What's Spinning, Vol. 31
The Beatles and a little controversy..
Today I needed some classic Beatles...
The Beatles before they went and tried heavy metal, before they tried psychedelic rock, before they experimented with raga music.
Just, the Beatles, that wowed America when they performed on the Ed Sullivan show in 1964. Just the four lads from Liverpool before the world would know their name.
This album was released on January 10th, 1964, a good couple of weeks before their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show.
By January 16th, VeeJay, was hit with a restraining order by Capitol Records, ordering them to halt their pressing of the album. Beechwood Music, Inc. owned the American rights to, Love Me Do and PS I Love You. Around 80,000 copies total made it off the presses (around 2,000 stereo and 78,000 Mono).
To circumvent this restraining order, VeeJay, released a a second version minus those two songs. They were allowed to sell this album until, October 15th, and then the rights would go back to Capitol. In that time they managed to sell 1.3 million copies.
Needless to say, I got a good deal when I got this copy for $1 at the local thrift shop.
-----
The Beatles - Introducing, The Beatles
VeeJay, 1964
-----
Chicago-based VeeJay was one of the earliest and most successful R&B labels, beating Motown by at least five years. Licensing the Beatles was part of an expansion scheme to grow beyond the R&B base of the company, but it backfired once they lost the licensing, and it went out of business in 1966.