Greatest Hits Volume I

(Compilation Stereo) 'NL Printed in Holland in back cover
Made in Holland'[discogs]

(Compilation Reissue Remastered Stereo) 'Remastered in 1982 by Alan Parsons on Australian 2 box black labels. I'll Get You is in mono as no stereo remix exists.

For the stereo release of Volume 1, EMI (Australia) replaced the mono mix of She Loves You with the fake stereo mix created by EMI UK in November 1966.

Both this and Volume 2 were conceived in early 1966, with EMI (Australia) requesting stereo tapes from EMI UK for the tracks not already in its vaults. This means that both volumes, despite not being released locally in stereo until February 1967 (Volume 2) and February 1968 (Volume 1), contais the 1965 stereo mixes of I Want To Hold Your Hand (Volume 1) rather than the new mixes that were created by EMI UK in November 1966 for A Collection Of Beatles Oldies. This also explains why the two volumes contain no post-1965 “greatest hits”.

Mysteriously, the stereo version of Volume 1 would not be released until twenty months after the mono release, and twelve months after the release of Volume 2! This is why the Volume 2 sleeve refers only to the mono release of Volume 1.

The covers for both volumes borrowed heavily from overseas releases. Volume 1 used elements from the US Beatles VI and German The Beatles Beat and Volume 2 used elements from the (surprisingly even earlier) US Beatles ‘65 as well as what was left of Beatles VI. Use of these 1965-period photos emphasises the genesis of these albums.

By mid-1973, Volume 1 had sold over 100,000 copies. What is intriguing about both volumes is that, despite the myriad of “greatest hit” packages and assorted themed compilations released over the ensuing years, they never went out of print, selling consistently right up until catalogue standardisation in 1988.

EMI (Australia) exported (at least) Volume 1 mono mothers to HMV (New Zealand) and stereo mothers for both volumes to EMI (South East Asia). HMV (New Zealand) pressed domestic copies of Volume 1 (PMCM-7533) and copies for export to Australia. EMI (South East Asia) pressed both volumes in stereo (S-LPEA 1001/1002) for distribution in Singapore, Malaysia and Hong Kong.
'[discogs]

(Compilation Mono) ''360 Sound' in white'[discogs]

(Compilation Stereo) '1st US Mono & Stereo copies have '360 sound' label, later copies have regular red labels.

Spanish copies pressed in the late 1970's (though not official) do exist using same release info and #.'[discogs]

(Compilation)[janosr]