The Beatles UK Tape Cassettes

Re-arranged Track-listings


EMI originally issued the Beatles UK albums on cassette with re-arranged running orders, the excuse being the apparent need to have two sides of equal length - to avoid the problem of listeners stopping the tape at the end of one side and turning over to start mid-way through the opening track on the reverse (and presumably, and more importantly for EMI, to save on tape!). But this hardly justified what was, in some cases, track orders that were totally unrecognizable from the original vinyl editions that the Beatles and their Producer George Martin had carefully sequenced in an order that they felt best presented their work.
EMI's cassette revisionism showed little thought, let alone respect for their most celebrated artists. One glaring example was "Goodnight" which was wrenched from it's natural place at the White album's close and planted in the middle of Side 2, this track was still on the closing side of the cassette and so there appeared to be absolutely no good reason why it should have been moved. But there is an explanation as to why this was so......
The revised track orders were originally compiled with 8-track cartridges in mind, these housed four tape loops of 'programmes' and each loop had to be of equal length. Why the cassettes had the same running order as the 8-tracks could be put down to laziness/convenience - By joining the first and second 8-track loop order on one side with the third and fourth on the other, they'd have guaranteed two sides of equal length without the need to work out a less drastic odd-swap or two for the cassette version.

For second generation Beatle fans such as I, who embraced the cassette revolution, the following lists presents the way we came to accept the Beatles albums as unintended.

Note that all cassettes of the Beatles albums issued before 1987 were in stereo, the first four albums are only currently available in mono.

Figures in brackets denotes the position of tracks on the original vinyl editions.
The cassettes themselves refer to each side as "1" & "2". However, for the purpose of making comparisons between cassette and vinyl running orders, I will refer to them as "A side" & "B Side".



Please Please Me
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay
The Beatles first LP memorably opened with Paul's "1,2,3,4" count-in to "I Saw Her Standing There", but not so on the cassette version which kicks-off with "Misery".

A Side
1. Misery [A2]
2. Chains [A4]
3. P.S I Love You [B2]
4. Do You Want To Know A Secret [B4]
5. I Saw Her Standing There [A1]
6. Ask Me Why [A6]
7. Baby It's You [B3]

B Side
1. Please Please Me [A7]
2. Love Me Do [B1]
3. A Taste Of Honey [B5]
4. There's A Place [B6]
5. Anna (Go To Him) [A3]
6. Boys [A5]
7. Twist And Shout [B7]



With The Beatles
Gold inlay

A Side
1. All My Loving [A3]
2. Little Child [A5]
3. Devil In Her Heart [B5]
4. Not A Second Time [B6]
5. Please Mr. Postman [A7]
6. Hold Me Tight [B2]
7. You Really Got A Hold On Me [B3]

B Side
1. It Won't Be Long [A1]
2. All I've Got To Do [A2]
3. Till There Was You [A6]
4. I Wanna Be Your Man [B4]
5. Don't Bother Me [A4]
6. Roll Over Beethoven [B1]
7. Money [B7]



A Hard Day's Night
Gold inlay
The original album presented all of the film songs together on Side A. The 1970's tape version completely obliterates that concept.

A Side
1. I Should Have Known Better [A2]
2. When I Get Home [B4]
3. I'll Be Back [B6]
4. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You [A4]
5. Tell Me Why [A6]
6. Any Time At All [B1]
7. I'll Cry Instead [B2]

B Side
1. A Hard Day's Night [A1]
2. Can't Buy Me Love [A7]
3. Things We Said Today [B3]
4. If I Fell [A3]
5. And I Love Her [A5]
6. You Can't Do That [B5]



Beatles For Sale
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay

A Side
1. No reply [A1]
2. Baby's In Black [A3]
3. Eight Days A Week [B1]
4. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party [B5]
5. I'll Follow The Sun [A5]
6. What You're Doing [B6]
7. Honey Don't [B3]

B Side
1. I'm A Loser [A2]
2. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby [B7]
3. Rock And Roll Music [A4]
4. Mr Moonlight [A6]
5. Words Of Love [B2]
6. Kansas City* [A7]
7. Every Little Thing [B4]

*Incorrect title as on inlay, it should be listed as a medley with "Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!"



Help!
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay
As with the "A Hard Day's Night" tape, the idea of the film tracks all being collected together on Side A is completely done away with.

A Side
1. I Need You [A4]
2. Another Girl [A5]
3. I've Just Seen A Face [B5]
4. Yesterday [B6]
5. The Night Before [A2]
6. Ticket To Ride [A7]
7. Act Naturally [B1]

B Side
1. Help! [A1]
2. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away [A3]
3. You're Going To Lose That Girl [A6]
4. It's Only Love [B2]
5. You Like Me Too Much [B3]
6. Tell Me What You See [B4]
7. Dizzy Miss Lizzy [B7]



Rubber Soul
Gold inlay

A Side
1. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) [A2]
2. You Won't See Me [A3]
3. Think For Yourself [A5]
4. I'm Looking Through You [B3]
5. Nowhere Man [A4]
6. Michelle [A7]
7. Wait [B5]

B Side
1. Drive My Car [A1]
2. If I Needed Someone [B6]
3. What Goes On [B1]
4. Girl [B2]
5. In My Life [B4]
6. The Word [A6]
7. Run For Your Life [B7]



Revolver
Gold inlay

A Side
1. Good Day Sunshine [B1]
2. And Your Bird Can Sing [B2]
3. Doctor Robert [B4]
4. Want To Tell You* [B5]
5. Taxman [A1]
6. I'm Only Sleeping [A3]
7. Yellow Submarine [A6]

B Side
1. Eleanor Rigby [A2]
2. Here, There And Everywhere [A5]
3. For No One [B3]
4. Got To Get You Into My Life [B6]
5. Love You Too [A4]
6. She Said She Said [A7]
7. Tomorrow Never Knows [B7]

*Titled incorrectly on at least one version of the "Revolver" cassette inlay, it should be "I Want To Tell You"



A Collection of Beatles Oldies (But Goldies)
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay
The first Beatles UK compilation album (released for Christmas 1966) was also included in the 1970's Beatles cassette collection.
This album was re-issued on cassette in October 1983 on EMI's budget "Fame" label with a blue inlay instead of Gold.

A Side
1. She Loves You [A1]
2. From Me To You [A2]
3. We Can Work It Out [A3]
4. Ticket To Ride [B5]
5. Help! [A4]
6. Yesterday [A6]
7. Day Tripper [B3]
8. I Want To Hold Your Hand [B8]

B Side
1. Michelle [A5]
2. I Feel Fine [A7]
3. Can't Buy Me Love [B1]
4. Bad Boy [B2]
5. Yellow Submarine [A8]
6. A Hard Day's Night [B4]
7. Paperback Writer [B6]
8. Eleanor Rigby [B7]



Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay
The first Beatles cassette ever issued and the running order on the tape was identical to the album.
Unlike on both the CD and the 1987 cassette version, the original and gold versions of this cassette include a version of the "Sgt.Pepper Inner Groove" that was NOT artificially repeated and then faded - on these cassettes you hear it once only, this is how it would have been heard on the original master.



Magical Mystery Tour
Original gold inlay
This album was originally an American compilation (released there in November 1967), Parlophone in the UK merely issued a double EP of the TV film tracks (which can all be found on Side 1 of the US album, the Side 2 tracks had already been released on singles earlier that year).
A UK vinyl album edition was not pressed until 1976, but the UK cassette was released three years earlier and curiously it had a stereo version of "Baby You're A Rich Man" (which was slightly shorter than the mono version found elsewhere), this was because the cassette used an all stereo German album master of "Magical Mystery Tour" (first issued in Germany in 1971) whilst the UK vinyl version used the 1967 American master which had mono versions of "All You Need Is Love", "Baby You're A Rich Man" and "Penny Lane". The German master was later used for the CD edition.
The running order of the 1973 tape was identical to the vinyl album, the inlay titles the cassette as "Magical Mystery Tour & Other Titles"



The Beatles (a.k.a. "The White Album")
Original inlay
Gold inlay
The original cassette replaced the embossed title on the vinyl sleeve with light grey lettering printed at an odd angle, this design was retained for the all-gold re-issue. The XDR version in 1987 had the lettering re-straightened and was printed in black (the CD cover also had re-straightened lettering but retained the lighter shade of grey).

A Side
1. Back In The U.S.S.R. [A1]
2. Dear Prudence [A2]
3. Glass Onion [A3]
4. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da [A4]
5. Wild Honey Pie [A5]
6. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill * [A6]
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps [A7]
8. Martha My Dear [B1]
9. I'm So Tired [B2]
10. Blackbird [B3]
11. Piggies [B4]
12. Rocky Racoon [B5]
13. Don't Pass Me By [B6]
14. Why Don't We Do It In The Road? [B7]
15. I Will [B8]
16. Julia [B9]
17. Long Long Long [C7]

B Side
1. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Monkey [C4]
2. Sexy Sadie [C5] **
3. Helter Skelter [C6]
4. Revolution 1 [D1]
5. Honey Pie [D2]
6. Savoy Truffle [D3]
7. Goodnight [D6]
8. Happiness is a warm gun [A8]
9. Birthday [C1]
10. Yer Blues [C2]
11. Mother Nature's Son [C3]
12. Cry Baby Cry [D4]
13. Revolution 9 [D5]

* The title on the gold inlay was shortened to "Bungalow Bill"
** Incorrectly spelt as "Sexie Sadie" on at least one version of the cassette label.
The 1987 cassette re-issue, as with the original album, was spread over 4 sides as it had probably been realized that extended length tapes were more prone to snapping or getting chewed up in the cassette player.



Yellow Submarine
Gold top inlay

A Side
1. Yellow Submarine [A1]
2. Only A Northern Song [A2]
3. All You Need Is Love [A6]
4. Hey Bulldog [A4]
5. It's All Too Much [A5]

B Side
1. All Together Now [A3]
[George Martin's Orchestrated Film Score]*
* George Martin's tracks were presented in the same order on tape as the original vinyl



Abbey Road
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay

A Side
1. Here Comes The Sun [B1]
2. Something [A2]
3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer [A3]
4. Oh! Darling [A4]
5. Octopus's Garden [A5]
6. I Want You (She's So Heavy) [A6]

B Side
1. Come Together [A1]
2. Because [B2]
3. You Never Give Me Your Money [B3]
4. Sun King [B4]
5. Mean Mr. Mustard [B5]
6. Polythene Pam [B6]
7. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window [B7]
8. Golden Slumbers [B8]
9. Carry That Weight [B9]
10. The End [B10]
11. Her Majesty [B11] *

*Track not listed on the cassette.

"Abbey Road" was the 2nd Beatle album to be issued on cassette and the first to change the track order (albeit the mere swapping of "Come Together" and "Here Comes The Sun", yet this single switch had the impact of placing both Harrison songs together and ending his spotlight contributions after the 2nd track). From memory, I recall that there was a fade to silence between "You Never Give Me Your Money" and "Sun King" (On the vinyl and CD, these two tracks are crossfaded with an 'insects' loop and bell chime).



Let It Be
Original inlay / Original inlay reverse
Gold inlay

A Side
1. Two Of us [A1]
2. I Me Mine [A4]
3. One After 909 [B2]
4. Across The Universe [A3]
5. Dig It [A5]
6. Let It Be [A6]

B Side
1. Maggie Mae [A7]
2. Dig A Pony [A2]
3. The Long And Winding Road [B3]
4. I Got A Feeling [B1] *
5. For You Blue [B4]
6. Get Back [B5]

* Incorrectly titled on the inlay, it should read "I've Got A Feeling"



The Beatles 1962-66 (a.k.a "The Red Album") & 1967-70 (a.k.a "The Blue Album")
The Beatles 1962-1966 Gold inlay
The Beatles 1967-1970 Gold inlay
Both originally released on cassette as single "Double Play Tapes" (4 sides of vinyl on just 2 sides of tape), the running orders for the Red and Blue cassettes were identical to the vinyl editions except for one switch on the Blue album; "Back In The U.S.S.R" closed Side A of the cassette and "Revolution" opened Side B.
For the remastered (1993) four side cassette version of the Red Album, "Nowhere Man" was moved from the beginning of Side D and now closed Side C.

Other Cassettes

Only The Beatles
inlay / inlay reverse
This was a Heineken beer promotional offer (from June 1986) available on cassette only in exchange for token ring pulls, it was quickly withdrawn when Apple sued (on 18th July 1986). The cassette claimed to include two tracks that had not been previously made available in stereo, but only "Yes It Is" lived up to the hype as "This Boy" was in fact mock-stereo. Copies were sent out with a gift card, of which there were two versions - the green card came with Heineken's logo on the front whilst the red version had a picture of the Beatles on both the front and on the inside.

A Side
1. Love Me Do
2. Twist And Shout
3. She Loves You
4. This Boy
5. Eight Days A Week
6. All My Loving

B Side
1. Ticket To Ride
2. Yes It Is
3. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
4. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
5. And I Love Her
6. Strawberry Fields Forever



Many thanks to Andrzej Lesicki for providing the track orders of the cassettes that I no longer own and to Steve Binnie for the 8-track info.

See also
A History of the Beatles UK Cassettes
Beatles UK Cassettes Gallery
Solo Beatle UK Cassettes 1970-76

E-Mail
urthepob@hotmail.com