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From: Bob Gill 
Newsgroups: rec.music.beatles.moderated,rec.music.beatles
Subject: UK vs US album standards
Followup-To: rec.music.beatles.moderated
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2005 03:13:43 +0000 (UTC)
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Xref: number1.nntp.dca.giganews.com rec.music.beatles.moderated:16393
rec.music.beatles:913401

  It seems that everyone who writes about the differences between the
Beatles' US and UK albums says something to the effect that the standard
number of songs for an album in the UK was 14, but in the US it was 11;
and also that in the UK the singles didn't go on the albums, but in the
US they did. Sort of a picky point, maybe, but this bothers me because
it's just not true.
  The *Beatles'* first seven UK albums all had 14 songs on them (except
Hard Day's Night, which had 13), but that was clearly *not* any kind of
UK standard; it was just their standard. The Rolling Stones' first three
UK albums all had 12 songs on them, as did their fifth; their only
14-song album was Aftermath. The Kinks' first album had 14 songs, but
the next two had 12 apiece. The Pretty Things' first three albums all
had 12 songs on them.
  As for singles going on albums: First, the Beatles had two singles on
their first album, and ditto for the two soundtrack albums. So it was
only some of their albums that didn't include the hit singles. Again,
though, that was nothing like an industry standard; that was their
choice, in trying to give record buyers full value for their money. The
Rolling Stones were even more scrupulous about this; not one of their
Decca albums (aside from the two "greatest hits" compilations) included
a hit single.
  But: Each Kinks album until 1968 included a hit single; every Pretty
Things album included a single _ though, given their commercial
standing, not always a hit; and the Who's first album, anyway, included
My Generation. I'm sure some of you know a lot about other UK groups
from that time and can corroborate this with other examples.
  Anyway, I realize this isn't that big a deal, but it annoys me to see
something clearly false stated over and over again as if it's common
knowledge. Here in the US, we get enough of that from the White House.

 -- Bob G.


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