First, let me make this clear: I LOVE the Beatles, and although by no means a specialist, I am a big fan. This album is quite different from the rest of the Beatles' albums, as it is not up to their usual studio recorded, very well produced standards. All the tracks were recorded during sessions the band did at the BBC in 1963/65. And while this format often leads to a lack of sound quality (although I guess no-one could have produced this better than George Martin himself), this is more than compensated by the sheer joy of being able to hear the Fab Ones live. We are offered a glimpse of the brilliant live talent we were deprived of by the excesses of Beatlemania.
I won't list all the tracks as this double album contains almost 70. Suffice to say that 14 of the tracks are Lennon/McCartney songs (of which one, 'I'll be on my way' was previously unreleased), 12 are not songs at all but the Beatles speaking,
and the rest is made up of cover versions.
The album cover is a sepia photograph of the Beatles walking past a BBC building, looking very business-like. This is also the cover of the accompanying booklet. If you turn this over however, you see a very similar picture, only this time the lads are horsing around. This serves to remind us just how young they were at the time. The back cover is taken up by the track listing. The 48 pages booklet enclosed is a mine of information and anecdotes and features some great pictures. A particular favourite of mine is a picture of Lennon sporting some Buddy Holly type glasses, in front of a very old fashioned microphone. All tracks are listed, along with additional information such as the name of the programme it was recorded for, the author(s) of the song, the date it was recorded and the date is was transmitted at, the studio and the producer, and often some extra information.
The music itself will either introduce you or take you back to a forgotten era. Those were the days when a radio show could reach audiences of up to 10 million people. The boys tackle classics (Chuck Berry being very well represented here) and obscure tracks alike and on the whole do themselves very proud in the process. You get a sense of a very well practised band, having performed on a variety of stages before (The Hamburg experience was intensely formative for the lads). In some ways, they must have sounded like a lot of bands of the day, but in others, you can tell there was something special there. All four Beatles sing lead at some point and their voices are great and very individual (although sometimes it is difficult to tell which one is singing. It's all part of the fun to try and guess). Lennon sounds very much the rocker, and you get a feeling he is trying to emulate his heroes, although often he sounds as good if not better. Look out for his rendition of Chuck Berry tracks, which seem to suit his vocal style down to the ground. Meanwhile, Little Richard covers give McCartney the opportunity to whoop, howl and holler to his heart's content. And throughout, the harmonies are as accomplished as on any of their studio albums.
I have mixed feelings about the spoken parts of the album. These are very short snippets of the Beatles answering questions in their own unique way. I can imagine the young fans of the day hanging onto their every word. I too love hearing their distinctive humour and feel somewhat cheated that there isn't more there for me to get my teeth into. On the other hand, it gets a little tedious to hear the same silly jokes over and over again when all you want to do is listen to the songs. I would have liked to see more of the inimitable Liverpudlian wit, but showcased on a separate CD.
So, would I recommend this album? Well, I don't think people who are unfamiliar with the band and want to get to know their work should start with this... But for me, it is an important and treasured part of my Beatles collection and I feel any fan would enjoy owning this.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if the BBC was to broadcast some of the actual programmes in their entirety, providing these still exist?
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