Why some Beatles albums were different in US?

Question

Does anybody know why some Beatles albums were different in US? Revolver was the last altered album. They say the US format was 12 songs. Do you know any other reason?

Some albums had important changes. A hard day's night and Help! have instrumental music.

Answer 1

That was because the standard release format in Britain was 14 songs per album while in the US, it was generally about 11. Because of that, Capitol Records would skim a few songs off each Beatles album. After a while, they had enough material to put out another album intended for US-only release. Albums like "Beatles '65", "Beatles IV" and "Something New" are all examples. It was a way to keep the fans satisfied until the group released another album. By the time "Yesterday & Today" was to come out, the group decided to take action. They posed for the infamous "Butcher Cover" where all the members wore white smocks and had doll parts and meat slices strewn around while the members themselves had leering smiles on their faces. That cover proved controversial and was quickly replaced with an inoffensive picture of the group sitting or standing around a steamer trunk. After "Revolver" (which was considerably shorter than its British counterpart) came out, all the albums had the same songs as those released in Britain.

Answer 2

Just like anything else, it was a marketing decision. As an example, Hellman's mayo in the midwest is called Best Foods in the western part of the country--marketine execs felt that the names would not be well accepted in both places. The pics/songs on the albums were chosen to appeal to the different markets, sometimes because they thought Americans wouldn't recognize or understand what the pics conveyed or wouldn't like the songs for whatever reason.

Answer 3

Quite possibly the albums were altered so to meet U.S. import trade regulations. U.S. music albums--to this day--are somewhat different from their UK or overseas copies.

Case in point: Americans know the famous KISS logo of the band, known for "Rock And Roll All Nite", "Calling Dr. Love", where the two letter S is done in a lightning bolt form.

UK copies of KISS albums feature softer two letter "s"--because it's evident the American KISS logo letter "s" looks like Nazi insignia of the infamous Hitler "SS".

But also in several cases, song selections also vary as well--likely due to censorship or legal restrictions.