Twelve, or even thirteen: The Beatles' canon

At first glance, the matter seems obvious: the Beatles’ core discography consists of the albums released in the United Kingdom between 1963 and 1970. There were 12 in total:

Please Please Me (1963)
*With The Beatles* (1963)
*A Hard Day’s Night* (1964)
*Beatles For Sale* (1964)
*Help!* (1965)
*Rubber Soul* (1965)
Revolver (1966)
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
The Beatles (the so-called “White Album”) (1968)
Yellow Submarine (1969)
Abbey Road (1969)
Let It Be (1970)

If we were to accept the above list as the definitive canon of The Beatles, it would not include three massive hits released only as singles—“Penny Lane,” “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and “All You Need Is Love”— as well as the tracks from the film *Magical Mystery Tour* (including “I Am The Walrus” and “The Fool On The Hill”), which were originally released in the UK only on a two-single EP.

The problem was solved by Capitol Records, which—against the wishes of The Beatles—released a full-length LP titled “Magical Mystery Tour” in the U.S., just a few days before the British release of the EP. Since the songs from the film filled only the first side of the LP, the B-side of the American record also included songs released on singles in 1967. In the mid-1980s, this record was recognized as part of the band’s official discography, appeared in published lists, and was released on CD alongside the other 12 albums.