On entering record stores on this day, 50 years ago, music lovers discovered, in the displays, the famous “Rouge” and “Bleu” compilations, which dwell on the period from 1962 until to 1966 and the more exploratory and psychedelic one from 1967 to 1970.
We find, on these two double opuses, a total of 54 songs in chronological order. Of Love Me Do, launched in 1963, at The Long and Winding Road, present on the album Let It Be. There are 26 on the “Red” and 28 on the “Blue”; they total 160 minutes of music.
The “Red” sold 1,360,000 copies and the “Blue” was more successful with 1,490,000 copies worldwide.
Each of these albums sold for $9.98. The price for a single album, at the time, was $5.98.
Photo from Amazon website
The “Rouge” opus, made up of original compositions, was number 1 in Austria, Spain, France, Japan and Norway. It was number 3 in the United States and number 4 in Canada and the United Kingdom. The “Blue” topped the charts in Austria, Spain, France and the United States and it reached number three in Canada.
The album “Rouge” was an idea of manager Allen Klein. Its purpose was, originally, the respect of a contractual obligation and also to prepare the coming of a documentary on the Beatles.
The film, which was to be titled The Long and Winding Road, never saw the light of day, and the release of these compilation albums was later delayed until Klein’s contract expired.
Photo from Amazon website
These two albums were also a response to an unauthorized compilation of 60 songs, spread over two sets of four vinyls, which had been released by the American company Audiotape in 1972. The official Beatles compilations ended up on the shelves of record stores and retail stores before a $15 million lawsuit was filed by George Harrison through Allen Klein.
This lawsuit targeted the manufacturer Audiotape and the American Broadcasting Company, which advertised the unauthorized albums. The outcome of this lawsuit is still unknown.
Interesting anecdote: the photo of these albums is a reproduction of the one taken in 1963 on the floors of the premises of the EMI record company. This new photo, taken in 1969, was to be used for the opus Get Back, which was in preparation and which became the album Let It Be.
These two compilation albums were released in CD format in September 1993. A remastered version followed in 2010.