Beatles Official Releases Story - Revolver

Release infos:

Release dates: 5th August 1966 30th April 1987 (CD)

Label: Parlophone
Catalogue No.'s: PMC 7009 (Mono) PCS 7009 (Stereo) CDP 7 46441 2
Matrix No.'s:
1st Press Mono : XEX 605-2 XEX 606-1
1st Press Stereo : YEX 605-1 YEX 606-1
Mono : XEX 605-2 XEX 606-2
Mono : XEX 605-2 XEX 606-3
Stereo: YEX 605-2 YEX 606-2
Total time 34:11

U.K. Album Chart Detail:

Entry Date : 13th August 1966
Highest Position : 1 ... for 7 weeks from 13th August 1966
Weeks in Chart : 34
+6 from 9th May 1987 (CD release, reached no.55)
+6 from 11th April 1998 (reached no.46)

Detail:

The Beatles seventh official album release.
This release came out the same day as the double-A sided single, "Eleanor Rigby/Yellow Submarine" ... the first time that the Fab Four had released a single on the same day as the album from which the tracks came.
Arguably showing the Beatles at their creative zenith. Lyrically and musically innovative, "Revolver" IS a pop masterpiece.
It's original title was to be "Abracadabra", but this was rejected as it had been used by someone else (this didn't stop Steve Miller years later)
Revolver had advance orders of 300,000 in Britain and yet, is only given a final sale figure of 500,000. Globally, sales are estimated at over two million.
Front cover features artwork by Klaus Voormann, a friend of The Beatles from their Hamburg days. Voormann went on to play bass with Manfred Mann (he replaced Jack Bruce !) and later, of course, played with John and the Plastic Ono Band.
Look dead centre at the Revolver sleeve above, and then look at the original Robert Freeman picture below it from 1966 ! ... Klaus Voorman used this picture as the centrepiece (which may explain to you why John looked "odd").
The rear cover photograph is by Robert Whitaker.
The album was also part of "The Beatles Collection" 13 album box set (see Beatles Collection).
On 30th April 1987 this album had it's first release on C.D. which was published in stereo, with a catalogue number of CDP 7 46441 2
And on the same day, the record shop H.M.V. produced a special 12" numbered 3 CD Box Set Comprising:
Help
Rubber Soul
Revolver
+ "Beatles Monthly No.12" - July 1964
This set had a catalogue number of BEA CD 25/2, and was in a limited edition of just 2,500 copies.
The C.D. was also part of "The Beatles Box" 15 C.D. box set (see Beatles C.D. Box).
The album was also available on 4" reel-to-reel tape,
1966 - Catalogue number TA-PMC 7009 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape) - first edition (mono only) in a cardboard box.
1968 - Catalogue number TA-PMC 7009 (3¾ ips twin-track mono tape)
TD-PCS 7009 (3¾ ips 4-track stereo) these editions in a "jewel" box.
Prior to 1973:
The album was released on stereo cassette tape (1⅞ ips) - Catalogue number - TC-PCS 7009.
The album was also released on 8-track stereo continuous play cartridge (3¾ ips) - catalogue no. 8X-PCS 7009
In November 1987 the album was re-released on cassette tape (stereo only) - Catalogue number - TC-PCS 7009 (Originally released September 1966).

Tracks:

Side 1
Taxman Harrison Recorded 20th April 1966 - 4 takes ... all discarded.
Recorded 21st April 1966 11 new takes (Takes 1-11)
Recorded 22nd April 1966 overdubs, creating Take 12
Final mix - take 12. 2:35
Eleanor Rigby Lennon-McCartney Recorded 28th April 1966 in 15 takes
Vocals added to vacant track 29th April 1966 (still, Take 15) Final vocal overdub, 6th June 1966
Final mix - take 15. 2:04
I'm Only Sleeping Lennon-McCartney Recorded 27th April 1966 in 11 takes
Overdubs added to take 11 - 29th April
Overdubs added to take 11 - 5th May
Overdubs added to take 11 - 6th May making takes 12 & 13
Final mix - take 13. 2:58
Love You To Harrison Original working title, "Granny Smith"
Recorded 11th April 1966 in 6 takes
Recorded 13th April 1966 one more take, Take 7
Final mix - take 7. 2:58
Here, There And Everywhere Lennon-McCartney Recorded 14th June 1966 in 4 takes
Recorded 16th June 1966 - 10 takes (5-14)
Final mix - take 14. 2:22
Yellow Submarine Lennon-McCartney Recorded 26th May 1966 in 5 takes
Sound effects overdubs 1st June 1966 onto take 5
Final mix - take 5. 2:36
She Said She Said Lennon-McCartney Recorded 21st June 1966 in 4 takes
Final mix - take 4. 2:34

Side 2

Good Day Sunshine Lennon-McCartney Recorded 8th June 1966 in 3 takes, backing track only.
Vocal overdubs onto take 1
Final mix - take 1. 2:07
And Your Bird Can Sing Lennon-McCartney Recorded 20th April 1966 - 2 takes
Remake recorded 26th April 1966 11 takes (Takes 3-13)
Final mix - take 10 and take 4. 1:58
For No One Lennon-McCartney Recorded 9th May 1966 in 10 takes
Overdubs added 16th May ending with takes 13 & 14
More overdubs 19th May onto take 14
Final mix - take 14. 1:58
Dr. Robert Lennon-McCartney Recorded 17th April 1966 in 7 takes, backing track only.
Vocal overdubs onto take 7 (on spare track)
Final mix - take 7. 2:13
I Want To Tell You Harrison Original title, "Laxton's Superb", then entitled, "I Don't Know"
Recorded 2nd June 1966 in 5 takes
Final mix - take 4. 2:26
Got To Get You Into My Life Lennon-McCartney Recorded 7th April 1966 - 5 takes
Recorded 8th April 1966 - 3 takes (Takes 6-8)
Overdubs and vocals added 18th May 1966 - 3 takes (9-11)
Final mix - take 9 with the brass from take 8. 2:26
Tomorrow Never Knows Lennon-McCartney Original working title, "Mark I"
What a start ... dare I say, the most innovative track on the album - years ahead of it's time, and yet, the very first track recorded at the start of the Revolver sessions.
Recorded 6th April 1966 in 3 takes
Take 1 is sensational ... seek it out. Take 2 was a breakdown
Final mix - take 3 with further overdubs made on 7th and 22nd April. 2:56

Mono/Stereo Differences

"Taxman" The mono version has a cowbell that starts during the second verse, on the stereo release it does not start until half-way through the second chorus.
"I'm Only Sleeping" The Lennon lead vocal is the same in both, but in the mono version the backwards guitar effects are in different places to the stereo mix.
"Yellow Submarine" The mono version has an opening guitar chord, which is missing on the stereo version.
The mono version has John's shouted repeats of Ringo's lines beginning one line sooner, and louder than on the stereo version.
"Got To Get You Into My Life" The mono version has a different sounding Paul during the fade-out than that on the stereo version.
"Tomorrow Never Knows" The mono version has different backwards tape effects than those on the stereo version.

Released Versions

First pressings (1966) - Mono AND Stereo versions
The standard yellow block writing Parlophone label.
The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "The Gramophone Co. Ltd."
The label DOES have "Sold in the U.K..." statement.
There is a much rarer mono version [very] first pressing, hastily withdrawn, which had a different mix of "Tomorrow Never Knows" (known as "remix 11") this has a matrix number on side 2 of XEX 606-1 and is worth up to £200 !

Second pressings (1969) - Mono AND Stereo versions
The standard yellow block writing Parlophone label.
The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label starts with "The Gramophone Co. Ltd."
The label does NOT have "Sold in the U.K..." statement.

Third Pressings (1969) - Stereo version only
Now with a silver/black Parlophone label.
The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "EMI Records Ltd."
The label has one EMI boxed logo.

Fourth Pressings (1973) - Stereo version ONLY
Silver/black Parlophone label.
The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "EMI Records Ltd."
The label has TWO EMI boxed logos.

Fifth Pressings (1982) - Mono version ONLY
Now with a yellow/black Parlophone label.
The "All rights of the manufacturer" message around the edge of the label now starts with "EMI Records Ltd."
This release is on a lightweight vinyl.

Sixth Pressings (1995) - Stereo version ONLY
Now with a Black and Silver Parlophone label.
The sleeve has a printed statement which reads:
"This album has been Direct Metal Mastered From a Digitally Re-mastered Original Tape to give the best possible sound quality"
This release is (surprisingly) on a lightweight vinyl.

Detail of the Russian sleeve, with DIFFERENT collage

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And I Love Her 45th Anniversary: The story

And I Love Her
(Lennon/McCartney)
Emi Ltd Records
2' 28

On February 27, 1964, The Beatles record one of their major pieces, a ballad primarily written by Paul McCartney, with the help of John Lennon for the writing of the second verse.

This is a splendid acoustic love song composed by Paul for his fiancée, Jane Asher. The quality of Paul's writing is obvious and this piece appears to be a forerunner of another work of the same nature which will be soon composed by Paul, namely the enormous song Yesterday.

In the past, Paul had already shown his inclination towards performing ballads like Till There Was You, a song by Meredith Willson that Paul used to sing on stage in the Cavern Club and that he covered for the purpose of the album With The Beatles.

Finally, And I Love Her is the very first acoustic ballad signed by Lennon/McCartney. Several million records were sold in the United States. The song quickly became one of the greatest Beatles' standards and was covered by many other artists.

In spite of its qualities, the song was never performed on stage by The Beatles and it was recorded only once at the BBC.

2.

The recording of the song in the Abbey Road studios was subject to various arrangements which were worked out over three working days.
The final version was built around Paul's solo vocal. Paul's voice was initially doubled by the usual double-tracking technique. It was then completed by the addition of his own harmonies.
Ringo played his bongos again while Paul, John and George played some backing acoustic guitars. It is also necessary to note the excellence of the solo performed by George Harrison on Spanish guitar.

3.

There are obviously many versions and covers of this standard, among which we can list the following ones:

the version included on the album A Hard Day's Night in its American version, in which Paul's vocal is not double-tracked whereas harmonies are double-tracked.
the version published in 1980 in The Beatles Box. In this version, the guitar riff that ends the song is repeated six times instead of four.
the version recorded at Abbey Road studios on February 25, 1964, two days before the recording of the final version of the song. On that day, The Beatles made their first takes of And I Love Her. Take #2 was taken from this session to be included in the compilation Anthology 1. This take is harder than the final version and features an electric guitar in addition to the acoustic guitars.
the recent version performed by Paul McCartney during the "Unplugged" show on MTV on January 25, 1991. This cover can be found on the album Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) released after the MTV show.

York and The Beatles

For young people in York the Sixties truly began in 1963. That was the year The Beatles played The Rialto on Fishergate no fewer than four times. Their first appearance was on February 27, supporting Helen Shapiro, who was ill and didn't perform. The group are said to have penned their next single From Me To You on the tour bus journey from York to the next gig in Shrewsbury.
Three of the Beatles reappeared on the Rialto stage on March 13 – John Lennon had flu and had to drop out. The full group played a third date on May 29. On this tour the Beatles began by supporting Roy Orbison, but had become so popular they became the headliners by the close. Their fourth and final appearance was on November 27.


Owner of the Rialto Jack Prendergast, and his successor after he sold it to the Mecca Group, Don McCallion, brought many other international stars to York, from Cilla Black to Gerry and the Pacemakers. The new music was broadcast by illegal pirate radio stations, including Radio 270. Its studio was a Dutch trawler moored off the coast of Scarborough.
York also had its home-grown music scene. Venues like the Kavern Club in Micklegate, the Mandrake in Stonegate, and Neil Guppy’s Enterprise Club were among many hosting live music by young city bands.
Among the most well-known were Steve Cassidy and the Escorts, The Smoke and Angel Pavement. The son of Jack Prendergast led the John Barry Seven. John went on to become an Oscar-winning film composer, scoring the James Bond films and Born Free.

Bookshelf: The Beatles: The Biggest Bastards on Earth?

Before you reach for your Revolver, let us explain. The title of "Biggest Bastards on Earth" was bestowed on The Beatles by none other than John Lennon in an interview conducted months after the legendary band's 1969 breakup. It has since resurfaced in Philip Norman's massive biography John Lennon: The Life, out now from Ecco Books.

"Things are left out, about what bastards we were," Lennon explained in the interview. "You have to be a bastard to make it. That's a fact. And the Beatles were the biggest bastards on Earth."

To be sure, Norman's book takes a critical look at Lennon's influential if short time on our planet for over 850 pages, charting the trajectory of his ego and creativity as it escaped Liverpool for the world-at-large. And it is a given that few among us are true innocents. But do you really have to be a bastard to make it in music? And was the quartet really that bad?

From optimistic classics like "We Can Work It Out" to arresting compositions like "Day in the Life" and all the way the band's calls for social and economic justice, before and after its disintegration, I would argue that the Beatles did more than most to pull humankind's head out of its collective ass.

Browse inside...

Book Description
John Lennon: The Life
By Philip Norman
Price:$34.95
Format: Hardcover

For more than a quarter century, Philip Norman's internationally bestselling Shout! has been unchallenged as the definitive biography of the Beatles. Now, at last, Norman turns his formidable talent to the Beatle for whom belonging to the world's most beloved pop group was never enough. Drawing on previously untapped sources, and with unprecedented access to all the major characters, here is the comprehensive and most revealing portrait of John Lennon that is ever likely to be published.
This masterly biography takes a fresh and penetrating look at every aspect of Lennon's much-chronicled life, including the songs that have turned him, posthumously, into a near-secular saint. In three years of research, Norman has turned up an extraordinary amount of new information about even the best-known episodes of Lennon folklore—his upbringing by his strict Aunt Mimi; his allegedly wasted school and student days; the evolution of his peerless creative partnership with Paul McCartney; his Beatle-busting love affair with a Japanese performance artist; his forays into painting and literature; his experiments with Transcendental Meditation, primal scream therapy, and drugs. The book's numerous key informants and interviewees include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir George Martin, Sean Lennon—whose moving reminiscence reveals his father as never before—and Yoko Ono, who speaks with sometimes shocking candor about the inner workings of her marriage to John.
Honest and unflinching, as John himself would wish, Norman gives us the whole man in all his endless contradictions—tough and cynical, hilariously funny but also naive, vulnerable and insecure—and reveals how the mother who gave him away as a toddler haunted his mind and his music for the rest of his days.

The Beatles - The Lost Beatles Interview - April 1964 - BBC Documentary

Sixties star Helen Shapiro presents the story of a lost TV interview with the Beatles that was recorded in April 1964 and recently found languishing in a rusty film can in a garage in South London. Experts say it's the earliest surviving interview where Lennon and McCartney talk about how they met and discuss the song writing process.

The News:
'Lost' Beatles interview goes to air
Posted Wed Jul 2, 2008
Lennon and McCartney talk about how they met at the age of 13 and how they worked together to write songs: the Lost Beatles Interview, found after 44 years in a metal box full of film rolls, lasts nine minutes.
It is believed to have been shot on a tele-cine machine and was unearthed by a film buff in a damp garage in south London after nearly being thrown out.
Recorded on April 30, 1964, at the studios of Scottish Television for a children's program, it is thought to be the earliest surviving long-form British studio interview with the band.
In the interview, the presenters quiz Lennon and McCartney, on one side, and Ringo Starr and George Harrison, on the other, about their burgeoning success.
Lennon and McCartney talk about how they met at the age of 13 and how they worked together to write songs.
"I was playing at a garden fete in the village where I lived just outside Liverpool, playing with a skiffle group," said Lennon.
"And he came along and that's how we met."
"I knew one of his mates, Ivan," said McCartney.
"A mutual mate and he introduced us."
On their songwriting partnership, McCartney added: "Sometimes we write them on old pianos or anything that's lying around, guitars and things.
"Normally we sit down and try and bash one out. Then again, there's no formula. He (Lennon) can come up with one completely finished, but we still say we both wrote it though."

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Beatles' Memorabilia

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Beatles Number One Hit Singles

This list shows all The Beatles' Number One Hit Singles from 1962 until 1976. (Year of number one hit single, title of number one hit single, country or countries in which the single reached number one on the national charts).


1962 "Love Me Do" U.S. (once Beatlemania hit in 1964)
1963 "Please Please Me" Italy and also UK in most recognised charts
1963 "From Me to You" United Kingdom, Ireland
1963 "Twist and Shout" Finland
1963 "She Loves You" UK, Norway, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, U.S.
1963 "I Want to Hold Your Hand" UK, Australia (NS Wales), Sweden, Norway, Germany, Netherlands, U.S., Canada
1964 "I Saw Her Standing There" Australia (NS Wales)
1964 "All My Loving" Sweden, Canada, Australia (NS Wales) (EP), Finland
1964 "Can't Buy Me Love" Sweden, UK, Holland, U.S., Ireland, Australia (NS Wales)
1964 "Ain't She Sweet" Sweden
1964 Long Tall Sally EP Holland
1964 "A Hard Day's Night" U.S., Canada, Australia (NS Wales), UK, Holland, Ireland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Argentina, Czechoslovakia
1964 "I Should Have Known Better" Canada, Holland, Australia (NS Wales), Norway, Sweden, Denmark
1964 "If I Fell" Norway
1964 "I Feel Fine" Canada, Australia (NS Wales), UK, Holland, Sweden, U.S., Rhodesia, Ireland, Norway, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Denmark
1965 "Rock and Roll Music" / "No Reply" Norway, Sweden, Holland, Rhodesia, Finland, Denmark, Australia (NS Wales), Hong Kong, Luxembourg
1965 "Eight Days a Week" Canada, Uruguay, U.S., Hong Kong, Luxembourg
1965 "I'll Follow the Sun" Sweden
1965 "Ticket to Ride" Ireland, Canada, Norway, UK, Sweden, Australia (NS Wales), Holland, U.S., Rhodesia, New Zealand
1965 "Words of Love" Sweden
1965 "Help!" Canada, Australia (NS Wales), UK, Ireland, Holland, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, U.S., Rhodesia, Norway, Argentina, Brazil, Italy
1965 "Yesterday" Canada, Holland, U.S., Belgium, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Hong Kong, Poland, Denmark, South Korea
1965 "We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper" Canada, Norway, UK, Ireland, Australia (NS Wales), Holland, Sweden, Hong Kong, U.S. (A-side only), Rhodesia, Brazil
1966 "Michelle" France, Holland, Sweden, Poland, Belgium, Norway, New Zealand, Denmark, Italy
1966 "Nowhere Man" Canada, Australia (NS Wales)
1966 "Paperback Writer" Canada, France, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, U.S., UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway, Denmark
1966 "Yellow Submarine" / "Eleanor Rigby" Canada, UK, Ireland, Norway, France, Holland, Germany, Australia (NS Wales), New Zealand, Belgium, Poland (B-side)
1967 "Penny Lane" / "Strawberry Fields Forever" Canada, Norway, France, Holland, Sweden, U.S. (A-side), New Zealand, Germany, Australia (NS Wales), Denmark, and also UK in most recognised charts
1967 "All You Need Is Love" (b/w "Baby You're a Rich Man") Finland, Poland, Canada, UK, Holland, Australia (NS Wales), Norway, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, U.S., New Zealand, Rhodesia, Denmark
1967 "With a Little Help from My Friends" Poland
1967 "Hello, Goodbye" Canada, UK, France, Holland, Sweden, U.S., Norway, Germany, Australia (NS Sales), New Zealand, Poland, Denmark
1968 "Lady Madonna" (b/w "The Inner Light") Canada, UK, France, Sweden, Switzerland, Austria, New Zealand, Australia (NS Wales)
1968 "Hey Jude" Canada, UK, Sweden, Norway, Austria, France, Ireland, Holland, Spain, U.S., Switzerland, Rhodesia, New Zealand, Belgium, Australia (NS Wales), Germany, Poland, Denmark
1968 "Revolution" New Zealand
1968 "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" Malaysia, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, New Zealand, Australia (NS Wales)
1969 "Get Back" (b/w "Don't Let Me Down") UK, Canada, Holland, Norway, Ireland, Belgium, New Zealand, Germany, Malaysia, Denmark, Spain, U.S., Rhodesia, Australia (NS Wales)
1969 "The Ballad of John and Yoko" UK, Holland, Malaysia, Spain, Switzerland, Norway, Ireland, Germany, Belgium, Australia (NS Wales), Austria, Denmark
1969 "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" France
1969 "Something" / "Come Together" Canada, U.S., Australia (NS Wales), New Zealand, Germany
1970 "Let It Be" Germany, Austria, Holland, Australia (NS Wales), Norway, France, Malaysia, U.S., Switzerland, New Zealand, Italy, Poland, Canada
1970 "The Long and Winding Road" Canada, U.S.
1976 "Got to Get You Into My Life" Canada

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Under request: The Story of the Beatles' Lost Tapes & the album that never was...

Buried Treasure: Stolen recordings are uncovered in Holland and London – unearthing the album that never was.

(from © Rolling Stone, Feb. 1973)

On Friday, January 10th, 1969, George Harrison quit the Beatles. He did it over lunch at Twickenham Film Studios in London where he, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were rehearsing for a new album and filming the action for a television special. The project was McCartney's brainstorm, a back-to-roots campaign — a return to touring and live, honest rock & roll — that he hoped would reignite the brotherly fire of the Beatles' Liverpool days, of their electrifying shows at the Cavern Club. McCartney even had a title for his baby: Get Back.

Instead, McCartney created a recipe for disaster. When Harrison walked out, he wasn't leaving the biggest band in the world. He was getting out of a living hell.

The Beatles were a mess in 1968 and early 1969, working together in a shaky truce. They had not played on a stage since 1966. Personal differences blew up into open squabbling during the recording of 1968's The Beatles, thirty songs that were really four solo albums under one roof — "Me and a backing group, Paul and a backing group," Lennon said. "I just did it like a job."

McCartney countered Lennon's fuck-it attitude — compounded by Lennon's addiction to heroin at the time — by assuming almost dictatorial control of the group. He pushed the idea of touring, of recording live without overdubs. He wanted to record the Get Back songs in concert — the suggested venue was a Roman amphitheater in Tunisia. McCartney was ready to go to any extreme to keep the Beatles a band. At the same time, he and Lennon treated Harrison like a junior partner, virtually ignoring him as a songwriter, playing his new tunes with little serious interest.

That day at Twickenham, after the Beatles ran through a few sloppy takes of McCartney's "Get Back," with its rah-rah chorus — "Get back to where you once belonged" — Harrison snapped. "I'm leaving the group," he declared. "When?" Lennon shot back. "Now," Harrison said. He suggested that the others advertise for a replacement, then he split. "I didn't care if it was the Beatles," he said in a later interview. "I was getting out." Lennon was not impressed: "If he doesn't come back by Tuesday," he snorted after Harrison left, "we get [Eric] Clapton."

Harrison rejoined on Wednesday, January 15th. At a meeting in their Apple Records office at 3 Savile Row, the Beatles agreed to scrap the Tunisia gig and record in the new Apple studio under construction downstairs. Filming would go on; the Twickenham footage shot by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg would become part of a feature documentary of the Beatles at work.

But the damage was done. Seven years after recording their first hit, "Love Me Do," the Beatles were breaking up. A year later, on April 10th, 1970, McCartney made it official, issuing a press release announcing the start of his solo career.

Exactly thirty-four years after Harrison's outburst, on January 10th, police in the Netherlands recovered more than 500 reels of tape in a raid on a warehouse near Amsterdam. They arrested three people on suspicion of theft and handling stolen goods. British detectives also nabbed two people in London as part of the investigation. The tapes were original sound recordings made at Twickenham and Apple by technicians assisting Lindsay-Hogg as he shot his Beatles movie — released in 1970 and retitled Let It Be after a more appropriate McCartney song of reflection and surrender.

Those reels are genuine rock & roll treasure. They contain hours of officially unissued music and chatter by the greatest band in history. They are also a rare open window into the Beatles' inner life during one of their last, traumatic months together. With Let It Be, the Beatles — the first in so many things as composers and recording artists — made the first rock & roll film about a band falling apart. Those tapes tell the full story — January 1969, at its best and blackest.

The arrests in Holland and London climaxed a year-round intercontinental hunt for the tapes, which have been missing since the early 1970s. A source close to the Beatles says the tapes were essential to work now being done to prepare the Let It Be film for release this fall on DVD. Previously, to hear this material, you had to go underground. For the last three decades, the tapes have been available to obsessive Beatles fans only on bootleg albums. The recordings first surfaced in 1974 on two double LPs called Sweet Apple Trax, later blooming into multiple-CD sets such as The Get Back Journals and The Twickenham Sessions. The fidelity can be maddening. These were reference tapes, made by Lindsay-Hogg's crew on monaural Nagra machines with room mikes that often rendered the music murky and distant. The songs in the movie and on the Let It Be album — and the nine outtakes included on 1996's Anthology 3 collection — came from the multitrack studio masters held by EMI Records.

But Lindsay-Hogg — an American who directed promotional clips in 1966 for "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" — caught the Beatles in the raw, often painfully so. One moment, they are joking between takes. The next, they snipe at each other with barely veiled contempt. "You're so full of shit, man," Harrison actually says to McCartney in the film, oblivious to the camera.

Musically, on the Nagra reels, the Beatles veer from numbing monotony to open joy. They rehearse new gems such as Lennon's R&B prayer "Don't Let Me Down" and McCartney's Everly Brothers homage "Two of Us" to near death. They also rip through R&B and early rock & roll covers — Joe Turner's "Honey Hush," Arthur Alexander's "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues," Little Richard's "Miss Ann" — like the great bar band they were, in 1961 and '62, at the Star Club in Hamburg.

The Beatles took that spirit upstairs, to the Apple rooftop on January 30th, 1969, for the hastily arranged lunchtime concert that ended the movie and their career as a live band. The set was five songs with retakes and Billy Preston on piano. But in hot, dirty versions of "I've Got a Feeling" and "One After 909" — the latter written, mostly by Lennon, in 1957 after he and McCartney first met at a Liverpool church picnic — McCartney's Get Back dream briefly came true.

"All the things that have been written about Let It Be — it sounds like the whole thing was doomed and ugly," says Glyn Johns, who engineered the sessions. "It wasn't like that at all. It was the four of them playing together without any overdubs. They'd already proved themselves to be the greatest innovators of production of popular music" — on Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Let It Be, Johns contends, "was the complete reversal of that."

Lennon remembered it differently in his two-part Rolling Stone interview, published in early 1971: "[Paul] had these ideas that we'll rehearse and then make the album. And of course, we're lazy fuckers.... We're grown men, we're not going to sit around rehearsing. I'm not, anyway.

"It was a dreadful, dreadful feeling in Twickenham studio.... I just wanted to go away," he said. "You couldn't make music at eight in the morning, or ten or whatever it was, in a strange place with people filming you, and the colored lights."
The music — in the movie, on the Let It Be album and on the Nagra reels — proves that Lennon and Johns were both right.

At about 10:30 A.M. on January 2nd, 1969, under the colored lights at Twickenham, Lennon played the first documented notes of the Let It Be sessions: an instrumental fragment of "Don't Let Me Down." He wrote the song in 1968 as a plea and tribute to his lover and collaborator, the artist Yoko Ono. The two had been inseparable since the spring of 1968 and would marry in March 1969. In between, all that January, Ono sat at Lennon's side as the Beatles struggled to hit the natural perfection that came so easily to them in 1963, when they cut nearly all their first album, Please Please Me, in ten hours.

"It wasn't that bitter," Ono says of the Let It Be sessions. "The press wanted to sensationalize it, because afterward the group was over. But it was a creative time and a big session. It was not a commercial situation, where the producer was saying, 'Do this.'"

There was no one in charge. George Martin, the Beatles' father figure for their whole recording lives, did not go to Twickenham — the group was only practicing for the planned concert recording — and basically rolled tape at Apple, where the group really ran the sessions. Martin received only a "thanks" credit on the Let It Be album.

In the film, McCartney traced the Beatles' crisis of direction back to the death of their manager, Brian Epstein, of a drug overdose in August 1967: "We've been very negative since Mr. Epstein passed away.... It's like when you're growing up, and then your daddy goes away at a certain point in your life, and then you stand on your own feet.

"We either go home, or we do it," McCartney said. "It's discipline we need." He tried to unite the Beatles with his Get Back scheme and was paid back in resentment.

Ironically, the lack of order meant the Beatles were free to play anything. And they did. Between January 2nd and the last take on the last day of recording at Apple — a fullgroup reading of "Let It Be" on January 31st — the Beatles played, or at least started, more than 300 different songs, not including untitled jams and instrumentals.
Many "covers" were just a few seconds of fucking around: a single jokey chorus or intro lick. But the range was encyclopedic, from Cole Porter's "True Love" and Jimmy Webb's "MacArthur Park" to "To Kingdom Come," a Harrison favorite from the Band's 1968 debut, Music From Big Pink. The first thing McCartney played on the morning of January 3rd, while waiting for Harrison and Lennon to show up for work, was a solo piano stab at "Adagio for Strings," a 1938 piece by the American composer Samuel Barber.

The Beatles were not above mocking themselves to break the tension or boredom. The Nagra reels are littered with quick comic flashbacks to old Beatles hits: McCartney's brief turn on piano at Lennon's "Strawberry Fields Forever" on January 27th; the two of them, on the 23rd, hacking through the first verse of "Please Please Me."

The tapes also double as demos for the real last album the Beatles made, in the spring and summer of 1969, and issued that fall, Abbey Road. Twelve of that LP's seventeen songs — among them "Octopus's Garden," "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" and "Carry That Weight" — first surfaced at Twickenham and Apple. In The Beatles Anthology, the group's 2000 autobiography, Ringo Starr marveled at the peculiar order of the Beatles' demise: "It goes to show how quirky the world is — that the next to last album comes out as the last album, and the last album came out before it."

The Beatles bore down on a handful of the Abbey Road songs more hopefully than others: They devoted a good part of January 7th at Twickenham to arranging "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," McCartney's music-hall-style confection about a homicidal freak. A meaty Apple jam on Lennon's "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" featured Billy Preston on gospel-flavored piano, trading vocal lines with Lennon, while Starr hit a New Orleans second-line drum march — a rhythm that changed to a Latin-metal swing in the Abbey Road recording.

Because the Beatles insisted on recording live without overdubs — they later reneged on that condition — much of what ended up on the Let It Be album went through prolonged renovation. An electric attempt at "Two of Us" on January 6th precipitated Harrison's steely response to McCartney's heavy steering: "I'll play what you want me to play. I won't play at all if you don't want me to. Whatever it is that will please you, I'll do it." An embryonic "Get Back" satirized British racism, in particular the anti-immigration harangues of the English politician Enoch Powell. "Don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs," McCartney sang. "Get back to where you once belonged."

"Let It Be" got no raves from the other Beatles when McCartney played its bare bones for them at Twickenham on January 8th. He had started writing the song, inspired by Aretha Franklin, at the end of the sessions for The Beatles. McCartney was still missing a third verse by January 26th; on the 31st, the Beatles finally got the take that mattered. Even that was not perfect. In April 1969, Harrison overdubbed a new guitar break; a second, with more distortion, was appended to the master in January 1970. Both solos appeared on record: the latter on the Let It Be LP; the first, and more thoughtful, on the March 1970 single.

Another McCartney newborn, "The Back Seat of My Car," got a better reaction from the rest of the Beatles, who likened it favorably to the Beach Boys. But McCartney did not record the song until he was no longer a Beatle, on his 1971 album Ram. In addition to previewing more than half of Abbey Road, the Nagra tapes also contain seeds of the Beatles' solo futures. There are pieces of Lennon's "Child of Nature" (a.k.a. "Jealous Guy") and "Give Me [sic] Some Truth," both destined for his 1971 LP Imagine. McCartney's "Teddy Boy," a bit of kiddie-folk fluff, made it to a test pressing for a proposed Get Back LP, compiled by Johns in May 1969. When the song was dropped from Let It Be, McCartney exhumed it along with "Hot as Sun" — a quirky instrumental he wrote in the late 1950s and pulled out at the January 24th session — for his 1970 solo debut, McCartney.

Today, Lennon and McCartney's disinterest in Harrison's writing seems pigheaded and defensive. One of the best officially unreleased moments from the entire Let It Be month is a complete January 6th performance of Harrison's "All Things Must Pass," rendered in the garage-church style of Bob Dylan and the Band on the 1967 Basement Tapes. Harrison had spent Thanksgiving 1968 in Woodstock, New York, with Dylan, who became a lifelong friend, and the backwoods spirituality of Dylan's music in '67 and '68 would be as seminal an influence on Harrison's solo work as his lifelong practice of Indian meditation and chanting. The Beatles immediately connected with "All Things Must Pass" (McCartney's soaring falsetto in the chorus is the reason why God made bootlegs), then left it at the side of the road along with other Harrison songs: "Isn't It a Pity," "Hear Me Lord" and "Let It Down."

"It's nothing new, the way things are," Lennon said in a 1969 interview, without apology. "I'm more interested in my songs, Paul's more interested in his and George is more interested in his, that's always been. It's just that usually, in the past, George lost out because Paul and I are tougher."

Harrison just waited for his freedom. He took those four songs with him, out of the Beatles, to his 1970 solo masterpiece, All Things Must Pass, where he gave them the craft and audience they deserved.

There has been no public Statement from the Beatles' company, Apple, about the recovery of the Let It Be Nagra tapes near Amsterdam, or any plans for their release. Ono is open to the latter. "If they are going to be around as pirate tapes," she says, "maybe it should be done right in the future."

It will be a very distant future. The tapes' sound quality is variable, bordering on primitive; they will require major surgery to stand up to digital-era expectations. And it will be difficult to soften or edit out the frustration embedded even in the most fascinating music on those reels. Apple is likely to shelve this material for some time, at least for extensive study.

The Let It Be LP had its own hard road to release. In March 1969, Johns compiled two different acetates of material for the Beatles to evaluate. (One of those acetates made it to the Boston radio station WBCN, which aired it in its entirety.) Johns' May '69 Get Back test pressing was rejected by the band; they also turned down a second disc with a new track lineup in January of '70. In February, Lennon invited Phil Spector to review the tapes. Spector had produced Lennon's single "Instant Karma!"; with the Let It Be movie slated for May, Spector had two months to make silk out of year-old rawhide.

Spector pulled a meager ten songs from the Apple sessions and rooftop concert for Let It Be. Lennon's nonsensical two-step "Dig It" was pruned to fifty-one seconds. Spector filled out the LP with a 1968 Lennon outtake, "Across the Universe," and Harrison's "I Me Mine," both topped with mountains of brass and strings. Since the January 1970 master of "I Me Mine" (done without Lennon, who was vacationing in Denmark) lasted only a minute and a half, Spector stretched the track by repeating the first verse. He also infuriated McCartney by pouring orchestral schmaltz all over "The Long and Winding Road." McCartney later used the word "butchery."

Press reviews fell on both sides of the fence: The New Musical Express called Let It Be "a cheapskate epitaph." Rolling Stone praised the rough stuff, such as "I've Got a Feeling" and "One After 909," but gave Spector "stinging slaps on both wrists." Still, Spector and the Beatles walked off with the 1970 Academy Award for Best Original Song Score.

Lindsay-Hogg spoke freely about the agony of making the film. "It was a terribly, painfully frustrating experience," he told Rolling Stone in July of '70. "It's not that I don't like them. I do. It's just that when we were trying to make the film, every day there was a different one to hate." In turn, his most damning review came from the Beatles themselves. On May 20th, 1970, Let It Be premiered in London. None of the ex-Beatles bothered to attend. The dream was over.

The magic is not. The Nagra reels are not the guts of a Great Lost Beatles Album. But they are a revelation: the sound of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr as ambitious, arguing, fatally human musicians, the four behind the myth. If you ever get to hear these tapes, be prepared for the worst — and the best.

[From © Rolling Stone 916 — February 20, 2003]

The Beatles - Revolution 1

The Beatles - Revolution

Sgt. Pepper Album Cover Parodies - 1

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Bookshelf: Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and The Sixties

Description
This “Bible of the Beatles” captures the iconic band’s magical and mysterious journey from adorable teenagers to revered cultural emissaries. In this fully updated version, each of their 241 tracks is assessed chronologically from their first amateur recordings in 1957 to their final “reunion” recording in 1995. It also incorporates new information from the Anthology series and recent interviews with Paul McCartney. This comprehensive guide offers fascinating details about the Beatles’ lives, music, and era, never losing sight of what made the band so important, unique, and enjoyable.

About the Author
Ian MacDonald was a songwriter, a record producer, and the author of The Beatles at No. 1, The New Shostakovich, and The People’s Music. He died in 2003.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
There's certainly no shortage of books on the Beatles. In this latest one, MacDonald--musician, composer, and former New Musical Express editor--purports to do something different by putting the group in the cultural context of its decade. His observations on the 1960s, fortunately confined largely to an introductory section, are, however, too often distressingly obvious. He's far more successful when he focuses on the music with a song-by-song chronicle of the group's career. Other Beatles books have taken the same approach, but MacDonald's incorporates session information from Mark Lewisohn's Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (1988), and it details the group's musical development and growing reliance on the recording studio and then makes some cogent observations on both the culture and the music. He makes the tie-in to 1960s culture most effectively through a month-by-month time line that follows the song-by-song main text and places the Beatles' history next to developments in world affairs and pop culture. Even if your Beatles shelf is groaning, MacDonald's work will be a useful addition. Gordon Flagg --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews
An ideal pathfinder on the Beatles' long and winding road from moptops to magi--insightful, informative, contentious, and as ambitious and surprising as its heroes. Popular music criticism is often a thankless task, falling uneasily between mindless hype and lugubrious academicism. MacDonald, former deputy editor of New Musical Express, adroitly bridges that gap, taking the factual chassis--recording session data, itineraries, etc.--laboriously assembled by Beatlemaniacs like Mark Lewisohn and bringing to bear a fan's enthusiasm, a musicologist's trained ear, and a critic's discernment to produce the most rigorous and reliable assessment of the Beatles' artistic achievement to date. Advancing chronologically through the songs, MacDonald provides an encyclopedic wealth of biographical, musical, and historical detail, yet always keeps his eyes on the prize--the uniquely rich elixir the group distilled from these disparate elements. He considers the Beatles on their own musical and cultural terms, taking his cue from contemporary influences (rhythm-and-blues, soul, and the supercharged social crucible of the '60s), rather than straining for highbrow parallels in Schoenberg or Schubert--you'll find no reference to the infamous ``Aeolian cadences'' of ``This Boy'' here. MacDonald makes no bones about his own critical convictions: He prefers the artful structures of pop, its ``energetic topicality'' that ``captures a mood or style in a condensed instant,'' to rock's ``dull grandiosity,'' a shift he attributes to a general retreat since the '60s away from depth and craftsmanship into spectacle and sensation. Accordingly, he champions the pop classicism of the Beatles' early-middle period, culminating in Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, and in his most memorably acerbic passages deplores the rockist leanings of their later work: ``Helter Skelter,'' for instance, is dismissed as ``ridiculous, McCartney shrieking weedily against a backdrop of out-of-tune thrashing.'' The ultimate Beatles Bible? Certainly a labor of love, and all the more valuable for holding the Fabs to the highest critical standards. -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Fabio Sassi: Beatles In The Stars

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The Beatles first tour to Sweden - 1963

This is an attempt to inform interested readers of the glory Beatles days in Sweden during 1963.


The Beatles made their first visit in Sweden the 23rd of October 1963.

The newspapers in Sweden wrote about the coming tour.
"Expressen" wrote that a new cult was about to hit Sweden - the new English pop music created by The Beatles and that Beatles was another word for "brutal" in Liverpool. They play humorous pop music with three guitars and a drum and they earn about $ 7000 / week.
For worried adults we can tell that the first sign of that there's a Beatle in the house is that the son is letting the hair grow and spends hours in front of the mirror to get it right.
"Aftonbladet" wrote: "It must be said that what they call a show with these kind of electrified pop groups usually just contains a few steps back and forward"
"Eskilstuna-Kuriren" wrote "What more can pop crazy teenagers wish?"

The single "She Loves You", released in Sweden the 21st of August 1963 went up to no. 10 on the Swedish charts October 24, one day after the arrival to Sweden. Beaten by Trini Lopez (no. 1) and Brian Poole & the Tremeloes.
The album "Please Please Me" was released in July the 19th 1963 and had sold 1800 copies by the day of The Beatles arrival to Sweden the 23rd of October 1963. Peanuts of what was about to come.

The Beatles got about $ 400 a day + free location, food and travels during these five October days. They made nine concerts.
$ 100 to the English booking manager and the rest to Brian Epstein. How much did The Beatles get? I don't know.
On their second tour in Sweden, 1964, they did get $ 8 000 for each performance. That's about $ 70 000 in today's value.
One of the biggest problems was the huge equipment. They had several loudspeakers!!! Normally a band could hire a big American car, but The Beatles had to hire a wagon too. The two American Fords with The Beatles in one and the equipment in the other took the band out on the Swedish roads.
Maybe I can dig up some more facts about the cars.

Day by day

Wednesday October the 23rd 1963

The arrival to Sweden
The Beatles is making the last recordings for their new album "With the Beatles" at Abbey Road Studios no. 2 in London.
The British fans had painted "Good Luck in Sweden" on their tour buss.
After lunch The Beatles with company entered a jet plane from BEA with destination Stockholm for their very first tour outside England. A great honour for Sweden.
John, Paul, George and Ringo with Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans landed on Arlanda International Airport about 40 kilometres north from Stockholm a sunny October afternoon.
What about Brian Epstein - was he or was he not on the same flight as The Beatles, Neil and Mal.
According to Ray Coleman's very documented biography of Brian Epstein, on October 23rd 1963, the day the Beatles flew to Sweden, Brian was interviewed for a TV program, 'For Art's Sake'.
There Coleman says, 'Brian flew to Sweden to join the Beatles tour'. This suggests that they took separate flights to Sweden.

About 10 Swedish school girls had made it to the airport to welcome their idols with flowers. After a while the doors were opened and the passengers got off, but no sign of The Beatles. Suddenly John stood there in the door. He had a scarf around his neck and went for the stairs. After John came Ringo. He looked very surprised. He yelled: "Boys, there's no snow!!!"
During their visit in Stockholm they stayed in a hotel called Hotel Continental at Vasagatan, in the centre of the city right in front of the Central station. The room numbers were 205, 206 (for Neil Aspinall), 208, 209 (for Paul McCartney) and room no. 210.
Their first ever press conference on a foreign tour was held in a room at the Hotel Continental a couple of hours after their arrival to Sweden.
The first evening they visit Stockholm's "Cavern", a place called Nalen, which by that day celebrated 75 years as music- and dance hall. Unfortunately no pictures seems to have been taken that evening. Rumours has been told that The Beatles played at Nalen that same evening. Sorry to say, but they never did.
In 1967 Nalen had it's final evening. The building had to (same as with the Cavern) give room for new and modern buildings.

Thursday October the 24th 1963

The Beatles makes the Karlaplan studios recordings (for Swedish Radio)
Many music programs were made at the Karlaplan studios during the 50's and the 60's. The name of the program that The Beatles made their appearance for was going to be called "The Beatles - pop group from Liverpool on a visit in Stockholm" (but in Swedish of cause).
This was a great moment for Swedish Radio cos' it was the first time that they have recorded a so called pop group.
(If you are interested in more details according to this accession, click here)

Today we can establish the fact that this is one of the best live recording ever made by The Beatles. At this session The Beatles was supposed to play for an audience so 100 tickets was given away. At least 250 Beatles fans showed up!
The panic was close when The Beatles instruments, amplifiers and loudspeakers didn't show up in time. Another musician, Hasse Rosén, offered his equipment to The Beatles. The Beatles, who had a contract with Wox, had to make it on Fender equipment.
Brian Epstein, present during the whole session, was very nervous (no need for that Brian, where ever you are). Maybe the reason for Brian's nervousity didn't have anything to do with the performance The Beatles made.
Anyway, he took the opportunity to push for other group in his stable. One of the groups he made PR for and told the people about was "Billy J. Kramer and his band The Dakotas", as he expressed it.
The whole session was made in front of an audience, without rehearsal at 17.00. It took 25 minutes to complete an was broadcasted for the first time in Swedish radio Monday the 11th of November 1963 between 22.05 to 22.30.
After the concert The Beatles had to leave the studio through the main entrance through the exited audience. There were no stage exit!
Without any major problems The Beatles entered a blue Fiat 1500 that was parked outside the studio. Now the problems started. Some fans tried to lift the car in an attempt to get their hands on The Beatles.

Friday October the 25th 1963

The Beatles as tourists in Stockholm
The first place the visit was the Stockholm's Stadshus. A couple of photo sessions was held. Photographers like Bo Trenter and Robert Freeman was there. The cover to the EP "Long Tall Sally" was taken at this occasion. The boys themselves filmed each other with a 8 mm camera.
The next stop was "Hötorget" right in the centre of Stockholm. More photos was taken. A great shot is a picture taken by The Beatles jumping in front of "Sergel Teatern".
After sightseeing around in Stockholm the time had come for a major meeting with the Swedish fans. Time for The Beatles to leave for Karlstad.
Their first concert outside the UK in Karlstad
Six American wagons and one trailer headed the 300 kilometres for Karlstad. It was snowing (Ringo asked for it). All the four Beatles sat in the same car.
Late that same evening The Beatles entered the old Statshotellet in Karlstad. The hotel manager welcomed the boys and gave George and Ringo a double room. John and Paul got the same. The manager was impressed over how well behaved the boys were. He was so impressed that he a couple years later bought stocks in Northern Songs.
Brian Epstein was in a bad mode. He didn't like the fact that the English booking agency received 100 pound a day during the tour. Much to much, he said.

The first concert at Nya Aulan in Sundsta school took place at 19.00 and the second one started off at 21.00.
The place was built for 750 people was only filled to 3/4 during booth of the concerts.
The cheapest tickets could be bough for 12 SKr (about $ 1.50) and the exclusive ones for 20 SKr (just under $ 3.00) and that was held for being very expensive.
The Beatles at Sundsta Läroverk, Karlstad, October 25.
The concert lasted for about 20 minutes

Two bands made their act before The Beatles got on the stage: "Svend Millers Popstars" and "The Phantoms". A couple of Swedish girls who had worked as aupair in England knew how to behave on a pop concert. They yelled "We want The Beatles", "We want The Beatles".
Now the time has come for the historical moment. The Beatles first entry on a foreign stage. John, Paul and George entered running the stage. Ringo came in last with a drum under his arm.
- My god, I knew they were longhaired, but not that longhaired! was a comment that could be read in the papers the day after the show.
The first accord came as a big shock, nearly the same shock as the for hair. None had ever played as loud as The Beatles in that place. What a noise.
When John was singing "Twist and Shout" the microphone broke. As there were no time the repair it this had to be the end of The Beatles extra number, then it was over.
After the concert the boys went back to the hotel for a late dinner and a rest.

Saturday October the 26th 1963

The Beatles plays in Stockholm (again)

The Royal Tennis hall was the place for The Beatles concerts in Stockholm. The main attraction was Joey Dee (the American King of Twist!?!?!?) and the Starliters. Not The Beatles!?!? Three of the members of Starliters formed later the group The Young Rascals that under the years 1965-66 held a guitarist called Jimi Hendrix.
The first concert was at 17.00 and the second one started off at 20.00. The prices for the tickets was between just over $ 1.00 to a bit over $ 2.00

A film made during The Beatles performance under the concert was unfortunately stolen and has never been traced.
After the concert Joey Dee held a party at Foresta Hotel. Paul and George stayed at their hotel, Continental. Ringo and John went for the party.

Sunday October the 27th 1963

The Beatles plays in Gothenburg
The tour continued in Gothenburg. The boys travelled in one car and the equipment in another. The 500 kilometres long journey was made without any problems.
The boys took in on a hotel called Park Avenue Hotel in the central parts of Gothenburg. Even today famous rock stars stays at the same hotel when they visit Gothenburg.
The concerts were played at Cirkus in Lorensbergsparken. Along with the Beatles on the stage was a/o. Jerry Williams and Ken Levy & the Phantoms.
The first concert went off at 15.00, the second one at 17.00 and the third!!! started at 19.00. Gothenburg was the only place were three concerts were played at the same day.
"Never ever had so many shoes stamped the floor at Cirkus in Lorensbergsparken as this particular day", was to be read in the papers the next day.

Monday October the 28th 1963

The Beatles plays in Borås
After the success in Gothenburg The Beatles headed for Borås. A short journey for about 60 kilometres. The boys spent a couple of hours signing records in a store called Waidele Musik this afternoon. According to the newspapers thousands of fans had found their way to the store.
The Borås concert was the biggest during their tour in Sweden. 2500 people saw that concert.
The concert was held at Borås Hallen at Bockasjogatan at 19.30. And the audience screamed and shouted so loud that it was nearly impossible to hear anything. A well known and common phenomena during The Beatles later concerts around the world.

Thursday October the 29th 1963

The Beatles plays in Eskilstuna
The last concert during this tour was held in a town called Eskilstuna.
Place: The Sporthall (Hamngatan)
Time: 19.00
By this time the media in Sweden (Radio, TV & the papers) had really made clear that The Beatles was really something. When they started the tour (6 days ago) another artist always stood as the main attraction. The Beatles were just one of the groups to fill out the show. By the time of this concert there were no question about who were the main attraction: THE BEATLES!!!
2000 people saw The Beatles at this concert. The hall wasn't crowded. The Beatles had humour and charmed the most of the audience. Four young lads in tight trousers, short tight jackets, shoes with high heels and a hair that probably haven't seen a pair of scissors for a couple of years!
The guy at the drums, Ringo Starr, 23, who are supposed to like small, well-shaped blondes, was very funny under the concert. He did hit the drums with his small drumsticks so hard that the ceiling was ready to lift off. Upon that he conducted himself whit the tongue.
In the paper the day after the concert you could read things like:
"The Beatles made a K.O (knock out) on the audience", "Young and wild ecstasy" and " It was a so called pop concert in the Sporthall Thursday evening. Pop concert means a systematically built up 'black mass' in the erotic temple of pop"
"A hand full of girls heating each other up and to help them there is this noise from the guitars of the twist idols."
The songs The Beatles played during this last concert was:
Please Please Me, I Saw Her Standing There, From Me To You, Chains, Boys, She Loves You, A Taste of Honey and Twist And Shout.
This was the songs they played during the most of their concerts in Sweden.

Wednesday October the 30th 1963

The Beatles tapes for Swedish Television and goes shopping
This day is one of the absolute most interesting of the days in Sweden. The Beatles was about to tape their first show for the Swedish Television.
After a sleepy morning the boys took off for the TV-studio. The recording of the TV program "Drop In" was supposed to take place in front of a live audience at the Arena Theater at Gröna Lund. They rehearsed during the day and the show was taped at 19.00.
By the time The Beatles rehearsed for the show Mal Evans sat up their equipment. The equipment was worth about £ 1500.

After a couple of hours of rehearsal they left for lunch. John, Paul, George, Ringo, Mal, Neil Aspinall, Klas Burling (the producer), Kersti Adams-Ray (the confrecier) and some photographers left the studio. They went over the road (Djurgårdsvägen) and over to Skansen and further to a restaurant at Solliden, where they eat a well earned lunch.
The people at the restaurant looked curious at The Beatles. Not because the were The Beatles but for the long hair.!
The rumour says that John and Paul played on an old piano that stood in the restaurant by this time.
More things happened!

A Swedish photographer called Bo Trenter got the opportunity to take some really great shoots of The Beatles. A couple of them pictures made their way to some of The Beatles Ep's.
A picture of The Beatles holding up an enormous cake is on a Swedish release from December 1963.
Another picture is taken at one of the cannons outside the restaurant. This made it's way to the Swedish version of the EP "All My Loving" from January 1964.
Back to the Arena Theater for the last preparations for tonight's big event.
During the afternoon they got a massage by phone from England that their hit "She Loves You" that had began to drop on the charts was climbing again to reach no. 1 again (very unusual).
In a pause the producer, Klas Burling (an old friend of The Beatles who actually introduced them for Michael Cox in Bournemouth in August 1963 were he invited them for a tour in Sweden) was asked by The Beatles to listen to a acoustic version of one of the new songs John and Paul had written. It was "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
Klas Has told that he immediately knew that it's was going to be a new no. 1.
Mal and Neil went out to buy some food. Sausage and pommes frites were bought. One of them dropped a part of the meal on the way back, but that didn't seemed to disturb The Beatles, on the contrary, they got a good laugh.


In good time before the main event, Paul said that he wanted go in to the city to do some shopping. Klas Burling took his Fiat and drew Paul and Ringo to NK, the biggest and "finest" store in Stockholm. Paul bought some perfume to Jane Asher. Again people looked curiously on the two strange guys.
Outside the Arena Theater, three hours before the show to take off, people began to line up.
Inside the Arena the rehearsals continued. It wasn't that The Beatles and the other artists had to rehears that much. The rehearsals was so called clothes rehearsals and how camera angles was going to be mixed. How the artists were going to be introduced and so on.
Now the time had come. The show started. One artist after another went up on the stage and made their act. When the time had come for the main event to enter the scene Klas Burling, sitting on the stage edge, introduced The Beatles.
"And to round up tonight's show there will be a group that we've already mentioned earlier this evening."
Behind Klas one or some of boys showed up behind the curtains and made the girls in the audience scream. Others in the audience tried to make them shout up. The camera, was still focused on Klas.
"The group, four boys from England - Liverpool actually, have been playing together just for fun for about three years. Just to get money to food for the day. They are still playing..."
The boy's starts to enter the scene and a shock goes through the audience.
"You can hear them right behind me. But they still likes to play even though' they can play and earn money at the same time."
He continues to tell the audience the short story about The Beatles hits and how the group is set up.
The camera takes a tour around the audience who is trying to get a better sight over the scene.
At last!!! The TV audience finally was able to see The Beatles.
Klas again: " And the song they now are going to play is 'She Loves You' ".

The Beatles started off immediately. 'She Loves You' was one of the two songs that they were supposed to play. 'Twist and Shout' was the other.
The audience was so close to The Beatles that legs on the ones in front of The Beatles touched the microphones. When the last of the two songs were finished the sound engineers had began to switch down the sound to complete the show with the signature track.
Paul, George, Lill-Babs (our Swedish pride - Still going strong and looking better than ever) and John. BTW, what's the matter with John's eyes?
But the audience, which was nearly in a trance wanted more so Klas rushed to the scene and said :
" Paul, George, John, Ringo, one more number, please"
The Beatles wasn't hard to persuade. Paul said:
"One, Two, Three, Foooour" and 'I Saw Her Standing There' came out from the loudspeakers. The Audience was thrilled and screamed and clapped their hands.
After this extra number the confrecier Kersti Adams-Ray was convicted the show was over and tried to get the signature track to start. But behind her back Klas tried to persuade The Beatles to play yet another song.
And again there were no problem to get an extra song. The Beatles kicked off immediately with 'Long Tall Sally'. That was the song that was about to round up this fantastic show.
Now the confrecier Kersti Adams-Ray could do her job. She said:
"Thank you all. Now you're going to help us out with our signature and The Beatles will also help us with our "Drop-In" -signature"
Ringo gave his heart playing the "Drop-In" -signature along with John, Paul, George, the audience and the Swedish group "The Telstars".(DOWNLOAD: 668 kB mp3-file)
After the show the TV-producer, Lasse Sarri, said to John:
"I hope that you didn't mind doing the extra numbers"
John responded:
"No, not at all. I always talk like this"

After the show The Beatles left the Arena Theater in a green police car with screaming Swedish girls behind.
The program was broadcasted for the first time in Swedish television November the 3rd 1963. It have been showed several times on TV after that. The last time it was showed was late 1996. Now the Apple company got the rights for the show.
When the boys arrived to their hotel they were very tired, but not to tired to continue playing. The rumour says that they continued to play at the Continental Hotel for yet another hour. Amongst the songs they were supposed to play you could have heard 'If I Had A Hammer' if you'd been there.
Then they went to the Swedish Fan Club to sign autographs and to get lots of presents and letters. After that it was time for bed.

Thursday October the 31st 1963

The Beatles leaves Sweden and says "We'll be back"
Time to leave Sweden after their first tour outside the UK. Klas Burling did an interview with Paul and Ringo before the group left Sweden.
The Beatles took good bye and lifted off in a Caravelle. Imagine: they flew as second class passengers. During the trip one and other passenger from first class came and asked for their autographs.
When The Beatles landed in London as much as 20 000 people had gathered there. The Beatles got very exited 'cos they thought that all the people were waiting for the Queen. It took a while before they realised that all these people were hysteric Beatles fans.
"Beatle mania" was born.

Interesting things that happened during The Beatles 1963 tour in Sweden
A young teenage guy named Bengt Eriksson (later a journalist at the Swedish pop magazine Schlager) who were a big Beatle fan, used to hang around the Continental Hotel just to see a glimpse of The Beatles one day got the opportunity to guide John and Neil Aspinall on a shopping round in Stockholm.
John was out for buying a coat. John actually bought a dark grey, long one at "the still going strong" STROMS in the corner of Sveavagen/Kungsgatan.
During conversations The Beatles often talked with each other in a very heavy Liverpudlian. Often John acted as an interpreter.
On October the 30th the company was in a hotel restaurant. Paul says that he has a terrible head ace so he have to leave early for an early bed.
In some way he had managed to get his hands of a couple cameras, false moustache and a couple of glasses. He hangs the cameras on him an put on the mustachio and the glasses. After a while he returns to the company and starts to talk with the company in a strange dialect, which he is really good at, and starts to take pictures in a hurry.
"Pictures for the paper, you know"
When he's ready he says "Thank you" and leaves the room.
After a couple of minutes Paul is coming back and says that he has no head ace any longer. John, George and the others tells Paul that he missed the happening of today. A crazy Swedish photographer had came to the company when Paul was away. Paul had really missed something. The others really thought it was quite funny. What they didn't know was that "the crazy Swedish photographer" actually was non other than Paul.
When Paul told them the truth the rest of them the laughs got stock in their throats. The one who enjoyed it the most was Paul.

A Swedish girl, Ewa Säfwenberg, tells an other interesting story:
My friend, Lena, who knew Paul from her days in England. The Beatles contacted her when they came to Sweden and I was the lucky one who came with her.
First we saw the concert at the Royal Tennis Hall. After the concert we left in a limousine. John was in the front seat. It was amazing to see all the fans outside the car.
Later Paul and I followed Lena to Nacka where more of her friends (all girls) were waiting to meet Paul. They had a pleasant evening together that ended outside the Central Station, near Paul's hotel.
John, George and Ringo stayed in Stockholm.
(Ewa Säfwenberg joined Paul and George during their quick visit to Sweden 1967. Read more about that on the page "Other journeys to Sweden made during the 60's").

When the "Drop In" -program was sent the Beatles fever broke loose in Sweden. The record sales increased and the album 'Please Please Me' sold more than 7 000 mono copies and about 400 copies in stereo.
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The Beatles Connection: How I met Tony Sheridan and The Beatles

A story by George Dankmeyer edited by Cees Bakker

The famous Dutch impresario Lou van Rees offered the Harry Bredow Band, of which I was a member, to play at the Blauer Peter club in Hamburg during August, September and October 1960. The club was located at Grosse Freiheit, a side-street of the Reeperbahn. This club was a so called Frühlokal, it was open from 04.00 PM till 10.00 PM. Mainly in that period Italian and Italian orientated bands were contracted, because of the popularity of the style/genre. That means close-harmony singing was obligatory.
Harry Bredow’ s (vocals, guitar, piano) sidemen were Rob van Kreeveld (piano- today jazz piano teacher at Royal Conservatory The Hague); Wim Zuijdervelt (died April 2004 - trumpet, bass, vocals); Henny Heutink (deceased March 2000 - drums) and myself George Dankmeyer (guitar, bass and vocals).

Harry Bredow Band at the Blauer Peter (Hamburg, September/Oktober 1960)l/r: Rob van Kreeveld, Harry Bredow, Henny Heutink, Wim Zuijdervelt, George Dankmeyer

Our band was frequently visited by Tony Sheridan and James Macken aka Jimmy Ward (Irish, although he always tried to persist/convince his Scottish origin/descent). Jimmy Ward sang the song "At the End Of The Rainbow" very well; the man on the double bass: Tony Cavanaugh (Afro American, ex- GI) had a good performance with :”He Ba Be Re Bop” . Tony Sheridan's right middle finger was "stiff", I remember. These three musicians played at Top Ten Club on the Reeperbahn, where there was much fluorescent light. Our band was listening very often to them between 20 - 24 hours. And under such circumstances you often hear the invitation: Just like to sing/ play a couple of numbers with us?

A German young man Horst Fascher (former talented boxer), who worked in Top Ten and who was a former employee of club owner Bruno Koschmider of Kaiserkeller's - kind of bodyguard of Tony Sheridan, once had the idea to let play our band at Top Ten, in a change with Tony/Tony/Jimmy. As we were full of energy we accepted the invitation, because we now also could play for a younger public. The Blauer Peter public was more jet set-like, movie stars (Curd Jürgens, Hans Jörg Felmy and more), sportsmen as Olympic 100 meter gold medal winner (Rome-1960) and world record keeper Armin Hary, football players of HSV, airport flight crews, sailors and so on. Digging in my memories I remember that Blauer Peter was also visited by a famous boxer: Floyd Patterson. The Harry Bredow band stayed during that period at the Hotel Menken (Reeperbahn), where another Dutch band played of which Harry and Wim Zuijdervelt were former members (Rhythm Stars); the band’s new name was The Five Atomics. Most of the time we had our meals (dinners) at an Indonesian restaurant: Dewi, opposite to the hotel. The owners name was Moesi.

Just for the record Tony Sheridan played a Fender Stratocaster, Tony Cavanaugh double bass and Jimmy Ward drums. When the two bands played together the sound was fuller because we were specialized in close-harmony singing. Tony's repertoire was Elvis, but his success number was Summertime. With our piano player Rob van Kreeveld they did a original version of Elvis' Lover Doll.
Because of lack of energy we played 10 or 14 days at Top Ten and after that incidentally when there was a special occasion. Then by surprise together with The Tony Sheridan Trio we were invited to play at the Club 99 in Bremen to promote the 'Berlin Golden Boys & Gils Rock'n'Roll Team' for a live transmission of Televison/Radio Bremen in September 1960. Tremendous success, music and show (lying on the ground and more exiting movements). The offer to make a record was cancelled by us, because we had to move to another club after the end of our contract with Blauer Peter. Tony and his men later started to make records.

Very actual in the hit parade was a new release of Ramona (Blue Diamonds), which we never heard and when there was a special request for us to play that number, so we played the old 3/4 version, ha ha. Another hit at that time was : Wir Wollen Niemals Aus Einander Gehen, by Heidi Brühl.


Another band we met there was Rory Storm and The Hurricanes (with drummer Ringo Starr). A typical rock 'n roll band in style of Tommy Steele (who's brother Colin Hicks I played also once with, but that was pure incidentally - I even don't know exactly the place whether it was in Milan or at Brussels - World Exhibition). Rory Storm's band also played in the Grosse Freiheit (Kaiserkeller, a smaller club).
Once an evening there were English talking guys with Western outfit listening to us, presenting them as The Beatles from Liverpool. They played at Indra and from August 1960 as second band with Rory Storm in the Kaiserkeller. As they didn't earn so much money they offered us to buy their cowboy boots, but we were not interested in that, instead of that we paid their drinks and some more small things as a sandwich or so.

The Beatles with their cowboy boots in Hamburg 1960

But it was very friendly atmosphere. I myself met Stuart Sutcliffe several times and then we walked up together, chatting about all kinds of subjects and much about art. I remember that he sometimes said to me that "a splitting headache was torturing him" or something similar. He told about his German girlfriend, who was artist too? I once saw her at a distance with Stuart.

Remembering the time I'm sure that our band was the first Dutch band which had a narrow contact with Tony Sheridan and the others and very probably the first Dutch band who met The Beatles in their first line up.
After Hamburg we performed through Germany. Later our band changed its name into Rhythm Sellers. We played the summer of 1961 in Sheherazade (Scheveningen - The Netherlands). Harry Bredow left the band and in his place Leo van Oostrom joined us. He was the first Royal Conservatory student on saxophone in our country. He now still is a teacher as Rob van Kreeveld (our pianist) also is. Sometimes we talk about our wonderful time we had at Hamburg. But it is 45 years back!! Henny Heutink (drums) and Wim Zuijdervelt (bass, trumpet) passed away.

The Rhythm Sellers (Sheherazade, Scheveningen - Summer 1961)
l/r: Rob van Kreeveld, Leo van Oostrom, Wim Zuijdervelt, George Dankmeyer, Henny Heutink

In the beginning of the year 1961 I played with the Hawaiian band of Mike Anoi's (steeler), and we made a trip through Denmark and Germany. After that I was a member of the Italian band of Franco Betro and in the period 1963-1965 I joined the Indo-Rock group The Fire Devils.
The End.
George Dankmeyer
(Born Sunday 18 July 1937)
All pictures: George's private collection & all rights reserved

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