{"id":3758,"date":"2013-11-12T04:50:57","date_gmt":"2013-11-12T04:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/skylight.gr\/administrator_wordpress\/index.php\/2013\/11\/12\/early-beatles-on-the-bbc-bantering-and-bluesy\/"},"modified":"2013-11-12T04:50:57","modified_gmt":"2013-11-12T04:50:57","slug":"early-beatles-on-the-bbc-bantering-and-bluesy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/skylight.gr\/index.php\/2013\/11\/12\/early-beatles-on-the-bbc-bantering-and-bluesy\/","title":{"rendered":"Early Beatles on the BBC, Bantering and Bluesy"},"content":{"rendered":"


In the summer of 1971, one of the first Beatles bootlegs turned up, packaged in a white sleeve with \u201cThe Beatles \u2014 Yellow Matter Custard \u2014 Previously Unreleased Studio Material\u201d rubber-stamped across it. It offered an odd lineup of tracks (performances of Ray Charles\u2019s \u201cI Got a Woman\u201d; Buddy Holly\u2019s \u201cCrying, Waiting, Hoping\u201d; Carl Perkins\u2019s \u201cSure to Fall (in Love With You)\u201d; Arthur Alexander\u2019s \u201cShot of Rhythm and Blues\u201d), 14 in all, in decent, if slightly tinny, quality. <\/p>\n

Beatles scholarship was in its infancy then, and collectors had no idea what these tracks were. When a fan played the disc for John Lennon in 1972, he said it was the Beatles\u2019 failed Decca audition from a decade earlier. He was wrong. By the late 1970s, the recordings\u2019 provenance was established: The Beatles recorded these songs in 1963 for a 15-week BBC radio series, \u201cPop Go the Beatles.\u201d <\/p>\n

Few American fans knew of the half-hour show, or knew that the Beatles performed regularly for the BBC from 1962 to 1965, and British fans rarely mentioned it. On both sides of the Atlantic, the Beatles narrative focused instead on the group\u2019s amazing musical development, as captured in its EMI studio recordings. <\/p>\n

But the BBC was crucial to the Beatles\u2019 career. It presented them on its airwaves months before they had a record deal, and when it offered them \u201cPop Go the Beatles,\u201d the group had released only three singles and one LP. <\/p>\n

A new release, \u201cOn Air \u2014 Live at the BBC, Vol. 2,\u201d and a reissue of its 1994 predecessor, \u201cLive at the BBC\u201d (both Apple\/Universal), are a reminder of how important this material is to understanding what made the Beatles tick. <\/p>\n

And a lavishly packaged, deeply researched new book, \u201cThe Beatles: The BBC Archives 1962 to 1970\u201d (Harper Design), by Kevin Howlett \u2014 a former BBC producer who has assembled several shows about the Beatles\u2019 BBC work, and is an executive producer of the CDs \u2014 clarifies the importance of the relationship to both sides. <\/p>\n

Consider that the Beatles\u2019 EMI studio output, from 1962 to 1970, amounted to 212 songs (not counting variant versions or post-breakup releases). At the BBC, they recorded 88 songs, most in multiple performances, for a total of about 280 tracks. Among the 88 are 36 songs, nearly three albums\u2019 worth, that the Beatles never recorded for EMI. <\/p>\n

That\u2019s a significant chunk of repertory. Most are covers of American records, and though that may seem a drawback for a band distinguished by its songwriting, they tell us what most influenced the Beatles: namely, Motown hits, Chuck Berry, rockabilly (mostly Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley) and East Coast girl groups. <\/p>\n

You know that from the covers the Beatles included on their early albums, of course, but the BBC recordings add depth to the playlist. <\/p>\n

\u201cLive at the BBC\u201d includes 30 of the non-EMI 36. \u201cOn Air\u201d adds two more \u2014 a rocked-up version of Stephen Foster\u2019s \u201cBeautiful Dreamer\u201d and Mr. Berry\u2019s \u201cI\u2019m Talking About You\u201d \u2014 and a third, Perkins\u2019s \u201cLend Me Your Comb,\u201d that was included on \u201cThe Beatles Anthology 1.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cOn Air\u201d also offers hits that the first volume ignored (\u201cShe Loves You\u201d and \u201cI Want to Hold Your Hand,\u201d among them) and alternative performances of tracks on the earlier set, some superior, all different in illuminating ways. <\/p>\n

The accounts of Little Richard\u2019s \u201cLucille\u201d on the two sets were recorded only two weeks apart, but show Paul McCartney taking different approaches to the screaming lead vocal. Lennon sang the version of Perkins\u2019s \u201cHoney Don\u2019t\u201d on \u201cLive at the BBC.\u201d Ringo Starr sings it on the new set. <\/p>\n

Because the BBC performances were essentially live in the studio, they are closer to the Beatles\u2019 live performances than to the carefully tweaked and polished EMI versions. Among the highlights of \u201cOn Air\u201d are performances of \u201cAnna,\u201d \u201cMisery,\u201d \u201cYou Can\u2019t Do That,\u201d \u201cWords of Love\u201d and \u201cRoll Over Beethoven\u201d that are more sharply etched and more electrifying than the studio recordings. <\/p>\n

And there are striking differences in the arrangements: \u201cAnd I Love Her\u201d and \u201cTill There Was You,\u201d gently acoustic on LP, are electric on \u201cOn Air.\u201d <\/p>\n

These performances are historic in other ways, too. At the Beatles\u2019 first BBC taping, on March 7, 1962 (Pete Best was still their drummer), they played a cover of the Marvelettes\u2019 1961 hit, \u201cPlease Mr. Postman.\u201d <\/p>\n

That performance was the first time any song on the Tamla-Motown label was played on the BBC. Oddly, nothing from that first show \u2014 which also includes a cover of Roy Orbison\u2019s \u201cDream Baby,\u201d one of the three still unissued non-EMI songs \u2014 is included on either of the Apple sets. (The show has been available on bootlegs since the 1980s.) <\/p>\n

To its credit, Apple has revamped \u201cLive at the BBC.\u201d All the tracks were freshly transferred, and a few have been replaced with recently discovered, upgraded sources, and a few minor extras have been added. The annoying cross-fading between tracks has been removed, as has the original\u2019s heavy-handed noise reduction. <\/p>\n

Alas, Apple has kept the set\u2019s nonchronological running order, as if this were an original Beatles album rather than a compilation. <\/p>\n

\u201cOn Air\u201d is an enjoyable extension of the franchise. Like \u201cLive at the BBC,\u201d it draws heavily on bootlegs \u2014 the BBC, astonishingly, recorded over its early 1960s tapes, so bootlegs are Apple\u2019s main sources, as well as recordings kept by BBC outposts around the world and master tapes taken home by producers \u2014 but it presents the music chronologically. <\/p>\n

The compilation also includes plenty of the between-songs banter, which, given the Beatles\u2019 personalities, is amusing enough to bear repeated listening. <\/p>\n

But these sets merely scrape the surface. The most comprehensive bootleg compilation, \u201cUnsurpassed Broadcasts\u201d (2012), runs to 12 CDs, and, like most bootlegs today, it is an altruistic project \u2014 assembled by obsessive collectors, with sound-editing skills, who sequenced it chronologically, provided artwork and notes, and then offered it free on the Internet, entirely because Apple hasn\u2019t done this itself. <\/p>\n

At the rate Apple is working, with 19 years between two-disc installments (despite the first set\u2019s sales of five million copies), it will take 80 more years for all the tracks be released. Apple should rethink that. A complete, chronological edition that would put this extraordinary body of work into the official catalog is long overdue. <\/p>\n

I recently asked Mr. Howlett whether such a project was being considered. He said it was not: Apple and Universal, he explained, want to appeal to the casual listener, not the specialist. <\/p>\n

Could they be mistaking the Beatles for some obscure cult band? <\/p>\n

Source: The New York Times<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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