The Beatles - Live at the BBC

The surviving members of the Fab Four spent much of the 1990s belatedly reuniting to document, promote, and occasionally awkwardly burnish their unparalleled pop music legacy. This double-disc anthology of live-in-the-studio performances originally recorded specifically for the BBC during the most frantic years of early Beatlemania was the first chapter in that effort and the first issuance of previously unreleased Beatles recordings since the late '70s. In many ways, it remains the most artistically revealing. Capturing them at their early '60s live-performance peak, these recordings pay homage to both the band's eclectic musical influences (including Chuck Berry, Phil Spector, Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Larry Williams, the Coasters, and the Shirelles), and to the enthusiastic and generous sense of musical discovery and the pop proselytizing that accompanied them. A number of the Fabs' own '62-'65 singles and album tracks are also featured, but they mostly take a back seat to the generous collection of previously unreleased cover songs included here. The band's brisk, often irreverent sense of humor also comes to fore in the intros, interviews, and between-song banter. An indispensable part of any true Beatlemaniac's collection and a superb introduction to the roots of a musical legend. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

If You Like The Beatles

If you love The Beatles this is a must have for your Beatles collection. The quality of the recording is very good. I recommend purchasing the CD set! June 24, 2008

BBC recordings 1962-1965

This is a collection of Beatles songs on BBC radio between 1962-1965. It includes self composed songs and classic numbers performed by the Beatles. These are LIVE radio tracks, only one or two songs are live in concert. There are funny speeches and jokes as well. This CD was out of print for sometime but has been back in print since I bought it in June 2001. This is a must for any Beatles fan. March 7, 2008

Live at the BBC rocks!

The two Live at the BBC CDs contain live radio broadcasts of The Beatles from March 1962-June 1965. They answer a question a lot of us were asking then: "Where did these guys suddenly come from?!?" The answer we had before this release were a glossy public relations product. "They are John-Paul-George-Ringo... They are Lennon-McCartney...They are true originals!!" So we were told. The real truth revealed in these live recordings of the early Beatles is that, musically, the Beatles came from the USA by way of movies and mid-50's to mid-60's records from Memphis, New Orleans, Detroit, New Jersey, New York and more, and became a rocking club dance band by getting the people up on their feet and keeping them up. In short, they rocked, and here are 69 recorded tracks of proof, dating from the days when they played every night in small dance venues. If you are in a hurry, remember, Live at the BBC rocks!


Did I mention they were funny? Although I'm from Memphis, home of the blues, rockabilly and Elvis, I've been a Beatles fan since I was fifteen. In December of 1963 I got my first guitar for Christmas expecting to play folk music. But wait! After Christmas, Memphis pop music radio suddenly began to be full of hip, wry and joyfully energetic Beatle songs. They sang about life as a teenager, our life, in such a way that we "got it": "And when I touch you I feel happy inside, It's such a feeling that my love, I can't hide, I can't hide, I can't hide."; "And now it's up to you, I think it's only fair...Pride can hurt you, too...apologize to her; because she loves you, and you know that can't be bad...you know you should be glad!" They were serious, or at least real, and, they were funny. "She was just seventeen. You know what I mean."

The humor of British comedy movies some of us had seen at the local foreign film theaters found its way into my high school with the Beatles. We did not know, at the time, that their mentor in the recording studio was also Peter Sellers comedy record producer. They were so new to our ears and eyes that we knew nothing but the laugh-out-loud truthful songs and the playful, hip attitude we immediately recognized as cool: our cool... `60's cool. By early 1964 they monopolized the top of the American pop charts.

As revealed in Live at the BBC most performance material was apparently chosen based on their experience of the strength of the song with a live dance crowd rather than its place on the charts. I suspect much of what they played, they had rarely, if ever, heard on the radio, even Radio Luxembourg. This was because at that time, under agreements with the musician's union, English radio was allowed very little "needle time" to play recorded music. This, by the way, is why the routine about playing "Hard Day's Night" live was done over the end of the record's playback. These CDs have a lot of songs on them that were probably really new music, a turn-on for The Beatles' radio audience. Other songs seem to be personal favorites of the individual group members, whose taste is revealed in a way that later recordings of their original music homogenizes and conceals, especially George, who sings more lead and comes off funnier and more personable in this release than their records.

In these recordings we find that The Beatles were clearly Elvis fans, and part of the Elvis generation of musicians, just as I am part of The Beatles' generation. On this release, they do a spot on cover of Elvis "That's All Right Mama", both vocally and instrumentally. Paul really can sound like the early Sun Records rockabilly Elvis, and George could play like a Tennessean. For you younger fans, I am not talking "Suspicious Minds" Elvis here, I mean the Louisiana Hayride Elvis. The Elvis I saw when I was six years old, playing a set in a parking lot in Memphis for the original grand opening of Mrs. Jacobs' Fawn Laundry-Cleaners at the corner of Alcy Rd. and Bellevue Boulevard (now known in memoriam as _Elvis_Presley_ Boulevard). They also have other Elvis material, "I've Got a Woman" and "I Forgot to Remember to Forget".

They each had their own taste and vocal specialties. Paul sang high ranging Elvis and Little Richard, and smooth vocals like Peggy Lee's hit "Till There Was You". George and John loved rockabilly like Carl Perkins and Dorsey Burnett. John loved Chuck Berry rock, and well-written songs by several writers on an apparently song-by-song basis. George had a slightly skewed, zany, humorous taste in songs, including The Coasters "Youngblood" and the crazier rockabilly, like Carl Perkins' "Glad All Over". He clearly had a style, but at that time, expressed through covers.

They clearly had not only favorite artists, but also favorite writers, like Jerry Leiber-Mike Stoller and Gerry Goffin-Carole King (who are about the same age as the Beatles and have been mentioned by John in interviews as role models for Paul and him). Many more favorites are revealed on these 2 CDs. I have really enjoyed The Beatles' Live at the BBC. In fact it's ripped and hanging around my neck, stuck in my ears right now. Did I say that there are 69 tracks?! What are you waiting for? Stop reading this and order! You can be listening tomorrow!

Live at the BBC rocks!


John Evans of THE BOX TOPS
February 29, 2008

Beatles Live at BBC

Excellent addition to my Beatles collection. I would recommend it to anyone, whether a Beatles fan or not. Good variety of music. Shows the versatility of the Beatles and their music. January 7, 2008

Had misgivings but this is entertaining...

As a Beatles fan of many years, I wondered about this collection and had lots of questions. Sound quality? Turns out it isn't too bad, overall, and is better than I thought it would be. Would it be songs and lots of chatter, or less chatter? Turns out that the CD is 99% songs, with really very little chatter. This CD shows how the Beatles, in their early years anyway, were real chameleons. They covered any song that struck their fancy, be it country, rock and roll, or whatever. They were just getting started, really, as songwriters. At this stage in the game they were apparently HIGHLY imitative. Many of the songs they covered were, word for word, note for note, sigh for sigh, total copies of the originals. One real nice surprise is the number of songs sung by George in those days. His voice was really pleasant, and had some bottom to it instead of the thin reedy voice we were often treated to in later recordings. Bottom line is...if you are a Beatles fan, this CD is for you. December 7, 2007

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