THE BEATLES AT THEIR TOPPERMOST

The Beatles
1

Apple Records (Capitol)

Release date: November 14, 2000

I did not write a nasty letter to EMI about this CD.

Why do I want you to all know that? Because someone most certainly did. In fact, more than one person did. Mind you, I didn't hear or read about anyone sending such letters, but I'm willing to bet my first state Butcher cover (which I don't really have, but note my lack of quiver) the mail clerks at 3 Abbey Road, London have been wary of ticking envelopes. Life does not have too many guarantees, but one of them is that anytime EMI releases a new Beatle related CD, a sector of over-obsessed members of the fan club goes right to the word processor to drain frustration because the CD wasn't exactly the way this fan would have wished.

On February 26, 1987, EMI released the Beatles' first four albums on CD, all in Mono. Probably by the 28th, the first letter bomb had arrived. The poor company was deluged with angry letters from fans saying "How could you release them in Mono? That music should be heard in Stereo. You should be fired, damn it!" Of course, if they had been released in Stereo, just as many letters would have turned up barking "How could you release them in Stereo? That music should be heard in Mono. You should be fired, damn it!" And had they gone for the digipak approach and put both versions on one CD, the letters would have poured in along the lines of "How could you put both the mono and stereo on one disc? Doesn't EMI have the sense to know that releasing that inferior mono version alongside the stereo version demonstrates EMI's inability to recognize the stereo as the definitive version of the album? You should be fired, damn it!" and vice versa.

Yep, there's always a percentage of fans who hate everything EMI has done since the first Fab CDs appeared. They believe they are entitled to specific answers as to why their specific needs were not attended to. A class action suit will be filed unless someone will tell them why Live At The BBC didn't have "Lend Me Your Comb." Why the Anthology didn't have any versions of "Day Tripper." Why Yellow Submarine Songtrack didn't have "A Day In The Life" or the full version of "It's All Too Much." Why the regular albums, when released on CD, didn't contain the related non-album single and EP tracks as bonus cuts, instead prompting the release of two separate CD collections of these odds and ends.

One can only guess what kinds of diatribes are being pounded out about 1, a new 'Best Of' CD of 27 tracks. Not just any 27 tracks, but the 27 songs that went to Number One in England or America or both. - a fairly straight ahead concept. And while the end result may not seem like much more than a condensed version of the Red and Blue albums (as every cut on 1 can be found on those CDs) or an elongated representation of the 1982 album 20 Greatest Hits (which presented simply all the American Number Ones,) it's about as good a Beatles crash course as one CD could ever be. Thanks to differentiation between the Beatles' chart accounts in America and England, each country had a few exclusive toppers. By merging the hit lists of both countries, 1 gives the listener a slightly wider picture of their evolution than one would get by focusing just on one side of the Atlantic. After all, to simply go by their list of British singles that reigned the record race, one would miss out on essential elements such as "Love Me Do," "Eight Days a Week," "Yesterday," "Penny Lane," "Come Together," "Something" and "Let It Be." On the other hand, a study of the Yankside toppers means the absense of "From Me To You," "Lady Madonna," "The Ballad Of John and Yoko," "Day Tripper" and the double wallop pairing of "Yellow Submarine" and "Eleanor Rigby." (just to break in with some technical notes here, in England, a double A-sided 45 such as "Yellow Submarine" c/w "Eleanor Rigby" or "Day Tripper" c/w "We Can Work It Out" would be given one collective listing on the charts, explaning both sides included on 1. Meanwhile in America, both sides of the same single could have their own independent position. So even though the coupling of "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" was a Double A-side, the latter only floated as high as Number 8, and therefore did not qualify for inclusion. The two sides of the "Something" and "Come Together" 45 had been travelling separately for a few weeks when Bill! board, in December 1969, ceased this practice. This new carpool rule made both sides a combined Number One) Unfortunately, the picture is still incomplete, as classic, groundbreaking albums like Sgt. Pepper, Rubber Soul, and The Beatles (White Album) are unrepresented, as none of these had any of its leaves plucked for seven inch plastic. But then, here's an excuse to go out and buy them if they don't already reside on your CD shelf.

How does this CD invite the inevitable negativity? It shouldn't, actually. It's an impressive run of tracks, as we all know since we already have these songs committed to memory, (which thereby eliminates the need for a track by track description - admittedly, that's one of the reasons I chose to write about this CD.) And while some might have chosen other songs to represent the band's 'greatest,' the track listing represents exactly what the concept implies, simply the American and English Number One hits. Overall, one can approach this collection as a kind of Beatles Cliff Notes...not a substitute for the complete story, but an illuminated path straight through, outlining the finer points. Perks? Well, the tracks have been remastered, and consequently sound a bit sweeter than they did on their original CD counterparts. In particular, "She Loves You," which proved a painful listen on Past Masters Volume One as it was transferred from a well-worn reel of tape, rolls by ! here with far less aural bumps and potholes. In lieu of notes about each track, the booklet presents some worldwide picture sleeves for each selection, which are fun to look at. One particularly amusing sleeve features a photo of the young, fresh, innocent, cheerful, cheeky, happy-go-lucky moptops of 1963. Why is this amusing? Because it's a sleeve for "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" from psychedelic '67!

So then, what will the angry letters say about 1? What will those most rabid of fans gripe about? What kinds of peas will they find under their mattresses? Well, they love to dig, so I'll have to dig for some guesses. They might ask...Where's "Please Please Me," their first UK Number One? (actually only #2 on some charts, hence its exclusion.) Why weren't the recordings remixed? Why were the stereo versions used when most of the singles were in Mono, and sometimes had differences in the mix that made them unique? Why no liner notes of value? Why is the front cover artwork almost as boring as Past Masters? And why was the set limited to just the Number Ones of England and America? Perhaps some disgruntled fans from Hong Kong, Denmark and Sweden are transferring their anger to paper as we speak over the exclusion of "Tell Me What You See," "Don't Pass Me By," and "I'll Follow The Sun," Number One singles in their respective countries.

Perhaps the best thing EMI could do in response would be to quote John Lennon: "After all is said and done, You can't go pleasing everyone. So screw it."

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Michael Lynch Review: November, 2000

Michael Lynch Column: December, 2000

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