Historical background

The first four Beatles vinyl albums differ based on their location of release. Those released in the U.S. were of lower sound quality and had some of their songs omitted. Additionally, even though the first four Beatles albums were originally released as both monaural and stereo recordings in the United Kingdom, stereo phonographs were quite rare in the UK at the time. Naturally, then, George Martin and The Beatles only spent a lot of time on the mono mixes. Many early songs were later remastered by Capitol Records for the US as artificial stereo with bass on one side and treble on the other side, with lots of added echo, to the disgust of many fans today. The Capitol release of Rubber Soul, however, has gained a lot of fans in the years since the release of the British albums on CD. The additions of "I've Just Seen a Face" and "It's Only Love" from "Help!" and the omission of "Drive my Car," "Nowhere Man," "What Goes On," and "If I Needed Someone" gives the album a different, folky flavour.

When it came time to release The Beatles' catalogue on CD, the decision was made to use the original British versions of the albums, since those were the "way The Beatles originally intended them to be". The initial releases of the first four CDs were of the original mono mixes. In 2004, Capitol Records released the first four American albums on CD as a box set and they represent the current official stereo versions. No official stereo mix of the first four British albums had been released on compact disc, but there were plenty of "official looking" bootleg CDs in circulation that include the US stereo mixes and even bear the "Apple" logo. Martin and The Beatles started to spend more time on stereo mixes by 1965. However, many fans believe that the mono versions of Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the so-called White Album are superior to the stereo mixes.

Many Beatles enthusiasts feel that the current EMI CD releases of the albums do not do them justice. The music was mastered to be played on vinyl, the cutting and playback of which notoriously adds warmth to the recording, and the CDs, produced during the early days of the format, do not compensate for the different medium. Given how important the sound quality of these albums was not only to The Beatles and George Martin, but also from a historical point of view, many purists still only listen to The Beatles albums on vinyl.