Beatles/At the Beeb 1964-1965

Between March 1961, before their debut, and June 1965, after their debut, The Beatles performed nearly 300 songs live over a total of 52 times, in BBC studios and theaters with audiences. For The Beatles, TV and radio appearances were important promotional opportunities for record sales, and they must have been as essential as the band’s live performances. In the 1960s, the number of hours that radio stations could air records per day was strictly limited by the union. That is the reason for the large amount of live performances on BBC. The reason why enthusiastic fans and collectors find special value in BBC live recordings is probably the uniqueness of the songs they performed. In fact, in 1963, when the band appeared most frequently on BBC radio, a large number of cover songs that were not recorded were played and aired on BBC programs. These songs were the repertoire that the band liked to play at the Star Club in Hamburg and the Cavern Club in Liverpool before their debut. These precious programs were basically only broadcast once at the time, and were hardly noticed until the broadcast of the BBC special “The Beatles at the Beeb” in March 1982, which commemorated the 20th anniversary of the band’s first appearance on BBC Radio. Unfortunately, the master tapes that had already been broadcast were erased and reused for other programs due to budgetary constraints at the time, so when the BBC itself realized the importance of the sound sources and searched the station’s archives in later years, the preservation conditions of most of the programs were very poor and the material was hopelessly gone. This long-awaited release, the Complete BBC Tapes, has been more meticulously revised and worked on in terms of the contents, with an emphasis on the maximum possible upgrades and longer recording times than before, and has attempted to restore and record the original broadcasts from the time the live performances were performed in the best possible condition. First appearance and upgrade, the best content currently available. Includes a research book with detailed explanations for each show. The third installment of a total of 16 discs from Vol. 1 to Vol. 4. DISC One Saturday Club #8, February 15, 1964 Recorded: January 7, 1964 Playhouse Theatre, London Producers: Jimmy Grant, Bernie Andrews Host: Brian Matthew 01. All My Loving 02. Money (That’s What I Want) 03. The Hippy Hippy Shake 04. I Want To Hold Your Hand 05. Roll Over Beethoven 06. Johnny B. Goode 07. I Wanna Be Your Man From Us To You #2, March 30, 1964 Recorded: February 28, 1964 BBC Piccadilly Theatre, London Producer: Bryant Marriott Host: Alan Freeman 08. From Us To You – Intro Theme 09. You Can’t Do That 10. Roll Over Beethoven 11. Till There Was You 12. I Wanna Be Your Man 13. Please Mr. Postman 14. All My Loving 15. This Boy 16. Can’t Buy Me Love 17. From Us To You – Outro Theme This was the second appearance on “From Us To You” aired on March 30, 1964. This is also a famous recording that has long been a target of bootlegs. This was his second appearance on the Bank Holiday Special. The recordings were 5 tracks 10, 11, 12, 14, and 16, and an edited version of the show’s theme song “From Us To You”, which were cut onto LPs and stored in a warehouse. The only tracks that were not saved were John’s lead vocal tracks, as if they had been picked up with chopsticks. Could this be the work of the production staff who had a grudge against John? Tracks 10, 14, 12, and an edited version of track 17 were included on “MARY JANE / SPICY BEATLES SONGS” (TMOQ) released in 1974. Later, tracks 13, 15, 16, and 17, which are thought to be FM recordings, were released in titles such as “ROUGH NOTES” released in 1980 and “SILVER DAYS (AIR TIME)” released in 1981, with better sound quality versions of tracks 13, 15, 16, and 17, which are thought to be FM recordings. The takes stored at the BBC have been rebroadcast many times since the 1982 special, and even been officially released. In 1988, all tracks 8 to 17 were released on the LP “THE BEATLES AT THE BEEB VOL.9” from a source thought to be an FM air check from a different source than the existing ones. Although the sound quality is slightly inferior to the masters stored at the station, it contains the chats between songs, the opening and ending title songs, which were not previously available, and each is uncut. The 2003 Yellow Dog Box included tracks 8, 9, 13, 15, and 17 replaced with the master from “The Beatles at the Beeb Vol.9,” and tracks 10, 11, 12, 14, and 16 replaced with takes from the BBC special in March 1982. The BBC archived version had short inter-song MCs, so the Yellow Dog Box included the missing MCs from the tape recording of “The Beatles at the Beeb Vol.9.” The 1994 “Live at the BBC” included edited versions of tracks 10, 11, 12, 14, 16, and 17. On the official CD, the endings of the songs were faded out early, and Alan Freeman’s MCs at the end of each song were all erased. The reason why the regular recording 17 is a short version is because when cutting the LP in the 1960s, the part where the announcer calls out the names of the performers other than the Beatles in the bridge was cut off with scissors. In this work, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 16 are taken from the archive master, 8 and 9 from the Yellow Dog version, and 13, 15, and 17 from the “ROUGH NOTES” LP, and the program is reconstructed in the best compilation version ever. There are two types of archive masters of 10, 11, 12, 14, 16 and the program theme song, one from the LP sound source and one from the tape source. Of course, the one used for the regular release is probably from the tape source with its superior sound quality. The vocals of 15 and 16 are double tracked. The program theme songs of 8 and 17 use the same recording take. Saturday Club #9, April 4, 1964 Rec: March 31, 1964 Playhouse Theatre, London Producers: Jimmy Grant, Bernie Andrews Host: Brian Matthew 18. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby 19. I Call Your Name 20. I Got A Woman 21. Request Time 22. You Can’t Do That 23. Can’t Buy Me Love 24. Beatle Talk 25. Sure To Fall (In Love With You) 26. Long Tall Sally DISC Two From Us To You #3 May 18, 1964 Rec : May 1, 1964 BBC Paris Studio, London Producer : Bryant Marriott / Host : Alan Freeman 01. From Us To You – Intro Theme 02. Whit Monday To You 03. I Saw Her Standing There 04. Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! 05. I Forgot To Remember To Forget 06. Request Time 07. You Can’t Do That 08. Sure To Fall (In Love With You) 09. Can’t Buy Me Lov 10. Matchbox 11. Honey Don’t 12. From Us To You – Outro Theme Top Gear #1 July 16, 1964 Rec : July 14, 1964 Studio S2, Broadcasting House, London Producer : Bernie Andrews / Host: Brian Matthew 13. Top Gear Trailer 14. Long Tall Sally 15. Things We Said Today 16. Crinsk Dee Night 17. A Hard Day’s Night 18. And I Love Her 19. I Should Have Known Better (from LP) 20. If I Fell 21. You Can’t Do That 22. Top Gear Outro theme From Us To You #4 July 17, 1964 Rec : July 17, 1964 BBC Paris Studio, London Producer : Bryant Marriott 23. From Us To You (outtake) 24. Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! 25. Long Tall Sally 26. If I Fell 27. Boys 28. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You (backing track) 29. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You 30. I Should Have Known Better (false start) 31. I Should Have Known Better (before double tracking) 32. I Should Have Known Better 33. Things We Said Today 34. A Hard Day’s Night 35. From Us To You (complete) DISC Three From Us To You #4, August 3, 1964 Rec: July 17, 1964 BBC Paris Studio, London Producer: Bryant Marriott Host: Don Wardell 01. From Us To You – Intro Theme 02. Long Tall Sally 03. If I Fell 04. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You 05. Things We Said Today 06. I Should Have Known Better 07. Boys 08. Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! 09. It’s For You (Cilla Black) 10. A Hard Day’s Night 11. From Us To You – Outro Theme Top Gear, November 17, 1964, Recording Session Rec: November 17, 1964 Playhouse Theatre, London Producer: Bernie Andrews 12. She’s A Woman ( session) 13. I Feel Fine (false starts and breakdowns) 14. I Feel Fine (outtake) 15. I Feel Fine (false starts) 16. I Feel Fine (overdubs) 17. She’s A Woman (aborted overdub) 18. Studio Chat 19. I’ll Follow The Sun 20. End of Top Gear, November 19, 1964 21. Music From Midnight 22. Happiness (Ken Barrie & The Barrietones) 23. I’m Gonna Be Strong (Gene Pitney) 24. Tied Up With Mary (Patsy Ann Noble) Top Gear #1, November 26, 1964 Record: November 17, 1964 Playhouse Theatre, London Producer: Bernie Andrews Host: Brian Matthew 25. I’m A Loser 26. Riding On A Bus 27. Honey Don’ t 28. She’s A Woman 29. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby 30. I’ll Follow The Sun 31. Beatle Talk 32. I Feel Fine 1964 2nd and final appearance on Top Gear on November 26th. 1964 To promote their new album “BEATLES FOR SALE” which would be released in December, they performed four songs from the album as well as sides A and B of their latest single at the time. 29 and 30 debuted on the 1978 release “DEC. 63” with a false credit to be from the 1965 Polls Winners Show at the Hammersmith Odeon, with cheers overdubbed for a live recording. Before that, you can hear George’s MC of “Thank You”, but this is from a Vancouver performance in the summer of 1964. The sound quality is not good. 25, 28, 29, and 32 are high on “BROADCASTS” released in 1980. It was recorded from the transcription disc of “TOP OF THE POPS”. In the special program “THE BEATLES AT THE BEEB” in March 1982, 25, 28, 29, and 32 were also recorded. It was aired from the transcription disc of “TOP OF THE POPS.” The edited version of No. 27 and No. 30 were aired on the extended version of “THE BEATLES AT THE BEEB” in late 1982. The performance on Top Gear was repurposed for “TOP OF THE POPS” and edited, and the master tape was disposed of. Since the recordings were stored in a warehouse, no good quality recordings of the original form are extant. Ringo’s “Honey Don’t” was repurposed into a shortened version with the second guitar solo cut out. Also, in the original broadcast, the announcements for “I’m A Loser,” “She’s A Woman,” and “I Feel Fine” do not overlap until the end of the fade-out, but in the “TOP OF THE POPS” version, they are announced quite early. An announcement comes in. During the ending of “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby,” a noise like shoes clattering on the studio floor can be heard, which was not present in the original broadcast. (This sound was completely erased by digital processing in the 2013 remaster of “LIVE AT THE BBC.”) The Beatles and Brian Matthews’ talk was also chopped up pretty badly in “TOP OF THE POPS.” With the release of “LIVE AT THE BBC” and “ON AIR – LIVE AT THE BBC VOL.2”, it is now easy to listen to all the songs performed on the show. The LP “THE BEATLES AT THE BEEB VOL.12” was released on tape recorded from the original broadcast on AM radio, but the sound quality was poor, with crackling and other reception noises throughout, and the recording speed of the tape was also quite slow. However, the full version of “Honey Don’t” and “I’m A Loser,” which has a longer fade-out than the “TOP OF THE POPS” version, are only included on this album. Also, this recording includes a little E chord played by George to get the pitch right before “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby”. This compilation album includes the special program at the end of 1982, the 1994 “LIVE AT THE BBC,” the 1995 single “BABY IT’S YOU,” and “THE BEATLES AT THE BEEB VOL.12.” The album includes the transcription disc of “TOP OF THE POPS”, the 2013 remastered version, and the audio from “THE BEATLES AT THE BEEB VOL.12”, as well as a new version that fills in the missing parts of the talk. The vocals on tracks 25 and 32 are double-tracked. Paul’s vocals and George’s lead guitar on the bridge of track 28 are also double-tracked. Yellow Dog Box is attempting to restore Ringo’s “Honey Don’t” to its original length by editing the version on the “Top of the Pops” transcription disc and the AM recording. However, there was an editing error in which the first George interlude and Ringo’s vocal verse 3 of the “TOP OF THE POPS” sound source and the AM sound source were repeated twice, and the playing time, which was originally 2 minutes 53 seconds, was shortened. The original version was extended to 3 minutes and 58 seconds, with the same performance overlapping for over a minute. (The official release of this song on “ON AIR – LIVE AT THE BBC VOL.2” is 2 minutes 23 seconds long.) DISC Four Saturday Club #10, December 26, 1964 Rec: November 25, 1964 Studio 2, Aeolian Hall, London Producers: Jimmy Grant, Brian Willey Host: Brian Matthew 01. Saturday Club Theme 02. Rock ‘n’ Roll Music 03. Beatle Talk 04. I’m A Loser (from Top Gear #2, Oct. 26, 1964) 05. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby (from Top Gear #2, Oct. 26, 1964) 06. I Feel Fine (from Top Gear #2, Oct. 26, 1964) 07. Kansas City / Hey- Hey-Hey-Hey! 08. She’s A Woman (from Top Gear #2, Oct. 26, 1964) The Beatles (Invite You To Take A Ticket To Ride), June 7, 1965 Rec: May 26, 1965 Studio 1, BBC Piccadilly Theatre, London Producer: Keith Bateson Host: Denny Piercy 09. Ticket To Ride (short version) 10. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby 11. Stay (The Hollies) 12. I’m A Loser 13. You Know He Did (The Hollies) 14. Chug-A-Lug (The Lorne Gibson Trio) 15 . Dream Child (The Hellions) 16. Beatle Talk 17. The Night Before 18. Nitty Gritty / Something’s Got A Hold On Me (The Hollies) 19. Honey Don’t 20. Dizzy Miss Lizzy 21. I’m Alive (The Hollies) 22. That’s Why I’m Crying (The Ivy League) 23. She’s A Woman 24. Ticket To Ride Saturday Club, December 25, 1965 Rec: November 29, 1965 Studio 1, Aeolian Hall, London Producers: Jimmy Grant, Brian Willey Host: Brian Matthew 25. Saturday Club Christmas Show (speech)