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The Beatles' RaritiesAmerican EditionRelease: 1980 |
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The Beatles' RaritiesAmerican EditionRelease: 1980 |
| Side One | Side Two |
|---|
| 1 | Love Me Do | 1 | Penny Lane |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Misery | 2 | Helter Skelter |
| 3 | There's A Place | 3 | Don't Pass Me By |
| 4 | Sie Liebt Dich | 4 | The Inner Light |
| 5 | And I Love Her | 5 | Across The Universe |
| 6 | Help! | 6 | You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) |
| 7 | I'm Only Sleeping | ||
| 8 | I Am The Walrus | 7 | Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove |
The British "Rarities" was about to be released in the US as a budget line album, when a bootleg with similar but better track selection came out. To win the competition, Capitol decided to make a new compilation, with a better package, and this was the result.
The better package prepared by Capitol featured a gatefold cover, in which the right inner side presented some photos, and the left side was the famous "Butcher Cover" picture.
While the British album is almost a B-sides compilation, this is mostly a variations collection, featuring alternate mixes and edits (some of them "fake variations" made for this release) that differ in some way from the standard versions previously available in the United States. Besides, it features also some tracks that hadn't been released on Capitol albums. But most of this variations were in fact already released in other countries.
Misery and There's A Place were never issued by Capitol,
only by VeeJay. They are presented here in stereo remixes made specially
for this album. Sie Liebt Dich had been issued only on a Swan single,
in mono, and here it is in stereo. (Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand is
not included because it was on the Capitol album "Something New",
still available in 1980.)
You Know My Name and Across The Universe, the "Wildlife"
version, also never appeared on American albums: the first was issued on
a single and the second had never been released in the US. There is also
the Sgt. Pepper's Inner Groove, not placed on the American issues of "Sgt.
Pepper's".
The other tracks are all variations: Love Me Do is the first
recording, with Ringo on drums that later appeared on Past
Masters; And I Love Her is the "German extended mix";
Help! and The Inner Light are mono mixes issued only on singles;
and I'm Only Sleeping is the standard stereo mix (currently available
on CD), issued on the UK but not in the US until then.
There are also the mono mixes of Helter Skelter and Don't Pass
Me By, issued only in the UK.
Additionally, there are two "fake variations" made by Capitol
for this album: I Am The Walrus and Penny Lane.
For description of these and other variations, see the Short
Variations Guide.
This album, like the UK version, was sold for a relatively short time and became a rarity itself.
