Jan. 10, 1964 - On sale in record stores today is “Introducing…The Beatles,” the first album released by the English rock band in the United States. Originally, Vee-Jay Records considered releasing “Please Please Me,” the Beatles’ debut album released last year, unaltered — as it appeared in the U.K. But in keeping with the American norm of a 12-song album — “Please Please Me” had 14 songs — Vee-Jay chose instead to omit “Please Please Me” an “Ask Me Why” and changed the album’s title to “Introducing…The Beatles.” Also, the U.S. recording engineer thought that Paul McCartney’s count-in at the start of “I Saw Her Standing There” was extraneous rather than intentionally placed there, so he snipped the “one, two, three” (leaving the “four”) from Vee-Jay’s masters. Except for those omissions, the order and contents of the “Please Please Me” album were untouched.
