The Beatles Box
World Record Club of Australia SM 701-8
Released: March 1981

The eight albums that make up The Beatles Box contain 124 tracks of what can definitively be classed as The Beatles' greatest hits.

Among the tracks are a number of recording oddities that are of special interest.

The first is the original single version of Love Me Do with Ringo on drums (ie. not the version included on the Please Please Me album which featured session musician, Andy White, on drums).

All My Loving in this version was previously only avaiable on the German album Beatles Greatest (Odeon SMO 83991) and features a six-tap hi-hat intro by Ringo.

And I Love Her, as heard here was previously only available on the German album Something New (Odeon 1C072-04 600). The final riff is repeated six times, whereas on the album A Hard Day's Nght, it is repeated only four times.
She's A Woman was previously only available in Britain in mono. This is the stereo version that had only been available on the Australian album The Beatles Greatest Hits Vol. 2 (Parlophone PMCO7534).

I Feel Fine is the so called 'whispering version' previously included on the album The Beatles 1962-1966. It is the same stereo version as on the album A Collection Of Beatles Oldies but includes two seconds of whispering at the beginning.

Day Tripper is a different stereo mix from that available on the A Collection Of Beatles Oldies. Previously only available on the American album Yesterday ... And Today, (Capitol ST 2553) it has the guitar intro mixed into the left-hand channel instead of across the channel.

Paperback Writer is the re-mixed version from Hey Jude with the stereo reversed and the backing vocals mixed further forward than on A Collection Of Beatles Oldies.

Penny Lane in this version was previously unavailable anywhere in the world. It was distributed to radio stations in America and Canada prior to the release of the single and featured seven extra piccolo trumpet notes played over the ending of the recording which were edited out by the time the record reached the stores.

I Am The Walrus, previously unavailable anywhere in the world in this format, is included in full, combining the oddities of three previous versions. The British single features the organ intro repeated four times, the stereo version on the Magical Mystery Tour EP set, six times, and the American single with the organ intro repeated four times also has a few extra beats in the middle between the lines 'I'm Crying' and 'Yellow Matter Custard'. These are missing from both the British versions but are combined here.

Pressed on the orange Australian Parlophone label, the set was available only by mail.