The Beatles Greatest Hits Volume 1 (Remaster)

AUS Parlophone Stereo LP, PCSO 7533
First released (stereo) February 1968

01 - Please Please Me
02 - From Me To You
03 - She Loves You *
04 - I'll Get You (mono)
05 - I Want To Hold Your Hand *
06 - Love Me Do *
07 - I Saw Her Standing There
08 - Twist And Shout
09 - Roll Over Beethoven
10 - All My Loving
11 - Hold Me Tight
12 - Can't Buy Me Love
13 - You Can't Do That
14 - Long Tall Sally

* = Mix not available on official CD

==About the album==

Both "Greatest Hits" volumes were conceived in early 1966, with EMI (Australia) requesting stereo tapes from EMI UK for the tracks not already in its vaults. This means that both volumes, despite not being released locally in stereo until February 1967 (Volume 2) and February 1968 (Volume 1), contain the 1965 stereo mixes of "I Want To Hold Your Hand", "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" rather than the new mixes that were created by EMI UK in November 1966 for "A Collection Of Beatles Oldies". This also explains why the two volumes contain no post-1965 "greatest hits".

Volume 2’s claim to fame was being the only album worldwide, until the 1980 eight-LP The Beatles Box release, to contain the stereo mix of "She’s A Woman".

The mono masters of both volumes were folddowns of the stereo tapes, with only "She Loves You" and "I’ll Get You" appearing in true mono, due to the unavailability of stereo mixes at the time of compilation. Both mono volumes were mastered together in 1966. Mysteriously, the stereo version of Volume 1 would not be released until twenty months after the mono release, and twelve months after the release of Volume 2! This is why the Volume 2 sleeve refers only to the mono release of Volume 1. For the stereo release of Volume 1, EMI (Australia) replaced the mono mix of "She Loves You" with the fake stereo mix created by EMI UK in November 1966.

The covers for both volumes borrowed heavily from overseas releases. Volume 1 used elements from the US "Beatles VI" and German "The Beatles Beat" and Volume 2 used elements from the (surprisingly even earlier) US "Beatles ‘65" as well as what was left of "Beatles VI". Use of these 1965-period photos emphasises the genesis of these albums.

By mid-1973, Volume 1 had sold over 100,000 copies. What is intriguing about both volumes is that, despite the myriad "greatest hits" and themed packages released over the years, the popularity of the two Australian "Greatest Hits" volumes was such that neither was ever out of print between their release and the cessation of vinyl production in 1991.

EMI (Australia) exported (at least) Volume 1 mono mothers to HMV (New Zealand) and stereo mothers for both volumes to EMI (South East Asia). HMV (New Zealand) pressed domestic copies of Volume 1 (PMCM-7533) and copies for export to Australia. EMI (South East Asia) pressed both volumes in stereo (S-LPEA 1001/1002) for distribution in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.

The above is an extract from the book "An Overview of Australian Beatles Records", © 2011/12 by Jaesen Jones, as posted on www.beatlesaustralia.com.

==About this transfer==

This is one of my fave Beatles albums. I don't quite know why. Maybe it's because I grew up with it and have fond memories associated with it, I don't know. I love everything about it; the artwork, the track selection, the sound quality...well, perhaps not the sound quality, for as anyone who has heard the album will undoubtedly agree, this is not the nicest sounding Beatles record ever pressed. In fact, the album has become synonymous with the word "muddy".

A couple of years ago I picked up a 1982 -2/-2 recut. The recut is an improvement over earlier pressings, so it was always my intention to needledrop it, but I never got around to it...until last weekend.

Critically listening to even this superior -2/-2 cut, I was disappointed. It was apparent that there were problems. The sound quality was extremely uneven, ranging from the great sounding (but loud) "Roll Over Beethoven" to the muddy and slow-running "Hold Me Tight", with everything else in between. Some tracks also had unbalanced channels.

I couldn't share it.

The obvious question, of course, is "why not recreate it from the 2009 remastered CDs?". This could be done, but then I'd lose the three mixes that have never been officially released on CD: the duophonic "She Loves You" and "Love Me Do", and the 1965 mix of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (louder handclaps and lead guitar). Admittedly, these are minor variations--some would even say inferior--but without these mixes, the album just wouldn't be the same.

So here's what I did. I used the latest Dr Ebbetts "Archive Series" transfers, going to the same (original) album sources as EMI Australia did (albeit they used tapes and I used vinyl) and painstakingly recreated the album, right down to the gaps between tracks. The result is faithful to the original album, but with far superior sound quality. This is the way the album should have been released!

I should stress that even though I have used renown Dr Ebbetts sources, this release is not meant for audiophiles. I created this for others who, like me, may have a nostalgic attachment to this album.

==Vinyl transfers by Dr Ebbetts==

Artwork included

CD quality (216mb)
Hi-Res (not available)