The Beatles' Story on Capitol Records, Part One : Beatlemania & The Singles
Spizer, a tax attorney, Beatles historian, and contributor to various Beatles fan magazines, offers this meticulously researched follow-up to The Beatles Records on Vee-Jay (498 Prods., 1998). His study of the Beatles' American recordings on Capitol Records is two-fold. This work, Part 1, examines 45 rpm singles from 1964's "I Want To Hold Your Hand" to 1968's "Lady Madonna" (the last Capitol release before the Beatles launched Apple Records). Part 2, scheduled for fall 2000, will cover the Beatles' LPs. Three sections make up this title: how Capitol finally agreed to release Beatles records in the United States after rejecting the first four British hits; a breakdown of each single release with explanations and photographs of each issued label and picture sleeve variation, complete with coverage of Capitol's Beatles-related novelty singles, Canadian releases, and counterfeit records; and, lastly, a history of Capitol and other Capitol miscellany. The forthcoming book will contain information that will apply to this title, e.g., a chapter on identifying pressing plants based on information etched in the plastic discs. Hundreds of source documents from Capitol's files are reproduced, such as Capitol's first Beatles press release. In 2001, Spizer plans to write a history of the Beatles on Apple Records. Spizer's works are indispensable for serious Beatles collectors but of limited appeal to casual fans; recommended for libraries with large pop music/Beatles collections. [Chronicle Books will publish The Beatles Anthology, the first Apple Records-sanctioned history of the band, sometime this year.--Ed.].--Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., C.--.-Lloyd Jansen, Stockton-San Joaquin Cty. P.L., CACopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.