Beatles '65 | ||||
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Studio album by The Beatles | ||||
Released | 15 December 1964 | |||
Recorded | June–October 1964 | |||
Studio | EMI Studios, London | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 26:10 | |||
Label | Capitol | |||
Producer | George Martin | |||
The Beatles North American chronology | ||||
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Singles from Beatles '65 | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
The Rolling Stone Record Guide |
Released in December 1964, Beatles '65 is the Beatles' fifth album issued by Capitol Records, but their seventh American album. The LP was also issued in Germany on the Odeon label.
In 2004, Beatles '65 was issued on CD for the first time as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set (catalogue number CDP 7243 8 66874 2 5). In 2014, the album was released on CD again, individually and included in the Beatles boxed set The U.S. Albums.
Beatles '65 includes eight of the fourteen songs from Beatles for Sale (omitting "Eight Days a Week", "Words of Love", "Every Little Thing", "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party", "What You're Doing" and the "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey" medley, all of which were issued later on Beatles VI). It also includes "I'll Be Back" from the UK A Hard Day's Night album and both sides of the single "I Feel Fine"/"She's a Woman". These latter two songs were issued in "duophonic" stereo and included added reverb by Capitol Records' executive Dave Dexter, Jr. to cover up the use of the mono mixes sent from England.
Two of the three songs written by Carl Perkins and recorded by the Beatles appear on this album.
In the United States, Beatles '65 jumped from number 98 straight to number 1, making the biggest jump to the top position in the history of the Billboard album charts up to that time. It remained at number 1 for nine straight weeks from 9 January 1965. The album was the top selling non-soundtrack LP based on Billboard's year-end chart for 1965. By 31 December 1964, the album had sold 1,967,261 copies in the US; by the end of the 1960s, sales there were up to 2,327,186.
Writing in The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1983), John Swenson described Beatles '65 as the first of the band's "classic 'concept' albums". He said that the LP "worked as a musical whole" rather than merely serving as a collection of "the latest bunch of songs that could be assembled into a record in any order". Several albums were released and promoted in America during 1965 sporting a similar title to Beatles '65. These included Sinatra '65 by Frank Sinatra and Ellington '65 by Duke Ellington on Reprise Records, and Brasil '65 by Sérgio Mendes on the Beatles' own Capitol label.