The Bizarre World of The Beatles Cassettes + 8-Track Tapes

In today's global marketplace, the idea of any Beatles product being different in another country is unthinkable. But with the launch of the 8-track and compact cassette in the late 1960's EMI totally reconfigured The Beatles albums to fit the new formats making them unrecognizab;e from thier vinyl counterparts. I this video we look not just the hstory of the format but what each album looked like in the alternate reality of tape.
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Thank you!

[@KyodaiKino]

Very interesting juxtaposition at 15:30 -- "She Loves You," "And I Love Her"

[@sennylame-m8u]

"Please Mr. Postman, she's mine"

[@EdWilson-zj7uf]

Once and for all, When I Get Home is a GREAT track. It features a concise lyric, grungy guitar and one of Lennon's best ever vocals. The abuse this fabulous record has gotten over the years is astounding.

[@GBOAC]

If we're talking John on AHDN's side 2, I like I'll Cry Instead better though, especially the metre.

[@alanlinfield8207]

I agree that "When I Get Home" is a great rocker with a great intro that is repeated throughout the song. And I love how Lennon pronounces way-ee, bay-ee bee, today-ee, say-ee. Still, every time Paul tells the story of how John got him to change the line "never been a beauty queen," I want to ask him why he didn't return the favor later by getting John to ditch the line "I'm gonna love her till the cows come home." Cringe!

[@EdWilson-zj7uf]

@@alanlinfield8207 what's interesting is that When I Get Home has a similar lyrical theme as A Hard Days Night. I wonder which was written first!

[@13StJimmy]

Personally I don’t think there’s anything close to a bad song on AHDN The melodies are just perfect on every track imo

[@GowanusRecords]

Agreed. WIGH rocks.

[@Dudlow]

I had a casette called Only The Beatles..., a Heineken promo product, and it was the first time I'd heard 'Yes It Is' and 'This Boy', & it was quite exciting to hear those two next to the hits.

[@steveoshow4832]

Yes It Is indeed is a hidden Beatles classic. Imagine Giles Martin updating it now with only strings. Amazing to think it didn’t appear on either of their 65 albums, Help & Rubber Soul. A throw away B side..

[@AppleMan531]

I remember when I was 8 years old, my late mother was head of accounting for an Electronic and Appliance store in Brooklyn, NY called Bresners. They had a cabinet with cassettes and 8-Tracks for sale. My mom would purchase cassettes and surprised me when she came home from work. One day she came home witha copy of ALL THINGS MUST PASS by George Harrison. It came in a cardboard thin box with 2 cassettes. It was like she brought me a toy, and a good one at that! It's memories like that still make me smile 24 years later!

[@PabSungenis]

I’ve always felt that “Here Comes the Sun” was a better opener for “Abbey Road” than “Come Together.”

[@sydneyirishblues]

I always felt that Here Comes the Sun is the perfect palate cleanser to start side 2 after I Want You (She’s So Heavy)

[@thechristianmale129]

When America sneezed Britain got the cold. Brilliant line

[@Sp33gan]

It really is brilliant. Andrew is paraphrasing from a line about US influence on the rest of the world, but the phrase originated during the Napoleonic era in France. It was first used by a Prussian diplomat who stated "When France sneezes, the whole of Europe catches a cold". 😊

[@Julio.H.P.]

I'm from Argentina and I grew up with The Beatles' cassette tapes. However, the tracklisting was true to the original UK Lps, so I'm very surprised it wasn't so elsewhere!!

[@miguelcanel]

No todos eran igual al LP 8-)

[@wewin_inonog]

A cassette copy of Past Masters Volume 2 was my formal introduction to the Beatles, given by a High School mate. When the riff of Day Tripper kicked in, it changed my life forever. I never looked back! ❤

[@kjeldpedersen666]

I bought myself a cassette player a couple of years before a record player. It was in the 1970’s and I was a teenager. My girlfriend bought by mistake “Please please me” on cassette for my birthday. It was really “1962-66” I’d wanted but I didn’t say anything - except thank you. Her mistake was understandable, it’s practically the same photo on the cover. Later I started collecting Beatles on vinyl. It took me a long time to get used to the “right” track listing on the vinyl “Please please me”😆

[@riccardociofi3162]

In Italy there never has been a strong market for pre-recorded music cassettes, people preferred to buy blanks to copy vinyls or to create their own lists. Great video as usual, Andrew.

[@williamglenn5327]

Not having a stereo set up in my room, my Beatles collection consisted of the U.S. albums in mono. I was saving up for a stereo system when a friend played me his Beatles collection on the 8-track player he had installed in his car. It was the first time I had heard any of the Beatles songs in stereo and I was so blown away I bought the same 8-track system for my car, instead of buying a stereo for my room. I thought I finally had the ultimate set up until a few years later I bought the English 8-track of "Help" with the gold packaging, and it was incredible! The sound quality was so far superior to what I was used to that I bought the entire Beatles catalog on the English 8-Tracks along with an 8-track player system for my room. All the echo, reverb and hiss of the Capitol 8-tracks was gone which made for a truly pleasurable listening experience. Also, the English tapes did not create as much "shadowing" (hearing another song from another program in the background while you were listening to the primary program.) Shadowing is usually associated with cheaper 8-track players, (head adjustment and cleaning helps) but I found it also was present when I upgraded to a better system. Still love both sets of 8-tracks and play them to this day.

[@CraiginOhioUSA]

What a great, interesting comment! Wow, a happy ending story from an original 8-track owner. That's really made my day. I was also from that era, but my 8-tracks went to heaven when my car player went. I have vivid memories of the week 8-tracks were officially discontinued. Store marked every title down to $1. No matter who the artist was. It was really shocking... And, still, they kind of sat there. A few weeks later, they were 4 for $1. They vanished quickly, at that price. It was something to see...

[@williamglenn5327]

@@CraiginOhioUSA Hi Craig, Yes, I remember when the 8-tracks were discontinued also. My local Tower Records lined the tape section with garbage cans and poured the 8-tracks in them. You had to dig and dig, but it was worth it because I got a ton of Apple 8-tracks, solo Beatles, Badfinger, Mary Hopkin, Emitt Rhodes Beach Boys, Kingston Trio etc. I bought multiple copies and still have some sealed ones! They also discontinued the 8-track cases so I was able to pick up several of those as well, all at $1 each. My home system is an AKAI player and a Pioneer Super Tuner for the car. Too Much FUN!

[@CraiginOhioUSA]

@@williamglenn5327 That, also, is so intriguing. Too bad there isn't any videotape of those moments. I realised it was a one-time-only moment in the history of media, but I never thought about taking a snapshot.

[@williamglenn5327]

@@CraiginOhioUSA AGREED!

[@barbarakirk3064]

I'd heard that 'shadowing' on vinyl releases - in particular on the PVC release of Anthony Phillips & Enrique Berro-Garcia's 'Antiques' album where the ending of a previous track was heard in the background just as another was about to start. And continuing on the subject of Genesis and related solo work, there was a double cassette release of Nursery Cryme and Foxtrot, where Timetable got shifted to after Fountain Of Salmacis on Side One to make the running order more even!

[@douglasphase7380]

As a kid I was given an original Apple 1962-70 and an original Capitol R"n"r music cassette (in about 81). It's been a while but the 62-67 tape sounded top heavy, lots of treble. Since I didn't have the Help album for some years, that loud James Bond music on side two before Help used to startle the shit out of me! Not sure if they were using dolby yet. The ink on the label is almost all wiped off unfortunately from being handled. Not so the R'n'r music cassette, the ink is fine on it. I remember it sounding pretty beefy but I had a US vol.1 and a UK vol.2 reissue of that comp on albums which I played more often than the tape.

[@rsolsjo]

Haha, that version of I've Got A Feeling.. "Oh no, oh no, the side is ending.." *starts up on other side* "Yeah, yeeeeah! We're back!"

[@Interrobang2626]

My introduction to the Beatles were the 2 volumes of Rock & Roll Music on cassette and they will always hold a special place in my heart.

[@paulatB2B]

I had a Greek import of A Hard Day's Night on compact cassette in the 80s. I still expect to hear Anytime at all straight after the title track on CD. Bought it at University of Leeds Students Union. I think.

[@antoniodalfonso]

Andrew, interesting video, as always. I don't believe we really cared the record order back in the early and mid-60s. The idea of the LP came only with Zappa and Sergeant Pepper later in the 60s.. In our Karmann Ghia or VW Beatles, those cassettes were a way to carry the songs with us. Portable music. That was fun. With our AMs portable radios. And then the Walkman... Of course, the cutting of the songs was a downer. As was the CD cutting of Side 2 of Abbey Road. As teenagers, I believe we really did not care. We did not own great sound systems. We were glad our Grundig gave us decent stereo. It is only recently that we started to realize, Oh Gee, that record sounded awful... And this is when King Crismon and Pink Floyd sounded like heaven on earth soundwise. So thank you for your educational insights.

[@BilisNegra]

10:38 The Revolver cassette opens with the 3 songs on the album I was less familiar with before I had a copy of it

[@matthewbuzzell8601]

“Abbey Road” on cassette with “Here Comes the Sun” as the opening track is how I first heard the album in the late 1970s and how I still anticipate it to this very day! Thanks for the insightful episode, Andrew!

[@Parlogram]

Thanks Matthew. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@erniericardo8140]

Yeah, same here. I had that one on 8 track tape as a kid and thats the way I always remember Abbey Road is with the 1st song being Here Comes The Sun.

[@christopherrigby2798]

When I made my own cassete copy on type II tape I used a C46 and followed the prerecordeds tracklisting as it fitted beautifully.

[@tomsnyder544]

Thanks for the videos! It has re-ignited my love of the Beatles and I’ve started collecting again!

[@Parlogram]

That's great to hear!

[@TigerRogers0660]

I remember shelling out a pretty penny for the "Abbey Road" cassette in the very early 70s. This was when i was around 11 years old. But much to my horror there was a tape fault all thru side 2. It had a screeching noise all thru side 2. Worst of all the record store would not let me swap it.

[@mumbles215]

Dollars to donuts it was some corporate shite hole not a mom and pop.

[@bartek311d]

I Need You is so good as an opening track

[@Trenchbroom]

As a kid in the US in the late 70s, I became a Beatles fan solely because my parents had the red greatest hits albums on 8-track in the car. I could either listen to bad country music on the AM radio, or listen to Drive My Car again for the 500th time; I always made the right choice.

[@KevinM2732]

I liked the track order of the Rubber Soul cassette tape. That was the track order I was used to. It was only much later, that I found out it wasn't the original track order.

[@ntxmt]

Take the vinyl record, an 8 track recorder,80 or so minute cartridge, and viola..... you have the lp on the 8 track in tact! No rearranging the tracks for the convenience of record companies. Even when the track changes, the song continues with only a minor annoyance. No wait for it here. That's how we did it back then. What a memory. Thanks again Andrew, another great Beatle video. Keep them coming, PLEASE.

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it! Stay tuned or maybe subscribe?

[@JohnShoaf-gz6qt]

I used to do that when recording 8-tracks as well. Just let it record over the program change. You get a bit of a "chunk" sound but no break in the tempo. Much better than waiting for the next track to start -- and a lot of the tapes had even a minute or two difference in timing between the programs, so you were always waiting!

[@btipton6899]

The first time I heard the White Album was on my dad's reel to reel in the early 80s

[@labajadaman]

In the mid 70’s when I began collecting Beatles my first few albums were on cassette. The US cassette version of Yellow Submarine began side two with the bonus track Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds before beginning George Martin’s contributions. Once I picked up a vinyl copy, I really missed having that song as part of my YS experience. After those first few tapes, everything was on vinyl from then on.

[@Vince_Tasciotti]

For fun, I think I'll make playlists of the cassette running order for some Beatles albums.

[@stevebennett9750]

Pink Floyd Cassettes and 8 track tapes from EMI UK were also re-arranged to fit the format until Dark Side of the Moon.

[@imperialjoe8023]

They actually resequenced animals for 8 track and in doing so, coupled both pigs on the wing into one big song. They are strung together using a guitar solo by snowy white that remains exclusive to the album on 8 track

[@stevebennett9750]

@@imperialjoe8023 yes but that was not just EMI UK. US Columbia 8 track also contained the solo however no other counties did. And that was only for the 8 track. The cassette was different story. In the USA, Pigs (3DO) was split between sides one and two. Rarely ever happens with cassettes.

[@goriotv2023]

My first experience with The Bealtes was in cassette format. That was in the late 80s and in my country (Philippines) the track listing from my cassette collection was almost identical with the Vinyl track listing with few re arrangements most of it from Please Please Me, With The Beatles, Beatles for Sale, Abbey Road and Let it Be.

[@billstill1794]

3 things I hated about 8-track tapes: #1. Split songs! #2. Some early 8-track tapes used a rubber wheel which turned into a gooey mess and damaged the player and was very hard to clean! Thankfully all the wheels were later made of hard plastic. #3. Many times the silver channel changer/splice would come apart and the tape would get eaten and destroyed by the player! Thanks for the bad memories! BTW, I found a brand new 8-track player stand-alone home unit still in the original box from a flea market vendor a few years ago for $5.00 - works perfectly!

[@wesleyheinecke3878]

The only Beatles album I have on cassette is the Red Album and listening to it was the first time I heard the strange 007-esque opening to Help! which confused me quite a bit and I figured it was a strange addition to the cassette release but then I learned it was just a standard thing in many of the American releases of the song.

[@lemontiki]

Love the Rubber Soul listing! Help! album is Paul side 1 and John side 2.

[@Uetti]

I was introduced to The Beatles in the very late 90s, but my main introduction has been my mum's cassette collection. They there mostly German/Swiss 70s editions, so they had the usual track listing, but Abbey Road, which my mother bought in late 1969/early 1970, had that curious switch-up. So I first listened to it and grew my appreciation for it with the two George songs kicking it out and the Lennon double Come Together/Because starting off Side 2. You can imagine my surprise when I read in the books (I started studying The Beatles right aways by late 1999) that the tracklist of that album was indeed different

[@JimmyLem]

This was a great episode. I grew up on cassettes in the US, starting with a copy of the White Album in around 1979. It came in a black with gold letters (I think) slipcase that I promptly discarded. The order was a bit different. Blackbird ends side one, which was pretty nice with the birds tweeting right before CLUNK the tape ends. Bungalow Bill's title is just that. Revolution "No 1" ends side 3. Sexy Sadie starts the last side. Each tape is Part 1 and Part 2. I went right to the CD version in the 90s and thus never experienced the vinyl order as much as I did these tapes in my own Walkman. Thanks again for the cool videos!

[@Parlogram]

Glad you're enjoying the channel, Jimmy!

[@CraiginOhioUSA]

Truly one of your best, Andrew. I was in rapt attention, every second. I'm glad you actually presented the hideous, shocking split of "Got A Feeling " on the 8-track. Just imagine- some engineer deliberately did that. In the US, I've heard many a divided track on 8-track. I am 58. I was there... And always, there was a very fast fade down, and fade up, to avoid that suddenly chop-silence-blast effect. I can clearly remember, it was annoying, but I always noticed that at least care had been taken to do fades. I remember the robust sound of 8-tracks. But, the sound coming from the cartridge, the tape actually spinning in it's plastic case, was always audible to my sensive young ears, and very distracting. 8-tracks were the coolest format with kids, from 1975 to 1979. And then, suddenly, cassettes were preferred. I didn't like cassettes either, the sound was not as good as 8-track, and the tape stock and duplication quality was insulting. Even as a kid, I knew they were a waste of my limited money. I considered records to be "forever " and tapes were handy but destined to be thrown away after they failed. I still have every record I ever owned. Kids who bought tapes have only the memories. Andrew, your attention to detail on the track variations makes a fascinating documentary, thank you for this excellent presentation.

[@Parlogram]

Thanks Craig. Much appreciated!

[@michaelhiatt7377]

I remember sitting in my brother's truck and listening to Sgt. Pepper on 8 track. It was so cool to listen to in spite of the fact that the tape would stop mid track so it could play side 2. I was warned not to run down the truck battery!! Thanks Andrew for another terrific presentation!

[@Parlogram]

Great memories, Michael!

[@BlackAndWhiteBand]

Strangely, when I first got into The Beatles in 1979 at the age of 8, my source of playing music was a Sear receiver/turntable with built-in 8 Track recorder (fancy stuff!). So I would go to the mall and grab the odd 8-track and my first was "Yesterday And Today", which actually had a completely different mix of "Im Only Sleeping", at least in terms of the backwards guitars. To this day, I can still hear the jump cut in the middle of "Day Tripper" where one program advances to the other. Stange days indeed.

[@stevedale616]

I love cassettes. But being born in 1990 i never experienced the 8-track. I recall my parents had a copy of the Beatles 20 greatest hits on cassette. And when I first was showing interest in them when I was 7 or 8 my dad dubbed a custom cassette of introducing the Beatles vinyl on side a and the let it be cd (which was a recent gift for me) on side b so we could listen to it in the car as the car had a cassette deck but no cd player. I still have that cassette in my room. I may make a playlist of the tape track lists to experience it. And as for with the Beatles, devil in her heart might be my personal favorite on the album.

[@guarddave]

Very, very informative and interesting!

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@silverinkpot7]

Thank you for another great video! This one was especially fun since I know little of the cassette/eight track formatting history of the Beatles catalogue. Alot of my friends played Beatles/solo recordings on tape when I was growing up, but I was a vinyl purist, and didn't want to be cheated of all the amazing album cover artwork as well. Most published discographies of the Beatles (certainly book-wise) document the vinyl issuance history only, which added to my vinyl chauvinism. I always assumed in America, where I live, tapes were intended for car-obsessed Americans. I was surprised reading the accompanying comments that alot of folks bought tapes to listen at home, not just for their car stereo systems!

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

That was fun! I never liked eight tracks myself. Mind youI'm so old, that the first car my Dad bought was a used 1952 Austin A40 Somerset which didn't even have a radio in it!

[@Parlogram]

I had a black 1954 A40 Somerset in the late '80s. It had such character. I loved its big column gear change and trafficators.

[@grahampaulkendrick7845]

@@Parlogram Brilliant! Ours was SPF254 and it was black, too! They were built like tanks, I remember that it relly struggled with the hills in Exmoor on our summer holiday in '62, I heard a lot of Frank Ifield and Joe Brown on the radio. In retrospect, it seems that we were all just waiting for the Beatles! 🙂

[@monkeefinger]

The first 'album' I ever bought was Revolver, on compact cassette (in 1976). It's still my favourite record to this day, and for me the definitive running order is the one on that old cassette!

[@Willowphase2]

Thank you for covering this. As teenagers in the early 80s, my brother and I had Rubber Soul and Revolver on tape which was our first listen to those albums and just accepted that was the track listing…and because I first heard them this way, in some ways, it still is. Great video.

[@brenthooton3412]

The random order still survived after 1987 in North America. When the UK editions came over here, I bought Revolver, WTB and AHDN on vinyl, but PPM on cassette and got used to the wacky running order... and any time I hear Misery it still sounds like an alternate opening track.

[@mbvideoselection]

Yes that's right, Capitol's XDR cassettes were presented as the UK gold/brown top editions.

[@brenthooton3412]

I had never seen a UK cassette before (pre-internet) and it took me years to discover that Capitol had used the brown/gold theme because they were copying the UK cassettes!

[@WordslingingStephen]

I started collecting Beatles albums on both vinyl and cassette in roughly 1983. I don't remember a mixed up track listing on any of the cassettes I had though. And then of course, 1987 rolls around, and we get the standardized versions on CD for the first time. There are days I wish I held onto more of the records and cassettes I had instead of getting rid of them because I now had "everything" on CD. Love your channel and super informative and always entertaining videos, Andrew!

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it, Stephen!

[@JoeScaramanga]

My Beatles introduction was through cassettes. My dad would buy them so he could listen in the car as well. The only 'real' album he had was Hard Days Night, so, for me, the tracklisting on that is what I always think of, ending with You Can't Do That (one of my faves). He also had red and blue from the same series, the ones with the gold/brown background, which I think we're programmed correctly.

[@scatteredfrog]

I became a Beatles fan in 1987. The first Beatles albums I actually owned (as opposed to taping from the radio, taping from public library copies, etc.) were Abbey Road and Let It Be on cassette, Christmas presents from my brother. This is America, so they were Capitol-branded. Abbey Road reflected the tape in your video, with the opening tracks juxtaposed, but Let It Be moved "I, Me, Mine" to the beginning of side 2. I didn't know that was different, so I was kind of blindsided when the CDs came out and I heard "I, Me, Mine" seemingly out of place! Those were really the only Beatles cassettes I ever owned, except someone (probably my brother) got me one of the Tony Sheridan reissues some time later. I started buying the CDs in 1990 after I got a CD player. Also in America -- "Revolution 1" and "Revolution 9" were listed as "Revolution No. 1" and "Revolution No. 9" on the Capitol cassettes. And Yellow Submarine actually had sort of a bonus track: "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" kicked off side 2! I'm stunned that for the cassette they didn't put "I Saw Her Standing There" back in its place rather than just follow the 8-track arrangement!

[@gernblanston8056]

The U.S. cassette for The White Album was issued on two tapes in 1968, enclosed in a beautiful thick black sleeve, with The Beatles name etched in gold. (I still have my copy).

[@magneto7930]

I had Meet The Beatles and a few other Beatle albums on 8-track. I remember one song was chopped between tracks. Also, on Abbey Road, Her Majesty was placed somewhere in the middle with the final song being The End, appropriately. I had all the American versions on cassette as well. Cassettes were fun little toys because I could bring my little player with me when I was hanging out with the boys. Great memories. Thanks for another great upload!

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@frankmarker4414]

Thanks Andrew that was great.As i didnt know the tape history.My first ever Beatles was a tape birthday gift 1975.Yellow Submarine which got played to death.It was only much much later that i found the vinyl version was different.Although maybe not the best album to start a collection with it remains a fond memory.And i still love the album now even though i dont listen to it much these days.The tracks i love to be found elsewhere.

[@dalekleinman3194]

I grew up listening to The Beatles on my brother's Lp's. After that, I started buying my own 8 tracks. l fondly remember the track listings The weird thing was that on some of the songs they would tag another repeat ending or have false starts to round out the timing of the 4 tracks. The unfortunate thing about living in Minnesota where the weather can get well below 0 in the winter, these tapes would slow down to about half speed in the car until you finally got to your destination and the car warmed up. They also became very brittle, so I'm pretty sure I bought multiple copies of various Beatles 8 tracks. I purchased the Plastic Ono Band, Live Peace in Toronto on a little revolving counter stand at a small gas station out in the country. Pretty sure the old guy behind the counter had no idea the music that was in that square box.

[@darrensmith6368]

I can remember in the early 90's ,I worked in a factory,and I bought Beatles cassette albums,it brings back a lot of memories.

[@Mariazellerbahn]

I remember back in the early 70's, there was a record shop in Dugdale Street (Nuneaton) that would swap any pre-recorded cassette tape for another (even chart album tapes) for just 50p. We would go to Tandy and buy some obscure pre-recorded tapes for 50p and directly swap them, thereby getting a current chart tape for just a quid. An album at this time would be around £2.50p so quite a saving. As an added bonus, we would record albums onto blank tape before re-swapping back. We soon built up quite a library. You may remember that this shop in Dugdale Street was one of the very few that sold UK Beatles albums to the USA.

[@andrewhaddon4327]

Are you talking about What Records?

[@Paul_Wetor]

My first 8-track car player was life-changing. For the first time, I was not subject to the tyranny of radio. I could play what I wanted to hear. Later I was able to make my own tapes, which was even better.

[@pockenrop5837]

Thanks for this video. My Beatle journey started in 86 and I accessed their albums through my local record library. Most were vinyl copies but some - memorably abbey road and especially Revolver - were cassette. I copied onto my own cassettes as I went. As a result I was convinced that Revolver kicked off with good day sunshine and over time just became convinced I must have started with side 2. When the video reached Revolver it was like validation of my memories after nearly 40 years. And it explains why even to this day, Here Comes The Sun doesn't sit right with me opening side 2. It's because for me, it didn't! I could have cried knowing that my memory was far more functional than I thought. It was validation I don't know I needed!

[@simonhodgetts6530]

The local library record, tape and latterly CD sections were great - we had a superb one in Stourbridge where I grew up - I even bought some of their LPs off them when it closed in the late 90s. Pre-internet it was a great way to sample all sorts of different types of music, and it helped me to broaden my music tastes enormously as a teenager.

[@MsSteve70]

Great video as always! I started collecting several UK gold inlay cassettes in the mid 1980s. Picture this Andrew, i remember popping into the Canterbury Our Price after school in early 1987 and discovered to my horror that the cassette track list was different. I couldn't understand why this had happened - I felt cheated 🤣 So i began collecting on record instead... and then EMI started releasing the XDR's with the correct order... arghhhhhhhhh! Confusing and dangerous times for a 16 year old trying to discover great music. 🤣😂😂 I now have a beautiful and complete Blue Box Cassette release and all the "vinyls".

[@robgetz3564]

For me, when I was first introduced to the Red and Blue Album, it was the 8 track running order. I memorized it song for song until I got the original vinyl. Shocked me!

[@changkwangoh]

I love Beatles tapes, man. I just listened to several this weekend, tapes I’ve had for so many years. My favorite of all time is “The Beatles Ballads,” Singapore version. It has “For No One” starting Side 2. I also like “Hey Jude” and “Live At The Hollywood Bowl.” Man oh man tapes rule.

[@J_alex_day]

A very interesting video, thanks Andrew! I'll keep a look out for the cassettes.

[@JackBobsonOfficial]

Man, I knew 8 tracks were poorer in fidelity, but this was a surprise for my vinyl and cd trained ears 😂! Even cassettes had better high frequency responses, well, at least mine did. As always, this video was a real delight to watch! Can't wait for more

[@Parlogram]

Thanks for watching. Glad you enjoyed it!

[@AdamShugar]

Great episode! The Capitol Sgt. Pepper 8-track is perhaps the only instance of a Beatles song being extended specifically to fill the 8 track release: the Sgt. Pepper Reprise has another "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely, Sgt Pepper's Lonely.... " verse added after Paul's "woooo!" I'm not sure if this is the case with the UK version.

[@Parlogram]

Thanks! Sadly the UK 8 track wasn't extended.

[@joedepoto]

Excellent video as always Andrew! Here in America since I was born in 1983 and didn’t start buying albums until 1995; the Capitol cassettes were the only way I could buy the US albums new because LPs were already discontinued. I still have a sentimental attachment to the 1987 CDs and 1995 “Limited Edition” LPs. Nevertheless, the C4 series which followed the XDR Capitol cassettes sound phenomenal. As for 8-Tracks, they never sounded great new; especially decades later if they even survived not be eaten or snapped during playback. Unfortunately Capitol never issued their 8-Tracks with Ampex shells that has pad glued to more robust metal tongs.🫡

[@ChromeDestiny]

My first copy of Abbey Road was a cassette version that put the two George songs back to back at the start of side one.

[@idaslpdhr]

That's quite weird, I was clearing out a cupboard the other day and found a box of my old tapes, lots of them, including my Beatle ones, and started playing and cleaning them up, and then you post this, wow

[@jobeonetwothree2126]

Nice video. Over here in sneezeland, the reel to reel tapes are the one's I seek out the most. While the "White Album" is the one that's most baffiling. In the U.S. it was issued first as a single tape, then re-issued as a double tape with songs shortened and rearranged. This still makes no sense to me in why would you issue two tapes with edited versions? If anything you would think the single tape would be the one with the edits.

[@jaygent2836]

The Uk cassette of Rubber Soul is the version I grew up with, and I love the running order!

[@catmando7262]

Cassette was how I first listened to The Beatles albums. One day in August 1982, a close relative died suddenly and I went home from work early. Numb and with nothing else to do, I put the cassette of Please Please Me on. "The world is treating me bad, misery..."

[@Parlogram]

A sad but great story!

[@classic_colin]

In the U.S., Capitol released The White Album as two separate cassettes (corresponding to the two discs released on vinyl and eventually on CD). It’s not entirely accurate to call the cassette release “The White Album”, though, as black-and-white versions of each member’s headshot from the miniature posters included in the two-record set served as the cassette covers.

[@larryinc64]

8-Tracks are before my time, I grew up with CDs and Cassettes. Though I have a "Yesterday and Today" 8-Track that my mother had, and it was an interesting thing to mess with. It has Day Tripper spread across 2 programs, and it was probably the first US/Capitol track layout I saw since I am used to the UK standardized CDs.

[@Ad.Dd.James.]

Been collecting lots of Beatles and solo Beatles music cassettes the last year or so. This isn't a cheap hobby especially when tracking down the early pressings that are more than 50 years old. The George Harrison solo music cassettes are very expensive but look great

[@rossgregor4817]

For me Drive My Car really grabs your attention a great song and perfect opener for Rubber Soul. Cassette tapes I'm trying to forget all those manual rewinds when they stretch or move of centre from the spool. Really good episode.

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it.

[@Sp33gan]

While I never owned an 8-Track, having a cassette player in your home stereo system was a must. Mine was a dual deck, where I could make my own compilation tapes from my album collection, then transfer them straight to other blank tapes for my friends. I didn't really start buying pre-recorded tapes until a got a player installed in my car. One of my friends did have 8-Track, both at home and in his Mini Cooper. It was weird when a song would fade out in the middle, followed by a very audible click as the track switched, then the song would fade in again. One of Moody Blues tapes had the track listing so badly rearranged that one of my favourite albums became a very sombre and unlistenable affair. Overall, while cassettes were convenient for playing in the car (radio drives me nuts for all the ads and the incessant talking) and for keeping my vinyl away from others at parties, I have always preferred the joys of my vinyl collection. It always seemed to be a better and warmer sound, while appreciating the artwork and reading the liner notes was so much easier from an album sleeve.

[@galtsghost4454]

Fascinating episode, Andrew! Back in the mid-to-late 70s, I had a copy of Sgt. Pepper on 8-track here in the States. Aside from the butchered track sequencing, my recollection of it was that the sound quality was crisp, clean, and warm, and I enjoyed listening to it on my dad’s hi-fi whenever I could. It was the closest thing to an audiophile experience a young teen in the New Jersey suburbs in those days could get. Now my preferred experience is on vinyl, at home anyway.

[@joelgoldenberg1100]

She Loves You was "processed electronically to give a twin channel Stereo effect." That makes it sound like they found a way to place the vocals on one channel and the instruments on the other. Which is what would have happened if this was released in true stereo in the first place!

[@barbarakirk3064]

That processing inspired Kenny Everett's Sing Along With The Beatles spot on his radio show, where he'd turn down the vocals on one channel on a particular song.

[@alfietomkins7829]

That was a nice trip down memory lane. Oh, the joy ive had rewinding tape back into its casing with a pencil because my cassette player chewed them up, annoying at the time but i remember it with some affection. My cassettes probably sound terrible now, if i could find them. Really enjoyed this video thanks

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it

[@OperationPhantom]

Interesting and I agree that the track listings for Help!, Rubber Soul and Revolver aren't bad at all and even seem an improvement in some spots when I play them in my head. And poor old Philips used to be such an innovative company... Today it's not a shadow of its former self. ASML even started under the wings of Philips in the 90s.

[@deementia6796]

I am slightly older than 50, and I can say that the first TWO cars I owned came with 8 track players in them, so I had friends and relatives give me their old 8 tracks, and it was fun to here the .. ca-chunk .. sound when the program switched to the next one. When I was really young, my grandmother had a 8 track recorder player in her house, so my dad and I would often go to her place and make mixed tapes from our vinyl that we could listen to in the car. At one point, my mom got a Lincoln Towne Car and it had a Quadraphonic 8 track player in it, and DAMN, it sounded great for the 2 tapes we had for it (one had a quad version of Money by Pink Floyd I believe) and I've not had a better car sound system until I recently bought a late 90's Mercedes E320. Of course, the 8 track tape version of Animals by Pink Floyd had an otherwise unreleased guitar solo linking Pigs on a Wing part 1 and 2.

[@Parlogram]

Great memories!

[@geotechmore8855]

George gets some love with the tracks on cassette! Awesome.. )^_-)/ Greetings from New Jersey! The fact that my name is George as well has nothing to do with me being happy about that.. But it's cool nonetheless.. )^_-)/

[@jonothanthrace1530]

The covers for the cassettes remind me greatly of the old extended boxes CDs were sold in before they developed the plastic security frames.

[@FD13NYC]

I proudly own all the main Beatle albums on cassette tape. Don't hardly play them, but they're displayed and cool to look at.

[@ronaldwilson9525]

There are songs i can't forget from my 8 Track tapes that were split and continued on a different track. We never had Beatles 8 tracks but I had many other tapes from other bands with split tracks.

[@PhilSmithRHR]

It’s interesting how so many people think Rubber Soul is better starting with “I’ve just seen a face”. My understanding is that US Capitol did this because they were trying to market the album to fit in with the American “folk rock” boom of 1965 and present it as The Beatles’ “folk rock” LP. It can be very refreshing to hear tracks from these albums in a different order. I once made a Rubber Soul running order that started with “You won’t see me” and ended with “In my life”. It’s hard to argue with “Drive my car” as an opener though.

[@LanceHall]

When i listen to the singles ripped to my computer i still expect the next song to be what followed on Past Masters and I haven't spun a CD in 24 years 😂

[@Paisly17]

I think song listing on an album is overrated, you play the album and like the music no matter what order they’re in. I haven’t heard anybody say I don’t like this or that album because the music is in a particular order. The tapes are great no matter what comes 1st, 5th or 10th. Another great video cheers

[@sennylame-m8u]

The Beatles is considered an album band. The running order is particularly important from Rubber Soul towards

[@HornetKingOfficial]

Really enjoyed this episode, Andrew! I really like how you give a history of the format before delving into The Beatles use of it! I would love to see another special look into the Beatles filming of Help!, if you have any other interesting tidbits, like you did with the Austria scenes! 😊

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it! I’d love a trip to The Bahamas!

[@shnibby69]

A couple of years ago, I bought the Capitol 8-track release of the “White Album”($25 US)on Discogs…the tapes and cardboard sleeve are black! Thanks for another awesome video, Andrew!

[@dano5876]

The first North American cassettes of the White album came with the same black slip case design as the 8 track.

[@shnibby69]

@@dano5876 Thanks, Dano! I didn’t think about the cassette version! Cheers!

[@QuizWriterMark]

I recall having The Blue Album 67-70 on cassette. The opening Strawberry Fields Forever was rewound again and again till the tape broke (LOL...I was obsessed) . I think they even took out the part where the song fades in again at the end out of the cassette part for running time

[@barbarakirk3064]

That false fade/fade-in was such a surprise to me when I heard the Blue Album on vinyl! It sounded like a train going by.

[@jongerdemann2824]

The first album I ever owned was a US copy of Please Please Me, followed by a Beach Boys compilation. I had most of the Beatles albums on cassette until I finally got a CD player, by which point I was also collecting vinyl. I had a very beat up vinyl copy of Sgt. Pepper, and a friend of mine had the CD, and asked me if I’d like to trade. Well I got the better end on that deal and still have the CD. It wasn’t long before I had multiple copies on vinyl. I did also have Abbey Road on 8 track, and although I may have only listened to it once or twice, I do remember it sounding pretty good. Of course my favorite cassette was the American Rubber Soul, which together with both cassettes of the White Album, I found at a yard sale for $1 each! I practically wore those tapes out.

[@wilijames6758]

I like Devil In Her Heart. Also regarding the Help! and Rubber Soul tapes, they are out of order but they contain the original stereo mixes of those albums. Would it be possible to do a video on the story of those original mixes versus the 80’s remixes by George Martin?

[@adyhartmusic]

Another cracking video! Thanks Andrew, really appreciate the amount of work and professionalism you put into your posts 😊🙏🏼

[@Parlogram]

Thanks Ady. I appreciate your comments 😊

[@earlgrey3461]

I remember my younger sister had an 8 Track stereo. She had The White Album in her collection, so I decided to listen to it… I live in the USA btw. “Kerchunk!” in the middle of a couple songs, seems to me they were Long Long and Revolution #9. I remember it really bothered me. You don’t cut Long Long Long in half. And Revolution #9 is art. You don’t cut a Hockney in half (unless you don’t understand it). 8 track stereos: Never owned one.

[@luis_e_saavedra]

Awesome video! Since cassettes here in Chile followed the original order of the albums I had no idea about this variation in the UK.

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it and thanks for the info!

[@luis_e_saavedra]

@@Parlogram there was “EMI Chile” for a while and cassettes were ver accesibles to buy.

[@MattBartolomeo]

My introduction to The Beatles was on cassette in the US during the 1990s. The final issued US cassettes contained Dolby NR and contained C4, rather than C4J identifications. Sound wise, they’re pretty good considering their source material!

[@ice_cream_city]

In the mid 70s, I was given a few Capitol 8-tracks of The Fabs albums. By this time, I was very familiar with the vinyl versions. I had a home system with an 8-track, and also a car system. To be honest, the 8-tracks I was given had already been played to death, and sounded like absolute rubbish. So I really cannot give an accurate review of their initial sound. Yet it gives you an idea of the downside of 8-track: inferior tape, high-speed tape duplication, baking in a parked car for hours on end which led to disintegration and of course...........the worst: the more you played the tape, the tighter the reel became. That meant breakage. I had to buy a tape-splicing kit from Radio Shack to repair most of my tapes. In the short (but extremely painful) 6 years that I had 8-tracks, I was so happy to move on to cassette. But I rarely bought pre-recorded cassettes, but I know from experience they were not much better. By this time, I had already seen the future, and it was CD. I was also a recording studio engineer at this time, so I knew that any format was a compromise. Today, most people listen to music on their smartphone or earbuds, so hi-fidelity is no longer an issue for most. This is a shame, but the underlying factor is that it is free. Yet, there remains a hard-core lot that fight the power, and want to hear music the way it was meant to be heard.......in a better format that is steps above AM radio. I heard a few years ago that albums would be released on SD cards, but that never happened. Oh well. So let's go back to 1966, when I dropped the stylus and heard......"Four! Well, she was just seventeen, and you know what I mean.............* Forever The Fabs

[@markearnestfromreno613]

I remember on the cassette of the White Album I had in the US as a teenager (bought in 83 or so) Sexy Sadie opened side 4, while Revolution 1 was the closer of side 3.

[@simonhodgetts6530]

We had an 8 track player in the mid 70s. No Beatles cartridges, but we did have Wings At The Speed of sound, which I remember fondly…….fast forward, and literally this weekend I acquired a box of cartridges from a deceased estate - and in there is a copy of 1967-1970, with I Am The Walrus split over 2 programmes - sacrilege!

[@Extreme_Rice]

I think the only Beatles cassette I ever bought was a double play tape of the Blue album I got from a charity shop in 2001. I know it was 2001 because I remember hearing the news the next day that George Harrison had died. Anyway, that only had a slightly different sequence, with Revolution and Back In The USSR swapped round, that can’t have made much difference in duration surely but it sounds okay.

[@ashlarhogmany]

Another great video. I didn't know that the original cassette versions completely changed the running order of the albums, I think it's an interesting way to hear the albums in a different order. I had a copy of Please Please Me on cassette bought new around 1985 whilst on holiday in Scotland. It was in full stereo, I must have listened to it many times on my personal Alba stereo with the lovely orange headphones. I was amazed with the two track stereo on Twist and Shout as a 10 year old I was overwhelmed with the experience. One thing I can't tell you is the running order of the album. I assume it was different to the LP version. Sadly I don't think I have the cassette anymore

[@Leicaphile27]

Another fun, info packed show...Thanks! Especially interesting, the comments on tape sound quality...

[@Parlogram]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@BaccarWozat]

I never bought any US Beatles cassettes. I had a few key albums on old vinyl, and rounded out my collection by taping full album broadcasts onto type II cassettes, which was slightly more successful than my efforts with Pink Floyd (had bad reception the day they broadcast The Wall). Later I bought all the Pink Floyd albums on cassette and then CD, but pretty much ignored updating the Beatles the whole time until they had proper remastered CD releases. Unfortunately I missed the opening part of side 2 of the White Album ("Martha My Dear") and remember having to cut out "Back In The USSR" to fit the rest on the tape (but fear not, I already had that song on another compilation). Moreover, the broadcasts were of the UK versions, so my only experience with US track order was the Rubber Soul vinyl.