First released: 1970, February 26

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I have the photo of this cover

Being born in 1961 & special thanks to my lovely Cousin Linda for helping to infect me with Beatlemania at age 3, I remember grooving to them on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. Thus I distinctly remember buying Beatles Again on 8-track the day of its release for when riding in my Father's car. One week later I had to buy the LP for home play. Being an LP rather than 45's person, I only had 2 of their singles; i.e.- Hey Jude/Revolution & Strawberry Fields/Penny Lane. From the get-go in '68 I always thought Hey Jude should be an album. By 1970 it was about time! I knew it was a collection of non-album 45's & that there were some songs that passed by my no-single-buying-ass. I wanted them all. Unfortunately, the album opens rather inconsistently with Can't Buy Me Love & I Should Have Known Better. I understand it was Capital Record's 1st LP release of those 2 songs originally owned by United Artists & they do hold their timeless own with the rest of the album. However, I was a bit miffed at the redundancy since I already owned A Hard Day's Night (my very 1st Beatles album). I felt like I was being double-dipped for Capital's blunder. Adding insult to injury, they omitted I'm Down & George's The Inner Light. I always felt that Beatles Again would've been a more complete & desirable album if Can't Buy Me Love & I Should Have Known Better were dropped. Then it should open with I'm Down followed by Paperback Writer, Rain, Lady Madonna, The Inner Light & Revolution to conclude Side One. Side Two was perfect needing no changes. That being said, if Capital had waited one more month for the release of Beatles Again (Hey Jude) shortly following the 45 release of Let It be/You know My Name (Look Up The Number) but prior to the release of the soundtrack LP Let It Be, finishing off Beatles Again with You Know My Name would have made that album EPIC!!! However, with all things said & done being unable to turn the clock back, Beatles Again is still a masterpiece. That includes the cover art, one of the last photo sessions taken at John's estate. A little piece of trivia: the back photo was originally supposed to be the front & visa-versa. It was a factory printing mishap that they went with, eventually realizing the cover looked better that style anyway. I always loved the 3rd photo of The Beatles in the window above the doorway = classic photo art! They could've done away with the song listing on the back, though. It seemed to cheapen the cover art &, after all, at that point in the game no one was going to scrutinize what songs are on a new Beatles album. People were going to buy it anyway. Even though the Hey Jude LP was originally intended for US release only & The Beatles themselves had little or nothing to do with it, to this day it still holds its weight as a great album & remains freshly one of my very favorite albums of all times.

"I love \"Old Brown Shoe\" (I have a feeling Macca had a LOT to do with making that track come alive, not just his stunning bass line, but giving George a whole lot of ideas for turning an ordinary [in fact, rather pedestrian] song into a fabulous record.)" This is not actually a review. This is correcting Jake's assertion this is Paul McCartney playing the bass line, because in fact you will find Harrison stating in interview that it was in fact Harrison playing the bass line for this track. And it can be heard in the demo of the song that he is doing it as well, simply doubling the guitar riff. If there's an indication of what The Beatles would sound like if you split them into two factions, it is the The Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe 45. Side One would be The Beatles as John and Paul. Side Two would be The Beatles as George & Ringo, because it is primarily those two performing on Shoe. (With backing vocals from McCartney/Lennon) . In all honesty (and review) - the musicianship on Shoe far excels that on Ballad. Better drummer, better guitarist, and ironically enough, an equal Bass player ;)

This is actually one of my favorite Beatles albums. I love the progression of Side One from early to late. I love \"Old Brown Shoe\" (I have a feeling Macca had a LOT to do with making that track come alive, not just his stunning bass line, but giving George a whole lot of ideas for turning an ordinary [in fact, rather pedestrian] song into a fabulous record.) I love \"Rain\" but I really do think it should be remixed so the vocals are all centered. I love \"Hey Jude\" needless to say - even though it\'s bordering on being overplayed in my mind, I can still come back to it every six months and fall in love with it again.

too manny people make the mistake of thinking its the same hey jude and again. the difference is the sound is more tacky on hey jude. plus the song i should've known better has a short pause on the beatles again and not on the album hey jude

Pretty good collection of songs. It's not really an album or anything, so points marked down for that. On a side note, Can't Buy Me Love and I Should Have Known Better are here because they hadn't appeared on a Captiol Records Beatles album before.

Kind of a catch-all record, Hey Jude was released very late in the Beatles career, and it collects several singles and B-sides that never made it onto "official" albums. As a record though, it works quite well, and given the Beatles genius, especially in the area of creating exquisite and ultra-progressive singles, it comes as no suprise. "Paperback Writer" works particularly well, not having aged at all in the three years after its release. The bass guitar sound on this record is especially revolutionary. A couple of recent tracks, "Old Brown Shoe" and "The Ballad of John And Yoko," make their vinyl debut here, and as usual give the consumer excellent value for the money. "Old Brown Shoe" (originally slated for Joe Cocker to record) is one of George Harrison's great lost classics, and the Beatles ensemble playing on this track belies the tension that was prevalent during the group's final days. — Matthew Greenwald