Move over, Ms L!

Hi all, wondering why you are looking at this jumbled up page? This is due to the fact that Facebook didn't like our url since it starts with wog, so we have been forced to move the blog. This was some time ago, and we have placed a script which would automatically send you to our new location. Obviously, this hasn't worked for all of you, since we have just finished moderating some of your comments which appeared on this site recently, and not on our new (and improved!) site. So what we're saying is head on over to our new site, and update your bookmarks!

Thursday 30 April 2015

HMC back on track

The new TMOQ Gazettes are finally coming
Looks like the underground HMC bootleg company has overcome its problems, we have been told that the first copies of their new TMOQ gazette releases have been shipped. The most eagerly awaited of these (by us, anyway), is TMOQ Gazette no. 19, "The Long and Winding Road", which gives us the Beatles documentary that Neil Aspinall put together. It would be shelved for decades, and eventually reworked into the multipart series "The Beatles Anthology" in the mid nineties, now here's a chance to see what it looked like in 1972. The track list of the documentary gives us an idea:

It all starts with an intro taken from the Yellow Submarine film, so it's probably "Pepperland.." etc. Nice opening. Then we go back to the Cavern Club for "Some Other Guy", the Hamburg era is skipped, Ringo is already in the group and Neil's friend Pete Best doesn't seem to be in the picture at all. Next up is "Please Please Me", it'll be interesting to see what the footage may be. You'll notice that the first single, "Love Me Do" is not here. In between interviews, there's some footage of "From Me To You" before we go to Manchester for the colour film of "She Loves You".

So that's the British Beatlemania done with and we skip Sweden and Paris, going straight to the Ed Sullivan Show for the hit that fuelled American Beatlemania, "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
What puzzles me next is that we then skip the first two Beatles films, "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!", moving forward to the performance of "Yesterday" from Blackpool Night Out.
Moving swiftly on, we get a medley of songs. This could be a way of summing up the two films, or it could just be the hits medley from Around The Beatles?

Then it's off to Shea Stadium, first for the token Ringo song "Act Naturally" (probably still with the record as a soundtrack) and then the grand finale with John going mental on "I'm Down". Various interviews follow, and could be a means to sum up "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" before we go straight to 1967 and the "Strawberry Fields Forever" promo film, hopefully not with the intercut footage from home movies that were inserted into the "Anthology" presentation of this film. "A Day In The Life" is the collage film we all know, that was recently featured on The Beatles' YouTube channel, before we are promised some new footage of "All You Need Is Love". You'll recall that "Anthology" used the "Our World" footage, but had it colourised. "Hello Goodbye" is a mix of the three promo clips, which is the same approach taken by "Anthology", but likely to be executed differently.

Whereas the "A Hard Day's Night" and "Help!" films were thinly if at all represented, we get three songs from Magical Mystery Tour: George's "Blue Jay Way", John's "I Am The Walrus" and Paul's "Your Mother Should Know".

No "Lady Madonna" or India footage mentioned, we go to a rehearsal of "Hey Jude", or more likely, the reenactment rehearsal filmed for Music! - An Experiment in Television, followed by an interview.

The White Album seems to be missing in action, as we now move fast forward to January 1969 for some outtakes from Let It Be, interestingly "You Win Again", "Yoko's bit" (could be more of what we saw in the 1984 "Yoko Ono Then and Now" video cassette) and "I've Got A Feeling".

It ends with the final promo film, "Something", followed by possibly "The End" from Abbey Road, set to, curiously,  Magical Mystery Tour film footage, replaced by film footage from the Beatles' final photo session in Tittenhurst Park for the "Anthology" version of the documentary.

You'll remember that The Beatles' all used to have copies of this film, which they entertained their guests with. George Harrison is said to have shown the film to Eric Idle for inspiration, as he was about to produce the mockumentary "All You Need Is Cash" with the fictional Rutles group.

Bonus tracks:
Rain (full colour, alternate footage)
Strawberry Fields Forever (full colour, alternate footage)
A Day In The Life (full colour, alternate footage)
Paperback Writer (Black and white promotional film #4)

Of the bonus films, the three first ones are sourced from silent films, the HMC company has added alternate sound to them.

This is a 1DVD/1CD package, but the CD seems to be of just familiar material.

The Ultimate Ed Sullivan DVD Collection
The vol. 20 Gazette is a 2 DVD set, titled "The Ultimate Ed Sullivan DVD Collection".  Unlike the officially released set from Sofa Productions, we concentrate on the Beatles' bits, and it's also going to include the rehearsal for the 16 February 1964 show, a rehearsal of the 1965 show, including an alternate version of "Help!", as well as the 1966 show (introduced by the Beatles in England, colour promo clips of "Rain" and "Paperback Writer" were shown), and the 1967 show, which was just one of the "Hello Goodbye" clips. The set promises upgraded remastered sound, plus the complete Miami 64 show with original commercials in a much higher quality than a recent download copy had.

Last year, HMC gave us TMOQ Gazette Vol. 18, which was Ron Furmanek's restored and remastered "The Beatles at Shea Stadium" from the early nineties, still the best incarnation of that film, while waiting for the official release.

The TMOQ Gazette discography:

2012:
TMOQ Gazette 1: HMC13. The Beatles - Get Back Continued (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 2: HMC14. The Beatles - Uncovered 45 Tracks (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 3: HMC15. John Lennon - Oddities (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 4: HMC16. The Beatles - Rehearsals At 3 Savile Row (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 4: HMC17. Paul McCartney - Des Moines 10-27-2005 (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 6: HMC18. Paul McCartney USA Live! 2002 (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 7: HMC19. George Harrison - Georgeous (2CD)

2013:
TMOQ Gazette 8: HMC20. Paul McCartney - Tug Of Peace (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 9: HMC21. The Beatles - Aunties Fantasy (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 10: HMC22. The Beatles - A Doll’s House (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 11: HMC23. John Lennon - Oddities Vol.2 (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 12: HMC24. The Beatles - We Are The Eggmen (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 13: HMC25. George Harrison - Last Live Show (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 14: HMC26. Paul McCartney - V.S.O.P.  Very Superior Old Paul (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 15: HMC27. The Beatles - Take It Off (2CD)

2014:
TMOQ Gazette 16: HMC28. John Lennon - Oddities Vol.3 (2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 17: HMC29. Paul McCartney - Denver 11-1-2005 (Soundboard 2CD)
TMOQ Gazette 18: HMC30. The Beatles - Shea (1DVD/1CD)

2015:
TMOQ Gazette 19: HMC31. The Beatles - The Long And Winding Road (1DVD/1CD)
TMOQ Gazette 20: HMC32. The Beatles - The Ultimate Ed Sullivan DVD Collection (2 DVDs)

Back in 2008, HMC was also the company responsible for the release of "Revolution Take... Your Knickers Off!" (HMC 006), which gave us that fantastic 11:32 version of Revolution #1, among other things.

Wednesday 29 April 2015

Another Girl live!

The uncredited actress who embodied "Another Girl" in the film.
Paul McCartney performed The Beatles song "Another Girl" at Japan's Budokan Hall in Tokyo on Tuesday. That particular song appeared on The Beatles' 1965 album "Help!" but the group never played it live. It was also McCartney's first public performance of the song, so he probably had to go back and listen to the record to remember all the words and chords. A fan captured the performance and uploaded it to YouTube.



McCartney opted to play his Höfner bass guitar on the song live. On record, he famously also played lead guitar, 1965 being the year which saw Paul starting to really take up the guitar again for group recordings. The original recording was commited to tape in February 1965, and a music video (of sorts) was part of the "Help!" motion picture.

Still from the "music video" of "Another Girl" in "Help!"

The song was written by Paul while he and his then girlfriend Jane Asher was on holiday in Tunisia. We hope McCartney will keep the song in the set list for a while, allowing us to experience it live when the tour continues. It may not be the most profound of Beatles songs, in fact it sounds almost like a blueprint for a Monkees tune, but it sure is a catchy ditty, and Paul's distinctive lead guitar licks were most unusual for its time.

Meanwhile, Paul has been adding dates to his current tour, and he keeps hopping between Europe and USA so much during his summer stint, he may as well change the name of the tour to the "Here There and Everywhere" tour. Here's a list of upcoming concerts:

May:
02: Jamsil Olympic Stadium, Seoul, South Korea, and a break before the first of the European legs:
23: The O2, London, Great Britain
24: The O2, London (Second Night), Great Britain
27: Barclaycard Arena, Birmingham, Great Britain
28: Echo Arena, Liverpool, Great Britain

June:
05: Nouveau Stade Vélodrome, Marseille, France
07: ZiggoDome, Amsterdam, Netherlands
08: ZiggoDome, Amsterdam (Second Night), Netherlands
11: Stade de France, Paris, France. Then it's over to America:
19: Firefly Music Festival, Dover, DE, USA
21: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, PA, USA
23: John Paul Jones Arena, Charlottesville, VA, USA
25: Colonial Life Arena, Columbia, SC, USA

July, and it's back to Europe again:
04: Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark
07: Telenor Arena, Fornebu, Norway
09: Tele2 Arena, Johanneshov, Sweden, and then back to America:
31: Lollapalooza Festival, Chicago, IL, USA

Some of these dates were recently added to the tour, more may come.

Monday 27 April 2015

The stereo Star Club

The Beatles: Zu Laut! Live at the Star Club Hamburg
The same people who recently released the ultimate BBC upgrade collection now have made available a mock stereo version of The Beatles Live at The Star Club in Hamburg, Germany, 1962.
The digital stereo processing allows you to discern each instrument better than previous mono releases of the material.
The new release is a 2CD + 1DVD package with the title "The Beatles: Zu Laut! Live at the Star Club Hamburg".

Track listing of the two CDs
The DVD contains a load of 1966 interviews with Peter Eckhorn, Manfred Weissleder, Hans Walther Braun (who plays part of his tape) and Bettina the barmaid from the Star Club. For the first time, these interviews have been translated and are presented with selectable subtitles on the disc. It also has an an 80 minute slideshow with about 200 photos covering their time in Hamburg from 1960 to 1962, set to the soundtrack of the CDs, plus an onscreen transcript of what is being sung and spoken. The transcript shows up on screen by default but you can disable it if you just want to watch the pictures. Other material on the dvd includes: archival footage of the Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit, a guided tour of the Grosse Freiheit with Tony Sheridan, the 1972 Nationwide feature on the Star Club Tapes, a five minute sequence shot inside the Star Club for the tv series Hafenpolizei in 1962, footage shot inside the Top Ten and Star Club in 1966, Bruno Koschmider's films of the Bambi, Indra and Kaiserkeller; and colour footage of the Reeperbahn and Grosse Freiheit from 1959.

The CD/DVD package has been provided free of charge from the same community of Beatles fans and collectors that gave us the BBC collection. No doubt it will soon be ripped off by bootleggers. Since the Star Club recordings were made in the out-of-copyright-in-EU year of 1962, it may even be released legally in Europe.

Friday 24 April 2015

Rare Apple pressing of Delaney & Bonnie LP for sale

The rare Delaney & Bonnie record.
Parlogram Records are ebaying an excellent condition 1969 UK pressing of 'SAPCOR 7', "The Original Delaney and Bonnie" LP. This is the rarest item in the Apple catalogue. Delaney & Bonnie & Friends were a Rock/Soul Group fronted by husband & wife duo Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, and in early 1969 they signed to Elektra Records to record their second album 'Accept No Substitutes'. The album was recorded at Elektra's recording studio and on hearing pre-release tapes of the album, George Harrison offered the group a contract with Apple Records, which the group accepted despite already been contracted to Elektra.

The Apple label, side 1

Apple's plan was to release Delaney & Bonnie's second album 'Accept No Substitutes' under the title of 'Delaney & Bonnie & Friends'. Apple got as far as starting production of the album before Elektra declared Apple's contract void and the pressing was subsequently stopped. Interestingly, it was Electra who supplied Apple with the stampers/metal work which were used to press the records at EMI's Hayes factory. After Elektra had decided to make Delaney and Bonnie stick to their original contract, most of the small batch pressed at EMI's Hayes factory were destroyed and only a handful are known to survive. No covers were prepared for the Apple release and none have ever been known to exist, but this copy is housed in an original Apple Records inner sleeve, with a standard factory laminated album sleeve.

The album cover, as released by Electra

On 1 December 1969, George Harrison watched husband and wife act Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett perform at the Albert Hall in London, with Eric Clapton on guitar. The following night George joined them on stage in Bristol, for his first stage appearance since The Beatles' final concert. He came along for the remainder of the tour, playing guitar and staying in the background. They played two shows each night, in Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Liverpool and Croydon in England before going to Scandinavia. In Copenhagen they played At the Falkoner Theatre, on December 10, and one of the concerts was filmed by Danish Television that day. The tour also visited Sweden, playing December 13 in Stockholm and giving two concerts in Gothenburg the following day, Harrison still on board. These later concerts are rarely mentioned in the English/American books about George Harrison's stint with the group.

While the group was staying in Stockholm, George wrote the song "Woman Don't You Cry For Me", as evidenced by the reproduction of the original lyric sheet, the letterhead displays the name of the place they were staying in Stockholm, the Castle Hotel. The song was planned for release on "All Things Must Pass", but fell by the wayside and was resurrected for the 1976 album "33 1/3".

Several of the concerts were also recorded for possible album release - the result was 1970's album Delaney & Bonnie & Friends On Tour With Eric Clapton. Harrison was credited as "Mysterioso" on the album cover. The 40 minute long concert album was expanded in 2010 by Rhino Handmade to a four-disc deluxe reissue, with more than three hours of live recordings from the tour. The package contains the complete performance from the Royal Albert Hall, plus a composite of the next night's performances at Colston Hall in Bristol, and both the early and late shows from Fairfield Halls in Croydon. George Harrison doesn't appear on the first disc (as he was only in the audience) but does on the other three.

Although a successful live band, Delaney and Bonnie was never a commercial success on record, and they cut their last album together in 1972, the year they divorced. Delaney Bramlett died in 2008. Before he died, Mr. Bramlett gave an interview where he claimed to have written George Harrison's smash hit, "My Sweet Lord", for which he was never credited.

Barcelona!

Poster for the event
In celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of The Beatles' concert at the bullring Plaza de Toros Monumental in Barcelona, Spain, the Barcelona Beatles fans are hosting a Beatlesweekend from 26. to 28. June, 2015. The Beatles ended their 1965 European Tour here on 3 July, 1965 after having played 14 previous concerts spread over eight dates in various European countries.

Special guest for the weekend is a Beatle who was fired from the group a long time before that tour, Pete Best.

With this celebration, the arrangers are hoping to establish a tradition that becomes an annual event on the last weekend of every June, with repercussions over all Barcelona.


A trading card album of The Beatles has been published by Barcelona Beatles Weekend. The album has 32 pages and 86 stickers.

Web link: BarcelonaBeatlesWeekend.com and Facebook link.

Thanks to Josep M. Navarro for writing to us about this.

Wednesday 22 April 2015

Paul McCartney's set list from Osaka

Paul McCartney in Osaka yesterday
Yesterday Paul McCartney started the summer season of his current tour with a concert in Osaka, Japan. For those of you who are curious as to which songs he performed (and likely candidates for the rest of this summer's concerts), click below for the full set list including the soundcheck.

Tuesday 21 April 2015

Lennon vinyl boxed set - more details

Officially announced - The John Lennon vinyl 8LP boxed set "Lennon"
The official announcement regarding the upcoming 8LP vinyl boxed set of John Lennon's dtudio albums came today. Out on 8th June (9th June in USA), Lennon is the first collection of John Lennon's solo albums to be released on vinyl, and the eight LP's will also be available to buy individually from 21st August.

The Music:


  • All eight John Lennon studio albums were remastered in 2010 from the original analogue tapes by Yoko Ono and a team of engineers from Abbey Road Studios in London and Avatar Studios in New York
  • These remasters are now being released on vinyl for the very first time
  • LENNON is the first collection of John Lennon's solo albums to be released on vinyl, and the eight LPs will be released individually in August 2015.
  • Each new Vinyl Master has been cut from the 24-96 HD Digital Masters by Sean Magee at the world renowned Abbey Road Studios
  • LPs are cut on heavyweight 180g audiophile vinyl and manufactured for the world by Optimal Media in Germany


The Artwork:


  • Each of the LPs within LENNON is an authentic reproduction of its original UK pressing, faithfully replicated to the smallest detail
  • In keeping with the original album artwork:
  • Imagine contains reproductions of its two postcards, poster and inner sleeve
  • Some Time In New York City includes reproductions of its original postcard and inner sleeves
  • Walls and Bridges includes its sleeve with two fold-over flaps, an eight-page booklet and inner sleeve
  • Mind Games, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey also include faithful reproductions of their original inner sleeves (the latter even seems to sport a Polydor label like the original)
  • All brought together in an exquisite rigid slipcase box
There's also this trailer:



More info at JohnLennonMusic.com

Did Paul write the labels?

A selection of photos from labels found in the USA.
The release of the ultra limited edition of a 12" 'sweet trash' remix of Paul McCartney's "Hope For The Future" for Record Store Day has brought about a bit of confusion. From the evidence we have seen so far, it looks like it is actually Paul McCartney's own hand writing on the labels of these records as found in U.K. record shops. And yes, every label is hand written.

Record with sleeve and sticker.
On the pressings sold through USA record stores however, the labels are also hand written, but none of these appear to be in Paul's hand.

These records have all been found in U.K. record stores.
These records have all been found in USA record stores, they feature two distinctive
hand writing styles, none of these appear to be Paul's
One copy of the record found in the U.K. appears not to be in Paul's hand.
Thanks to Miguel Carrera, who has collected all this info and alerted us to this.

The Beatles on Peacock Records

A Peacock Records release
One company which seems to be thriving on the expiration of certain copyrights in Europe is Peacock Records. Here's a list of their releases of Beatles material, readily available from their website, as well as from dealers like Amazon in the U.K.

The Beatles: Broadcasting Live in the USA 1964
The Beatles: Live Coast to Coast
The Beatles: Live At Last
The Beatles: The Lost Studio Sessions
The Beatles: Greatest Hits Live On Air 1963-'64
The Beatles: The Lost Decca Tapes
The Beatles: Beatlemania Live 1962-1964
The Beatles: Rare Gems
The Beatles: P.S. I Love You - From Hamburg to Broadcasting House 1961-63
The Beatles: From Me To You

The titles are manufactured on demand onto CD-R and then shrink-wrapped. Some of the titles are also available on vinyl, some on coloured vinyl.
The Broadcasting Live in the USA 1964 title is also available as a DVD (region 0, NTSC) and contains The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show: 9th February 1964 New York, 16th February 1964 – Miami, plus a bonus documentary.
On their website, these performances have been mislabeled as 1963. Can't imagine why...

Peacock Records: Beatlemania Live 1962-1964.

Also on their website, the Surrey based company inform that "Please note due to copyright law we are unable to ship certain products to the USA, these products will be noted in the product description".

The company also maintain a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a YouTube account, where they advertise their products.

Monday 20 April 2015

eDream: The Beatles featured in a new tech thriller

A new tech-thriller novel released last week as part of Amazon’s new Kindle Press publishing division features the Beatles in a primary role.

The new novel eDream by author James Duffy focuses on the development of a new device that allows users to program their own lucid, hyper-realistic dreams each night. But use of the cutting-edge technology takes a bad turn when eDream becomes a national addiction. To make matters worse, an international regime bent on cyberterrorism works to turn the device into a lethal weapon of mass destruction.

In the story, one of the first program titles available for the system is called Rock Legend. It allows sleepers to perform as members of some of the greatest rock bands in history. One of the characters followed throughout the story is Kevin Davis, a guitarist and Beatles fanatic. He chooses the role of John Lennon in his dreams and spends his nights performing with Paul, George and Ringo, and playing a key role in some of the band’s biggest moments. The group’s first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show is especially powerful, allowing Kevin—and readers—to experience the excitement of the moment from the unique perspective of being on stage with the band before and during one of music’s defining moments.

Other Beatles scenes the character experiences as Lennon include filming A Hard Day’s Night, the ’65 Shea Stadium concert, recording sessions at Abbey Road, and other key events. Each scene provides a fascinating first-person perspective on what it would have been like to be a Beatle.
The book’s unique plot and fast-paced storytelling led Amazon administrators to select it for their Kindle Scout program, a competition where readers voted on which books they liked best. eDream received exceedingly high marks and was selected by Amazon as one of the first ten novels to launch the company’s new Kindle Press publishing arm.

eDream is the third novel by author Jim Duffy, a drummer, guitarist and avid Beatlemaniac since the mid-‘60s. “This was a fun book to write,” Duffy says. “The first thought each reader has once they understand what an eDream device can do is: What dream would I program for myself? For me, it was no contest: I’d become a Beatle. But that also led me to think that I’d have a very hard time each morning shutting down my eDream and going to work. That’s where the concept of mass public addiction came from during story development.”

The book is currently available at Amazon here: Apple Records' Amazon Store

Sunday 19 April 2015

Ringo and Paul: Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame

Paul inducted Ringo
Here's Paul McCartney's speech to Ringo when the drummer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, Saturday.

Paul inducts Ringo: amateur video footage

OK. Ringo Starr was born in Liverpool at a very early age, and he had a hard childhood. Real hard childhood, but he had a beautiful mom, Elsie, and a lovely stepdad Harry. Both of them had real big hearts, beautiful people, and they loved music. So at some point during this difficult childhood, Ringo got a drum. Ringo got a drum! And that was it. He was now a drummer.

Later on he joined a group called Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. And we saw these guys when we were out in Hamburg, we were playing out there. And Ringo was like a professional musician. We were just like, slumming around and doing stuff, but he had a beard — that's professional. He had the suit. Very professional. And he would sit at the bar drinking bourbon and seven. We'd never seen anyone like this. This was like, a grown-up musician.

Anyway, we got friendly with him, and he used to come in late night when we were playing, and he requested a couple of songs, so we got to know him. And one night our drummer then, Pete Best, wasn't available, so Ringo sat in. And I remember the moment. I mean, Pete was great, and we had a good time with him. But me, John and George, God bless 'em, were on the front line singing, and now behind us we had this guy we'd never played with before, and I remember the moment when he started to play – I think it was Ray Charles, "What'd I Say," and most of the drummers couldn't nail the drum part, it's a little bit [sings a bit of it]. It was a little difficult to do, but Ringo nailed it. Yeah — Ringo nailed it! And I remember the moment, standing there and looking at John and then looking at George, and the look on our faces was like, fuck you. What is this? And that was the moment, that was the beginning, really, of the Beatles.

Anyway, then we started this great journey for these four guys from Liverpool who were . . .we just set off on their journey. We did ballrooms and clubs around England, and we got a little work in Europe, and then we eventually came to America. And here we were, we were staying in rooms together. And I wasn't a sheltered kid, but I just had my mom and dad growing up and my brother. So I was staying in a hotel room with a strange man. This really brought us together. We lived like in each other's pockets, virtually. But it was a beautiful thing, a wonderful thing. Eventually we got on The Ed Sullivan Show, and we got really famous. It was just so beautiful. As all the other drummers say, he just is something so special. When he's playing behind you, you see these other bands, they're looking around at the drummer, like, is he going to speed up, is he going to slow down? You don't have to look with Ringo.

It's a great honor for me to be able to induce him into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland tonight!



And here's Ringo's thank you speech:

Ringo's thank you speech, amateur footage.
Thank you. I want to thank Paul for all the great things you told us…some of them are true. You know, it's a great honor to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I was doing the press and they're all saying, "Well, why did you wait so long?" It has nothing to do with me. You have to be invited. But anyway, apparently I'm invited and I love it. I also love that I got lucky that it's happening in Cleveland, and I'll tell you why. When I started playing, I was playing in skiffle bands, sort of house party bands…and you know we had a guitarist, the first band I was in was really great…I had a snare drum and Roy, the bass player had a T-chest bass with a hole in it and strings.

And so we're playing this skiffle music, playing anywhere we could. And then I joined a couple of other bands and I always wanted to play with great players and I kept moving up a little; up to the next band. Of course, I did end up with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and when I joined them, we were still a bit of a country folk band, and the guitarists in those days — this is a nice one for all you big guitarists with the big amps — we played the Cavern Club, which was a jazz club in Liverpool. And he brought a radio to plug into so we'd be electric. And we got thrown off. "Get out of here! That's not quite jazz." Anyway, we started off with a radio, the first amp we had. Things got going a lot better and we ended up playing a lot in Liverpool and around Liverpool. We never made it anywhere else, but while that was going on, I was working in a factory. After the things I've sat through tonight. Blah blah blah. I got some stories.

I was working in the factory and playing at night and every Sunday, you know we lived in England, we only had the BBC. And to madness, there was a small country in Europe called Luxembourg, very small, population of about 6…and for some reason, they had the biggest radio master. And they bought the Alan Freed Rock & Roll show. And for the first time I heard…well I have to backtrack now, wait a minute to '55…Bill Haley was my hero…he was like the first one. Elvis came in.

But anyway, I'm listening to this guy on a Sunday at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and I hear Little Richard, first time ever. I hear Jerry Lee Lewis. And heard rock and roll music, because we weren't getting a lot of that stuff in England, and it came from this very small country. So 4 o'clock every Sunday, Rory and I would go to his house and turn on the radio and Alan Freed would introduce us to so many great rockers. And when I was a teenager, once…we played Little Richard, "Shag on Down to the Union Hall," it wasn't insulting to us, it's very meaningful. We couldn't believe we could hear this guy on the radio! Shag on down to the Union Hall! That seems a good place to go!


Ringo and Paul on stage
Also, I came from a port. A lot of sailors came to and from Liverpool, would bring music from New York and all over America. They'd drink all the money; they'd sell all records.  Anyway, I started collecting a lot of records, listening to music, and ended up in this rock and roll band. With Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, we go to Germany, and that's where I met, you know, the Beatles. I met Paul, John (God Bless You), George (God Bless You). We came back to Liverpool, and there was a knock on my door. The drummer wasn't well and would I sit in? Sure. Anyway, I was living that life then, I was out of the band, and I didn't have to get up till noon. So, that was good. So I went and played a lunchtime session with George, John and Paul, and we had a great time. And then I went and showed in some clubs in Liverpool. They're not around now. I'm sort of part of their downfall. And we became friends, we hung out, and then I would go back and play with the Beatles because the other drummer couldn't make it.

Then, I got a call. We were playing a holiday camp in England, three-month gig, couldn't believe how great that was. Like $24 a week. And I got a call from Brian Epstein ... I got a call to say, this was Wednesday, would I join the Beatles. And I said, "Well, when do you want me to join?" And he said, "Tonight!" And I said, "No, I can't do that. I've got a band here. We've got a job. I'll come Saturday." Because everybody in Liverpool, we were playing the same songs so, they picked the drums and he could play. That's when this journey started.

It's been an incredible journey for me with these three guys, who wrote these songs. I was talking just the other night. Paul had come in, strum some song to us, and we played it! We didn't spend a lot of time. There was a lot of joining… The Beatles, you know, they were so big and so famous, but they shared rooms, you know…every hotel, when we'd gotten one, or guest houses. But when we'd go to hotels, we always had two rooms. And it didn't matter who was with who, what would happen is we hung out. But until any band is in the room, you really get to know your other players. And another tip I brought for all bands who are starting out…when you're in the band, here's another tip, if you fart, hold your nose. Everyone's blaming everyone else…we made a pact in the van, okay. That's how we get on so well. 

I wanna tell ya, it's been a beautiful night, hanging out…we're gonna do a few numbers for you next. We gotta follow John Legend and Stevie Wonder for god's sake. Anyway we're gonna start with a number of…1960 I did this number. It was a woman that sung by the Shirelles and it just took my fancy — and it's called "Boys."

Ringo was backed by Green Day for "Boys". Amateur footage.

Some rigging of the stage then followed, with Ringo grabbing the microphone, entertaining the crowd. This went on for an uncomfortably long time, and Ringo ran out of material. So he put down the microphone and left the stage.



After several minutes, he came back with Joe Walsh on guitar, and performed  "It Don't Come Easy."

Joe Walsh joined Ringo for "It Don't Come Easy". Amateur footage.


A hug and a kiss on the cheek
Paul McCartney came back on stage to join in on "With a Little Help From My Friends" on bass guitar only. Other artists also came on stage for the finishing jam, "I Wanna Be Your Man". Paul sang the final verse, and the artists all left the stage. Paul and Ringo hesitated for a few seconds, grabbed each others hands and gave the audience a deep Beatles bow before it was over.

Ringo answers inaudible questions from the press.

Paul and Ringo are about 2 minutes into this clip from HBO.
Amateur footage of "With A Little Help From My Friends" and "I Wanna Be Your Man".

Wednesday 15 April 2015

Step inside Abbey Road Studios



Inside Abbey Road makes it possible for anyone around the world to step inside the iconic Abbey Road Studios - the spiritual home of British Music, and follow in the footsteps of musical legends. Explore the rooms, discover stories, historic images and videos, and play with innovative Abbey Road equipment. Click the link at the end of the video, or if you missed it, go here!
Created by Google.

Tuesday 14 April 2015

Lennon 8LP boxed set: official word

Unfolding: It's "Walls and Bridges" again
Text found on the UK preorder webpage for the release.

Universal Music are proud to present Lennon, a stunning new 8LP boxed collection featuring John Lennon’s eight solo studio albums on heavyweight, 180-gram audiophile vinyl with faithfully replicated original album art.

John Lennon’s eight solo studio albums were remastered from their original analogue masters in 2010, by Yoko Ono and a team of engineers led by Allan Rouse at Abbey Road Studios in London and by George Marino at Avatar Studios in New York. These LP’s have been newly cut to vinyl from those 96k digital files for Lennon, cut by Sean Magee at Abbey Road Studios and manufactured for the world by Optimal Media in Germany.

Each of the Lennon collection’s LPs is an authentic reproduction of its U.K. original, in its sound and visual presentation. In keeping with the original album artwork, Imagine contains reproductions of its two postcards, poster and inner bag, Some Time In New York City includes reproductions of its original postcard and inner sleeve, Walls and Bridges includes its sleeve with two fold-over flaps, an eight-page booklet and inner sleeve, and Mind Games, Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey also include reproductions of their original inner sleeves.

The eight studio albums are; John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band (1970), Imagine (1971), Some Time In New York City (1972), Mind Games (1973), Walls and Bridges (1974), Rock ‘n’ Roll (1975), Double Fantasy (1980) and Milk and Honey (1984).

So basically, we were right on the money.

Paul McCartney: Secret RSD release

New white label 12" 'secret' release
Paul McCartney has had pressed up a limited number of white label vinyl 12” "Sweet Thrash Mix" of "Hope For The Future". In the grooves you will find two exclusive mixes of "Hope For The Future" not available on standard limited edition 12 inch record. The record is supposed to be a hidden gem for customers to find on Record Store Day. Participating stores have been told to quietly place the record in the Paul McCartney bin before opening their store that day. They are specifically advised not to place it among the other Record Store Day exclusives. When a customer brings it to the register to purchase, the clerk is asked to tell them about the rarity of this release and take their picture. The store is then requested to tag the store in a social media post with the hashtag #RSDMCCARTNEY. We don't know how many of these have been pressed up, rumours are there are only 100 copies.
Nice idea Paul, but wrong song selection. We would have been thrilled if it was "Carnival of Light".

Even though Record Store Day is in three days from now, the record is already starting to appear on ebay at inflated prices.

Happy treasure hunting!

Ringo's Skechers commercial

Ringo has become one of the spokespersons for the shoe brand "Skechers".
The first commercial of Ringo advertising the shoe brand "Skechers" has been released, check it out below.



Ringo has a history of advertising various products. One of the commercials he made in the past was for Pizza Hut. In a recent interview, Ringo revealed that he has never even tasted pizza. And if you take a look at that commercial, you'll notice he doesn't dig in like the others.

Monday 13 April 2015

Lennon: 8LP boxed set for May

This 8LP boxed set from 1981 sold well.
An LP boxed set containing 8 John Lennon albums is due out May 25 in the UK and 22 May in Germany from Calderstone. The boxed set is also listed on Amazon in other countries, like Japan and Spain.
We don't have any images of the new boxed set, we don't know which albums are to be included, or which mixes will be featured on the vinyl discs, but we are willing to make a guess.
John Lennon's catalogue of studio albums has been redone several times in recent years, and has also been subject to remixing.

The 1981 boxed set depicted above contained the albums "Live Peace In Toronto", "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band", "Imagine", "Sometime In New York City", "Walls & Bridges", "Mind Games", "Rock 'N' Roll" and "Shaved Fish", each in their original picture sleeves with original inners and inserts, all housed in a in 13" square silver picture box. The none-inclusion of the "Double Fantasy" album was due to the fact that this was an EMI boxed set, whereas the "Double Fantasy" album was controlled by Geffen.

All Lennon albums are now on Universal Music, so if they are going to dwell on the studio albums, we guess that the albums in the new boxed set are likely to be "John Lennon / Plastic Ono Band", "Imagine", "Sometime In New York City", "Walls & Bridges", "Mind Games", "Rock 'N' Roll", "Double Fantasy" and the posthumous "Milk and Honey". 180 gram vinyl seems to be the new industry standard, and likely to be applied to this collection.
After some time of Yoko-commissioned remixes having been favoured, recent rereleases have gone back to Lennon's own original mixes, so we think this is also likely to be the case with the vinyl albums in this new box.

Albums that have fallen by the wayside whereas new editions or repressings are concerned:
- "Menlove Ave."
- "Live in New York City"

All other albums have been re-released extensively, but these two are still only available in their original 1986 incarnations.

"Live in New York City" has undergone some reworkings in recent years, both the concert video and its soundtrack, fans are expecting the results to be released for the 75th anniversary of Lennon's birth October 9, 2015.

For Record Store Day in 2011, a ltd ed boxed set "Imagine" was released.

Friday 10 April 2015

Ticket To Ride uploaded in full



Yesterday, the full version of the "Ticket To Ride" promotional film (ie music video) was uploaded on YouTube by The Beatles' official channel on the anniversary of the release of the single, sadly only in 480p quality. This is the second time this year they have uploaded a complete music video to celebrate an anniversary, on February 10 they uploaded the full "A Day In The Life" video. After it had been up around a week, they set the video mode to "private", thus disabling it for viewing. Expect the same to happen with "Ticket To Ride".
Is this a new trend? Is it a way of utilizing the promotional clips thay had assembled for the unrealised music video collection of last year?

Thursday 9 April 2015

Elton, Paul and Rod

Rod "the mod" and Paul McCartney shared the stage at the "Party at the Palace" concert in 2002.
Rod shares the microphone with Ozzy Osbourne and Paul with Cliff Richard.
"Artist Direct" and lots of other sources including U.K. tabloid "The Sun" informs us that Elton John, Paul McCartney and Rod Stewart will headline a special concert celebrating the 70th anniversary of Victory in Europe Day, aka VE Day. The gig will be 1940s-themed and it will commemorate the end of the Second World War in 1945. It will be held at London's Horse Guards Parade on May 9.
No doubt, Paul and Rod will be crooning songs from the fourties from Rod's "The Great American Songbook" album series and Paul's "Kisses on the Bottom" album. Paul and Rod acted as "best men" at Ronnie Wood's wedding in 2012.
The wartime singer Dame Vera Lynn (97) will also appear during the event, which will broadcast live in the U.K.
VE Day will be marked over the course of the three days in May, with parades and shows being held in the streets. The gig will be in between Paul's concert in Seoul, South Korea on May 2 and his concert at London's O2 on May 23.

Source: ArtistDirect.com

Cardboard garden gnome and more

Photo courtesy of Heritage auctions
A cardboard garden gnome from the cover of the Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" will hit the auction block on April 18 as part of Heritage Auctions' entertainment and music memorabilia sale. The prop was signed by all four band members following pop artist and designer Peter Blake's album cover photo shoot.

Consignment director Dean Harmeyer calls the figure "a true rarity and a cornerstone piece of any Beatles collection." On the cover, the cardboard gnome sits just to the right of George Harrison's leg.

The gnome was kept as a momento by an assistant to photographer Michael Cooper when the shoot wrapped on March 30, 1967. The item has a buyers premium of $17,500 and a current online bid of $14,000 (online bidding began March 30 and will culminate in a live auction that will run April 18-19). It is expected to hammer for as much as $25,000.

Photo courtesy of Heritage auctions
A special Beatles selection in the auction includes four exceedingly rare lots of animation art relating to The Beatles Cartoon Series (estimates: from $800+ up to $3,000+), which ran on ABC-TV from 1965 to 1967. Included are original production cels, background art, storyboards, and more, which originally came from the collection of veteran animator Frank Andrina, who gifted them to renowned animation sculptor Kent Melton in the 1990s, who has consigned them to the auction.

The process of animating the shows was highly decentralized and spread across several countries to expedite the process, which has made original material from the Beatles cartoon exceedingly difficult to find and very uncommon at auction. In fact, the mini-archive presented here represents more total material from The Beatles Cartoon Series than Heritage has offered in its total history.

The sixties' version Apple wristwatch.

Other lots in the auction are autographed tour programmes and albums, "butcher" versions of "Yesterday....and Today" in various states, in both mono and stereo, an Apple watch (no, not the current iPhone extension), an Apple crate to house the albums, and various memorabilia, vinyl singles. EPs and albums, as well as acetates and the "Our first four" Apple promotional package.

Link to auction

Wednesday 8 April 2015

Paul McCartney Explains The Beatles White Album Cover



In this radio segment, Paul McCartney talks about the making of the White album cover and poster.


Ringo on Breakfast with The Beatles

Chris Carter with Ringo Starr.
Listen to Chris Carter's Breakfast with the Beatles featuring Ringo Starr as a guest. Click the link below and scroll down on the page to find the show.

Link

Also, Sara has a nice story from the taping of Ringo's interview on her Meet The Beatles For Real blog.

Tuesday 7 April 2015

The Beatles on Ready Steady Go!

The Beatles, Helen Shapiro, Dusty Springfield,
Eden Kane and Keith Fordyce on the set of RSG!
Ready Steady Go! (or RSG!) was a British rock/pop music television programme every Friday evening from August 1963 until 23 December 1966. It was conceived by Elkan Allan, head of Rediffusion TV. Allans wanted a light entertainment programme different from the "bums and tits" style of light entertainment transmitted by ATV. The programme was produced without scenery or costumes and with a minimum of choreography and make-up. Allan recruited a fellow journalist, Francis Hitching, as producer. Hitching became a major figure in light entertainment in the 1960s. Robert Fleming was the first director, followed by the documentary director Rollo Gamble, then Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Daphne Shadwell and Peter Croft.

The programme was produced by Associated-Rediffusion, the weekday ITV contractor for London, called Rediffusion-London after 1964. The live show was eventually networked nationally.

20 March 1964: John Lennon on Ready Steady Go!
The show gained its highest ratings on 20 March 1964 when it featured the Beatles being interviewed and performing "It Won't Be Long", "You Can't Do That" and "Can't Buy Me Love". That particular show also starred Dusty Springfield, Bobby Vee, The Animals, Alma Cogan and Millicent Martin. With the growing increase in popularity the show was extended and moved to a 50 minute slot starting at 6:08 p.m.

20 March 1964
The Beatles performed on the show on three occasions. Unlike their appearances on other regular UK TV shows "Top of the Pops" and "Thank Your Lucky Stars", all Beatles material from "Ready Steady Go!" has survived. In the eighties, this material was used to produce several archival episodes of "Ready Steady Go!" for TV as well as products for the home video market.

The show went out early on Friday evenings with the line "The weekend starts here!", and was introduced by the Surfaris' "Wipe Out", later by Manfred Mann's "5-4-3-2-1", then Manfred Mann's "Hubble Bubble, Toil and Trouble", then the Stones, lastly, with "Goin Home"). It was more youth-orientated and informal than its BBC rival (from 1964), "Top of the Pops". It was notable for featuring the audience as dancers and for the interaction of artists and audience. Artists appeared on different mini-stages, sometimes on studio gantries and stairs, or on the main floor for solo artists, closely surrounded by the audience. The producers choose the audience in London clubs, picking out the best or the most fashionably dressed dancers. This ensured a hip audience in tune with the artists.
20 March 1964

Initially, RSG! artists mimed but by late 1964 some performed live, and the show switched to all-live performances in April 1965. It was noted for allowing artists to perform the full version of songs rather than short versions demanded by other shows.

The show was recorded at small studios in Rediffusion's headquarters in Kingsway, London. Although the company had bigger facilities at Wembley, it was easier to attract stars and audiences to central London. The best known presenters of the show were Keith Fordyce and Cathy McGowan, though early shows were introduced by Dusty Springfield.



Paul is being interviewed by Cathy McGowan
Cathy McGowan was recruited as an advisor from 600 applicants, and had been in the fashion department of "Woman's Own". While McGowan had answered an advert for 'a typical teenager' to work as an advisor, she found herself presenting the show. Her strength was that her status as a fan of the artists was evident in her style; stumbling over her lines, losing her cool and apparent inexperience only made her more popular, and by the end she was presenting the show alone. She may have been the inspiration for Susan Campy from the Beatles' 1964 film "A Hard Day's Night", when George Harrison tells the producer of a fictitious teen television show that Campy is "... that posh bird who gets everything wrong", to which the producer played by Kenneth Haigh replies, "She's a trendsetter. It's her profession." McGowan was the same age as the national audience; she wore all the latest trendy shifts and mini-dresses; and she spoke with an earnest, ceaseless barrage of teenage slang, praising whatever was 'fab' or 'smashing', and damning all that was 'square' or 'out'.


Cathy McGowan: "Keith Fordyce, the other presenter on the show, was down to interview John, leaving me with Paul, George and Ringo. Bit of a job, you might think, interviewing three Beatles. That's what I thought. But they could not have been more considerate. They sat down with me over tea to help work out the kind of things we might discuss. During transmission, they seemed to sense when I was having to think hard about the next question, and they just kept on talking till I was ready. They even asked me questions from time to time". From Keith Badman's book: "The Beatles Off The Record".

Friday 4 October, 1963

October 4, 1963: adrift in collarless suits
The Beatles performed three songs during their first of three appearances on Ready, Steady, Go!

Hauled in on a platform
The show was recorded at Television House on London's Kingsway. During the afternoon The Beatles rehearsed for the cameras, and recording took place from 6.15pm onwards.

"A friend was designing sets for Ready, Steady, Go!, and he invited me to their first live TV performance. They were wearing the famous grey, buttoned-up suits, which really stood out at the time. I was the only one at the rehearsal when they played this song. To me it sounded like very good rock 'n' roll. But it wasn't just the music, it was their personalities, the way they looked, the whole thing."  Peter Blake, artist.

The Beatles mimed to "Twist And Shout", "I'll Get You" and "She Loves You", and were interviewed by hosts Dusty Springfield and host Keith Fordyce. Helen Shapiro made an appearance performing the song "Look Who It Is" in a sequence with three of The Beatles. When asked why only three of the four Beatles (facing away from the cameras until she turns them around) she advised "The song had just three verses, so only three of them could appear. They flipped a coin, or something, to see who would be on, and Paul came up short."

During a competition of miming performances, Paul McCartney was the judge, and he chose Melanie Coe as the winner. A few years later, Melanie created news headlines when she ran away from home. The headline inspired McCartney to pen his song "She's Leaving Home", not realising that he had actually met the girl!

The episode was transmitted from 6.15-7pm. The performance of "She Loves You" was repeated on RSG! on 8 November 1963, and the full set was shown again during a special New Year show on 31 December.

Friday, 20 March, 1964

Recording took place at Television House on London's Kingsway. Following a quick rehearsal The Beatles appeared on the show, which was broadcast live from 6.15pm-7pm.

The Beatles mimed to three songs: "It Won't Be Long", "You Can't Do That" and "Can't Buy Me Love".

During the show they also took part in a mock fashion parade and were given an award from US magazine Billboard in recognition of holding the top three singles chart positions simultaneously. They were also interviewed by host Cathy McGowan.

The performance of "Can't Buy Me Love" was broadcast again at 6.10pm on 24 April, during the show Ready, Steady, Go To Montreux!, and again on 15 July 1965 on the programme "Pick Of The Songs".

"In March 1964 The Beatles were appearing and a huge crowd started to form in the morning up Kingsway. When we opened the big glass doors at the front of the building there was mayhem and the doors buckled and nearly smashed. The police had to be called and several avid fans managed to get in through the boiler room. Good for them! Suddenly the meaning of FAME and how big they were hit home." Vicki Wickham, editor of the original Ready Steady Go! series, and also Dusty Springfield’s manager.
Judging a fans' art contest, two of the judges disagreed. 

Monday 23 November 1964

The Beatles recorded their third and final performance for pop music show Ready, Steady, Go!, this time at Wembley Studios in London.

Members of the audience clapped and danced while the group performed. The Beatles mimed to four songs: "I Feel Fine", "She's A Woman", "Baby's In Black" and "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!". They were also interviewed by presenter Keith Fordyce.

The recording was edited into the 27 November 1964 edition of the show, broadcast from 6.08-7pm on the ITV network.


Friday 16 April 1965

In early 1965 the Musicians' Union threatened to 'black' the show if the lip-synch miming to recorded music wasn't stopped by 31st March, so April 1965 saw a temporary name change to 'Ready Steady Goes Live' to highlight the fact that, for the first time, all the artists were actually singing, and performing to live backing music. After having performed on the show Ready, Steady, Go! on three prior occasions, The Beatles preferred not to do so again. However, in order to promote their "Ticket To Ride" single, John Lennon and George Harrison gave an interview at production company Rediffusion's Wembley Studios.

The Good Friday show was broadcast live from 6.08-7pm. Lennon and Harrison were interviewed by the host Cathy McGowan. The other guests included Adam Faith, Doris Troy, The Kinks and Herman's Hermits.
20 March 1964 rehearsal
In late 1966, when the 'beat boom' was fading, the show was cancelled, despite its popularity. Michael Lindsay-Hogg: "Most of the shows were wiped because tape was so expensive, so stuff like the James Brown special and The Who special are gone forever. I took home £37 a week but, every so often, I'd buy a video tape and preserve it. It cost me £1 a minute, but the only reason any shows survive is because I did that."

According to "LostShows", out of an original total of 178 episodes, 170 episodes are missing and a further 3 are incomplete.

Eighties revival

In December 1981, it was announced that drummer Dave Clark from the Dave Clark Five had bought all footage and copyrights to the surviving recordings from the estate of the original production company and planned to release it worldwide. Lucky for him and us, all the Beatles' appearances on the show had been preserved. Compilations released on VHS as well as Beta video cassettes included a Beatles live special and The Sounds of Motown special edition. A video cassette series titled Volume one, respectively two and three were also compiled from many performances with different groups and artists on the show.

Released by Picture Music International in association with Dave Clark International, the following Beatles performances were included.

Ready Steady Go! Volume 1 released in November 1983, featured The Beatles' performances of "You Can't Do That" and "Can't Buy Me Love" from March 1964.

Ready Steady Go! Volume 2 released in May 1984, featured The Beatles' performances of "Twist and Shout" and "She Loves You" from the 1963 show.

Ready Steady Go! Volume 3 released in November 1984, featured The Beatles' performances of "She's A Woman", "Baby's In Black" and "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" from November 1964, as well as interviews with the Beatles.

In June 1985, the first of seven TV episodes titled "The Weekend starts here" (catch phrase of the original RSG! series) was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK and during its run, the television series had quite a bit more footage than previously released on video cassettes.

In the USA, the then adult Disney Channel broadcast the series in 1989 and the video cassettes were also released as laserdiscs by Pioneer - Picture Music International.

In Japan and Norway, a special edition of just The Beatles' performances on Ready Steady Go! was released on laserdisc (Japan) and video cassette (Norway).

Japan Laserdisc
The contents of this laserdisc/video cassette was:
  1. Love Me Do (just played over captions)
  2. Twist and Shout
  3. Interview with George
  4. I'll Get You
  5. Interview with John
  6. She Loves You
  7. Interview with John, Paul, George and Ringo
  8. It Won't Be Long
  9. Interview with the group including Billboard award for singles no 1, 2 and 3 in the US chart and an interview with Paul.
  10. You Can't Do That
  11. Interview with George
  12. Can't Buy Me Love
  13. Interview with Ringo
  14. Please Mr Postman (over shots of the group, Ringo dancing) Interview with John about his book
  15. I Feel Fine
  16. This Boy (over shots of the group with fans' painting contest)
  17. She's A Woman
  18. Baby's In Black
  19. Interview with the group
  20. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey!
  21. Interview with the group
  22. Yesterday (footage of Liverpool in the sixties)
  23. Let It Be (music over end captions)
Ready Steady Go! has not been officially released on DVD or Blu-ray, and this of course has given bootleggers a lucrative market for their products.

A list of the mimed performances from RSG! and where they were officially released:

"Twist And Shout" Ready Steady Go! Volume 2 and the Norway/Japan release
"I'll Get You" Ready Steady Go! Volume 2 and the Norway/Japan release
"She Loves You" The Norway/Japan release
"It Won't Be Long" The Norway/Japan release
"You Can't Do That" Ready Steady Go! Volume 1 and the Norway/Japan release
"Can't Buy Me Love" Ready Steady Go! Volume 1 and the Norway/Japan release
"I Feel Fine" The Norway/Japan release
"She's A Woman" Ready Steady Go! Volume 3 and the Norway/Japan release
"Baby's In Black" Ready Steady Go! Volume 3 and the Norway/Japan release
"Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" Ready Steady Go! Volume 3 and the Norway/Japan release

Advertising poster for the Ready Steady Go! Special Edition
 The Beatles Live release on VHS and Beta.
An April 1985 "Ready Steady Go! Special Edition; The Beatles Live" video release was a different thing entirely. It was not really part of the Ready Steady Go! series, the release consisted of just the Beatles' musical part of the 1964 show, "Around The Beatles". You may remember that in the original 1964 TV show, they also did a humorous take on a scene from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream". The songs were not really performed live either, the Beatles mimed to pre-recorded audio, especially recorded for the show.

Songs performed, or should I say mimed to: "Twist And Shout", "Roll Over Beethoven", "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Long Tall Sally", a unique medley of hits consisting of "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", "From Me To You", "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand", going straight into full length versions of "Can't Buy Me Love" and "Shout!" (the Lulu hit).





At the time of writing, all existing Beatles footage from the Ready Steady Go! series is available on YouTube, courtesy of various uploaders.

Sources:
Wikipedia
The Beatles Bible

Resources:
RSG! Sixties Episode guide
1980's Episode guide

This posting is part of a series of articles about The Beatles' appearances on British TV shows. Also in this series: "The Beatles on Scene at 6.30", "The Beatles on Top Of The Pops" and "The Beatles on Thank Your Lucky Stars".