Introducing... The Beatles - Version Two

Version Two

In order to circumvent the restraining order, Vee-Jay quickly reconfigured Introducing... The Beatles. It removed "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" and replaced them with the previously deleted "Ask Me Why" and "Please Please Me", though some pressings of the album did not alter the track list. The new versions were prepared in late January and began appearing in stores approximately 10 February 1964.

Because of the initial restraining order, version two of Introducing... The Beatles did not enter the Billboard album charts until three weeks after Meet The Beatles!. Once it did, it quickly rose to the number two spot, where it stayed for nine straight weeks. It also peaked at number two in Cash Box, and it got to number one in Record World magazine.

Even with the replacement of the two Beechwood Music songs, Vee-Jay and Capitol battled in court throughout the early part of 1964. Injunctions against Vee-Jay's album were issued, lifted and restored more than once. Because the album was often pressed quickly between restraining orders, there are almost two dozen different label variations, including mono and stereo copies, manufactured at numerous pressing plants. Finally, on 9 April 1964, the two labels settled. Vee-Jay was granted a license giving it the right to issue the 16 Beatles' songs it controlled, in any way it saw fit, until 15 October 1964. At that time, its licence expired, and all rights would revert to Capitol. During the time Introducing... The Beatles was available, it sold approximately 1,300,000 mono copies and approximately 41,000 stereo copies. Because only 3.1 percent of all of the LPs were in stereo, true stereo copies are rare.

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