Thursday, October 25, 2012

"Pop Go The Beatles" Second Episode

Although it looks like we are going backwards in time, we are actually going forwards. I am presenting the BBC radio show as of the dates they were recorded and not actually the dates in which they were aired. Therefore, we travel to June 01 1963 and note that the second session for the BBC on this day was aired before the earlier reocrding session for the BBC made previously on the same date. I hope you're not confused.
The recording took place in the mid afternoon.  This particular show would be aired on June 11 1963 during the dinner hour ( 5:00PM). The show was recorded at the BBC Paris Studio in London.
The host is once again Lee Peters. The tunes for this show are available on bootleg: the first one being a cover version of "Too Much Monkey Business" with John on vocal. Another cover follows with the song "I've Got To Find My Baby" also sung by John. The third tune to be performed by the Beatles is a cover version of "Youngblood" with shared vocals. All three of these cover tunes would not be recorded nor released as any official EMI release during the 1960s.
As the show progresses, three songs from the first LP are promoted via the BBC performance, the first one being Paul's cover of "Till There Was You", John's cover of "Baby It's You" and the only original composition that exists for this show: the first single "Love Me Do"
Parts of this show appeared on the vinyl LP bootlegs "Youngblood" (which featured the title track) and "Beautiful Dreamer". Another better version can be heard on the LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume Two". On CD, you can find the show on "The Complete BBC Sessions" on the second disc (June 1963).
In 1994: "I've Got To Find My Baby" , "Youngblood" and "Baby It's You" were officially released via Apple on the "Live At The BBC" 2-LP/2-CD set. The following year, "Baby It's You" was the title for the Apple single/CD single.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

"Pop Go The Beatles" Third Episode

If you are following my posts in chronological order, you may be asking yourself if I skipped a show. Since I am going by what was "recorded" before what was actually "aired" for the BBC, this is the way it was done:
June 01 1963 was an extremely busy day for the Beatles. It was decided that not one but two shows for the upcoming "Pop Go The Beatles" series be recorded at BBC Paris Studios in one day. This is why the first one recorded was taped in the morning and into the early afternoon. It just so happened that the morning recorded ended up being the third episode aired. The afternoon recording which ended up being the second episode aired will be discussed in the next post. (Whew) !!
Although the two episodes were recorded in one day, the host remained the same; both were hosted by Lee Peters. This particular recording would be aired on the BBC on June 18 1963 which happens to be Paul's 21st birthday.
The first song to be performed (apart from the main theme) is "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues", a cover sung by John and never officially recorded for EMI. The next song to be performed is another cover that was never officially recorded for EMI and once again sung by John: "Memphis, Tennessee". The Beatles stop to give a short rendition of "Happy Birthday" for Paul and then launch into "Till There Was You" from the first LP and sung by Paul. The next song is a cover of George's hero Carl Perkins entitled "Sure To Fall" which is oddly sung by Paul. The Beatles (as a group) did not record this tune for EMI although Ringo officially released a version of the song during his solo career. The Beatles perform another cover entitled "Money (That's What I Want)" sung by John and this tune would be released later in the year for the second LP "With The Beatles". Lastly, the current single is promoted with a performance of "From Me To You".
The songs from this episode are scattered during the early vinyl bootleg days on such titles as "Wonderful Picture Of You", "Youngblood" and "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume Three". On CD, "The Complete BBC Sessions" also contains tunes from this episode.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

The first "Pop Go The Beatles" on BBC

And so the radio blitz continues: I'm always amazed at how much work the Beatles were doing in the year of 1963. Another example: after performing at the Playhouse Theatre, three days later on May 24 1963. The Beatles appear at the Aeolian Hall in London to perform for the first of many BBC inspired shows this time aimed specifically for the group: "Pop Go The Beatles".
On this particular date the following songs were performed and recorded and eventually aired on June 04 1963 around the supper time. The first song being a cover and sung by George: "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby"; eventually recorded as the last tune on the "Beatles For Sale" LP in October 1964. The current single was also performed "From Me To You" but is unavailable as of this writing. The next song to be played is from the current LP at the time: "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" which is the second George lead vocal from this show. Next up is the song "You Really Got A Hold On Me" which would be on the forthcoming "With The Beatles" LP releasesd 5 months after this show. Next is another song from the current LP "Misery" with vocals shared between John and Paul. Lastly, a cover version that was never commercially released on EMI "The Hippy Hippy Shake" with vocal from Paul.
At the beginning and end of the show is the theme song "Pop Go The Beatles". There are two versions of the theme song that show up on bootlegs. The shorter intro and the longer outtro both bookend the performances that are heard.
This show can be heard on "The Beatles At the Beeb, Volume two" on LP as well as the usual Great Dane BBC complete Sessions box set on CD.

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Steppin' Out At The Playhouse

On the same day as the previous post, May 21 1963, The Beatles performed live in front of an audience at the Playhouse Theatre in London. I suppose all of their equipment was left at the theatre for the afternoon since the "Saturday Club" recording was done in the morning and this performance was later in the evening.
The live set was broadcast on the BBD on a show entitled "Steppin' Out" and the Beatles were introduced by a BBC lad named Diz Disley (LOL). Anyway, some of the songs performed that evening included "Twist and Shout", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Thank You Girl", "From Me To You", "Please Please Me" and "I Saw Her Standing There".
Only the last two songs are available for your listening pleasure on bootleg: the vinyl LP version being the Transcription series "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume One" and on CD as "The Complete BBC Sessions" box set as the last two songs on CD 1.