Love Me Do Anniversary single
Thirsting for some fresh Beatles vinyl? Take a look at this one, then:
The Beatles Love Me Do Limited Edition 50th Anniversary 7 Inch
October 4th 1962 saw a review in trade magazine Record Retailer of a debut single from a new band that was coming out the next day. It read: “A new group from the Liverpool area. Their first record but they already have a strong following and this seems to be the strongest outsider of the week.”
Love Me Do by The Beatles was released on 5th October 1962 and that band of outsiders were off on their journey that would eventually lead them to conquer the world. Within a week the single entered the UK chart at 49 and it was eventually to go as high as 17 while spending 18 weeks on the chart.
To celebrate this important date in the history of British rock, it looks like we’re in for a re-release “replica” of the original single in the original colourful house Parlophone sleeve. The audio is taken from the mono remaster of 2009, and it’s a limited edition which will not be re-manufactured.
Tracks
– Side 1
Love Me Do (Original Single Version) (2009 – Remaster)
– Side 2
P.S. I Love You (2009 – Remaster)
Release date will of course be October 5th, 2012.
Found over at What Records and elsewhere.
From today 09/30/2012 can be pre-order the single on Amazon and Ebay. I preordené mine, not to stay outside and avoid price speculation that there may be high after the release.
News just in today (Wednesday 3rd October):
"EMI have recalled all the stock because the version on the single is incorrect and under strict instructions from Apple the stock is to be destroyed.
The single version as you probably know featured Ringo, and the album version I believe featured Andy White with Ringo on Tambourine. It's the album version on the 7 inch !!!!
At the moment EMI have no plans to make the correct version."
This information came from the retailer from which I bought the single; apparently this retailer had already shipped their pre-orders, so there will be a goodly number of lucky owners of this rarity when the post arrives tomorrow…
EMI, eh? You could just see that one coming!
bri286, I made a blog post from your comment. Thanks! Could you play your copy and let us know if it was really the wrong version or if Apple had their Love Me Do's mixed up?
I certainly will! It looks as if EMI have simply repeated what they did with the '76 (black label) and '83 (red label) singles reissue series, using the – admittedly more polished – album version of "Love Me Do" both times in place of the original single recording.
At the time, the story went that the original master had been destroyed in the '60s, so for the '83 reissue a new master was cut from a mint copy of the single – but this was only used on the 12" version, alongide the album version, presumably because The Suits at EMI deemed the original take to be inferior (despite its greater historical significance).
Given EMI's (or its engineers') recent random approach to re-releases – such as the use of the '87 remixes of "Help" and "Rubber Soul", rather than the original, for the remastered stereo albums – we probably shouldn't be surprised by this latest episode. How many times can EMI mess with the Beatles' legacy?
I'll let you know what I find out when the single arrives…
I ordered one copy from two different stores. Hopefully one will come through.
My two copies of the Andy White version arrived (at last) today – the disc labels are actually slightly disappointing, being rather duller than the original release. Still, nice to have.
Now, where did I put my Ebay log-in details?!?