Something New (Beatles album)

Something New is an album by English rock band the Beatles, released in 1964 for the North American market only.

Something New
Studio album by the Beatles
Released	20 July 1964 (1964-07-20)
Recorded	29 January – 4 June 1964
Studio	EMI, London
Genre	Rock and roll[1]
Length	24:47 (mono) 24:27 (stereo)
Label	Capitol
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles North American chronology
A Hard Day's Night (1964) Something New (1964) Hear the Beatles Tell All (1964)
Singles from Something New
"And I Love Her" / "If I Fell" Released: 20 July 1964 "I'll Cry Instead" / "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" Released: 20 July 1964 "Matchbox" / "Slow Down" Released: 24 August 1964

The album is the third Capitol LP release and fifth American album release overall by the band, following the United Artists release of A Hard Day's Night. The album includes eight songs from the original British release of A Hard Day's Night, as well as the tracks "Slow Down" and "Matchbox" from the Long Tall Sally EP and the German-language version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The mono version also featured the extended single mix of "I'll Cry Instead", while stereo editions included a shorter edit from the UK release of A Hard Day's Night.

Release history

Originally scheduled for 1 August 1964,^[2] the album was rush-released on 20 July 1964,^[3] ten days after the British release of A Hard Day's Night. It was released in both mono and stereo versions. All mono mixes of the five songs duplicated from the United Artists soundtrack album are identical on both releases. Something New was the only early Capitol Beatles album to contain all tracks in true stereo. The mono release contains alternative versions of "Any Time At All" (a different mix during the instrumental bridge), "I'll Cry Instead" (with the "missing" third verse), "When I Get Home" (the line "Till I walk out that door again" during the song's bridge has a different vocal passage from the UK mono mix), "If I Fell" (Lennon's non-double-tracked introductory vocal), and "And I Love Her" (McCartney's non-double-tracked vocal).

This album was also released on the Parlophone label for sale only on American Armed Forces bases in Europe. These copies have great collector value. The album was also issued in Germany on the Odeon label. The German stereo version contains a reprocessed stereo version of "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" and an extended version of "And I Love Her", repeating the closing riff six times instead of four. This mix was later released on the US version of Rarities.^[4]

In 2004, Something New was released for the first time on CD as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set (catalogue number CDP 7243 8 66876 2 3) containing the US mixes for both mono and stereo. In 2014, the album was released on CD again, both individually, and included in the boxed set The U.S. Albums, which contained the album's running order but with UK mixes as remastered in 2009.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[5]
The Rolling Stone Record Guide	[6]

The album spent nine weeks at No. 2 on the Billboard Top LPs chart in 1964, behind the United Artists A Hard Day's Night album.^[7]

Something New was included in Robert Christgau's "Basic Record Library" of 1950s and 1960s recordings, published in Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies (1981).^[8]

Track listing

All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Lennon–McCartney), except where noted.

Side one

No.	Title	Written by	Length
1.	"I'll Cry Instead"		2:09
2.	"Things We Said Today"		2:39
3.	"Any Time at All"		2:13
4.	"When I Get Home"		2:18
5.	"Slow Down"	Larry Williams	2:55
6.	"Matchbox"	Carl Perkins	1:58
Total length:			14:03

Side two

No.	Title	Written by	Length
1.	"Tell Me Why"		2:10
2.	"And I Love Her"		2:32
3.	"I'm Happy Just to Dance with You"		1:58
4.	"If I Fell"		2:22
5.	"Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand"	Lennon–McCartney/Jean Nicolas/Heinz Hellmer	2:19
Total length:			11:21

Note: "I'll Cry Instead" mono version 2:09, stereo version 1:49.

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald:^[9]

The Beatles

• John Lennon – lead, harmony and backing vocals; electric and acoustic rhythm guitar, handclaps; piano ("Things We Said Today")
• Paul McCartney – lead, harmony and backing vocals; bass guitar, handclaps; piano ("Any Time At All")
• George Harrison – harmony and backing vocals; electric and acoustic lead guitar; lead vocals ("I'm Happy Just to Dance With You"); handclaps
• Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps; lead vocals ("Matchbox"); tambourine ("I'll Cry Instead"); bongos and claves ("And I Love Her"); African drum ("I'm Happy Just to Dance With You")

Additional musicians and production

• George Martin – production; piano ("Matchbox" and "Slow Down")
• Norman Smith – engineering

Charts and certifications

In the U.S., the album sold 1,049,243 copies by 31 December 1964 and 1,443,735 copies by the end of the decade.^[10]

Chart performance Chart (1964–65) Peak position US Billboard Top LPs[11][12] 2 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[13] 38

Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales Canada (Music Canada)[14] Gold 50,000^ United States (RIAA)[15] 2× Platinum 2,000,000^ ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

• Outline of the Beatles
• The Beatles timeline

References

1. Eder, Bruce. "Something New – The Beatles". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2021.
2. Gross, Mike (4 July 1964). "Labels In Beatles' Battle" (PDF). Billboard. Vol. 76, no. 27. Cincinnati, OH, USA: Cook, Hal B. p. 1. ISSN 0006-2510. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 January 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2024. Capitol has scheduled a Beatles' album titled 'Something New' for release Aug. 1.
3. McClelland, Doug, ed. (25 July 1964). "Cap Beatles LP 'Something New'" (PDF). Record World. 18 (894). New York, NY, USA: Austin, Bob: 22. ISSN 0034-1622. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 February 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2024. "Something New," Capitol's third Beatle album which goes on sale Monday, July 20, is one LP that lives up to its name.
4. ""And I Love Her" by the Beatles. The in-depth story behind the songs of the Beatles. Recording History. Songwriting History. Song Structure and Style". Beatlesebooks.com. Retrieved 9 September 2011.
5. Larkin, Colin (2007). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195313734.
6. Marsh, Dave; Swenson, John (Editors). The Rolling Stone Record Guide, 1st edition, Random House/Rolling Stone Press, 1979, p. 26.
7. Stannard 1981, p. 133.
8. Christgau, Robert (1981). "A Basic Record Library: The Fifties and Sixties". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 0899190251. Retrieved 16 March 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
9. MacDonald 2007, pp. 99–103, 104n2, 108–112, 116–118, 120–122.
10. "How Many Records did the Beatles actually sell?". Deconstructing Pop Culture by David Kronemyer. 29 April 2009. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
11. Whitburn 2010, p. 63
12. "The Beatles Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. 16 March 2021. Retrieved 16 March 2021.
13. "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (Enter "Beatles" in the search bar). GfK Entertainment. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
14. "Canadian album certifications – The Beatles – Something New". Music Canada. Retrieved 15 September 2013.
15. "American album certifications – The Beatles – Something New". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 15 September 2013.

Sources

• MacDonald, Ian (2007) [1994]. Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Third ed.). Chicago: Chicago Review Press. ISBN 978-1-55652-733-3.
• Stannard, Neville (1981). The Long and Winding Road: A History Of The Beatles On Record. London: Virgin Books Ltd. ISBN 0-907080-96-0.
• Whitburn, Joel (2010), Joel Whitburn Presents Top Pop Albums, Seventh Edition, Record Research Inc., ISBN 978-0-89820-183-3

External links

• Something New at Discogs (list of releases)
• "Something New" album. Recording history. Origin of the album