Live at the BBC (The Beatles album)

Infobox Album
Name = Live at the BBC
Type = live
Artist = The Beatles


Released = 30 November 1994
Recorded = 22 January 1963–26 May 1965
Genre = Rock and roll
Length = 133:37
Label = Apple 31796
Producer = George Martin
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:z7lvadsky8w6~T1 link]
*Rolling Stone Rating|4|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/thebeatles/albums/album/101087/review/5943553/live_at_the_bbc link]
*Robert Christgau B+ [http://www.robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?id=1382&name=The+Beatles link]
Last album = "The Beatles Box Set"
(1988)
This album = "Live at the BBC"
(1994)
Next album = "Anthology 1"
(1995)

"Live at the BBC" was the first official release of previously unissued material by The Beatles since "Let It Be" from 1970, appearing in November of 1994 on Apple Records, catalogue number CDP 7243 8 31796 2 6. It includes tracks from the multitude of recordings they made for radio shows at the BBC during 1963 through 1965. In the sequence of Beatles issues, this set approximates a picture of the group prior to their rise to fame, during the period of 1960 to 1962 when they were first and foremost live performers concentrating on a repertoire centered on fifties rock, featuring 38 such numbers.

The BBC scrapped most of its archive tapes of The Beatles performing; the majority of this album is based on a bootleg by the Great Dane organization, most noticeable in the drops in quality during "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" and "That's All Right (Mama)", which sound unusually tinny and distant. This problem plagues to an even greater degree the band's pre-1962 recordings made outside of professional studios, justifying release of these tapes from a historical standpoint: see "Live at the Star Club" issued on vinyl in the 1970s. Many of these recordings had been heard on the BBC Radio 1 documentary series "The Beeb's Lost Beatles Tapes", which commenced in 1988.

Since the album's release, the (almost) complete BBC sessions have surfaced in equal or, in many cases, superior quality on bootlegs, missing just a few speech links and parts of songs. The most recent edition is the ten discs published by the Purple Chick organization, and upgraded in 2004.

There are six Beatles performances of 'unreleased' numbers that George Martin deemed too poor for the album: Roy Orbison's "Dream Baby (How Long Must I Dream)", from The Beatles' very first radio broadcast (8 March 1962), featuring Pete Best on drums; The Coasters' arrangement of "Besame Mucho" and Joe Brown's "A Picture of You" (15 June 1962), also with Best on drums; Slim Whitman's "Beautiful Dreamer" (26 January 1963); and Chuck Berry's "I'm Talking About You" (16 March 1963). "Lend Me Your Comb" by Carl Perkins from the 16 July 1963 broadcast, was also omitted; it did appear on "Anthology 1" (1995).

The version of "Baby It's You" from this collection was released as a CD-single, and also on vinyl, on 1995-03-20, with three other BBC performances that are not included in the collection.

Original 1994 pressings of the CD incorrectly list "So How Come (No One Loves Me)" as "Top So How Come (No One Loves Me)" on the back insert of the jewel case. That error was corrected in the 2001 reissue.

Personnel

* John Lennon - vocals, guitar
* George Harrison - vocals, guitar
* Paul McCartney - vocals, bass
* Ringo Starr - vocals, drums

Track listing

Disc one

#"Beatle Greetings" (speech)
#"From Us to You" (Lennon–McCartney) (previously unreleased variation)
#"Riding on a Bus" (speech)
#"I Got a Woman" (Charles) (previously unreleased song)
#"Too Much Monkey Business" (Berry) (previously unreleased song)
#"Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" (Goffin–King) (previously unreleased song)
#"I'll Be on My Way" (Lennon–McCartney) (previously unreleased song)
#"Young Blood" (Leiber–Stoller–Pomus) (previously unreleased song)
#"A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" (Thompson) (previously unreleased song)
#"Sure to Fall (In Love with You)" (Perkins–Claunch–Cantrell) (previously unreleased song)
#"Some Other Guy" (Leiber–Stoller–Barrett) (previously unreleased song)
#"Thank You Girl" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Sha La La La La!" (speech)
#"Baby It's You" (David–Bacharach–Williams)
#"That's All Right (Mama)" (Crudup) (previously unreleased song)
#"Carol" (Berry) (previously unreleased song)
#"Soldier of Love" (Cason-Moon) (previously unreleased song)
#"A Little Rhyme" (speech)
#"Clarabella" (Pingatore) (previously unreleased song)
#"I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You)" (Thomas–Biggs) (previously unreleased song)
#"Crying, Waiting, Hoping" (Holly) (previously unreleased song)
#"Dear Wack!" (speech)
#"You've Really Got a Hold on Me" (Robinson)
#"To Know Her Is to Love Her" (Spector) (previously unreleased song)
#"A Taste of Honey" (Marlow–Scott)
#"Long Tall Sally" (Johnson–Penniman–Blackwell)
#"I Saw Her Standing There" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"The Honeymoon Song" (Theodorakis–Sansom) (previously unreleased song)
#"Johnny B. Goode" (Berry) (previously unreleased song)
#"Memphis, Tennessee" (Berry) (previously unreleased song)
#"Lucille" (Collins–Penniman) (previously unreleased song)
#"Can't Buy Me Love" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"From Fluff to You" (speech)
#"Till There Was You" (Willson)

Disc two

#"Crinsk Dee Night" (speech)
#"A Hard Day's Night" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Have a Banana!" (speech)
#"I Wanna Be Your Man" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Just a Rumour" (speech)
#"Roll Over Beethoven" (Berry)
#"All My Loving" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Things We Said Today" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"She's a Woman" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Sweet Little Sixteen" (Berry) (previously unreleased song)
#"1822!" (speech)
#"Lonesome Tears in My Eyes" (Johnny Burnette–Dorsey Burnette–Burlison–Mortimer) (previously unreleased song)
#"Nothin' Shakin'" (Fontaine–Calacrai–Lampert–Gluck) (previously unreleased song)
#"The Hippy Hippy Shake" (Romero) (previously unreleased song)
#"Glad All Over" (Bennett–Tepper–Schroeder) (previously unreleased song)
#"I Just Don't Understand" (Wilkin–Westberry) (previously unreleased song)
#"So How Come (No One Loves Me)" (Bryant) (previously unreleased song)
#"I Feel Fine" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"I'm a Loser" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" (Perkins)
#"Rock and Roll Music" (Berry)
#"Ticket to Ride" (Lennon–McCartney)
#"Dizzy Miss Lizzy" (Williams)
#"Medley: Kansas City / Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!" (Leiber and Stoller) / (Penniman)
#"Set Fire to That Lot!" (speech)
#"Matchbox" (Perkins)
#"I Forgot to Remember to Forget" (Kesler–Feathers) (previously unreleased song)
#"Love These Goon Shows!" (speech)
#"I Got to Find my Baby" (Berry) (previously unreleased song)
#"Ooh! My Soul" (Penniman) (previously unreleased song)
#"Ooh! My Arms" (speech)
#"Don't Ever Change" (Goffin–King) (previously unreleased song)
#"Slow Down" (Williams)
#"Honey Don't" (Perkins) (previously unreleased variation)
#"Love Me Do" (Lennon–McCartney)

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
before = "Carry on up the Charts" by Beautiful South
title = UK number one album
years = December 10, 1994 – December 16, 1994
after = "Carry On up the Charts" by Beautiful South