Saturday, August 16, 2014

Saturday Club For the Last Time In 1964

On November 25 1964, The Beatles recorded a couple of songs for the upcoming "Saturday Club" radio show in order to promo the new LP and single for the approaching holiday season. The radio show would be aired a month later on Boxing Day of the year (December 26 1964).
There seems to be a bit of confusion linked to this show. There were only two new performances aired for the show and the rest of the tunes had been previously aired on "Top Gear". Since records show that the Beatles were indeed present for the recording of a radio show in November at Studio Two, Aeolian Hall in London, the question becomes why did they not record an entire show?
The show starts with an intro with Ringo who in turn introduces "The Beatles" to much laughter and then the tape is edited to feature a performance of the Chuck Berry cover "Rock And Roll Music" sung by John and from the latest LP (Beatles For Sale). After a long intro which talks about visiting other countries such as America and Australia and the second film to be produced in the next year, the show features the original Lennon/composition "I'm A Loser" which is from the previous "Top Gear" radio show (see former post). The next song we hear is also from the previous "Top Gear" radio show which is a cover of Carl Perkin's "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" which is sung by George and is also from the "For Sale" LP.
After wishing everyone holiday greetings by the band, the A-side of the new single is featured; the Lennon/McCartney original "I Feel Fine" is played which is also from the previous "Top Gear" show. The Beatles launch into another cover from the "For Sale" LP, mainly Little Richard's "Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey Hey" sung by none other than Paul. The show ends with a performance of the B-side of the current single; another Lennon/McCartney original which features Paul's voice "She's A Woman" and the final re-broadcast from the "Top Gear" show.
All of these numbers can be found on the bootleg LP "Beatles At the Beeb, Volumer Twelve" as well as on the Great Dane Complete BBC Sessions box set (CD 9).
Commercially, you can find the performance of "Rock And Roll Music" on the Apple 2-CD/ 2-LP "Live At the BBC" (3-LP if it's the remastered version.). "Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey Hey" can also be found commercially on the Apple 2-CD/3-LP "On Air - Live At the BBC Volume 2".

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