Capitol Gains

A chance remark on the stairs at Peter Morris Music in London’s Denmark Street, in October 1963, set off a chain reaction that helped Brian Epstein apply some much-needed leverage on America’s Hollywood-based Capitol label.

Although February 1963 marked the Beatles’ breakthrough in Britain, by the closing months of that year they still had not conquered the United States. Their manager Brian Epstein had been fighting what seemed like a losing battle to persuade Capitol to release the band’s records in America. Indeed, when the Beatles eventually hit the big time in the United States in February 1964, both Epstein and Capitol executives obscured the truth behind it.

What is the story behind this essential step in the Beatles’ meteoric rise to worldwide fame? In Capitol Gains, historian Andrew Cook uses corporate and personal archives to reveal the reality behind this and much more, lifting the lid on Capitol’s unfavourable view of the British record industry and how they set out to remix UK master tapes and create distinct US albums. It shows how, while Capitol’s strategy made the Beatles rich beyond their wildest dreams, Epstein often struggled to balance Capitol’s commercial decisions against the Beatles’ own demands, and explores the efforts made to protect the Beatles’ image as they were caught up in the whirlwind of global success.