The corrected cartoon
Original 2014 cartoon
Remember this cartoon? It has been around since 2014. That final panel was recently updated to say 2018.This cartoon has been floating around on social media since 2014 at least, and is a satirical statement on the vinyl revival, at the same time telling the story of the development of mainstream audio carriers. The artist has chosen the iconic “Meet The Beatles” to illustrate his point. Still, as a Beatles fan I have always tried to make corrections whenever false information has been published. I have resisted commenting on this cartoon for years, but I finally gave in.
Cartoon with comments
The real publication years for the various editions of the “Meet The Beatles” album wouldn’t have illustrated the development of mainstream audio carriers well enough.
Basically because when The Beatles’ official CDs were going on release back in 1987, the British editions were the only ones deemed good enough, so the US “Meet The Beatles” wasn’t released until 2006 – when the record company felt a need to further milk the market without offering anything really new.
This US album was never released as mp3-files in an official capacity, as the streaming files and other digital releases have been concentrating on the British albums.
There was no vinyl edition of “Meet The Beatles” in 2014, and the 75th anniversary edition listed in 2016 by Capitol Records as a future release hasn’t materialised yet, so the most recent vinyl edition is from 1988.
Finally, I wanted to add reel-to-reel tapes to the collection. Please note, there were no mini-disc, digital compact cassette or DAT tapes of “Meet The Beatles”, but then again those formats never took off.
Final edition
Actually, when the U.S. Albums box set was released in 2014, you could download "Meet the Beatles" individually on iTunes for a limited time. As of 2018, you can't download it individually anymore but you can buy it apart of the U.S. Albums digital box set on iTunes.
I'm a little confused by 1967’s "multitrack tape." I assume they meant "8-track tape."
Here's a video clip that uses different audio formats as a theme running through it. youtu.be/f3q1EjMIry0
The 2014 version of Meet The Beatles is not the same as we had in 1964. (aka – the Dave Dexter version) Not really complaining because, while an awesome selection of songs, the Dexter master is fairly appalling.