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SIDE ONE "I Want to Hold Your Hand" "I Saw Her Standing There" "This Boy" "It Won't Be Long" "All I've Got to Do" "All My Loving"
SIDE TWO "Don't Bother Me" "Little Child" "Till There Was You" "Hold Me Tight" "I Wanna Be Your Man" "Not a Second Time"
Before the release of MEET THE BEATLES, Capitol noticed the buzz happening in England. It was enough for them to go all out and give the group the promotional push in the U.S. On November 29, 1963, a week after the group released their second album, Parlophone released "I Want To Hold Your Hand" as a single. It would become the start of a tradition for the group to release something in time for the holiday season, insuring that the Christmas rush would also mean massive Christmas sales. It did very well, staying at #1 on the British charts. Whether it was intentional or not, the story goes on that fans heard about the song but could not find it in stores. Young fans who somehow knew about the group kept requesting the song but no one in the U.S. had it, nor did anyone know who The Beatles were. While the official U.S. release date for "I Want To Hold Your Hand" was January 13, 1964, imported copies were flown in to meet the demand and they were selling in the U.S. during the last weeks of 1963.
Then came MEET THE BEATLES. Who were these four humble men, and why were they somber? If somber, why was their music so happy? Looking at the liner notes, Capitol Records knew they had to do what they had to do in order to make their bet a winning one.
It didn't matter. The first two songs on the album happened to be the first Capitol single ("I Want To Hold Your Hand"/"I Saw Her Standing There"), with "All My Loving" on there as well. It went through the motions, and fans were sold. Little girls were peeing in their church outfits and didn't know why, all done with the impact of an album that didn't last 29 minutes. It would be a month before the group came to the U.S. for the first time and made their first television appearance, but for all intents and purposes, this was the album that for many Americans started it all.
Early American reviews weren't quite sure what to think, but their cover of Anita Bryant's "Till There Was You" did win them over with the sophisticatos.
JOHN BOOK'S MYSPACE http://www.myspace.com/crutmusic
THE RUN-OFF GROOVE http://www.musicforamerica.org/node/114473
BOOK'S MUSIC Podcast http://booksmusic.podomatic.com/
THE ALLMAN BROTHERS BAND http://www.allmanbrothersband.com/index.php?vst=45730
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