The Beatles to celebrate 60 years of Beatlemania with new LP box-set

13 September 2024, 16:47

It was a phenomenon that altered the course of pop music forever.

Six decades ago in 1964, The Beatles' performed on a US television show which would spark a new era of excitement, energy, and optimism: Beatlemania.

Appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show, the Fab Four played 'I Want To Hold You Hand', a performance that was beamed into millions of homes across America.

In what is still widely considered as one of the most influential performances of all time, The Beatles broke America and changed the course of music history.

• The Beatles' best albums, ranked
• How a song intended for The Beatles became The Yardbirds' biggest hit
• The song George Harrison wrote on the day he quit The Beatles
• When John Lennon and Paul McCartney reconciled and nearly reformed The Beatles

From then onwards, a mass hysteria followed them wherever they went - people wanted to see them, people wanted to be them, people wanted to sound like them.

Beatlemania had engulfed popular culture: The Beatles became the biggest band in the world, and opened the door for the British Invasion era of music which saw the United Kingdom dubbed as the world's cultural epicentre.

Now, to celebrate the monumental historical event, The Beatles are releasing a box-set of all the LPs released in America during this period.

At the time, The Beatles' albums released in the US often differed from their UK counterparts, due to Capitol Records' rush to release them to market to the most viable audience as quickly as possible.

These releases are being revisited and packaged together for the new box-set, The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono.

Featuring eight LPs, the albums - which have been out of print on vinyl since 1995 - will arrive analogue cut for 180-gram audiophile vinyl from the original masters.

The box set includes Meet The Beatles!, The Beatles’ Second Album, A Hard Day’s Night, Something New; The Beatles’ Story (2LP), Beatles ’65, and The Early Beatles.

Each of the records will also come with replicated artwork and essays written by Beatles historian Bruce Spizer.

The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono Vinyl Box Set

The Beatles' album releases weren't aligned in the US and the UK until the release of their lauded 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, featured the very same tracklisting on both sides of the Atlantic.

By then, The Beatles were undoubtedly the biggest and most influential band in the world, despite having called it quits in terms of performing live.

However, it might have not panned out that way if it wasn't for American host and broadcaster Ed Sullivan, who spotted The Beatles' potential from overseas.

"I made up my mind that this was the same sort of mass hysteria that had characterised the Elvis Presley days," he later wrote in a New York Times article.

George Harrison also later recalled how the performance kickstarted their US breakthrough.

"We were aware that Ed Sullivan was the big one because we got a telegram from Elvis and the Colonel. And I’ve heard that while the show was on there were no reported crimes, or very few."

"When The Beatles were on Ed Sullivan, even the criminals had a rest for ten minutes."