Beatlantis: 10} Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (June, 1967, Timaeus)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remix, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

With Revolver[s] making such big waves across Atlantean arts, the follow-up album was awaited with great anticipation. It was not, however, received with matching enthusiasm.

Tivowr Dorna was worried about such a reaction, since his own response upon hearing the material was mixed.

Based on title, cover art, early commentary he'd seen from aboveseas press, and the promise of the opening song, Dorna expected a concept to play out across both sides. His expectations were not met. Instead, there was very little connecting the songs beyond the lack of gaps between them. Also, between the stirring opening title track introductory medley with the rousing With a Little Help from My Friends and the astonishing final number, A Day in the Life, much of the material was not, in his mind, quite up to the exceedingly high standards set across 14 songs on previous LP. What followed proved, as ever, that he was the perfect choice to package and pitch the Beatles to his nation: public and critical response widely mirrored his initial reaction. He really did have his webbed fingers on the pulse of Atlantean music tastes. He was so trepidatious about the album's reception he took the unprecedented step of greatly limiting the initial pressing run. 

Though less impressed on a song-by-song basis, as with Revolver[s] Dorna saw Pepper's tracklist as sacrosanct. Leaving song selection alone meant that in the album-only market of Atlantis, most fans would not hear the landmark tracks Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane until well after Sgt. Pepper's arrived, though elsewhere they preceded the album's release by months.

Pepper's was the first and only eligible Beatles LP not to top the Surface Spring!Summer Seven poll of best midyear foreign albums in the influential Atlantis Tide Monthly, the de facto guidebook to popular culture, placing second behind The Velvet Underground & Nico which was widely embraced by Atlanteans who praised its portrayal of surface life which contrasted the rosy vibe of much of the material brought in from the so-called Summer of Love. Still, the number two slot is high placement and the album was widely enjoyed even if it didn't blow the seabreathers' minds the way it rocked the rest of the fabs' audience. 

One less than complementary reviewer took the thin framework of a concept and hung his negative one-line review right on it: "Sgt. Pepper's Old-Time Combo Quartet are all well and good," wrote national treasure and acerbic scribe Zimnfr Syrnq, "but I sorta miss that rock 'n' band they kinda look like."

In the Tide Monthly's own Underwater and Underwhelmed: The Beatles Finally Float To the Surface, a consortium of critics convened to consider this latest long-player similarly exhorted "Bring Back The Beatles" and bemoaned the diminished songwriting input of George Harrison, whose increased contributions and prominence on Revolver[s] — getting the opening track, no less — hinted at increasing parity with John and Paul and had helped elevate that previous album to new heights. Nonetheless, the joint review ended by acknowledging that the album opens with a lot of heart and closes with an undeniable masterpiece, while in between, a splendid time really is guaranteed for. "Sure, it isn't much of a concept, but we don't need one anyway. It's just not Revolver[s], is all; but then, what is?"

Noticing how imports of the mono UK LP were far outpacing previous Beatle imports, apparently spurred on by word of mouth reaching beyond the usual niche import fan circle, and realizing some of the more complementary reviews referenced a preference for the mono mix, Dorna reconsidered his initial reaction and reached for the mono reference tape he'd been sent. He immediately recognized it as more powerful: here, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band still sounded and felt like "that rock 'n' band they kinda look like." But he doubted it would be wise to try to sell his stereo-centric nation on a mono release. A solution sprang to mind. Dorna had recently, per their preserved correspondence, sent George Martin a fully functional prototype of Timaeus' world-first digital audio workstation - an example of Atlantis' highly advanced technology - the 64 track capable Pod Click Train. Dorna contacted Martin and asked that he, in secrecy, transfer the Pepper's multitracks to the Pod Click Train for secure shipping back to Atlantis. Intrigued, and appreciative of Dorna entrusting him with such an electronic wonder, Martin happily obliged. Upon receipt of the digitally duped multis, Dorna set about remixing a stereo version that retained the power and attention to detail evinced by the mono mix, while replicating a couple smoother transitions from the original stereo mix. Turns out his initial limited run strategy paved an avenue for an almost immediate reassessment of the album: as soon as the short run first pressing was gone — a large percentage of which had been allocated to prerelease promo copies for reviewers and others in the media — Atlantean shelves were stocked with this remixed version. Album sales soared, and though still seen as a slight creative dip in comparison to the album's predecessor, the record was a hit. It is speculated that decades later, when Martin's son Giles remixed Pepper's into stereo with an eye and an ear on the revered original mono mix, he was aware, from his father, of this successful Atlantean precedent. 

For an especially limited run, while remixing to stereo Dorna also prepared from the album's multitracks the world's first 5.1 mix, to be played back on a new three-needle surround turntable playback system. The multi-needle carrier proved too finicky for consumer use, and with development of their digital audio tech increasing rapidly, Timaeus abandoned this triple-stylus system. From the single extant review, it seems the 5.1 mix was very similar to Dorna's stereo remix, though spread across five channels.

Owing to Atlantis' short-lived ban on surface photography, the famed front cover was replaced by a painting of the same

Side one

1.     Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band †

2.     With a Little Help from My Friends †

3.     Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds †

4.     Getting Better †

5.     Fixing a Hole †

6.     She's Leaving Home †

7.     Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite †

Side two

1.     Within You Without You †

2.     When I'm Sixty-Four †

3.     Lovely Rita †

4.     Good Morning Good Morning †

5.     Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) †

6.     A Day in the Life †

All tracks stereo (or surround), Tivowr Dorna's {lost} remixes. 

† Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band stereo (or 5.1) remix {Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition; 2017} 

next: 11} Magical Mystery Tour (1967)

previous: 09} Revolvers (1966)

Beatlantis: 09} Revolvers (1966)

Revolvers (August, 1966, Timaeus)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

Nobler Than Neptune! More Popular Than Poseidon! Jauntier Than Jupiter! Zeusier Than Zeus!

These slogans were plastered all over adverts in Atlantis' music media, across magazines, in street postings, heard in radio commercials, and greeted with much amusement. 

Atlanteans, who had never been monotheistic and who, in this now predominately young population, weren't even much religious, found the US-based uproar over John Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comments somewhat quaint and, frankly, rather laughable. Tivowr Dorna seized on this reaction and devised a playful promotional scheme around it. To amplify this humorous hijacking of stateside controversy, Dorna used for imagery in this campaign the also-recent, also-USA-notorious "butcher sleeve" photo. What, after all, he reasoned, was more befitting modern pop deities than some plastic sacrifice?

As far as the content of the Revolver album, Dorna — immediately recognizing a true masterpiece as when he had first heard A Hard Day's Night —  left the song selection unaltered, like he had done with that 1964 LP. The only downside of this was it meant the two extraordinary songs from the band's latest UK/US/international single, Paperback Writer and Rain, would remain unissued in Atlantis for some time to come. Dorna simply could not see how adding or subtracting any songs from the actual Revolver album would do anything but harm what he considered a perfect long-player.  Indeed, he would never again alter the tracklist for an album completed by the band and George Martin. 

He did though maintain his practice — deferring to the nation's preference for stereo while partly aiming at providing an appealingly irresistible alternate purchase for fans importing (mostly in mono editions) the UK albums — of utilizing stereo mixes by default but substituting, where applicable, notably different mixes not available on any UK issue. He also commissioned new cover art to distinguish it on the shelves from import copies. For this, Dorna had to go outside the Timaeus art department since the entire team, honoring the earlier sacrifice of their adored typographer, signed up for a stint of front line defense against surface world aggressors. The resulting cover was a minor disappointment for Dorna, slapping together Klaus Voormann's original sketch with a contemporaneous photo of the fab foursome, and, worse, containing a typo in the title: it read Revolvers, plural, rather than Revolver. Without Dorna's approval, the covers went to print with this error, and so he had the labels printed to match.

Despite what Dorna viewed as the somewhat slapdash art seen in place of the classic finished Klaus Voormann cover the rest of the world received, Revolvers was hailed as a brilliant classic and a new high-water mark for the underwater nation's favorite land-based rock 'n' roll band.

Fans and the music press were fine with this cover art. One reviewer, in a convoluted turn of phrase, claimed it represented "the fictionalitious many-ness of the four captured within these fantastical grooves, yet with their widely embraced humanity recognizably peaking through"

 

Side one

1.     Taxman °

2.     Eleanor Rigby ‡

3.     I'm Only Sleeping *

4.     Love You To †

5.     Here, There and Everywhere °

6.     Yellow Submarine ‡

7.     She Said She Said †

Side two

1.     Good Day Sunshine °

2.     And Your Bird Can Sing *

3.     For No One °

4.     Doctor Robert *

5.     I Want to Tell You †

6.     Got to Get You into My Life †

7.     Tomorrow Never Knows †

All tracks stereo. 

° Revolver {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

‡ 1+ {2015} 

† Revolver {made by/fabriqué par Disque Americ Canada} or, if not available, Revolver {The Beatles Box Set; 1988} 

* Yesterday and Today {true stereo releases: all tape formats | various vinyl pressings; not officially available digitally}

next: 10} Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

previous: 08} Tripper Soul (1965)

Beatlantis: 08} Tripper Soul (1965)

Tripper Soul (December, 1965, Timaeus)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

With Help!ed still number one on the record charts and at the revived box office, and Spoil The Party — the budget LP — right behind it at number two, Dorna prepped the Atlantis counterpart to the band's sixth UK studio album in time for the final couple weeks of Winter Solstice holiday gift shopping. This meant despite the Tumults-related delays of past year, the album was in the webbed hands (and trapezoidal ears) of Atlantean fans only a week or so after appearing in Britain. Upon release, it rose immediately to first position and made the Beatles the only recording artists in the history of the Atlantis album charts to hold all three top spots at once. 

While working on the final sequence of this, the third Atlantis Beatles LP within the span of only about month, Dorna received an Oceangram signed by John Lennon and George Harrison praising his efforts on, and on behalf of, the previous LP. "You really help!ed our last album," it read, "thank!s"

Unlike the US concoction — which, by inclusion of a couple songs Capitol had left off of their Help! album and removal of key album tracks, had homogenized the sound compared to the UK issue, deemphasizing the creative strides the band was making — the Atlantis album further highlighted the group's artistic development by subbing out the actual Help! leftover Wait and the throwback closer for the two tracks from the double A-side single released in England same day as the UK LP. Moving Nowhere Man to the ending maintains the original's flow of concluding the album with a negative number— albeit one much more musically and lyrically mature, and at least potentially more hopeful, than the skulking rocker it replaced. While Run For Your Life conveys threatening jealousy, Nowhere Man, for the first time in a Beatles original, eschews the trappings of romance altogether and is presented by a pleading narrator who admits somewhat of a solidarity with the troubled and troubling titular addressee and challenges the listener to recognize the same.

Dorna maintained the progressive yet earthy dichotomy that drives the Rubber Soul crafted by The Beatles and George Martin, merely making the collection all the more astounding by way of a pair of pivotal song substitutions. A further change was necessitated, in light of recent events, by a language quirk. Through a centuries-old perversion of English, the word "rubber" had become slang in Atlantean for "robber," eventually associated specifically with those who collaborate with surface world pirates. Hence a new title was arrived at, a synthesis of the name of one of the two A-sides added to this release and the name of the original album. Tripper Soul proved a fitting descriptor for a set which looked both forward and inward.

With the fast pace of album releases, and having recently lost their expert typographer who'd given her life single-handedly battling, and nullifying, a horde of pirates, the mourning Timaeus art department didn't have time to adapt the iconic trippy title logo; a simpler tactic was taken

 

Side one

1.     Drive My Car †

2.     Norwegian Wood †

3.     You Won't See Me †

4.     Think For Yourself †

5.     The Word °

6.     Michelle [mono] °

7.     What Goes On †

Side two

1.     Day Tripper *

2.     Girl †

3.     I'm Looking Through You °

4.     In My Life †

5.     We Can Work It Out *

6.     If I Needed Someone †

7.     Nowhere Man †

All tracks stereo except as noted. 

† Rubber Soul [original 1965 stereo mix] {made by/fabriqué par Disque Americ Canada} or, if not available, Rubber Soul [original 1965 stereo mix] {The Beatles in Mono box set; 2009}

° Rubber Soul {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

* Yesterday and Today {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

next: 09} Revolvers (1966)

previous: 07} Help!ed (1965)

Beatlantis: 07} Help!ed (1965)

Helped! (December, 1965, Timaeus)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

Fast on the fins of the budget Spoil The Party, and arriving in record stores just in time for the release of the Beatles' second feature film, Help!ed arguably presents an Atlantean improvement over its UK source; Tivowr Dorna did have months of hindsight available when preparing the album, courtesy of the delaying conditions described in previous entry. While side one mirrors the UK edition, the opening and closing of side two bear Dorna's imprint. Perplexed by the UK lineup's inclusion of a couple of oldies covers, unlike the all-original and stellar album issued in conjuction with the fabs' first film, Dorna felt overall Help! might be taken to signal The Beatles were slipping rather than progressing. Hence, first thing, Dorna excised those two covers, transplanting them into the budget LP of the month before. Having already lifted what would become the most famous of originals from the non-soundtrack side, Yesterday, for Spoil The Party in keeping with the wistful and downright no fun mood of the title track of that collection, and having preemptively pulled the Help! leftover Wait from Rubber Soul, perhaps slightly as a winking nod to the delay Atlantis fans had just experienced between Beatles releases, Dorna turned to singles-only sides and one outtake, which he himself edited from source provided by George Martin, to fill the three gaps, and to, in his estimation, improve the album.

The quirky, and from this vantage decades later, proto-New Wave, If You've Got Trouble was so much more lively and forward-looking — and funnier — than the cover of Act Naturally; Yes It Is was clearly a more essential number from the underrepresented Lennon than the Dizzy Miss Lizzy cover, and, unlike Yesterday, actually featured the four fabs; and I'm Down was simply stronger, particularly as a closer, than the throwback Dizzy.

As with A Hard Day's Night, the film distributor had the right to release a soundtrack under the film's title, so Dorna, wanting to keep the name of the band's LP as close as possible, filed it as "Help! edited" which he then abbreviated to "Help!ed" when commissioning the cover art and sending out advance press. He got away with it. Not that the film company would really benefit from taking issue with the similar title. They had a hit movie on their hands, associated with another enormously popular, and critically hailed, LP. Furthermore, the movie studio — and the Atlantean film industry — was well aware that the movie's success was in no small part attributable to Dorna's promotional efforts, including the bundled LP/discount movie ticket plan he'd sold the movie studio on, and a reassuring campaign centered on the film's title, tied in with the LP, aimed at making moviegoers feel safe again. The young record company staffer was widely credited in the undersea entertainment world as helping to get live audiences back into theatre seats after the Tumults of the preceding year had kept them away. 

After the events of the past year, this help was greatly welcome underseas

Side one

1.     Help! †

2.     The Night Before †

3.     You've Got To Hide Your Love Away †

4.     I Need You †

5.     Another Girl †

6.     You're Going To Lose That Girl †

7.     Ticket To Ride †

Side two

1.     If You've Got Trouble ª

2.     It's Only Love †

3.     You Like Me Too Much †

4.     Tell Me What You See †

5.     I've Just Seen A Face †

6.     Yes It Is °

7.     I'm Down °

All tracks stereo. 

† Help! [original 1965 stereo mix] {made by/fabriqué par Disque Americ Canada} or, if not available, Help! [original 1965 stereo mix] {The Beatles in Mono box set; 2009}

ª edit/mix from canceled Sessions compilation {various bootlegs} which seemingly was modeled after Dorna's edit, or, if not available, different mix from Anthology 2 {1996}

° Past Masters, Volume One {The Beatles Box Set; 1988} or, if not available, Past Masters {The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) stereo box set; 2009}

next: 08} Tripper Soul (1965)

previous: 06} Spoil The Party (1965)

Beatlantis: 06} Spoil The Party (1965)

Spoil The Party (November, 1965, Critias)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

In 1965 commenced what the Atlanteans called the Tumults. In late spring, horrible seismic shifts taken at first to be undersea earthquakes rocked Atlantis with frequency, causing mass disruptions, internal displacements, much injury, and most tragically some loss of life. By early summer it was learned these were not natural events — an international gang of surface world pirates, rumored to have been in the employ of certain land-based nations, had moved from the plundering that had been the lot of their ilk for generations — and which Atlantis had long ago grown adept at thwarting — to outright terrorism. These air-breathing terrorists, utilizing a level of technology that immediately led to suspicion they were working on behalf of one or more nation-states, were causing these quakes. Their motive was soon understand as likely driven by a surface world superpower, or one or more of its satellite states going rogue. Such undersea quakes cause tsunamis; the goal of the terrorists wasn't just creating these quakes, it was to generate tsunamis that would visit regular and significant destruction and death upon nearby land-nations and thereby provide some surface nation(s) or other(s) a pretext to attack Atlantis and take over the undersea realm, seizing all its riches and advance technology, claiming to be doing so in a combination of self-defense and the humanitarian interest of suffering Atlanteans.

This couldn't have been more appalling, nor could it have been a flimsier pretext for invasion. No outside nation would have matched, let alone bettered, Atlantis' knowledge of how to address actual undersea earthquakes. Regardless, soon Atlantis learned that sabotage was causing these disasters and, in a momentous demonstration of the young leadership's competency and resolve, halted it decisively. What shook Atlantis even more than the attacks, however, was the revelation that the terrorists had an unknown number of internal collaborators. While Atlantis went to the United Nations demanding investigation into these attacks as possible state-sponsored acts of war, at home they faced potential further threats from an enemy within. 

The world of the Arts was largely on hold throughout these terrible events. All but essential manufacturing and distribution was paused until the final quarter of the year when the threat had been neutralized and the routine of daily life was cautiously and collectively restored.

By the time Tivowr Dorna was able to return to his duties at EMI, The Beatles had already released, in the rest of the world, new non-album material as well as their second feature film Help! and its associated songs, and were nearly finished recording their landmark Rubber Soul LP which would, astoundingly, see UK release same day as its accompanying double A-side single. Along with the earlier non-album I Feel Fine / She's A Woman single and some outtakes he had on hand, this meant that by year's end Dorna would have three LPs worth of Beatles material to issue. As a result, Tivowr abandoned his decision, dating back to A Hard Day's Nigh[t] and only slightly contravened on IV, to adhere to the UK album track selections and decided that some creative tinkering was in order. 

Owing to the quota of foreign films released per season, Help! had always been scheduled to be delayed, not appearing on Atlantean screens until late September. Now, it was delayed until November. Knowing he wanted the album release to coincide with the film's local première, refusing to delay the upcoming Rubber Soul album, and understanding full well he could not ask traumatized Atlanteans to pay for three LPs in the last couple months of the year, Dorna came up with a novel solution: the first release would appear on EMI Atlantis' budget Critias label; the second release, though regularly priced on Timaeus, would, with cooperation of the film distributor, come with a coupon for a discounted pass to the film; and the final release, scheduled for the holiday season, would be a standard issue on Timaeus but would feature a recorded message, on a flexi disc included with the LP, from the band to their Atlantis fans.

EMI execs went for the plan, thinking it a wise move to reward a loyal fanbase and, according to Donna's journal notes, partly spurred by a sense of civic duty and wish to restore some normalcy and joy among the young populace. The film distributor's motivation to offer discounted tickets was, per a later report in the Atlantis Aquatic Herald, less than altruistic; they were concerned that fears of possible resumption of terrorist attacks would keep moviegoers away from theaters, and hypothesized that cheap entry might prove irresistible, and so also agreed to participate in Dorna's plan. Tivowr sensed this calculation on their part and so held out until the film distribution company agreed to a fairly steep reduction in ticket price.

Dorna wrote to George Martin, informing the producer of his plans. Formerly of the UK's Royal Navy and having lived through World War II, Martin, sympathetic to the recent plight of the Atlanteans and already keen on how Dorna had been handling his act's catalog underseas, wholeheartedly endorsed the plan, immediately sending over, unprompted by Dorna, some completed recordings for the forthcoming Rubber Soul, including the Help! holdover Wait and an underwhelming instrumental destined to be another outtake. (Martin easily convinced John, Paul, George, Ringo — and Brian Epstein, despite his usual reluctance for the boys to engage in any activity which could possibly be viewed as political — to record a message such as Tivowr requested; more on that later.) Extant entries from Dorna's journal indicate Martin may have even suggested which Soul recordings might be suited for the discount LP; "M: 'no [lacuna] wait on Wait, 12-Ba[r,] [illegible],'" one line reads. 

As preparations for this record neared finalization, an auditor questioned the financial wisdom of selling an album, at a bargain price, as lengthy as — or actually longer than — any previous Beatles release, suggesting it should have fewer songs instead, and opining negatively on its many sombre selections, saying those would harm sales. In an assertive last minute move, Tivor added two additional numbers — one acoustic demo of a song which'd been a UK chart-topper for Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, and one BBC performance, neither with the sunniest refrain — making this the longest release by the group until a certain lonely hearts club band was introduced. 

The auditor was proven wrong, as the LP was another resounding hit. None at Timaeus ever doubted Dorna's decisions again. 

Named after the track mistakenly left off The Beatles For Sale Atlantis counterpart IV (see that entry for details) with a joking nod to the less than phenomenal stature of some of its selections, and a darkly ironic acknowledgment of the troubled time Atlanteans had faced since the innocent days of the previous release, the band's one budget LP — commonly referred to, in full, as The Beatles Spoil The Party — bolstered Dorna's career, consequently giving Critias renewed life as EMI's low cost imprint. To whatever extent it may have somewhat paled, overall, in light of the albums which came before and those which lie ahead, and, contrary to its title, in contrast to what they'd just endured, Atlanteans found this collection to be a party nonetheless. 

A party nonetheless

Side one

1.     I Feel Fine [w/ whispering intro] °

2.     I Don't Want to Spoil the Party ^

3.     You Know What To Do (demo) [mono] ª 

4.     Bad to Me (demo) [mono] ›

5.     In Spite Of All The Danger (The Quarrymen) [mono] ª

6.     She's a Woman [w/ count-in] ∆

7.     That Means A Lot [mock stereo] ªª

8.     Cry For A Shadow ª 

Side two

1.     Bad Boy *

2.     Act Naturally † 

3.     I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You) [mono]  ˇ

4.     12-Bar Original ªª

5.     Run For Your Life ‡

6.     Wait ‡

7.     Yesterday †

8.     Dizzy Miss Lizzy †

All tracks stereo except as noted. 

° various releases, including From Liverpool box set {1980}; no official digital issue

^ Beatles VI {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014} or Beatles For Sale {The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) stereo box set; 2009}

ª Anthology 1 {1995}

∆ The Beatles {Compact Disc EP. Collection; 1992}

› The Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963 {2013}

ˇ Live at the BBC {2013}

ªª Anthology 2 {1996}

* Beatles VI {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014} or Past Masters {The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) stereo box set; 2009}

† Help! [original 1965 stereo mix] {The Beatles in Mono box set; 2009}

‡ Rubber Soul [original 1965 stereo mix] {The Beatles in Mono box set; 2009}

next: 07} Helped! (1965)

previous: 05} [lx] IV [$ale] (1964)

Beatlantis: 05} [lx] IV [$ale]

[LX] IV [$ale] aka "Beatles '64 (for) Sale"] (December, 1964, Timaeus)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

Beatles IV is, that's right, the Beatles' fifth Atlantean LP. One short-tenured and short-tempered Timaeus exec had become quite bothered that their successful English act's debut was to stay, in perpetuity, on the unaffiliated independent Plato label, and so insisted that somehow the next release create some distance between EMI and Plato. Tivowr Dorna found this ridiculous; he also thought it ridiculous that Capitol was about to release the US version of the fourth UK album and name it Beatles '65 in 1964; he generally found the Capitol reworking of the Beatles albums fairly tasteless and not at all driven by artistic considerations; and finally he was appreciative of the resigned cynicism of the title Beatles For Sale. All these factors played into his titling this album "IV" ("Beatles IV" on the label) so as to placate the exec— Dorna explained this title was explicitly stating that the new release was only the fourth real (ie, Timaeus) album; ironically Capitol soon employed the same tactic, disregarding the Beatles US debut on Vee-Jay Records when titling Beatles VI. But he had the title treatment on front surrounded by the Roman numeral LX on one side, and on the other side a US dollar sign starting off the spelling of the word "sale," effectively making the title Beatles '64 (for) Sale. A bit heady and convoluted and purely instigated by business pressure, the title proved confusing for some but did nothing to harm sales, which were spectacular. To drive home the point that this record was packaged with some humor, Dorna went with the Robert Whitaker photo of the fabs with umbrellas, a funny image to any Atlanteans as rain in their undersea realm simply didn't occur. It was seasonably suitable though, reflecting an English winter in time for the release set to coincide with Atlantis' winter holiday shopping season.

Though disapproving of what he saw as Capitol's mishandling of Beatles material in the States, he was well aware that he too had been shaping releases to the peculiarities of his target market— even if he was certain he was doing so to much greater artistic effect and with far more sensitivity, and even with George Martin's blessing. He'd helped establish the quartet in the Atlantean market rather successfully, first under the requirement that he alter the debut album for independent release, and then configuring the next couple as consequence of needing to include the band's singles on the LPs for Atlantean listeners. But with his astonishment at the stellar A Hard Day's Nigh[t] and with reflection upon what he saw as Capitol's crassly commercial packaging of the Beatles in the US, Dorna resolved to start issuing the Beatles' album as they were back in the UK, and find another solution to delivering the single tracks. However, due to a clerical misunderstanding conveyed by his new assistant, Dorna found himself switching out a track from the UK LP with an alternate which would not be released in the rest of the world for decades.

Recently hired Estoin Uriphitt, who would prove invaluable to Dorna at Timaeus, was tasked with reviewing the newly arrived tapes. The title for the twelfth track, near end of tape box where room had gotten tight, had been truncated, by whoever wrote down the song names back in England, to simply "Don't Want To" and to its right was a scribble that Uriphitt mistook for the word "use" (to this day no one knows what it really said). Uriphitt therefore relayed to Dorna that the twelfth track was not to be used! Only after this album had hit store shelves did Dorna realize Uriphitt's error regarding I Don't Want To Spoil The Party. In the meantime, he had resequenced the album to keep it at a total of 14 tracks while assigning as its closer the outtake which Martin had sent along.

The Beatles, for sale, where those umbrellas won't do any good

Side one

1.     No Reply °

2.     Baby's in Black °

3.     Leave My Kitten Alone [mock stereo] ª

4.     I'll Follow the Sun °

5.     Mr. Moonlight °

6.     Rock and Roll Music °

7.     Kansas City ^

Side two

1.     Eight Days a Week ^

2.     Words of Love ^

3.     Honey Don't °

4.     Every Little Thing ^

5.     I'm a Loser °

6.     What You're Doing ^

7.     Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby °

All tracks stereo except as noted. 

° Beatles '65 {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014} or Beatles For Sale {The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) stereo box set; 2009}

ª Anthology 1 {1995}

^ Beatles VI {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014} or Beatles For Sale {The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) stereo box set; 2009}

next: 06} Spoil The Party (1965)

previous: 04} A Hard Day's Nigh (1964)

Beatlantis: 04} A Hard Day's Nigh

 A Hard Day's Nigh (September, 1964, Timaeus)

< file under Beatles In Atlantis >

~ an approximation of this album, using latest remasters, can be heard here on Apple Music ~

Owing to another circumstance of Atlantean protectionism, the frequency of foreign film releases was limited in the undersea nation. The studio with rights to The Beatles' impending big screen debut faced an eager viewing public and the possibility of seeing the film's release date pushed back a year. (In fact, it was only held back from summer to fall.)

Acknowledging this potential delay, and wanting to assure the fanbase that the movie would make it into Atlantis theaters, the distributor started promoting the upcoming feature with the slight wordplay "A Hard Day's Nigh." By the time the movie arrived in front of audiences and the associated LP was ready to ship, the public had grown so used to the promotional phrase that our friend Tivowr Dorna felt it best to title the album to match. Not that he had much choice — the very same film distributor had the rights to release the movie's instrumental score, and released that score, just like the film, under the title A Hard Day's Night, leaving Dorna obliged to issue the actual Beatles album under a different name. He cheekily used the local film company's well-worn slogan to great advantage, playing on the familiarity they'd built through their promo campaign.

That's about all he changed compared to the UK release, other than his now standard practice of selecting less common mixes, and it's the most noticeable change beyond the color scheme of the cover. He recognized this as the band's first masterpiece, the first (and only) album comprised solely of Lennon/McCartney originals (emphasis on Lennon), so he set upon releasing it effectively unadulterated to the Atlantean public. His faith that even the so-called serious music press of Atlantis would have to take notice of such a strong selection of songs was rewarded. Critical praise previously unheard of for a pop combo was heaped upon this long player, particularly directed at the songwriting duo.

It wasn't just critics who were captivated; like the accompanying film, the disc was an enormous popular hit as well. The Beatles were bigger than ever down at the depths of the sea. The album stayed on the charts well into the spring and the film drew theater crowds through the winter holidays. For Atlanteans, watching The Beatles on the big screen was the closest they'd yet gotten — and, it turned out, would ever get — to seeing the band live and in person. 

Dorna rightfully anticipated this release would scale new heights

Side one

1.     A Hard Day's Night °

2.     I Should Have Known Better ‡

3.     If I Fell †

4.     I'm Happy Just to Dance with You †

5.     And I Love Her [mono] ^

6.     Tell Me Why †

7.     Can't Buy Me Love ‡

Side two

1.     Any Time at All [mono] π

2.     I'll Cry Instead [mono] †

3.     Things We Said Today †

4.     When I Get Home [mono] π

5.     You Can't Do That [mono] ∞

6.     I'll Be Back [mono] ª

All tracks stereo except as noted. 

° 1+ {2015}

‡ A Hard Day's Night {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014} or A Hard Day's Night {The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings) stereo box set; 2009}

† Something New {The Capitol Albums, Volume 1; 2006}

^ A Hard Day's Night {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

π Something New {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

∞ The Beatles' Second Album {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

ª Beatles '65 {The U.S. Albums box set; 2014}

next: 05} Beatles lx IV $ale (1964)

previous: 03} The Beatles' Third Album (1964)