The Beatles: Alpha Omega

The Beatles: Alpha Omega 4 disc boxed set

In January 1973, two pirated Beatles box sets appeared in the United States, Alpha Omega Volumes I & II: The Story Of The Beatles.

These four-LP collections were advertised on TV and radio stations in the Midwest and were sold by mail order. Instead of taking legal action, Capitol Records countered by putting out two official Beatles anthologies, The Beatles 1962-1966 (the red album) and The Beatles 1967-1970 (the blue album).

However, in March, a $15 million lawsuit was filed by manager Allen Klein on behalf of George Harrison, along with Capitol and Apple Records, against the manufacturers and distributors of the pirate package, and against American Broadcasting Companies, Inc., who had been advertising it.

Unlike the official release, the Alpha Omega sets was not ordered chronologically but somewhat alphabeticaly, and with a few solo songs thrown in to boot.

The boxed set lying face down

Alpha Omega Volume I:

Side 1:

1. Act Naturally
2. All I’ve Got To Do
3. All My Loving
4. And I Love Her
5. Baby’s In Black
6. Yesterday
7. Ballad Of John And Yoko
8. Bangladesh

Side 2:

1. Can’t Buy Me Love
2. Come Together
3. Day Tripper
4. Do You Want To Know A Secret
5. Eight Days A Week
6. Eleanor Rigby
7. Uncle Albert

Side 3

1. I Should Have Known Better
2. It Won’t Be Long
3. I Want To Hold Your Hand
4. Lady Madonna
5. Ticket To Ride
6. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
7. Michelle
8. Mr. Moonlight

Side 4:

1. I Feel Fine
2. If I Fell
3. I’ll Be Back
4. Hey Jude
5. I’m A Loser
6. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
7. I Saw Her Standing There

Alpha Omega Volume II:

Side 1:

1. Nowhere Man
2. Obladi Oblada
3. Paperback Writer
4. Penny Lane
5. Help!
6. Roll Over Beethoven
7. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band

Side 2:

1. Get Back
2. Hello Goodbye
3. Revolution #1
4. Here Comes The Sun
5. I’ll Follow The Sun
6. Imagine
7. Honey Don’t

Side 3:

1. We Can Work It Out
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Yellow Submarine
4. Baby You’re A Rich Man
5. You Can’t Do That
6. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
7. Maybe I’m Amazed
8. A Hard Day’s Night

Side 4:

1. She Loves You
2. Something
3. Strawberry Fields Forever
4. Tell Me Why
5. The Long And Winding Road
6. Let It Be
7. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby

Feel free to try it out as a playlist! Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band fades out just before the “Billy Shears” introduction on With A Little Help From My Friends, which was not included. All tracks were taken from American stereo LPs, so no single versions appear, and those not yet in true stereo in the U.S. were issued in Duophonic.

Someone also pressed up copies of this release on CDs, taken from vinyl drops of the LPs.

You can find out more about this release (which was also out on 8-track) on the About The Beatles site. And check out a YouTube video.