three LP's
have managed to find their way to CD yet...

<ESC>
-- 
..You either kiss the future or the past goodbye...
                          -- Ringo Starr (written by O'Deherty / Velez)

                                
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles