Yellow Submarine (album)

For the 1999 release, see Yellow Submarine Songtrack.
Yellow Submarine
Soundtrack by The Beatles and George Martin
Released 13 January 1969
Recorded 12 May 1967 – 11 February 1968 (The Beatles) & 22–23 October 1968 (George Martin),
EMI and De Lane Lea studios, London
Genre Rock, pop, orchestral
Length 40:12
Label Apple
Producer George Martin
Professional reviews
The Beatles chronology
The Beatles
(1968)		 Yellow Submarine
(1969)		 Abbey Road
(1969)
Music sample
"Pepperland"

Yellow Submarine is the tenth album by The Beatles in the United Kingdom, released on Apple Records. It was issued as the soundtrack to the film of the same name, which premiered in Great Britain seven months prior to the album's release.

Contents

Content

Only one side of the album contains songs performed by the Beatles; of the six, four were previously unissued. "Yellow Submarine" had been simultaneously issued in 1966 as a single and on the album Revolver, and "All You Need Is Love" had been issued as a single in the summer of 1967. The second side features the symphonic film score composed by George Martin, in versions recorded specifically for the album.

"All You Need Is Love" appeared in either mono or rechanneled stereo, ('fake stereo') on the US LP Magical Mystery Tour. It debuted in a true stereo mix on LP for this album. American cassette and 8-track tape versions featured "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" as an extra song on side two.

History

Only four new Beatles songs appeared on the album, and two were recorded specifically for the film, "All Together Now"[1] and "Hey Bulldog".[2] "Only a Northern Song" had been recorded during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper, but was set aside from the final running order.[3] "It's All Too Much," like similar numbers recorded immediately following the Sgt. Pepper sessions, was not intended for a specific project.[4] "Hey Bulldog", recorded on 11 February 1968, evolved from an initial intent to shoot a promotional film for the "Lady Madonna" single.[5]

"Baby, You're a Rich Man" was also originally intended for the film soundtrack, but was released as the B-side to "All You Need is Love" instead and was not included in the Yellow Submarine album.[6]

Reception

In contrast to how the film was received, Yellow Submarine is usually considered The Beatles' weakest release. It was one of the few Beatles releases not to top the charts on either side of the Atlantic. Its highest position was #2 in the US, kept from the top by their own The Beatles, which had been released two months before. The Beatles themselves did not consider it a proper studio album, since they had little involvement in the project, and the four previously unreleased tracks on it were taken hodge-podge fashion from various sessions in 1967 and early 1968.

Yellow Submarine EP

After mixed response to the album upon its release, The Beatles considered releasing Yellow Submarine as a five-track mono EP, without the film score but including the then-unreleased "Across the Universe" as a bonus track. The EP was mastered but never issued.[7] The Beatles had previously released popular songs from their LPs as EPs in the British market.

The songs were later released on Mono Masters in 2009.

1969 acetate

Side 1
  1. "Only A Northern Song"
  2. "Hey Bulldog"
  3. "Across The Universe"
Side 2
  1. "All Together Now"
  2. "It's All Too Much"

UK and US version differences

Although the essential artwork on the album covers issued in the United States and Great Britain are similar, there are a few subtle differences on the sleeves. The front of the British jacket contains the words "NOTHING IS REAL" in green print just below the album's title. This subtitle had been omitted from the American album cover.

On the back of the cover, the British album contained a review of the Beatles' "White Album" written for The Observer by Tony Palmer. The review was introduced by a few liner notes by Apple press officer Derek Taylor. The American cover contained a fictitious illustrated biography of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in which the ensemble's battle with the Blue Meanies was compared to three other epic struggles in the history of the English-speaking world: Beowulf's struggle to save the Heorot mead hall, King John's signing of the Magna Carta and Thomas Jefferson's writing of the Declaration of Independence.

The two album covers (and record labels) also differ in the fact that the British version recognises seven tracks from the film's score on side two, while the American version only recognises six tracks, treating the songs "Sea of Time" and "Sea of Holes" as a single track, titled "Medley: Sea of Time & Sea of Holes".

One final difference is that the American album was only released in stereo, while the British album was available in both stereo and mono, though the mono version is simply a fold-down of the stereo version and not a true mono mix. The mono LP does not include the true mono mix of "Only A Northern Song" and instead includes a fold-down of the fake stereo version that appeared on the stereo LP. A true stereo mix of the song was released in 1999 on the Yellow Submarine Songtrack and a true mono mix appears on the 2009 remaster of the original album.

Re-issues for compact disc

The first compact disc release, remastered by George Martin, appeared on 25 August 1987. Like all the Beatles compact disc reissues, it is consistent with the British version of the LP. The running order is the same with "Sea of Time" and "Sea of Holes" as separate tracks, the "Nothing Is Real" subtitle remains intact and the review of the White Album with Taylor's introduction is included inside the CD insert.

The album appeared in a totally different version on 13 September 1999, coinciding with the remastered re-release of the film. Called the Yellow Submarine Songtrack, it dispenses with the George Martin orchestrations, and includes the six Beatles songs from the original album, along with an additional nine songs, all completely remixed for this disc.

It was reissued a decade later for a third time, along with the entire catalogue, on 9 September 2009. Done at 24-bit/192 kHz resolution, this duplicated the original album, and included both sets of sleeve notes. "Only A Northern Song" appears in its mono mix in this version, instead of the 'fake stereo' mix on the original. The mono mixes of the four songs that were intended for the unreleased EP (along with "Across the Universe") were released for the first time on the Mono Masters collection as part of the box set The Beatles in Mono.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Lennon/McCartney, except where noted. 

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1. "Yellow Submarine" (originally from Revolver)   Starr 2:40
2. "Only a Northern Song" (mono) George Harrison Harrison 3:24
3. "All Together Now"     McCartney with Lennon 2:11
4. "Hey Bulldog"     Lennon 3:11
5. "It's All Too Much"   Harrison Harrison 6:25
6. "All You Need Is Love" (originally a 1967 single)   Lennon 3:51

All songs written and composed by George Martin, except where noted. 

Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Lead vocals Length
1. "Pepperland"     n/a 2:21
2. "Sea of Time"     n/a 3:00
3. "Sea of Holes"     n/a 2:17
4. "Sea of Monsters"     n/a 3:37
5. "March of the Meanies"     n/a 2:22
6. "Pepperland Laid Waste"     n/a 2:19
7. "Yellow Submarine in Pepperland"   Lennon/McCartney, arranged by Martin n/a 2:13
Total length:
 40:12

Notes

  1. ↑ Lewisohn 1988, p. 112.
  2. ↑ Lewisohn 1988, p. 134.
  3. ↑ MacDonald 1994, p. 188.
  4. ↑ MacDonald 1994, p. 202.
  5. ↑ MacDonald 1994, p. 222.
  6. ↑ Lewisohn 1996.
  7. ↑ Lewisohn 1988, p. 164.

References

External links