US Release date : Thursday, February 26, 1970
Hey Jude
By The Beatles • LP • Part of the collection “The Beatles • The original US LPs”
Last updated on March 4, 2022
US Release date : Thursday, February 26, 1970
By The Beatles • LP • Part of the collection “The Beatles • The original US LPs”
Last updated on March 4, 2022
Previous album Feb 16, 1970 • "Magic Christian Music" by Badfinger released in the US
Session Feb 24, 1970 • Mixing "Hot As Sun", "Every Night"
Session Feb 25, 1970 • Recording "Man We Was Lonely"
Album Feb 26, 1970 • "Hey Jude" by The Beatles released in the US
Article Feb 28, 1970 • George Martin and Geoff Emerick win NME Awards
Session Feb 28, 1970 • Mixing "For You Blue"
Next album Mar 27, 1970 • "Sentimental Journey" by Ringo Starr released in the UK
This album was recorded during the following studio sessions:
The Beatles’ last photo session
Aug 22, 1969
2:14 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums John Lennon : Acoustic rhythm guitar George Harrison : Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Second engineer Norman Smith : Hi-hat, Recording engineer
Session Recording: Jan 29, 1964 • Studio EMI Pathé Marconi Studios, Boulogne-sur-Seine, France
Session Mixing: Jun 22, 1964 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road
2:43 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass Ringo Starr : Drums John Lennon : Acoustic rhythm guitar, Harmonica, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Norman Smith : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Feb 25, 1964 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Recording: Feb 26, 1964 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Jun 22, 1964 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road
2:15 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Electric guitar, Lead vocals Ringo Starr : Drums John Lennon : Backing vocals, Tambourine George Harrison : Backing vocals, Electric guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Apr 13, 1966 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Apr 14, 1966 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Oct 31, 1966 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road
3:05 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass Ringo Starr : Drums, Tambourine John Lennon : Backing vocals, Electric guitar, Lead vocals George Harrison : Backing vocals, Electric guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer
Session Recording: Apr 14, 1966 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Apr 16, 1966 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Dec 02, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
2:19 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Handclaps, Mellotron, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps, Tambourine John Lennon : Backing vocals, Handclaps, Lead guitar George Harrison : Backing vocals, Handclaps, Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Bill Povey : Tenor saxophone Harry Klein : Baritone saxophone Ronnie Scott : Tenor saxophone Bill Jackman : Baritone saxophone
Session Recording: Feb 03, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Feb 06, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Dec 02, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
3:27 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass guitar, Hammond organ, Handclaps Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps John Lennon : Electric guitar, Handclaps, Vocals George Harrison : Electric guitar, Handclaps Nicky Hopkins : Electric piano
Session Recording: Jul 10, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Jul 11, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs: Jul 12, 1968 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Dec 05, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
7:12 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Backing vocals, Drums, Tambourine John Lennon : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals George Harrison : Backing vocals, Electric guitar George Martin : Producer Ken Scott : Recording engineer Barry Sheffield : Recording engineer Bill Jackman : Flute Unknown musician(s) : Bassoon, Contrabass clarinet, Contrabassoon, Four trombones, Four trumpets, One flute, One percussionist, Ten violins, Three violas, Two cellos, Two clarinets, Two double basses, Two french horns John Perry : Backing vocals Bobby Kok : Cello
Session Recording & overdubs: Jul 31, 1968 • Studio Trident Studios, London, UK
Session Overdubs: Aug 01, 1968 • Studio Trident Studios, London, UK
Session Mixing: Dec 05, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Room 4, Abbey Road
Written by George Harrison
3:18 • Studio version • A • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Drums (?), Piano (?) Ringo Starr : Drums (?) John Lennon : Backing vocals, Piano (?) George Harrison : Guitars, Lead vocal, Organ George Martin : Producer Chris Thomas : Producer Jeff Jarratt : Recording engineer
Session Recording & Overdubs: Apr 16, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Overdubs & Mixing: Apr 18, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Abbey Road
3:30 • Studio version • B • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmony vocals Ringo Starr : Drums John Lennon : Rhythm guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Harmony vocals, Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Glyn Johns : Recording engineer Billy Preston : Electric piano
Session Recording: Jan 28, 1969 • Studio Apple Studios, 3 Savile Row, London
Session Mixing: Apr 03, 1969 • Studio Olympic Sound Studios, London
3:01 • Studio version • A • Stereo
Paul McCartney : Bass, Drums, Harmony vocals, Maracas, Piano John Lennon : Acoustic guitar, Guitar-thumps percussion, Lead guitar, Vocals George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer
Session Recording & overdubs: Apr 14, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Session Mixing: Apr 14, 1969 • Studio EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
From Wikipedia:
Hey Jude (original title: The Beatles Again) is a 1970 collection of non-album singles and B-sides by the Beatles. It included “I Should Have Known Better” and “Can’t Buy Me Love“, two singles released by Capitol Records whose only previous American album appearance had been on the A Hard Day’s Night soundtrack album, which had been released by United Artists Records. The Hey Jude LP had been out of print since the late 1980s, although it remained available on cassette during the 1990s. The album was issued on CD for the first time in 2014, as an individual release and in a box set titled The U.S. Albums.
History
The Hey Jude album was conceived by Allen Klein and Apple Records. Klein had negotiated a more lucrative contract for the Beatles with Capitol Records in 1969 which required one compilation album per year. He directed Allan Steckler of ABKCO/Apple to work on one. Steckler chose songs that had not appeared on a Capitol album in the United States and that spanned the group’s career. He also focused more on recent singles than on earlier material. The absence of the songs from a US Capitol album was partially a consequence of the Beatles’ unwillingness to include single releases on their contemporaneous albums, partially a consequence of their arrangement with United Artists in 1964 and partially due to the habit of Capitol Records of recompiling the Beatles’ British releases for local markets until 1967. Steckler chose not to include the original Parlophone single version of “Love Me Do“; “A Hard Day’s Night“, which had been released as a single by Capitol and was available on the United Artists soundtrack album; “I’m Down“, which was the B-side of “Help!“; and “The Inner Light“, the B-side of “Lady Madonna“. He also overlooked “From Me to You“, “Misery“, and “There’s a Place“, which were first issued in the US by Vee Jay Records but had not yet been issued on a Capitol album. “Sie Liebt Dich”, a German-language version of “She Loves You“, and the single version of “Get Back” were also passed over. (The single version of “Let It Be” and its B-side, “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)“, had yet to be released.)
Steckler and Apple had become disappointed with the Capitol Records release schedules and 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. He would do this for several releases thereafter.
Originally, the album was to be called The Beatles Again. Shortly before the record was released, however, the title was changed to Hey Jude in order to promote the inclusion of the top-selling song that led off side two. The title change occurred after the record labels were printed, and an untold number of copies of the LP were sold with labels with the title The Beatles Again. This was also true for cassette copies of the album, which retained the original title. Neither the front nor the back of the album jacket displayed the record’s title (or the name of the band), but most copies were sold in a jacket whose spine read Hey Jude. In an attempt to clear up any confusion caused by the preprinted labels, initial copies of the album displayed a sticker on the cover bearing the title Hey Jude. The edition of the album with “The Beatles Again” label bore catalogue number SO-385 on the label but not on the jacket. This is because of a similarly timed decision to reduce the price from $6.98 (SO- prefix) to $5.98 (SW- prefix). The record jacket was prepared late enough so that it lists the catalogue number as SW-385. The SW-385 catalogue number appears on the label of later pressings that bear the title Hey Jude on the label.
Klein authorised the release of the album as a sales buffer during post-production of the delayed Let It Be album. In 2007 Neil Aspinall claimed that the back cover was supposed to be 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 the earliest of those showing the photos “reversed”: the art department seemingly made the determination that the photo that now appears on the front cover was better suited for that purpose. The front and back cover pictures were taken at the last-ever Beatles photo session, on 22 August 1969, at John Lennon’s home Tittenhurst Park by Linda McCartney.
Release
The compilation was released in many countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, Greece, Japan, Mexico and most of South America. It was also available to other countries as an “export” from Britain (Parlophone/Apple CPCS-106) but was not at first issued in Britain, although it was a popular import to the UK. The first issue in New Zealand was on the gloss black Apple label with the catalogue number CPCS-106. The matrix numbers were identical to those on the UK “export” issue. Because of its popularity worldwide, EMI issued Hey Jude in Britain on the Parlophone label on 11 May 1979 (catalogue number PCS 7184). Until the release of 1967–1970 in 1973, Hey Jude was the only way to own the extremely popular “Hey Jude” single on LP or in a stereo mix. The songs “Rain“, “Lady Madonna” and “Revolution” were also first mixed for stereo specifically for this album. Prior to the release of the “Get Back” single in the spring of 1969, all Beatles singles were issued in mono in the US. Several other countries adopted the original The Beatles Again title. Of these, the Spanish release omitted “The Ballad of John and Yoko“, due to that song having been deemed offensive. (In addition to making repeated mention of Christ and crucifixion, the lyrics contain the line “Gibraltar near Spain” at a time when Spain’s Franco administration was contending with the UK over the ownership of Gibraltar.)
On the reel-to-reel and cassette tape releases, sides one and two are reversed. Although it is clear on the vinyl version that “Hey Jude” opens side two, when compiling this issue for audio tape, some compilers (at Capitol and Ampex) thought to make the change, which resulted in “Hey Jude” leading off the album. This was done because side two was the longer side, and it was the practice in some tape formats to lead the album with the longer side to avoid a large gap in the “middle” of the tape. The four-track tape, prepared by Ampex along with the reel-to-reel tape, has the songs in the original, chronological order. (The eight-track tape was treated to the usual re-ordering that eight-tracks received.)
The CD era saw the standardisation of the Beatles’ discographies worldwide, and for many years the Hey Jude album was not available in that format. In January 2014, Hey Jude was issued on CD both individually and in an American Beatles album compilation box set titled The U.S. Albums. […]
‘Jude’ LP: 3 Mil Advance
HOLLYWOOD – The next Beatles album, now titled “Hey Jude,” has been set for release Thursday (26) . Capitol, who distribute the Apple label, have reported advance album orders topping 2 million, with tape orders already over the 1 million mark.
“Hey Jude” is a collection of Beatles’ singles that have never before appeared on a Capitol or Apple album. Selections include “Ballad Of John And Yoko”, “Revolution,” “Paperback Writer,” “Lady Madonna,” “Don’t Let Me Down,” “Can’t Buy Me Love,” “I Should Have Known Better,” “Rain,” ‘ ‘Old Brown Shoe” and “Hey Jude.
From Cashbox Magazine, February 2, 28
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[…] No. 1 within the year-end Billboard chart with “I Wish to Maintain Your Hand” in 1964 and “Hey Jude” in 1968. In 2008, the track was listed at No. 31 on Billboard’s Best Songs of All Time, […]