1967–1970 (also known as the Blue Album) is a compilation album of songs by the English rock band the Beatles, spanning the years indicated in the title and the albums Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through to Let It Be with numerous single releases in between. A double LP, it was released with 1962–1966 (the "Red Album") in April 1973. 1967–1970 topped the Billboard albums chart in the United States and peaked at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It was re-released in September 1993 on CD, charting at number 4 in the United Kingdom.
The album was instigated by Apple Records manager Allen Klein during his final months before being dismissed from that position. As with 1962–1966, the compilation was created by Apple and EMI/Capitol Records in response to a bootleg collection titled Alpha Omega, which had been sold on television the previous year. Print advertising for the two records made a point of declaring them "the only collection of the Beatles". The success of the two official double LP compilations inspired Capitol's repackaging of the Beach Boys' 1960s hits, starting with the 1974 album Endless Summer.
A deluxe expanded version of the album was released on 10 November 2023, featuring the previously unreleased song "Now and Then", the final original single by the group. The deluxe edition features the album anniversary remix versions of the songs.
Album covers For the group's 1963 debut LP Please Please Me, photographer Angus McBean took the distinctive colour photograph of the group looking down over the stairwell inside EMI House (EMI's London headquarters in Manchester Square, demolished in 1995).
In 1969, the Beatles asked McBean to recreate this shot. Although a photograph from the 1969 photo shoot was originally intended for the then-planned Get Back album, it was not used when that project saw eventual release in 1970 as Let It Be. Instead, another photograph from the 1969 shoot, along with an unused photograph from the 1963 photo shoot, was used for both this LP and 1962–1966.
The inner gatefold photo for both LPs has been attributed to both Stephen Goldblatt and Don McCullin, and is from the "Mad Day Out" photo session in London on Sunday 28 July 1968.
The album cover was designed by Tom Wilkes.His credit appears in the left bottom corner of the paper sleeve (side 4), but only on the US version of the album.
International versions Unlike the 1962–1966 collection, the Blue Album is largely the same in the U.S. and the UK, although there are some variations.
The U.S. edition has "Strawberry Fields Forever" in its original 1966 stereo mix, while "Penny Lane" and "Hello, Goodbye" are presented in mono, and "I Am the Walrus" with a four-beat electric piano introduction; the UK version had the more common six-beat beginning.
The albums has several other variants and anomalies. "Get Back" is described as the album version in the U.S. liner notes, although it is, in fact, the single version. In both countries, "Hey Jude" is around nine seconds shorter than it had been on the original single, although the full length was restored for the 1993 compact disc edition.
The original vinyl version fades in during the crowd noise at the beginning of "A Day in the Life". The fade in is different on both the UK and U.S. versions. The original compact disc edition, meanwhile, features a clean version previously heard on the Imagine: John Lennon soundtrack album in 1988.
On the Spanish edition, "One After 909" replaces "The Ballad of John and Yoko", a song that had been banned from the airwaves shortly after being released as a single in 1969, for its allusions to "Christ" and "Gibraltar" in the lyrics.
Release variations Original 1973 UK release: Apple PCSP 7181-2 Original 1973 US release: Apple SKBO-3404 (whole and sliced apples in blue background) Second 1976 US pressing: Capitol SKBO-3404 (Capitol target label on back of album cover, blue label with "Capitol" in light blue letters at bottom) 1978 first US blue vinyl release: Capitol SEBX-11843 (Capitol dome label on back of album cover, large dome logo at top of light blue labels) 1980 East German release. Amiga 8 55 742. One disc only with 14 tracks, mostly from disc 1 of the original version. 1993 CD release. Apple 0777 7 97039 2 0 (whole and sliced apples in blue background) 2010 remastered CD release. Apple 5099990674723 (whole and sliced apples in blue background)
2023 remixed editions The compilation, along with its counterpart, was rereleased with an expanded track listing on 10 November 2023.
The nine additional tracks are: "Within You Without You", "Dear Prudence", "Glass Onion", "Blackbird", "Hey Bulldog", "Oh! Darling", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "I Me Mine", and "Now and Then".
Six tracks ("I Am the Walrus", "The Fool on the Hill", "Magical Mystery Tour", "Revolution", "Hey Bulldog", and "Old Brown Shoe") received new stereo mixes for this release. The stereo mixes for the remaining tracks were sourced from those created for the following previously released album reissues: 1 (2015), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: 50th Anniversary Edition (2017), The Beatles: 50th Anniversary Edition (2018), Abbey Road: 50th Anniversary Edition (2019), and Let It Be: Special Edition (2021). The album is also available in Dolby Atmos surround sound. On the CD and digital editions, the additional tracks are inserted into the track list in chronological order of each track's original issue, while on the vinyl edition, the first two LPs retain the track list of the 1973 release, with the additional tracks placed on a third LP. The vinyl edition come in both standard and coloured vinyl with each compilation's respective colours.
Of note, both "A Day in the Life" and "Dear Prudence" feature clean openings on the 2023 release, as opposed to their album counterparts, which are crossfaded with their respective preceding tracks. The dialogue introduction previously added to the 2021 Mix of "Don't Let Me Down" for Let It Be: Special Edition has also been removed.
Track listing The singles "Strawberry Fields Forever", "Penny Lane", "Hello, Goodbye", "Lady Madonna", "Hey Jude" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko", the B-sides "I Am the Walrus", "Revolution", "Don't Let Me Down" and "Old Brown Shoe", and the single versions of "Get Back" and "Let It Be" make their global album debut in this compilation.
The 2023 Vinyl edition add the additional 9 songs onto a 3rd Disc, having Now and Then, Blackbird, Dear Prudence, Glass Onion and Within You Without You on side 1 and Hey Bulldog, Oh! Darling, I Me Mine and I Want You (She's So Heavy) on side 2.
Charts
Weekly charts
Original release +Weekly chart performance for 1967–1970 original releaseChart (1973)PeakpositionAustralian Kent Music Report11Austrian Albums Chart1Canadian RPM Albums Chart3Dutch Mega Albums Chart2Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)4Italian M&D Albums Chart Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "1967/1970".10Japanese Oricon LPs Chart2Norwegian VG-lista Albums Chart2Spanish Albums Chart 1UK Albums Chart2US Billboard Top LPs & Tape1West German Media Control Albums Chart 2
1993 reissue +Weekly chart performance for 1967–1970 1993 reissueChart (1993–2008)PeakpositionAustralian Albums Chart8Austrian Albums Chart3Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)46Canadian RPM Albums Chart11Dutch Albums Chart3Italian M&D Albums Chart Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Titolo" field, search "Beatles 67/70".18Japanese Albums Chart5New Zealand Albums Chart4Norwegian Albums Chart8Swedish Albums Chart23Swiss Albums Chart3UK Albums Chart4US Billboard Top Pop Catalog1
2010 reissue +Weekly chart performance for 1967–1970 2010 reissueChart (2010)PeakpositionAustrian Albums Chart65Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)30Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)56Danish Albums Chart23Dutch Mega Albums Chart55German Albums Chart71Japanese Albums Chart3Spanish Albums Chart19Swedish Albums Chart17Swiss Albums Chart47UK Albums Chart4US Billboard 20029US Billboard Catalog Albums Chart1
+Weekly chart performance for 1967–1970 in the 2020sChart (2021–2024)Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 8 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) 50Greek Albums (Billboard) 4 Hungarian Physical Albums (MAHASZ) 31 Italian Albums (FIMI) 18 Japanese Combined Albums (Oricon) 6 Japanese Hot Albums (Billboard Japan) 6 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ) 12 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) 48
Year-end charts +Year-end chart performance for 1967–1970ChartYearPositionAustrian Albums Chart19733Dutch Albums Chart10German Albums Chart28Japanese Albums Chart6US Billboard Pop Albums24Austrian Albums Chart19744German Albums Chart2UK Albums Chart23US Billboard Pop Albums70German Albums Chart19752German Albums Chart19764German Albums Chart197721German Albums Chart197823Canadian Albums Chart199382Dutch Albums Chart54Italian Albums Chart106Japanese Albums Chart94 Spanish Albums Chart 12UK Albums Chart76UK Albums (OCC)202389 UK Albums (OCC)202478US Billboard 200182 UK Albums (OCC)202560
Certifications and sales In the US, the album sold 1,294,896 LPs by 31 December 1973 and 5,850,026 LPs by the end of the decade.
See also Outline of the Beatles The Beatles timeline
References
External links Notes on releases