Recorded the day after the Beatles’ Ed Sullivan debut and rushed out on Capitol Records within a month, “A Letter to the Beatles” captures a very specific moment of mid-’60s panic. The Four Preps — the West Coast group behind “26 Miles (Santa Catalina)” — watched the British Invasion threaten their own fanbase, and Stu Phillips produced their musical response in real time.

n 1964, tiny British label Oriole Records cashed in on Beatlemania with the novelty single “We Love You Beatles,” recorded by a studio group called The Carefrees and built on the melody of “We Love You Conrad” from Bye Bye Birdie. American Beatlemaniacs made it a hit, driving the song to #39 on Billboard in April 1964 — making it the highest-charting Beatles novelty record ever released and the only one to crack the U.S. Top 40.