Reel Music

Reel Music  was a fun album to own back in 1982, when I was 14. Naturally I was sold on the idea of owning it because of the "The Beatles Movie Medley" (which sadly, was not on the LP, to my dismay but added as a separate 45 if you purchased the earliest pressings). I had already owned many of the songs from The Red and Blue Albums. The medley single came on the heels of the 'medley craze' of the early 80's that, ironically, was started by Stars On 45 - who hit big in 1981 with a medley of... take a guess... Beatle songs.

 

But Reel Music  was unique in that it had exclusive mixes of familiar songs never heard here in America. So it was a treasue of an album and worth owning despite having the songs on another album.

 

Those exclusive Stereo mixes (more common in the U.K.) were, "I Am The Walrus", "Ticket To Ride" and "A Hard Day's Night". And the beginning harmonica of "I Should Have Known Better" was 'fixed' through a re-editing of the first bar to the second.

 

Reel Music  had great album cover artwork and packaging, complete with great photos and a synopsis of each movie. Not to mention, the song selection are some of the best Beatle songs. And if you bought the album in its initial release, you were treated to the bonus 45 of "The Beatles Movie Medley", complete with a picture sleeve and its B-Side, "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", which was not on the album but recorded for the movie, A Hard Day's NIght.