# Beatles Experts: How Many Studio Albums? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 8, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156 "2018-01-08T19:59:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/1 "2018-01-08T19:59:52Z")
I always was under the impression the Beatles only had 13 studio albums, and I was sure I had them all. I also have an obscure album (with Tony Sheridan) before they were fab. But, [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_discography#Studio_albums) counts 23 studio albums including more obscure titles once they were famous. And, many (if not all) of these did not rank in the charts! What’s up with that? This band was on fire; yet, it had obscure, uncharted albums? Why the paradox? So, you can see I am hoping a Beatles exper can come along and clarify the bigger picture for me. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/2 "2018-01-08T20:15:26Z")
That’s counting the US and the UK albums. Capitol, for some unknown-to-me reason, decided to release the Beatles’ work in different order, split up between different albums. I think there was a tradition in England to release a couple of singles, then an album that didn’t contain the singles. Often, the singles didn’t appear on any album. Americans were more prone to hear a song on the radio and say “Wow, I love this song! I’ll buy their new album and get the song and a dozen others!” Hoping someone here knows more about this than I do… ETA: I see Amazon has [“The US Albums” as a box set](https://www.amazon.com/U-S-Albums-Beatles/dp/B00H8XF9I0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1515442575&sr=8-1&keywords=beatles+american+albums)… ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/3 "2018-01-08T21:24:11Z")
That’s it: UK music fans didn’t want to buy the same song in different formats (they had less money to spend). US fans didn’t care. Albums, singles, and EPs (four songs, which never caught on in the US) had different songs on them. Further, UK albums generally had 14 songs at the time; US albums had 12. So Capitol cut out two songs from each album and added singles to put out more albums (they also included German language versions of two songs). You also had things like Vee-Jay’s Beatles album and an album released in Canada only adding to the tally. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/4 "2018-01-09T01:28:43Z")
That Wikipedia article is awful, since it tries to combine UK, USA, and Canada releases. It’s very complicated but a lot of the early Beatles music was distributed by various small labels in the USA and they constantly rereleased the Beatles material they had access to during the heights of Beatlemania in the USA. The UK catalog is considered the canon and it basically aligned with the USA releases from Sgt. Pepper onward, except for Magical Mystery Tour and the Hey Jude album. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/5 "2018-01-09T02:01:37Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > That Wikipedia article is awful, since it tries to combine UK, USA, and Canada releases. It’s very complicated but a lot of the early Beatles music was distributed by various small labels in the USA and they constantly rereleased the Beatles material they had access to during the heights of Beatlemania in the USA. > > The UK catalog is considered the canon and it basically aligned with the USA releases from Sgt. Pepper onward, except for Magical Mystery Tour and the Hey Jude album. From Sgt. Pepper onward? In other words, it aligned with exactly three albums: Sgt. Pepper’s, the White Album, and Abbey Road. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/6 "2018-01-09T02:05:40Z")
Do the Christmas releases count? ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/7 "2018-01-09T02:11:35Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > From Sgt. Pepper onward? In other words, it aligned with exactly three albums: Sgt. Pepper’s, the White Album, and Abbey Road. 😉 Yellow Submarine and Let it Be as well. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/8 "2018-01-09T02:25:06Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > Yellow Submarine and Let it Be as well. Ah yes. But not the Hey Jude album, which as American only. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/9 "2018-01-09T02:31:01Z")
They actually were aligned after the _Yesterday . . . and Today_ fiasco, which means both _Rubber Soul_ and _Revolver_ were the same on both sides of the pond. _Hey Jude_ was a compilation of singles and B-sides. Beatles singles were usually not on Beatles albums in the UK. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/10 "2018-01-09T02:39:08Z")
Nope, Rubber Soul and Revolver were different albums in the UK and the USA. > **[Rubber Soul](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_Soul)** > > Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work It Out". The original North American release, issued by Capitol Records, contains ten of the fourteen songs and two tracks withheld from the band's Help! album. Rubber Soul was met with a highly favourable critical response and topped sales charts in Britain... …In the United States, Capitol Records removed four tracks from the British LP’s running order and set them aside for the Beatles’ next North American album, Yesterday and Today. The four songs – “Drive My Car”, “Nowhere Man”, “What Goes On” and “If I Needed Someone” – were replaced with two tracks that had appeared on the UK Help! album, but not its US counterpart: “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and “It’s Only Love”.[38] The total time was 28:55, nearly seven minutes shorter than the British version… > **[Revolver (Beatles album)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolver_(Beatles_album))** > > Revolver is the seventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 5 August 1966, accompanied by the double A-side single "Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine". The album was the Beatles' final recording project before their retirement as live performers and marked the group's most overt use of studio technology to date, building on the advances of their late 1965 release Rubber Soul. It has since become regarded as one of the greatest and most innovative albums in t... …Revolver was released on 5 August 1966 in the United Kingdom and on 8 August in the United States.[278][279] The eleven-song North American LP release was the band’s tenth album on Capitol Records and twelfth US album in total.[280] Due to the exclusion of the three Lennon tracks, there were only two songs on the Capitol release for which he was the principal writer, compared with three by Harrison and the rest by McCartney… ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/11 "2018-01-09T03:24:52Z")
This essay doesn’t really answer the OP’s question, but I think it may be of interest to fans: [148 Beatles’ Albums Ranked](http://www.pannelldiscussions.net/2018/01/beatles-albums-ranked/) (Electronic Sound is #145? No way! It should be #139 at least! :D) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/12 "2018-01-09T04:05:52Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > This essay doesn’t really answer the OP’s question, but I think it may be of interest to fans: [148 Beatles’ Albums Ranked](http://www.pannelldiscussions.net/2018/01/beatles-albums-ranked/) Interesting—thanks for the link. Though, inevitably, I don’t agree with all of his rankings, and I had at least one or two “Seriously, dude?” moments. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 8:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/13 "2018-01-09T08:11:44Z")
Does all of this mean that people on one side of the Atlantic weren’t necessarily hearing (or getting exposed to) the same songs as people on the other side? And what about the rest of the world? What did they get? ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/14 "2018-01-09T18:55:00Z")
Albums that get released aren’t always with the artists good wishes or permission even. There are always releases that are non canonical. Tony Sheridan tracks aren’t an LP. It’s something that polydor released to sell some wax. The US and UK dissonance was about business and not art. The fabs protested it even, with the butcher stuff. Yellow Submarine has a lot of non beatles music on it, as does the US Help. They don’t get credit as fully fledged “Beatle LPs.” ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/15 "2018-01-09T19:14:32Z")
I just finished “All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release”. > **[All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release - Kindle edition by...](https://www.amazon.com/All-Songs-Behind-Beatles-Release-ebook/dp/B00I0HZIWU)** > > All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release - Kindle edition by Margotin, Philippe, Guesdon, Jean-Michel, Smith, Patti. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and... It gives some of the reasons a particular song is rejected or included. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/16 "2018-01-09T21:49:39Z")
The wiki page is problematic. It’s listing the tony sheridan tapes LP as the first Beatles LP, being released in Jan 1962. That’s probably the release date of the My Bonnie single. The LP was released during beatlemania though, for obvious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/17 "2018-01-09T21:53:44Z")
I like Alan Pollack’s approach: [the _twelve_ **recording projects** of the Beatles.](http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-beatles_projects.shtml) ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/18 "2018-01-09T22:01:57Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > Does all of this mean that people on one side of the Atlantic weren’t necessarily hearing (or getting exposed to) the same songs as people on the other side? Right. For example, I grew up with _Beatles '65_, not _Beatles for Sale_, so I never heard the song “What You’re Doing” until a few years ago. Another example: while \*Revolver \*was my favorite LP starting in kindergarten, I never heard “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” nor “Dr. Robert” until college – they’re just on the UK version. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/19 "2018-01-09T22:10:29Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Right. For example, I grew up with _Beatles '65_, not _Beatles for Sale_, so I never heard the song “What You’re Doing” until a few years ago. In the US, it was on [Beatles VI](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatles_VI). > [@](#): > > Another example: while \*Revolver \*was my favorite LP starting in kindergarten, I never heard “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “I’m Only Sleeping,” nor “Dr. Robert” until college – they’re just on the UK version. And those were all on [Yesterday and Today](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesterday_and_Today) in the US. Those of us who grew up with the U.S. albums on Capitol got the opportunity to hear almost all of the Beatles’ songs, just not necessarily on the same albums. There are only a very few Beatles songs, including “I’m Down” and “The Inner Light,” that I never got to hear (and maybe never even knew existed) until they got around to releasing the Beatles on CD, including the two “Past Masters” discs that collected all the songs that were never on any of the British LPs. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2018, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156/20 "2018-01-09T23:25:08Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I like Alan Pollack’s approach: [the _twelve_ **recording projects** of the Beatles.](http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/awp-beatles_projects.shtml) Interesting. These must be the dates of completion as opposed to the dates they started working on them. I know many songs took many weeks or months (or years) to come to fruition. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/beatles-experts-how-many-studio-albums/806156.md?page=2)