On July 19 1964, The Beatles performed live on stage for television. The performance took place at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool, England. The title of the television show was "Blackpool Night Out". This was another opportunity for the band to promote their latest LP, single and film "A Hard Day's Night".
The show starts off with a comedy sketch featuring The Beatles, Bernie and Mike Winters. Something about Ringo being a patient in a hospital (ironically) and the Winters act as surgeons. I 've never heard the sketch, so I can't really tell you much about it.
The show - as far as I know - does not exist on tape of any other visual form but it does exist as an audio recording. There are various bootlegs of the show as well as a link to "youtube" which I have kindly provided below for your entertainment. You can find the recording on the bootleg CDs: "Holly Bowl Complete (sic)" as well as the box set "Mythology, Vol. 2" and "Blackpool Night Out '64 - upgraded".
The songs performed during the show include four of five songs from the soundtrack LP to "A Hard Day's Night" as well as the title song from the EP "Long Tall Sally" (in the U.K.). The songs are: "A Hard Day's Night", "Things We Said Today" (the A and B sides of the UK single); "Things We Said Today", "You Can't Do That", "If I Fell" and "Long Tall Sally".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tWMtSNZn7w
Saturday, March 22, 2014
Saturday, March 15, 2014
"From Us To You" For The Fourth and Final Time

Starting with the rehearsal tape, this can be found on the 10 inch vinyl record entitled "From Us To You, A Parlophone (sic) Rehearsal Session". The record contains two versions of "From Us to You" (the theme song), "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey", "Long Tall Sally", "If I Fell", "Boys", two takes of "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" with George Harrison overdubbing vocals on the second version, three takes of "I Should Have Known Better" with a false start, harmonica and vocals overdubbed, "Things We Said Today" and "A Hard Day's Night". My copy is a green wax copy on an unknown blank label.
The actual broadcast featured all of the above tunes and the host was Don Wardell. The show starts with the theme song "From Us To You" with the introduction, a bit of Happy Bank Holiday wishes and the second tune performed is "Long Tall Sally" from the Beatles' new EP in the UK and the title song. Next up is a tune from the first movie soundtrack LP; a nice version of "If I Fell" with John and Paul harmonizing throughout. Three more songs from the first movie soundtrack LP are also performed: "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You" featuring the great George Harrison on vocals; Paul McCartney's haunting composition "Things We Said Today" is then performed after his own introduction, and we have John's turn with "I Should Have Known Better". Ringo also gets his turn on vocals with a performance of "Boys" from the first LP in the UK and the first Vee-Jay LP in the United States. A cover tune is played as well; an early rendition of Little Richard's "Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey Hey" with Paul on vocals. This song would eventually be released at the end of 1964 for the Beatles' fourth LP on Parlophone. The Beatles finish up this show with the title from the film, the single and the LP title "A Hard Day's Night" and then the theme is once again played as an outro and the credits are read out as narration by John Lennon.
The show (as broadcast) is available on the vinyl bootleg LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume Eleven" as well as being available on the Great Dane box set "The Complete BBC Sessions" on disc 08. The box set also contains highlights from the rehearsal session. As far as I can see, nothing from this session has been released commercially.
Saturday, March 8, 2014
Top Gear BBC Light Programme
On July 14, 1964 The Beatles assembled to Studio S2, Broadcasting House, London in order to record a radio show for the BBC. This show being entitled "Top Gear".The show would be broadcast to the UK two days later on July 16, 1964.
The main focus for this show as the New LP (at the time) "A Hard Day's Night" as well as the new EP "Long Tall Sally". Both were promoted for this broadcast. It's interesting to note that one of the songs is the commercial version and one of the songs has the commercial instrumental break edited in.
The show starts with version of the Little Richard cover: "Long Tall Sally" sung by Paul. The next number performed was the B-side of the latest single (in the UK); the original Lennon/McCartney "Things We Said Today" once again with Paul on vocals. The next song performed is the title track of the movie/ the LP/ and the A-side of the latest single "A Hard Day's Night" with both John and Paul sharing vocals on this one. The middle instrumental is the commercial version edited in. The ballad from the film is also undertaken for this broadcast; the original Lennon/McCartney acoustic "And I Love Her" sung and written mainly by Paul.
The show continues with the commercially released version of "I Should Have Known Better". Next up is another ballad from the film, this time it is "If I Fell" sung by both John and Paul in harmony and written mainly by John. The show ends with the B-side of the previous single as well as being on the soundtrack LP "You Can't Do That" sung and mainly written by John.
The show can be heard on the following discs: A copy of "The Beatles At The Beeb" radio show has "Long Tall Sally", "Things We Said Today", "A Hard Day's Night" and "And I Love Her". The entire show can be found on the bootleg vinyl LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume Eleven". The Great Dane box set "The Complete BBC Sessions" contains the show as well on CD (number 08).
"Things We Said Today" and "A Hard Day's Night" were commercially released on the 2-LP/2-CD Apple "Live At the BBC". "Long Tall Sally", "And I Love Her", "If I Fell" and "You Can't Do That" were also released commercially on the 3-LP/2-CD Apple "On Air - Live At the BBC Volume 2".
The main focus for this show as the New LP (at the time) "A Hard Day's Night" as well as the new EP "Long Tall Sally". Both were promoted for this broadcast. It's interesting to note that one of the songs is the commercial version and one of the songs has the commercial instrumental break edited in.
The show starts with version of the Little Richard cover: "Long Tall Sally" sung by Paul. The next number performed was the B-side of the latest single (in the UK); the original Lennon/McCartney "Things We Said Today" once again with Paul on vocals. The next song performed is the title track of the movie/ the LP/ and the A-side of the latest single "A Hard Day's Night" with both John and Paul sharing vocals on this one. The middle instrumental is the commercial version edited in. The ballad from the film is also undertaken for this broadcast; the original Lennon/McCartney acoustic "And I Love Her" sung and written mainly by Paul.
The show continues with the commercially released version of "I Should Have Known Better". Next up is another ballad from the film, this time it is "If I Fell" sung by both John and Paul in harmony and written mainly by John. The show ends with the B-side of the previous single as well as being on the soundtrack LP "You Can't Do That" sung and mainly written by John.
The show can be heard on the following discs: A copy of "The Beatles At The Beeb" radio show has "Long Tall Sally", "Things We Said Today", "A Hard Day's Night" and "And I Love Her". The entire show can be found on the bootleg vinyl LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume Eleven". The Great Dane box set "The Complete BBC Sessions" contains the show as well on CD (number 08).
"Things We Said Today" and "A Hard Day's Night" were commercially released on the 2-LP/2-CD Apple "Live At the BBC". "Long Tall Sally", "And I Love Her", "If I Fell" and "You Can't Do That" were also released commercially on the 3-LP/2-CD Apple "On Air - Live At the BBC Volume 2".
Saturday, March 1, 2014
"It's For You" Recording Session.

The recording took place at EMI studios, Abbey Road, St. John's Wood, London in the large Studio 1. The song was written by Lennon-McCartney (mainly by Paul) and Paul contributes some piano playing for the song as well.
It was released as a single in the UK and the US but was not a hit in the sense that it reached the lower rungs in the US (#79) but became a top ten hit in the UK (#8). It was also commercially released in the UK as the title track of an EP. It a good song although I've personally never liked Cilla's voice because her tone reminds me a bit of Ethel Merman !!
I've added a "youtube" recording of the song below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNgiZsg4z_k
Saturday, February 22, 2014
The Beatles Live In Melbourne (Evening Show)

The line up of hits performed on that evening are similar to the afte
rnoon show (still no vocal showcase for Ringo). This includes "I Saw Her Standing There"/ "You Cant' Do That"/ "All My Loving"/ "She Loves You"/ "Till There Was You"/ "Roll Over Beethoven"/ "Can't Buy Me Love"/ "This Boy""/ "Twist And Shout" and "Long Tall Sally". The show was eventually broadcast on television July 01 1964 on TCN Channel 09.
The audio portion of the concert can be heard on various bootlegs including the LP "Tour Years 1963-1966" as well as the "Candlestick Park/ Beatles Sing For Shell" vinyl LP. The audio can also be found on the bootleg CD "Live In Melbourne 1964 and Paris 1965" as well as the CD "All The Best From Australia".
I've included an edited version of the broadcast from the youtube channel below for your amusement.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntyajiPZV9k
Saturday, February 8, 2014
The Beatles Live In Melbourne (Afternoon show)

The tape for this afternoon show has been edited and fragments of the show have been released in various forms over the years. Ringo Starr is back on drums but due to his throat problems he does not sing. Jimmy Nicol has left the scene and basically vanished from this point on.
The songs performed are as follows: "I Saw Her Standing There", "You Can't Do That", "All My Loving", "She Loves You", "Till There was You", "Roll Over Beethoven", "Can't Buy Me Love", "This Boy" and "Twist And Shout" ("Long Tall Sally" is missing).
This show can be found on the bootleg album "Live In Melbourne, Autralia 7/16/64 (sic)" as well as the bootleg CD "All The Best From Australia" and "Australian Tour 1964".
Sunday, February 2, 2014
The Beatles Live in Adelaide

They start off with "I Saw Her Standing There" from the first LP, "I Want To Hold Your Hand" which is the fifth single, "All My Loving" from the second LP, "She Loves You" which is the fourth single, "Till There Was You" also from the second LP, "Roll over Beethoven" featuring George on vocal, the current single at the time being "Cant' Buy Me Love", the B-side to the fifth single "This Boy", they conclude with two Rock and Roll covers: "Twist and Shout" and Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally".
The best way to hear this performance is on the bootleg LP and CD with the title: "300,000 Beatle Fans Can't Be Wrong".
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