Hey Jude (original title: The Beatles Again) is a 1970 collection of non-album singles and B-sides by the Beatles. After Klein convinced the band to turn their current Get Back project into a feature film, the accompanying soundtrack album was postponed until 1970. Since the distribution rights of the proposed Get Back LP and film belonged to United Artists, Capitol decided to release their own new Beatles album. In November 1969, Klein asked his associate at ABKCO Records, Allan Steckler, to assemble a new Beatles compilation for the U.S. market.
Steckler chose ten songs that had not yet appeared on a Capitol album in the U.S. and which spanned the group's career. He requested a stereo master tape from EMI, who had to remix four of the songs for stereo, as they had never appeared on a UK album. Steckler arranged the running order, which was, with the exception of "Don't Let Me Down", programmed chronologically.
While "Can't Buy Me Love" and "I Should Have Known Better" had appeared in the film A Hard Day's Night and on the subsequent United Artists soundtrack LP, they had only previously been issued by Capitol on singles. The former was released as an A-side on 16 March 1964 and the latter as the B-side to "A Hard Day's Night" on 13 July 1964.
Hey Jude was not intended to be a definitive collection of rarities. Other songs that had not appeared on a Capitol LP but were passed over for this compilation included "Misery", "There's a Place" (both issued by Vee-Jay Records on their Introducing... the Beatles album), "From Me to You", "Sie Liebt Dich" (a German-language version of "She Loves You"), "A Hard Day's Night" (issued by United Artists on their soundtrack album), "I'm Down" (the B-side of "Help!") and "The Inner Light" (the B-side of "Lady Madonna").
The 21 January 1970 issue of Rolling Stone announced that Get Back had been delayed again, to coincide with the film release, and that a compilation album, titled The Beatles Again, would be issued shortly. Apple labels were printed with this title and the catalog number SO-385, denoting a stereo release priced at $6.98. However, after retailers complained about the price, given that the album only contained previously released songs, Capitol reduced it to $5.98 and changed the catalog number to SW-385.
Steckler and Apple had become disappointed with Capitol's release schedules and were determined to promote the new album themselves. Steckler also took the tapes to Sam Feldman at Bell Sound Studios for mastering, rather than delivering them to Capitol, as he would do for several releases thereafter.
Artwork and title
The front and back cover pictures were taken by Ethan Russell and Monte Fresco at the last-ever Beatles photo session, on 22 August 1969, at John Lennon's home, Tittenhurst Park. In 2007, Neil Aspinall claimed that the back cover photo was intended for the front cover, and vice versa, but that Klein had reversed them in error. However, at least three prototype cover designs are known to exist, with only the first design displaying the rear photo on the front. The album's artwork was designed by John Kosh.
Shortly before the record was released, the title was changed to Hey Jude, the album's biggest hit. The change occurred after the record labels were printed, and some copies of the LP were sold with labels that bore the original title The Beatles Again.
Track listing
All tracks written by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted.
Personnel
The Beatles
- John Lennon – lead vocals, backing vocals, rhythm guitar, lead guitar, harmonica, tambourine, percussion
- Paul McCartney – lead vocals, backing vocals, bass guitar, lead guitar, piano, Hammond organ, drums, percussion
- George Harrison – lead vocals, backing vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar, Hammond organ, percussion
- Ringo Starr – backing vocals, drums, percussion
Additional musicians
Credits adapted from The Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn:
- Ronnie Scott – tenor saxophone (5)
- Bill Povey – tenor saxophone (5)
- Harry Klein – baritone saxophone (5)
- Bill Jackman – baritone saxophone (5)
- Nicky Hopkins – electric piano (6)
- Billy Preston – electric piano (9)
Technical
- George Martin – producer
- Ethan Russell – photography
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!scope="row"|Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
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Certifications
See also
- Outline of the Beatles
- The Beatles timeline