May 11, 1979 – The Beatles: Hey Jude (The Beatles Again) is released in the UK.
# ALL THINGS MUSIC PLUS+ 5/5
# allmusic 3/5
Hey Jude (original title: The Beatles Again) is an album by The Beatles, released in the UK on May 11, 1979, nine years after its appearance in the US (February 1970). It reached #2 on the Billboard 200 Top LP's & Tape chart.
It is a collection of non-album Beatles singles and B-sides, as well as "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 album was not compiled by Capitol; the project was conceived by Allen Klein and Apple Records. Klein had negotiated a more lucrative contract for the group in 1969 and was anxious to sweeten the pot with an additional album. He directed Allan Steckler of Abkco/Apple to work on an album. Steckler chose songs that had not appeared on a Capitol album in the United States and which 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 EMI affiliates worldwide) of recompiling The Beatles' British releases for local markets. Steckler chose not to include "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", which was 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 ignored.
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 (in New York), rather than delivering them to Capitol. He would do this for several releases thereafter.
REVIEW
Matthew Greenwald, allmusic
Kind of a catch-all record, Hey Jude was released very late in the Beatles' career, and it collects several singles and B-sides that never made it onto "official" albums. As a record though, it works quite well, and given the Beatles' genius, especially in the area of creating exquisite and ultraprogressive singles, it comes as no surprise. "Paperback Writer" works particularly well, not having aged at all in the three years after its release. The bass guitar sound on this record is especially revolutionary. A couple of recent tracks, "Old Brown Shoe" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko," make their vinyl debut here, and as usual give the consumer excellent value for the money. "Old Brown Shoe" (originally slated for Joe Cocker to record) is one of George Harrison's great lost classics, and the Beatles' ensemble playing on this track belies the tension that was prevalent during the group's final days.
TRACKS:
All tracks written by Lennon–McCartney, except where noted.
Side one
"Can't Buy Me Love" – 2:19
"I Should Have Known Better" – 2:39
"Paperback Writer" – 2:14
"Rain" – 2:58
"Lady Madonna" – 2:14
"Revolution" – 3:21
Side two
"Hey Jude" – 7:05
"Old Brown Shoe" (George Harrison) – 3:16
"Don't Let Me Down" – 3:30
"The Ballad of John and Yoko" – 2:55
