US Release date : Friday, October 21, 1977
Love Songs
By The Beatles • LP • Part of the collection “The Beatles • Post break-up albums”
US Release date : Friday, October 21, 1977
By The Beatles • LP • Part of the collection “The Beatles • Post break-up albums”
Previous album May 17, 1977 • "Thrillington" by Percy "Thrills" Thrillington released in the US
Article Sep 12, 1977 • Birth of James McCartney
Session October 1977 • Overdubs for "Mull Of Kintyre"
Album Oct 21, 1977 • "Love Songs" by The Beatles released in the US
Session October 25 to December 1, 1977 • "London Town" sessions #4
Single Nov 11, 1977 • "Mull Of Kintyre / Girls’ School" by Wings released in the UK
Next album Nov 19, 1977 • "Love Songs" by The Beatles released in the UK
P. S. I Love You
Studio version
From Wikipedia:
Love Songs is a compilation album that comprises love songs recorded by the Beatles between 1962 and 1970. It was released by Capitol Records in the United States on 21 October 1977 (catalogue number SKBL-11711) and on Parlophone in the United Kingdom on 19 November 1977 (PCSP 721). The compilation peaked at #24 in Billboard’s Top LPs & Tape chart during a 31-week stay that began on 12 November 1977. The RIAA certified the album with sales of three million units in 2000 even though the compilation was deleted in the late 1980s. The New Zealand release followed the US release with cat. no. and pressing plates, and was released on 2 different EMI labels.
The LP’s original packaging included an 11 x 11″ booklet, with the songs’ lyrics printed, calligraphy-style, on simulated parchment paper. For the first several pressings, the cover itself was simulated leather, and the Beatles’ image (a re-working of Richard Avedon’s 1967 portrait, featured in Look Magazine) was simulated gold-foil. The LP was also available on yellow vinyl.
As with the previous year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Music compilation, the songs were presented with the left and right channels reversed, with the four Rubber Soul tracks – “Girl“, “In My Life“, “Michelle“, and “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” – appearing in slightly narrowed stereo. Three further tracks—”Yes It Is“, “This Boy“, and “P.S. I Love You“—used the Duophonic mixes.
Track listing
All tracks written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney except where noted.
Cancelled single
Capitol Records originally intended to release a single in promotion of the compilation. The song “Girl” was going to be backed with “You’re Going to Lose That Girl” as Capitol 4506. Picture sleeves for the single were printed, but the record was cancelled in early October 1977. […]
In August 1967, Richard Avedon photographed the Beatles. The black-and-white photos of the four Beatles were transformed into vivid, psychedelic images and published for the first time in the January 9, 1968 edition of the US magazine Look.
Four other individual black and white portraits of the Beatles, taken during this session, were assembled into a collage. This collage, nicknamed “Mount Rushmore,” was published in the same edition of Look Magazine.
In 1977, the packaging for “Love Songs” was designed by Capitol’s Art Director, Kenneth R. Anderson. Anderson intended to use the “Mount Rushmore” collage but was unaware that it was a compilation of four separate portraits. Additionally, he wanted to bring Paul McCartney to the forefront since he was the main composer of many songs and the only Beatle still connected to Capitol at the time. Using airbrush retouching, Capitol Records created a modified version of “Mount Rushmore” to use as a logo and inner gatefold for the album.
At Capitol Records, I’d been given the assignment to create a deluxe package for a new Beatles double l.p. set.
With Christmas 1977 approaching, Capitol was swinging for the bleacher seats: 25 mushy tunes that Grandma could love. But they were all songs everyone already owned, nothing new was being offered, just a potentially fancy package. For the inside double spread, I’d sold The Powers That Be on the use of an iconic Richard Avedon photo. It had been seen in 1968 in LOOK magazine in the U.S. and in STERN in Europe. Not the individual psychedelic color photos, but the iconic 4-page fold-out, b&w group panorama… known as “Mount Rushmore”.
Just one hitch: Paul was in the original photo, but was hiding in the lower left corner, about half John’s size. Now I had to persuade Avedon to not only to sell us the photo, but to allow us to tear apart & rebuild his famous image so Paul would be more equal than the others. (Paul was the only ex-Beatle still on Capitol, in Wings, and would be touring the U.S. as part of Capitol’s incentive ).
“Send me a layout.” Avedon simply agreed, and now I knew why. Unlike Robert Freeman’s photo for “Meet the Beatles,” Avedon’s well-known portrait was actually four individual photos that had been stitched together. That’s why everyone was in focus regardless of size or position; it wasn’t just Avedon’s famous large-format 8×10 view camera.
In the dark confines of a hooded lucigraph, I drew my composition actual size on tracing paper. The cloak they were wearing had a huge collar. I tried to maintain the overall rhythm of the original version, allowing space for the album’s gatefold. My detailed sketch was shipped to New York.
In the years before Photoshop and the internet, the combination print process was slow and cumbersome. Avedon’s print eventually arrived with the four photos exposed independently on a large white sheet, as per my drawing. The airbrush retouching job was given to Alan Williams, who followed my indication for silhouetting their shoulders. A gray background blended & united the overall image. Some of the airbrushing was done on the print, some on an acetate overlay. Paul was now the leader of the pack, slightly bigger than John and above him. It was a new & improved Mt. Rushmore.
I developed a graphic version from successive exposures of the art onto litho film. Those were painstakingly matched, cut & pasted together using the best parts to create a final high-contrast icon. I actually created two: one for positive reading uses, another for reversing out of dark backgrounds. The second version was used for the front cover: a gold foil oval stamped on a simulated rich leather album.
That rich leather was really a piece of tan textured cover stock I got from McManus & Morgan on 7th Street. On the asphalt of the Capitol Records parking lot, I sprayed the paper with Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber paint. After the cover was printed, it was embossed with texture, like a discount fake oil painting reproduction. Fancy.
The complete package included an 11″ x 11″ booklet with calligraphy-style lyrics on simulated parchment paper. Michael Manoogian did the lettering, and the parchment look was a 2-color photographic fake. A limited run of lps were pressed on gold (yellow) vinyl.
For the Rolling Stone ad, I rented some props from Western Costume on Santa Monica Blvd. and shot it all on velvet. I’d broken The Lads up, but they were together again. The L.P. did fine for Christmas and stayed on the Billboard charts for 31 weeks, eventually selling 3,000,000 units. The compilation was deleted from the catalog in the late 1980s.
Kenneth R. Anderson – From Love Songs (jpgr.co.uk)
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