Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, December 10, 1994 TAG: 9412140050
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: C12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
As a matter of fact, record store managers expected the new Pearl Jam release, which also came out Tuesday, to outsell the Beatles.
But there was a tangible excitement among some record store employees and customers who saw and heard the first new official Beatles recordings in more than two decades.
"The Beatles: Live at the BBC" is a 2-CD or 2-cassette collection of 56 songs by John, Paul, George and Ringo.
Though many stores say its list price is something over $30, most were selling it for $25 or $26. The CD collection comes handsomely packaged with 48 pages of pictures and liner notes.
The recordings were made for the British Broadcasting Corp. between January 1963 and May 1965. Many predate the Beatles' U.S. success; several reflect the still raw talent of a driving, hard-working club band with an astonishing gift for harmony. Most are relatively polished 7-track mono recordings done in the BBC studios a few days before they were actually aired.
While all of this has been available in bootleg, including a famous $200 Italian set that includes 247 tracks recorded for the BBC, relatively few collectors have had access to them.
Some of the most interesting cuts on "Live at the BBC" are the radio versions of songs that the Beatles also released on vinyl - "A Hard Day's Night," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Can't Buy Me Love," "Ticket to Ride," "Till There Was You," "I Feel Fine," and several others.
What most buyers are most interested in, though, are the never-before-released songs. Those include a couple of Lennon-McCartney tunes, but most are the Beatles' versions of the rock standards that influenced them.
Here are one Beatlemaniac's notes on some of them:
The Beatles were huge fans of Buddy Holly and recorded several of his songs on their albums. One that they never released was "Crying, Waiting, Hoping," which they had recorded in an audition tape that Decca Records turned down. This BBC version just goes to show - again - how wrong Decca was.
Another singer-songwriter the Beatles idolized was Chuck Berry. As if to prove that not everything the Beatles touched was gold, though, "Live at the BBC" includes John mauling "Johnny B Goode." Likewise, we now hear why the Beatles never released their version of Berry's "Memphis."
On the other hand, John renders strong versions of "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Too Much Monkey Business."
"Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" was a cover of a Little Eva hit written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King. This recording, the earliest in this collection, is the worst in terms of audio quality, but one of the best of the truly "live" sound of the band.
"I'll Be On My Way" is a McCartney-Lennon original that was given to Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas for its first recording. A sample of the lyrics: "They were right and I was wrong, True love didn't last long. As the June light turns to moon light, I'll be on my way." Sappy as that sounds, it undoubtedly would have been a chart-topper for the Beatles if they had released this version in 1963 or '64 instead of the Dakotas.
If one song in the collection is likely to get extensive airplay today, it is the group's cover version of "Soldier of Love." "Lay down your arms, and surrender to me. Lay down your arms, and love me peacefully." John in the lead, with great harmony from the boys. As the liner notes say, this would have been a strong addition to any of the early LPs.
Paul has a remarkably good imitation of Elvis with "That's All Right (Mama)" in a July 1963 recording.
Finally, it should be noted that this is just the beginning - presumably - of what is scheduled to be a year's worth of new Beatles stuff, including an authorized video documentary to be released first on the BBC then on home video in the U.S.
The big audio release, though, likely will be "Free As a Bird," the truly new Beatles song. Paul, George and Ringo earlier this year added their talents to a demo recording of the song made by John shortly before his assassination 14 years ago this month.
George Martin, the producer who masterminded much of the Beatles studio work, oversaw "Live at the BBC." He was quoted recently in a compact-disc collectors' newsletter as saying five or six additional CDs of new Beatles material are likely to be released.
"Then we can all go home, put the light out over our heads and say goodnight."
Fortunately, we'll be able to drift off to sleep to the sound of the Beatles.
by CNB