The vinyl E.P. collection boxed set. |
Many countries released Beatles E.P.s, and for the Beatles themselves, the E.P.s were important products. It was a product for those who wanted more than singles, but who couldn't afford forking out the cost of an album (L.P. - "long playing" record). Still, most of The Beatles' UK E.P.s were put together from two different singles, or from songs extracted from a contemporary album. Only two E.P.s were especially made to be individual products: the "Long Tall Sally" E.P. (re-released in 2014 as a "black Friday" release in conjunction with Record Store Day) and the "Magical Mystery Tour" double-E.P. These were both standalone products, not derived from singles or album cuts. But another E.P. was manufactured by EMI in 1981, and it was also a special release.
On this 1966 E.P., all the tracks were from 1965, only the front cover photo was from 1966. |
GEP 8880 "The Beatles Hits"
GEP 8882 "Twist and Shout"
GEP 8883 "The Beatles No.1"
GEP 8891 "All My Loving"
GEP 8913 "Long Tall Sally"
GEP 8920 "A Hard Day's Night (extracts from the film)"
GEP 8924 "A Hard Day's Night (extracts from the film) Vol.2"
GEP 8931 "Beatles For Sale"
GEP 8938 "Beatles For Sale No.2"
GEP 8946 "The Beatles Million Sellers"
GEP 8948 "Yesterday"
GEP 8952 "Nowhere Man"
MMT1/SMMT1 Magical Mystery Tour"
After that, people had more money and could afford to buy L.P.s, so E.P.s stopped being important.
The "Long Tall Sally" EP. |
In 1981, after having had success with the 1978 so called "blue box", a boxed set containing all The Beatles' regular U.K. albums, plus an additional L.P. with "Rarities", EMI decided to put all the EPs together in a similarly designed blue box as well. For this release, an extra E.P. of "rarities" was also made.
This nameless E.P. contained the following: "The Inner Light" (the stereo mix, all previous releases had used a mono mix of the song), "Baby You're A Rich Man" (the true stereo mix, previously only available on the World Records Beatles albums boxed set), "She's a Woman" (stereo mix, with Paul's count-in of the song available nowhere else) and "This Boy" (reprocessed stereo, previously only available on the "Love Songs" album).
The E.P. had no title (or perhaps it was just called "The Beatles"), and had a unique catalogue number: SGE1.
The U.K. single sleeve for "Penny Lane"/"Strawberry Fields Forever". |
The sleeve of the extra E.P. in the boxed set was laminated. |
The extra E.P.: back cover and record. |
Eleven years after the vinyl E.P. boxed set was released, a CD version was released on 15th June 1992, also containing that extra E.P., now on a compact disc.
The Compact Disc EP. Collection of 1992. |
On March 20, 1995, The Beatles released a single which was dressed up as an E.P., "Baby It's You".
"Baby It's You" with radio versions of four songs. Single or E.P.? |
The vinyl version of it totally looks the part: it has four songs, it is presented in a cardboard cover with a laminated front and the flips on the back, and the layout with the song titles written on a white stripe at the top shouts E.P. However, the catalogue number gives it away: R6406. The famous Parlophone R-series singles. And it's CD counterpart looks nothing like an E.P., it looks like a modern day (1995) CD maxi single.
The back of "Baby It's You". |
3 comments:
I bought quite a few of the vinyl EPs, especially Long Tall Sally to complete my collection of all Beatles recordings (although I did later buy the Rock N Roll LP); later, as a 40th birthday present to myself I bought the CD collection. The thing that has always intrigued me is just how many EPs the Beatles sold in the UK and worldwide. I think you are right to say that EPs were essentially a way of making the most popular songs affordable because in real terms albums were prohibitively expensive in the early 1960s. Magical Mystery Tour was a puzzle and anachronism however it is viewed and it is no surprise the US album has now become the standard (and also the first Beatles album I ever bought in 1978)>
What's the reason for this article? No mention of any re release
Hi, Roger.
Thanks for this post.
Just for clarification. Before this 1981 nameless EP release, the first stereo appearance of “This Boy” was in 1976, as the B-side of a Canadian single (with “All My Loving” in the A-side), referenced Capitol 72144.
And the first stereo appearance for “Baby You’re A Rich Man” was on the German release of “Magical Mystery Tour” (mastered in 1971).
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