Strange but true: The Beatles’ American record company decided not to release their albums. Instead, Capitol chopped them up to generate more product. Nobody at the label had any idea that future generations would revere these records as sacred artistic units. No, Capitol just wanted to squeeze more funny paper out of the moptops before the bubble burst. So they doled out 12 songs per LP instead of 14, and rushed out seven albums in a year. American fans got different versions than the rest of the world. The U.S. albums have been forgotten by history, but they’re a crucial part of the Beatles story. They’re the albums that made America fall madly in love with the Fab Four.

Now, those albums are coming back to life in a new box set. The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums in Mono collects the first seven U.S. albums on Capitol, all released between January 1964 and March 1965. It’s a vinyl release on 180-gram audiophile vinyl, coming out on Nov. 22 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe.

John, Paul, George, and Ringo played The Ed Sullivan Show on Feb. 9, 1964. That was the night that made Beatlemania explode all over the U.S., after it had already snowballed through Europe. The album in the shops was Meet the Beatles — a hodgepodge of singles, B sides, and album tracks. Capitol figured they needed to grab the cash, since everybody knew these lads couldn’t last more than a year or two. So they cranked out Meet the Beatles; The Beatles’ Second Album; A Hard Day’s Night; Something New; The Beatles’ Story; Beatles ’65; and The Early Beatles.