November 17, 2010

Beatle Cassette Continuity


In honor of the Beatle catalogue FINALLY being available for download on iTunes (which is of minimal interest to me as I already have virtually everything they ever did), I look at a very odd chapter in Beatle history.

The accounting staff of EMI (the Beatles' label in the UK) appeared to value material expenses over artistic integrity, and so in order to save a few inches of tape (and thereby a few pence per unit), released the UK albums on cassette in the 1970's with the song order hopelessly scrambled in order for side A to be equal in length with (or a few seconds longer than) side B.

To add insult to injury, the tracks are arranged with no logic whatsoever. Their debut album Please Please Me no longer opened with Paul's iconic count-off "1-2-3-FAWR!" at the start of "I Saw Her Standing There," but with the tinkly piano chord at the start of "Misery," even though they were placed on the same cassette side! "Good Night" was inexplicably moved to the middle of side B on the cassette of The White Album, which closed with "Revolution 9"

American fans got a taste of this travesty in the mid/late 80's when the Beatles' catalogue was first released on CD, as the UK albums were also released on cassette in the US with this same deplorable running order.

Below are the Beatles' EMI cassette releases, with the vinyl album order in parentheses ("B3" = track 3 on side B)

Please Please Me
One of the greatest album openings of all time, Paul's count-off "1-2-3-FAWR!" at the start of "I Saw Her Standing There" gets pushed to the middle of side A. For No Reason Whatsoever, since it's still on Side A.
Side A
(approx 16:33, vinyl timing 17:13)
1 - Misery (A2)
2 - Chains (A4)
3 - PS I Love You (B2)
4 - Do You Want To Know A Secret (B4)
5 - I Saw Her Standing There (A1)
6 - Ask Me Why (A6)
7 - Baby It's You (B3)
Side B (approx 16:24, vinyl timing 15:44)
1 - Please Please Me (A7)
2 - Love Me Do (B1)
3 - A Taste of Honey (B5)
4 - There's A Place (B6)
5 - Anna (Go With Him) (A3)
6 - Boys (A5)
7 - Twist And Shout (B7)

With The Beatles
Side A (approx 16:56, vinyl timing 15:54)
1 - All My Loving (A3)
2 - Little Child (A5)
3 - Devil In Her Heart (B5)
4 - Not A Second Time (B6)
5 - Please Mr. Postman (A7)
6 - Hold Me Tight (B2)
7 - You Really Got A Hold On Me (B3)
Side B (approx 16:56, vinyl timing 17:58)
1 - It Won't Be Long (A1)
2 - All I've Got To Do (A2)
3 - Till There Was You (A6)
4 - I Wanna Be Your Man (B4)
5 - Don't Bother Me (A4)
6 - Roll Over Beethoven (B1)
7 - Money (B7)

A Hard Day's Night
The album's original running order put the songs from the movie on side A, and new non-movie songs on side B. Now they're mixed around willy-nilly.
Side A
(approx 15:49, vinyl timing 16:46)
1 - I Should Have Known Better (A2)
2 - When I Get Home (B4)
3 - I'll Be Back (B6)
4 - I'm Happy Just To Dance With You (A4)
5 - Tell Me Why (A6)
6 - Any Time At All (B1)
7 - I'll Cry Instead (B2)
Side B (approx 15:06, vinyl timing 14:09)
1 - A Hard Day's Night (A1)
2 - Can't Buy Me Love (A7)
3 - Things We Said Today (B3)
4 - If I Fell (A3)
5 - And I Love Her (A5)
6 - You Can't Do That (B5)

Beatles For Sale
Side A (approx 17:23, vinyl timing 16:56)
1 - No Reply (A1)
2 - Baby's In Black (A3)
3 - Eight Days A Week (B1)
4 - I Don't Want To Spoil The Party (B5)
5 - I'll Follow The Sun (A5)
6 - What You're Doing (B6)
7 - Honey Don't (B3)
Side B (approx 17:12, vinyl timing 17:39)
1 - I'm A Loser (A2)
2 - Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby (B7)
3 - Rock And Roll Music (A4)
4 - Mr Moonlight (A6)
5 - Words Of Love (B2)
6 - Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey (A7)
7 - Every Little Thing (B4)

Help!
Ditto ditto with A Hard Day's Night - movie tracks had been just on side A, but not anymore.
Side A (approx 17:19, vinyl timing 17:25)
1 - I Need You (A4)
2 - Another Girl (A5)
3 - I've Just Seen A Face (B5)
4 - Yesterday (B6)
5 - The Night Before (A2)
6 - Ticket To Ride (A7)
7 - Act Naturally (B1)
Side B (approx 17:11, vinyl timing 17:05)
1 - Help! (A1)
2 - You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (A3)
3 - You're Going To Lose That Girl (A6)
4 - It's Only Love (B2)
5 - You Like Me Too Much (B3)
6 - Tell Me What You See (B4)
7 - Dizzy Miss Lizzy (B7)

Rubber Soul
Side A (approx 18:13, vinyl timing 18:46)
1 - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) (A2)
2 - You Won't See Me (A3)
3 - Think For Yourself (A5)
4 - I'm Looking Through You (B3)
5 - Nowhere Man (A4)
6 - Michelle (A7)
7 - Wait (B5)
Side B (approx 18:00, vinyl timing 17:27)
1 - Drive My Car (A1)
2 - If I Needed Someone (B6)
3 - What Goes On (B1)
4 - Girl (B2)
5 - In My Life (B4)
6 - The Word (A6)
7 - Run For Your Life (B7)

Revolver
Side A (approx 17:24, vinyl timing 18:38)
1 - Good Day Sunshine (B1)
2 - And Your Bird Can Sing (B2)
3 - Doctor Robert (B4)
4 - I Want To Tell You (B5)
5 - Taxman (A1)
6 - I'm Only Sleeping (A3)
7 - Yellow Submarine (A6)
Side B (approx 17:46, vinyl timing 16:32)
1 - Eleanor Rigby (A2)
2 - Here, There And Everywhere (A5)
3 - For No One (B3)
4 - Got To Get You Into My Life (B6)
5 - Love You Too (A4)
6 - She Said She Said (A7)
7 - Tomorrow Never Knows (B7)

Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
No difference between vinyl and cassette running order.

The Beatles (aka "The White Album")
Good God, why couldn't they just have switched "Long Long Long" and "Happiness is a Warm Gun" and left the remaining tracks unscrambled? WHY?
Side A (approx 46:37, vinyl timing 46:16)
1 - Back In The U.S.S.R. (A1)
2 - Dear Prudence (A2)
3 - Glass Onion (A3)
4 - Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da (A4)
5 - Wild Honey Pie (A5)
6 - The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill (A6)
7 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps (A7)
8 - Martha My Dear (B1)
9 - I'm So Tired (B2)
10 - Blackbird (B3)
11 - Piggies (B4)
12 - Rocky Racoon (B5)
13 - Don't Pass Me By (B6)
14 - Why Don't We Do It In The Road? (B7)
15 - I Will (B8)
16 - Julia (B9)
17 - Long Long Long (C7)
Side B (approx 46:30, vinyl timing 46:51)
1 - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey (C4)
2 - Sexy Sadie (C5)
3 - Helter Skelter (C6)
4 - Revolution 1 (D1)
5 - Honey Pie (D2)
6 - Savoy Truffle (D3)
7 - Goodnight (D6)
8 - Happiness Is A Warm Gun (A8)
9 - Birthday (C1)
10 - Yer Blues (C2)
11 - Mother Nature's Son (C3)
12 - Cry Baby Cry (D4)
13 - Revolution 9 (D5)

Yellow Submarine
Side A (approx 19:30, vinyl timing 21:40)
1 - Yellow Submarine (A1)
2 - Only A Northern Song (A2)
3 - All You Need Is Love (A6)
4 - Hey Bulldog (A4)
5 - It's All Too Much (A5)
Side B (approx 20:09, vinyl timing 17:59)
1 - All Together Now (A3)
2 - Pepperland (B1)
3 - Sea of Holes (B2)
4 - Sea of Time (B3)
5 - Sea of Monsters (B4)
6 - March of the Meanies (B5)
7 - Pepperland Laid Waste (B6)
8 - Yellow Submarine in Pepperland (B7)

Abbey Road
The only difference is that opening tracks of vinyl side A ("Come Together") and B ("Here Comes The Sun") are flipped on the cassette.
Side A (approx 23:34, vinyl timing 24:49)
Side B (approx 23:42, vinyl timing 22:27)

Let It Be
Side A (approx 17:33, vinyl timing 19:14)
1 - Two Of us (A1)
2 - I Me Mine (A4)
3 - One After 909 (B2)
4 - Across The Universe (A3)
5 - Dig It (A5)
6 - Let It Be (A6)
Side B (approx 17:36, vinyl timing 15:55)
1 - Maggie Mae (A7)
2 - Dig A Pony (A2)
3 - The Long And Winding Road (B3)
4 - I've Got A Feeling (B1)
5 - For You Blue (B4)
6 - Get Back (B5)

Compilations:
A Collection of Beatles Oldies (But Goldies)
Side A (approx 19:40, vinyl timing 19:01)
1 - She Loves You (A1)
2 - From Me To You (A2)
3 - We Can Work It Out (A3)
4 - Ticket To Ride (B5)
5 - Help! (A4)
6 - Yesterday (A6)
7 - Day Tripper (B3)
8 - I Want To Hold Your Hand (B8)
Side B (approx 19:29, vinyl timing 20:08)
1 - Michelle (A5)
2 - I Feel Fine (A7)
3 - Can't Buy Me Love (B1)
4 - Bad Boy (B2)
5 - Yellow Submarine (A8)
6 - A Hard Day's Night (B4)
7 - Paperback Writer (B6)
8 - Eleanor Rigby (B7)

Beatles 1962-66 (aka "The Red Album")
No difference between vinyl and cassette running order.

Beatles 1967-70 (aka "The Blue Album")
The only difference between vinyl and cassette is that "Revolution" and "Back in the USSR" are switched.
Side A: (approx 50:30, vinyl timing 51:06)
Side B: (approx 48:52, vinyl timing 48:16)

So how much did the EMI beancounters save? Given that the standard playback speed of a cassette tape is 1 7/8" per second, we can determine the length of the cassette tape that EMI saved by the track re-ordering.

Please Please Me: 40 seconds difference = 75 inches of tape saved per unit
With the Beatles: 62 sec = 116.25"
A Hard Day's Night: 57 sec = 106.875"
Beatles For Sale: 16 sec = 30"
Help!: 6 sec = 11.25"
Rubber Soul: 33 sec = 61.875"
Revolver: 52 sec = 97.5"
Sgt Pepper: no savings
White Album: 14 sec = 26.25"
Yellow Submarine: 91 sec = 170.625"
Abbey Road: 67 sec = 125.625"
Let It Be: 98 sec = 183.75"
A Collection of Beatles Oldies: 28 sec = 52.5"
1962-66: no savings
1967-70: 36 sec = 67.5"

If someone knew what the EMI production factory's cost was per inch of cassette tape, as well as the amount of cassettes pressed per album, we could actually determine the dollar amount (well, GBP amount) of EMI's overall savings. I'd be interested to learn this.

I'd also be interested to know from the EMI powers-that-be from that time just who it was who made this decision, and who oversaw the track re-ordering. George Martin took great care in ordering the original tracks for their vinyl releases, so I want to find this person and ask just what his/her logic was in, say, putting "Good Night" in the middle of side B on the cassette of the White Album.

Did EMI do this for their other artists' releases? Pink Floyd appears to also suffer at their hands, if Ummagumma's track ordering is any indication.

Anyone know anybody who worked at EMI back then?

No comments: