Swinging Sound '63

On the evening of April 18 1963, The Beatles performed live in concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London. BBC radio decided to simulcast two songs for broadcast (the two songs in question being their latest single "Thank You Girl" and "From Me To You".
When it came time for the live broadcast, The Beatles made an artistic decision to substitute "Thank You Girl" and play "Twist and Shout" instead. The latter song was shortened by removing part of a verse in order for it to have the same approximate length as the original planned B-side. The hosts for the evening were George Melly and Rolf Harris.
Therefore, two songs: "Twist And Shout"/"From Me To You" are available for your listening pleasure on the bootleg LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume One" as well as the "Complete BBC Sessions" CD Great Dane box set.

"Side By Side" for the last time

On April 04 1963, The Beatles had a lunch time session for BBC radio. The reason for the taping was to appear on the BBC program "Side By Side". The recording of the show took place at the BBC Paris studios in London.
It was decided to perform six songs (including the show's theme song) but only five of the songs have appeared on bootleg and one song in particular has appeared on a commercial release by Apple.
The show starts with the "Side By Side" theme song and is followed by a cover tune entitled "Too Much Monkey Business" sung by John Lennon. The next song is rumoured to be the first single "Love Me Do" which alas has not been released in any form yet. The next song recorded for the show is sung by Ringo and is his to feature from the first LP: "Boys".
This is followed by a very interesting choice of material. The Beatles decided to play an original composition for broadcast on the BBC yet never properly recorded this composition for any EMI product at the time. This was very unusual. The song in question is "I'll Be On My Way" sung by Paul McCartney (who probably wrote most of it). It has a very breezy feel to it. The song was eventually given to Billy J. Kramer.
The last song to be performed for this BBC session is a version of their third single; "From Me To You". The host of this radio show was John Dunn. The performance was broadcast at the end of June 1963.
"I'll Be On My Way" has been released on various bootlegs over the years including: "Rough Notes", "The Beatles Vs. Don Ho", "Happy Birthday", "Directly From Santa Claus" and was commercially released on Apple's "Live At the BBC".
The entire show - minus "Love Me Do" can be found on the complete BBC Collection box set from Great Dane as well as the LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume One" on Beeb Transcription Records :)

A Live Performance For A New Single

On April 03 1963, The Beatles arrived at the Playhouse Theatre in London to record live in concert for the BBC radio show "Easy Beat". The main reason was to promote the newest single "From Me To You".  A tape of the performance exists on bootleg. The song is introduced by BBC host Brian Matthews along with a guest appearance of Gerry Marsden (of the Pacemakers). The intro has Mr. Matthews asking Mr. Marsden if the song will be a number one hit with Mr. Marsden repeating "I Hope So" and the quoting his own his "How Do You Do It?" which of course was a huge hit for the Pacemakers but turned down for release by The Beatles.
It's a good version of the tune. The sound is not the best, but the speed and musicianship is very good. Very much worth a listen.
This performance is available on the "Meet The Beeb" and "The Beatles At The Beeb W/Pete Best (sic)" vinly LPs as well as on The Complete BBC Sessions Great Dane box set.

One of two for "Side By Side"

The Beatles appeared at the BBC studios Piccadilly in London on April 01 1963 in order to record two radio shows for future broadcast. Both recordings were intended for the "Side By Side" show with host John Dunn and house band the Karl Denver Trio. Unfortunately, only one of the shows has turned up on bootlegs (the second broadcast in mid-May is available and the first broadcast for late April is unavailable).
The theme song is the title of the show: "Side by Side" with vocals by John, Paul and George and the backing is the Karl Denver Trio. Songs performed for the show include "Long Tall Sally" (which at this point in the Beatles' career, had not yet been recorded officially for EMI), "A Taste Of Honey", "Chains" (both from the current at-the-time LP), the B-side to their new single "Thank You Girl" and finally ; Ringo's vocal number from the current at-the-time LP "Boys".
The tunes from the show and a bit of chat can be found on the bootleg LP "The Beatles At the Beeb Volume Two" as well as on the Great Dane box set "The Beatles - The Complete BBC Sessions".

A "Saturday Club" radio performance

The Beatles were back at the BBC on March 16 1963 in order to plug the lastest music from the debut LP as well as the new single plus other covers. The location for the performance was at the BBC Broadcasting Place in London.
The "Saturday Club" performance starts with two songs from the LP : "I Saw Her Standing There" (shortened for this performance) and "Misery". This is followed by two covers originally written and recorded by Chuck Berry: "Too Much Monkey Business" and "I'm Talking About You" (both numbers sung by John Lennon). The Beatles finish up by playing their single "Please Please Me" followed by a cover version of "The Hippy Hippy Shake" sung by Paul.
All of these can be found on the Great Dane box set "The Complete BBC Sessions". The host for this radio show was Brian Matthews who conducts interviews with the band.

"Here We Go" radio performance.

The day after the recording of their thrid single, March 06 1963, The Beatles were booked to perform for the BBC radio show "Here We Go". The band performed three original compositions: "Misery", "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" and "Please Please Me". All three songs were from the upcoming "Please Please Me" LP. The first two songs would appear as covers for other artist later in the month ; Kenny Lynch covering "Misery" and Billy J. Kramer covering "Do You Want To Know A Secret?". The location of this performance is from the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester.
All three songs appear on the Great Dane label on the CD "Attack of the Fille Beebs, episode one" which uses the familiar William Stout artwork.

"From Me To You" session outtakes.

The Beatles returned to EMI studio 2 in order to record the follow up single to the previously released "Please Please Me/ Ask Me Why" 45 hit. The date was March 05 1963. The session lasted from mid afternoon and throughout most of the evening.
The single was originally to be the two songs: "Thank You Girl" as the A Side and "From Me To You" (a recent composition) as the B side. This was switched around after the arrangement for "From Me To You" was improved on.
The outtakes for "From Me To You" include the first four takes with the arrangement pre guitar solo. The remaining takes ( 5,6,7 and 8) include the middle solo. The song gets as far as take eight which would be used as the basic track for the commercial release. Six edit pieces are also available on bootleg featuring the harmonica overdub as well as vocal overdubs.
The outtakes for "Thank You Girl" feature six takes at the attempt of a basic track with the final take six being used for the commercial release. An edit piece for the ending of the song is attempted as well. The Beatles perform the edit piece from takes seven to thirteen (this edit piece is the one used on the commercial single).
Once both songs were completed, The Beatles turned their attention to a third song: "One After 909". there are no complete takes of the song. Four takes of the song feature breakdowns and take five is basically an edit piece of the ending. Most of the "complete" versions of this song are an edit of takes four and five made in 1976 and the same two takes edited in different spots in 1984 by Geoff Emerick. This version can be found on both the "Sessions" LP as well as the "Anthology 1" commercial release. The entire session can be heard on Vigotone's "March 5 1963 Plus the Decca Tape".