The Beatles’ French releases were mainly notable for the various EPs issued between 1963 and 1967. Odeon – the group’s label in France – considered that the record-buying public preferred not to buy singles, although a number of two-song discs were pressed for jukeboxes only. These were not commercially available and are not listed here.
The French albums were largely the same as those in the UK, although some early releases were retitled, and the equivalents of Please Please Me and With The Beatles were issued in reverse order. The US compilation Hey Jude was issued in March 1970 as The Beatles Again, and a France-only greatest hits – Les Beatles Dans Leurs 14 Plus Grands Succès – was released in September 1965.
Until 1965 the group was known on their records as Les Beatles, and each release prior to Rubber Soul was mono-only. Unusually, Sgt Pepper was issued on Parlophone in France, with the same serial numbers as in the UK.
France Juke Box:
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One EP title error and one Beatles EP Omit
The above mentioned 4 Garçons Dans Le Vent should have been titled 4 Garçons Dans Le Vent 2.
Below is the Track List for 4 Garçons Dans Le Vent (1):
1 – I’m Happy Just to Dance with You
2 – If I Fell
3 – Things We Said Today
4 – When I Get Home
It is witten here that :
the White Album was released in France on 11 November 1968 &
Abbey Road released in France on 12 September 1969
Are these dates right ? They would have been relased before the british albums ! I’m just wondering…
The front cover for the “4 garçons dans le vent” LP is the wrong one and is from an EP. The real one should be the one with them all four Beatles playing on stage
Hello, the 1962 EP Mister Twist by Tony Sheridan which includes When The Saints / Cry For A Shadow / My Bonnie and Why should probably be included in France’s discography… just sayin’.
Did France ever release its own version of the Beatles Collection inside of a black wooden roll top outer box?
Thanks for your help with this!
There’s no entry for it on Discogs, although other European countries seem to have issued versions of it. Discogs isn’t infallible though.
Yellow Submarine was not a PCS UK catalog number. What you’re showing is a 1972-3 reissue. The French were transitioning from Odeon to Apple at the time of its release. The first French pressing which I happen to own has an Odeon gold foil stamp covering up “ Apple “ on the front cover, albeit this is I imagine a test pressing as there is a note on back cover indicating a mistake. The catalog number is C 062 04002 ,and the matrices are not UK rather two very long matrix numbers on each side. On back top flipback cover it has the circle T , the second press has circle U , your about four years off the mark.