ON AIR - LIVE AT THE BBC VOLUME 2 - side two

Most of the songs on sides one and two of this collection are from various editions of Pop Go the Beatles.  The fact that BBC Radio gave the group their own fifteen-week series is remarkable, especially considering that they only had three singles and one album out at the time.  Their most recent release was, in fact, the single From Me to You.  It wasn't until the series was nearing its end in September of 1963 that the monster fourth single She Loves You arrived, soon followed by the full-blown national explosion which the press dubbed as Beatlemania.  Being featured on a weekly basis on the BBC Light Programme throughout the summer surely aided the group in the buildup to that cultural phenomenon.

In the booklet that comes with this collection, Kevin Howlett (who is right up there with Mark Lewisohn among the best Beatles scholars) states that, with six or so songs required for each program, the boys intended to play many of their old favorites from their stage act, including a strong emphasis on American R & B.  While pulling out these numbers from their Hamburg and Liverpool setlists, they also discovered songs that they might want to record for their next album, such as...

Till There Was You -  This standard from the Broadway show The Music Man had been in the band's stage act for a couple of years, as a welcome change of pace during long sets.  After playing it here on July 10th, 1963, they returned to it a mere ten days later at the first session for the album With the Beatles.  On the record, George played acoustic guitar and Ringo shifted to bongos, but this Pop Go the Beatles performance features electric guitar and a gentle Latin beat on drums.

Lend Me Your Comb - This rendition of a Carl Perkins number by the boys was previously released on Anthology 1.

Lower 5E - A fan letter has Paul and George reminiscing about several old mates from the Liverpool Institute, which they both attended.

The Hippy Hippy Shake - This is a different version of a Chan Romero rocker than the one which appeared on Live at the BBC.

Roll Over Beethoven - In this instance, the group had recorded this song for With the Beatles two days prior to this slightly slower, uneven performance of the Chuck Berry classic.

There's a Place - Once again, George has to play a part on guitar which John had played on harmonica on the original recording of this number from Please Please Me.

Bumper Bundle - All four of the boys and Lee Peters read requests for the same number...

P.S. I Love You - The group's very first B-side.  Ringo faithfully recreates Andy White's drum part from the original.

Please Mister Postman - Performed on the same edition of Pop Go the Beatles as Till There Was You, this merely hints at the urgency of the version on With the Beatles, recorded on July 30th at the second session for that album.  Other differences include a brief guitar introduction and a tidy ending, yet none of the breathless breaks near the end of the song which make the record so exciting.

Beautiful Dreamer - Here we have a real gem for a number of reasons.  Goffin and Keller added some new lyrics for this rocked up version of the old Stephen Foster standard for a teenage singer by the name of Tony Orlando - yes, that Tony Orlando.  Only weeks after hearing it, the Beatles were playing it as part of their first appearance on Saturday Club.  Recorded on January 22nd, 1963, this has the distinction of being the earliest performance on either of their official live BBC collections.

Devil in Her Heart - This song by a girl group named the Donays was recorded for With the Beatles only a few days after an earlier Pop Go the Beatles performance.  Here, we have another version from the final show of the series.

The 49 Weeks - John salutes Rodney Burke, who actually hosted the program for eleven weeks.

Sure to Fall (In Love with You) - This is a more laid back performance of a Carl Perkins number than the one on the first Live at the BBC collection.

Never Mind, Eh? - The boys dedicate the final number of the series to each other.

Twist and Shout - The group performed this great cover of an Isley Brothers tune ten times for the BBC.  This rendition was from July 16th, 1963, a date on which they recorded an astonishing eighteen songs for three full editions of Pop Go the Beatles.

Bye, Bye - The boys sing an amusing little farewell at the end of the final episode.

ON AIR - LIVE AT THE BBC VOLUME 2 - side one

As I was busy writing a series of entries for this blog about the first Live at the BBC collection back in 2013, the news broke that a second such compilation was in the works, and that it would be released before the end of that year.  Though I was expressing my admiration for the original at the time, I found it hard to believe that another edition could possibly be as good as the first and questioned whether it was even necessary.

Once it was released and I had a chance to peruse the tracklist, I put off buying it for quite a long time.  For one thing, it replicated some of the performances previously issued on the first collection, on the Baby It's You EP and on Anthology 1.  It also featured far fewer cover versions of songs by other artists who had influenced the Beatles, which had been one of the strongest reasons I had come to love Live at the BBC.  And it contained much more of the banter from the boys with the hosts of the various programs which, enjoyable as that sometimes is, leaves less space for actual music from the group.

I eventually gave in to temptation and purchased a used copy in near perfect condition when I came upon it in one of the shops I frequent.  And, while I was happy that I finally had it in my possession, my initial misgivings about it were largely confirmed, though there are a few delights to be had in its sixty-three tracks.  While the copy I possess is on 2 CDs, I will discuss the contents as they appear on the 3-LP vinyl edition, as I have done in past entries for other collections.

And Here We Are Again - Host Rodney Burke introduces the group at the top of an episode of their own program Pop Go the Beatles, which was broadcast for fifteen weeks in the summer of 1963, long before we even knew who they were here in the USA.

Words of Love - The boys played this Buddy Holly number on Pop Go the Beatles more than a full year before recording it for their fourth album Beatles for Sale.  Paul and John perform the breathy harmonies and George replicates Holly's guitar part exactly as they did on that later occasion.

How About It, Gorgeous? - Rodney Burke and George read letters from listeners, one of them making reference to a children's BBC television program called The Flowerpot Men for some odd reason.

Do You Want to Know a Secret - A brisk rendition of a song Lennon wrote for George to sing on the group's first album Please Please Me.  Instead of fading out as on the original, a suitable ending is played by the band.

Lucille - Paul does his best Little Richard impersonation on Pop Go the Beatles.

Hey, Paul... - Paul chatting with a host by the name of Lee Peters.  Off the air, the Beatles referred to him as Pee Litres.

Anna (Go to Him) - As on the album Please Please Me, John puts his all into this torch song by Arthur Alexander.

Hello! - More nonsense from John and Lee Peters.

Please Please Me - The group's exciting second single and the title song of their first album was performed often on the BBC, always without John's harmonica.  Instead, George plays the distinctive riff on guitar, as he had done on the demo/first version of the number.

Misery - An early performance of this McCartney/Lennon original for the program Here We Go in front of a studio audience that would not yet be familiar with the number in advance of its release on Please Please Me.

I'm Talking About You - One of the true highlights of the collection is this live-on-the-air performance of a Chuck Berry number from an early appearance on Saturday Club.

A Real Treat - While reading a fan letter, Ringo cracks everyone up with some off the cuff remarks when they interrupt him.  "College?...You're posh."

Boys - Though they played this Shirelles number seven times on various BBC programs, this is the very same one previously released on the EP Baby It's You.

Absolutely Fab - More of Lee Peters, this time with George.

Chains - A fine rendition of a song by a girl group called the Cookies that the boys covered on Please Please Me, with George handling the solo verses.  

Ask Me Why - This performance is a truncated version of the group's second B-side, a rather old-fashioned composition by Lennon.          

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

Bob Dylan was already a huge influence by early 1965 on many other singers and songwriters, and the Beatles were definitely among them.  George Harrison wound up becoming close friends with Dylan over the years, spending time with him and the Band in late '68, coaxing him to appear at the Concert for Bangladesh in '71, and recording two albums with him as members of the Traveling Wilburys.  On the other hand, John Lennon's relationship with Dylan was somewhat uneasy, like two combatants with mutual respect who are nonetheless determined to both impress and outdo each other. 

In late '64, Lennon had written I'm a Loser for the album Beatles for Sale, singing a set of self-reflective lyrics and altering his style of harmonica playing to sound an awful lot like Dylan.  Now, in February of '65, during sessions for the soundtrack of the film Help!, Lennon brought in a composition with even more of a Dylanesque feel to it - You've Got to Hide Your Love Away. 

The Beatles recorded the song on February 18th, but Lennon must have met with producer George Martin earlier than that, resulting in the hiring of musician Johnnie Scott for the date of the session.  Lennon did not want to play harmonica on the track this time, desiring a different sound.  Scott played flute instead, providing more of a lilting feeling to the end of the song.

Before Scott could play his tenor and alto flute overdubs, however, the Beatles ran through nine takes of the basic track (though only two of them were complete), featuring John and George on acoustic guitars, Paul on bass, and Ringo playing gently on his snare drum with brushes.  Anthology 2 allows us to hear take five - the only other complete take - after the false start of take one and some amusing banter from John before take two.  Onto take nine, the master, Ringo added tambourine, Paul played maracas, and George played an additional acoustic guitar part.  John deliberately chose not to double track his lead vocal, knowing he had captured the proper mood in a single go. 

Director Richard Lester had presented two ballads - Lennon's If I Fell and McCartney's And I Love Her - imaginatively in A Hard Day's Night.  For Help!, he set You've Got to Hide Your Love Away in the group's fictional shared flat.  John sings the song straight while Paul winks at the priestess Ahme, which George eyes jealously in between attempts to impress her while strumming his guitar.  At the end of the number, the live-in gardener, who had been seen earlier trimming a patch of grass in a corner of the flat with some joke chattering teeth, produces a flute and mimes Johnnie Scott's part.

The song appears on both the US and UK versions of the album Help!  It became prominent enough to be chosen as one of the few album cuts on the Red Album in 1973.  It was also featured on the 1977 collection Love Songs and the 1982 compilation Reel Music.  

Eddie Vedder recorded a great cover version of the song for the soundtrack of the film I Am Sam.  Vedder chose to play harmonica on the track, confirming for me, at least, that Lennon should not have shied away from sounding too much like Dylan on the original. 

This brings to a close my alphabetical look at the song catalog of the Beatles, which has surprisingly taken much longer that I anticipated.  In the dozen years since I began this blog, I have purchased a few more collections which have been released, and which will now become the subjects of my next series of entries.  Please stay tuned, if you are so inclined.