h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi <BB<

I've sub-edited 'Medley: Intro - Venus - Sugar, Sugar - No Reply - I'll Be Back - Drive My Car - Do You Want to Know a Secret - We Can Work It Out - I Should Have Known Better - Nowhere Man - You're Going to Lose That Girl - Stars on 45' - the Song. The new version is A88040045 - please subscribe!

Just a few bits that I wasn't clear about.

"Lennon's back catalogue was rushed for release: song 'Woman' was released on 12 January followed by a live recording of John Lennon duetting with Elton John on 'I Saw Her Standing There' and 'Whatever Gets You Through The Night' from their Madison Square Garden November 1974 performance, 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', followed by 'Watching the Wheels'." - two 'followed by's - are there particular dates for each of these events?

"In the UK EMI initially decided that this single was far too tacky to release and refused to" - is 'tacky' the word EMI used when explaining that they refused to release it? Given that the sound was improved, was it more that the Capitol product was 'low quality'?

"Differences Between the Bootleg and 'Stars On 45'" - I see Footnote 4 explains that it wasn't a bootleg - should 'Bootleg' read 'Pirate'?

I see there are a few versions of the original medley title - is it Let's Do It in the 80s Great Hits?

It can get a bit complicated as there are different release dates in the UK and other countries, and not every country released the same songs:

Woman - Jan. 12, 1981 (US), Jan. 16, 1981 (UK)
I Saw Her Standing There / Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - 21 March 1981 (UK)
Whatever Gets You Through The Night - 13 March 1981 (UK)
Watching the Wheels - Mar. 13, 1981 (US), Mar. 27, 1981 (UK)

Maybe simpler to say something like, "Lennon's solo back catalogue was rushed for re-release. This started with song 'Woman' released in mid January but was followed by multiple records by the end of March. This included 'Watching the Wheels' as well as live recordings of Lennon's duets with Elton John on 'I Saw Her Standing There', 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'Whatever Gets You Through The Night' - all of which from their Madison Square Garden November 1974 performance."

That should hopefully avoid too many 'followed by's

Yep, you're right that the two instances of 'Bootleg' should be 'Pirate' .

The original medley full title was 'Let's Do It In The 80's Great Hits' [sic - "80's" rather than "80s"] so we can keep it consistent with that.

And yes, it is well reported that EMI (through their subsidiary Parlophone) considered the movie medley 'tacky'.
http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beatles-movie-medley/
http://www.45cat.com/record/r6055

Incidentally, Capitol Records' records were always low quality. The US and UK were, after the Second World War, traditionally very different markets for records. In the UK records were a luxury item, consumers tended not to be able to buy many albums a year, and so record companies made them very high quality. As albums were expensive, the EP format was incredibly popular as a cost-effective alternative and Mono remained the format of choice until the late 60s.

In the US, records were considered to be disposable items. They were much, much cheaper than in the UK - but also the sound quality was much, much lower. As albums were cheaper and easily affordable by all the EP format didn't take off and Stereo dominated much earlier than in the UK.
So if you want a good-sounding record, try to buy a British, German or Japanese album as the sound quality is likely to be higher (of course British, German and Japanese still scratch, and that's not to say that the UK didn't make cheap drivel, such as the 'Top of the Pops' albums).
But Capitol Records hated the Beatles with a passion, and tried desperately to squeeze as much money from the group as they could. But it is notable that none of the Capitol Records releases from the 1970s or 80s have been re-released since.

<BB<

Thank you - that has clarified about the re-release and Madison Square Garden performances

Interesting websites

That is interesting how the different markets influence the different products Thinking of Queen, I do have the US Classic Queen/Greatest Hits as well as GHI and GHII but didn't appreciate quite what the differences would be.

The Entry is ready for your readthrough

Looks good to me - can I ask if you could add a link to: A88040766 'Happy Xmas (War Is Over)' - the Song where it is mentioned?

<BB<

Yes, good timing that the link to Happy Xmas (War is Over) could now be added

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