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Original Release
There is confusion over when, exactly, The Young Ones soundtrack album was released. The film came out in mid December 1961, and that is widely credited as the date of the album, but the sleeve states 'recording first published 1962'.

The dark green labels of the mono version [Columbia, 33SX 1384] looked like the design of an old 78. The main front cover picture was of Cliff Richard, with The Shadows playing behind him, and a series of stills from the film. Detailed credits and sleeve notes appeared on the back cover. The 'stereophonic' UK version is credited as coming out in February 1962, with a more modern-looking light green label [Columbia SCX 3397].

In the US, the album was titled Wonderful To Be Young [pictured above] and was released in mono on Dot Records [DLP 3474] with the title on a blue-grey banner. In terms of the design it's virtually the same, although on the main picture The Shadows are blacked out, and the back sleeve notes are edited down from the UK release.

The US version of the film was also re-edited with a new opening sequence, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David were commissioned to write a new title track. Recorded by Cliff Richard and The Shadows at EMI Studios (Abbey Road), it opened side two.

A Spanish version of The Young Ones was issued in 1982 on the Historia De La Música En El Cine series, a set of soundtrack releases on the splendidly named Belter label. This came with a booklet containing text and photos from the film [2-90.023].

Tape Editions
In the UK in 1962, The Young Ones was released on ¼in two-track mono reel-to-reel [Columbia, TA-33SX 1384]. EMI's budget Music For Pleasure label issued a cassette in 1988 [TC-MFP 5823, pictured above].

Compact Disc
The first UK CD release of The Young Ones was also in 1988 on Music For Pleasure, with an edited version of the original sleeve notes contained in the booklet [CD-MFP 6020, CDB 7 52057 2, pictured below].

A second CD arrived in 2005, remastered, and this time on EMI. It had a colour booklet and featured three bonus tracks: Burt Bacharach and Hal David's 'Wonderful To Be Young' from the American film soundtrack, an alternative version of 'Got A Funny Feeling', and an undubbed version of the song 'The Young Ones' [EMI 7243 4 77723 2 0].

The last UK CD reissue came on the Hallmark Music And Entertainment label in 2012 [711592]. A 2016 CD reissue in Japan on the Oldays label included a cardboard facsimile of the original LP cover, with liner notes in Japanese [ODR6269]. This includes five bonus tracks: the singles 'Theme For A Dream' and 'A Girl Like You' from 1961, 'It'll Be Me' from 1962, and 1963's 'I'm Looking Out The Window' and B-side, 'Do You Wanna Dance'.