''The Essential Beatles'' is a greatest hits compilation album by

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...

which was exclusive to Australia and

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

on the

Apple Records Apple Records is a record label founded by the Beatles in 1968 as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Ma ...

label. All of the songs featured on the album (with the exception of "

With a Little Help from My Friends "With a Little Help from My Friends" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1967 album ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and sung by drummer Ringo Starr (as Sgt. Pep ...

") reached the top 3 in the Australian charts as singles and EP tracks. Most of the songs on the album are presented in true stereo, while "Love Me Do", "P.S. I Love You" and "Baby You're A Rich Man" are in "

fake stereo Duophonic sound was a trade name for a type of audio signal processing used by Capitol Records on certain releases and re-releases of mono recordings issued during the 1960s and 1970s. In this process monaural recordings were reprocessed into a ...

". Two notable mastering glitches appear on the album: "Penny Lane" running slow with a noticeable "warble" and "Long Tall Sally" on this album, has the stereo channels reversed. The album was reissued twice in the 1980s. The first time as part of the ''Superstars of the '70s'' box set, released by the Australian branch of World Record Club in August 1980. The second being in December 1982, where it was paired with the Barry Miles book ''The Beatles In Their Own Words'' in a box set titled: ''The Beatles Sight & Sound''.The Essential Beatles - I Am The Platypus
/ref> The album was issued on cassette in 1972, but has never seen a compact disc release (as was the case with non-canon Beatles albums at the time). It remained in print until 1991, when all the Australian Beatles vinyl was deleted from

EMI Music Australia EMI Recorded Music Australia Pty Ltd (called EMI Music Australia until May 2013) is an Australian imprint of Universal Music Australia, formerly a subsidiary label of EMI Recordings Ltd and, between 1979 and 1996, that of Thorn EMI. It is Austra ...

catalogue and replaced with imported vinyl from the UK.

Track listing

Sales charts and certification

Australian Charts

Notes

References

External links

Fixing a hole - the great lost Aussie Beatles collection
{{DEFAULTSORT:Essential Beatles, The 1972 greatest hits albums Albums produced by George Martin Albums produced by Phil Spector Albums arranged by George Martin Apple Records compilation albums The Beatles compilation albums Albums recorded at Olympic Sound Studios Albums recorded at Apple Studios