The Early Beatles Discography ...

If you're a fan of The Beatles, and if you're like me, you've probably wrestled at least once with their early discography.  From 1965 on, it's actually pretty easy to follow, but everything before that is a little bit fuzzy.

The first Beatles album available in the Unites States was called "Introducing ... The Beatles" on the Vee-Jay label.

In 1963, The Beatles released "Please Please Me" in March and "With the Beatles" in November.   Both records were released on the Parlophone label in the U.K.  Shortly thereafter, a label in the United States (maybe you've heard of them) called Capitol Records, released "Meet the Beatles" (in Jan of 1964) and "The Beatles Second Album" (in Apr of 1964).

In June of 1964, Parlophone released "A Hard Day's Night", and a month later, Capitol Records released "Something New".

In December of 1964, Parlophone released "Beatles for Sale", and just a few weeks later, Capitol Records released "Beatles '65".

***for the purpose of this discussion, we are going to gloss over the releases on Capitol Canada, Beatles VI and Yesterday and Today***

So you can imagine, there is a lot of overlap on these early records, and I'm here to make some sense of it all for you ...

All 14 of the tracks on "With the Beatles" are distributed between "Meet the Beatles" and "The Beatles Second Album".   "Meet the Beatles" starts with "I Want to Hold Your Hand", "I Saw Her Standing There" and "This Boy", and the last 9 tracks are taken from "With the Beatles".  "The Beatles Second Album" features 11 tracks, 5 of which are taken from "Meet the Beatles".

So if you're a fan of math ...

PLUS

EQUALS

"Something New" contains 11 tracks, 8 of which were taken from "A Hard Day's Night".  The other three tracks consist of two covers ("Slow Down" and "Matchbox") and a version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" sung in German.

So, for the sake of argument ...

is the bastard son of ...

"Beatles '65" consists of 11 tracks, 8 of which are taken directly from "Beatles for Sale".

So, one might say that ...

is a condensed version of ...

Now, as a little bit of a teaser for Fugazzi Grand III : The Albums, I will let everyone know that it doesn't make much sense for me to include all of these albums on the list, especially with the large amount of overlap.  They are all great, I will be including "Meet the Beatles" and leaving out "With the Beatles" and "The Beatles Second Album".  To me, it feels like "Meet the Beatles" borrowed the best songs from "With the Beatles", while "The Beatles Second Album" got the left overs.  Plus, the addition of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" make it a better overall presentation.

I will also be leaving "Something New" off the list, since again, it appears they are just taking highlights from "A Hard Day's Night" and I happen to really like the sequencing and overall listening experience of "A Hard Day's Night" the way it's presented.

As for the "Beatles for Sale" / "Beatles '65" battle for Fugazzi Grand, quite honestly, I actually prefer "Beatles '65".  "Beatles for Sale", if I have to choose one, is my least favorite Beatles record, and I'm not 100% sure that "Beatles '65" will make the cut.  Still great, though ...

Well, I hope this clears up some of the confusion of the early Beatles albums ...