Out Nov. 11, 2013.
In 1994, The Beatles' Live at the BBC was released to worldwide acclaim -
hitting number one in the U.K. and number three in the U.S. and selling
more than five million copies within six weeks. Now comes a new
companion to The Beatles' first BBC collection, On Air - Live at the BBC
Volume 2. On Air's 63 tracks, none of which overlaps with The Beatles'
first BBC release, include 37 previously unreleased performances and 23
previously unreleased recordings of in-studio banter and conversation
between the band's members and their BBC radio hosts.
In the
studios of the British Broadcasting Corporation, The Beatles performed
music for a variety of radio shows. On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2
presents the sound of The Beatles seizing their moment to play for the
nation. Thrilled to hear these exciting recordings again, Paul McCartney
said, 'There's a lot of energy and spirit. We are going for it, not
holding back at all, trying to put in the best performance of our
lifetimes.'
Ten of On Air's songs were never recorded by the
group for EMI in the 1960s, including two making their debuts with the
new release: The Beatles' direct-to-air performance of Chuck Berry's
'I'm Talking About You' and a rocking cover of the standard 'Beautiful
Dreamer.' On Air also includes different versions of six rarities heard
on the 1994 BBC collection: Little Richard's 'Lucille,' Chuck Berry's
'Memphis, Tennessee,' Chan Romero's 'The Hippy Hippy Shake,' Ray
Charles' 'I Got A Woman,' and two songs they learned from records by
Carl Perkins, 'Glad All Over' and 'Sure To Fall.'
The Beatles'
tribute to the BBC's most important pop show of the early '60s - 'Happy
Birthday, Dear Saturday Club' - is another surprise. As John Lennon
recalled in 1980, 'We did a lot of tracks that were never on record for
Saturday Club - they were well recorded, too.' Paul remembers, 'We'd
been raised on the BBC radio programs. One of the big things in our week
was Saturday Club - this great show was playing the kind of music we
loved, so that was something we really aspired to.'
Between March
1962 and June 1965, no fewer than 275 unique musical performances by
The Beatles were broadcast by the BBC in the U.K. The group played songs
on 39 radio shows in 1963 alone. Ringo Starr said in 1994, 'You tend to
forget that we were a working band. It's that mono sound. There were
usually no overdubs. We were in at the count-in and that was it. I get
excited listening to them.' On their busiest BBC day, 16 July 1963, The
Beatles recorded 18 songs for three editions of their Pop Go The Beatles
series in fewer than seven hours.
The group played 88 distinct
songs in their BBC sessions - some were recorded many times; others
performed just once. At the time, three national BBC stations provided
all daytime radio broadcasting in the U.K. Only the Light Programme
network might occasionally play a record. Most broadcast music was live
music. Consequently, to promote their releases, The Beatles had to play
live at the BBC. 'Everything was done instantly,' remembered George
Harrison, 'But before that, we used to drive 200 miles in an old van
down the M1, come into London, try and find the BBC and then set up and
do the program. Then we'd probably drive back to Newcastle for a gig in
the evening!'
On Air also features BBC recordings of 30
well-loved songs from The Beatles' catalogue, including five number ones
and other favorites such as: 'I Saw Her Standing There,' 'Twist And
Shout,' 'Do You Want To Know A Secret,' 'Boys,' 'Please Mister Postman,'
'Money,' 'And I Love Her,' and 'If I Fell.'
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