The Beatles in Italy

The Beatles in Italy is a Beatles compilation album released in Italy in 1965 (Parlophon PMCQ 31506). Despite its title, The Beatles in Italy is not a live album, but, rather, a compilation of previously released studio recordings. The album was issued in Italy in the summer of 1965 to capitalise on the band's appearance in Italy during their 1965 European tour, and the release of the film, Help!. Instead of consisting of songs that they sang in Italy, the album consists entirely of single and EP tracks that had not been collected into an LP. This is why all original copies of the LP were in mono.

The Beatles in Italy was reasonably popular for Parlophon, first appearing on the red label and later on the black label. EMI's Israeli affiliate was impressed enough with the compilation that they released it there, albeit without the gatefold cover that it sported in Italy. In 1969, when EMI affiliates were adopting a more standard look, the Italian company switched to a more standard Parlophone/EMI label, and the LP was reissued again—along with the rest of the catalog. Still, most fans worldwide were unaware of the compilation. The record probably would have remained obscure had not John Lennon, in a 1970 Rolling Stone interview, speculated that there might have been a live album released in Italy. "There's one in Italy apparently, that somebody recorded there." As The Beatles had not issued a live album during their career, the Lennon interview set off a frenzy among Beatles collectors seeking to add the alleged "live" album to their collection.

The LP was still in print but achieved legendary status from fans who did not realize that EMI affiliates had been releasing compilation albums all around the world. The Israeli album with its "champagne-glass cover" was so demanded that counterfeit copies became common. As the years passed, imported copies of the album continued to attract the interest of Beatles collectors, who saw it both as a curiosity and as an item needed to complete their collections. It was eventually issued in Japan (Odeon EAS-81525) and the Netherlands (Parlophone 1A 062-04632), when (in the mid-1980s) the whole album was made available in stereo. The album has not been issued on CD.

While the original record has only the standard single versions of the songs, later stereo copies of the album contain the "whispering" version of I Feel Fine that had previously been released on British copies of the 1962-1966 album, in which you can faintly hear a tape being started and someone muttering something before the song starts.