The Beatles

Live at the BBC (1995)

Disc One
1.Beatle Greetings
2.From Us To You
3.Riding on a Bus
4.I Got a Woman
5.Too Much Monkey Business
6.Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
7.I'll Be On My Way
8.Young Blood
9.A Shot of Rhythm and Blues
10.Sure to Fall (In Love With You)
11.Some Other Girl
12.Thank You Girl
13.Sha La La La!
14.Baby It's You
15.That's Alright Mama
16.Carol
17.Soldier of Love (Lay Down Your Arms)
18.A Little Rhyme
19.Clarabella
20.I'm Gonna Sit Right Down (And Cry Over You)
21.Crying, Waiting, Hoping
22.Dear Wack!
23.You Really Got A Hold On Me
24.To Know Her is To Love Her
25.A Taste of Honey
26.Long Tall Sally
27.I Saw Her Standing There
28.The Honeymoon Song
29.Johnny B. Goode
30.Memphis
31.Lucille
32.Can't Buy Me Love
33.From Fluff To You
34.'Til There Was You

Disc Two
1.Crinsk Dee Night
2.A Hard Day's Night
3.Have a Banana
4.I Wanna Be Your Man
5.Just a Rumor
6.Roll Over Beethoven
7.All My Loving
8.Things We Said Today
9.She's A Woman
10.Sweet Little Sixteen
11.1812!
12.Lonesome Tears in My Eyes
13.Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on the Tree)
14.The Hippy Hippy Shake
15.Glad All Over
16.I Just Don't Understand
17.So How Come (No One Loves Me)
18.I Feel Fine
19.I'm A Loser
20.Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
21.Rock & Roll Music
22.Ticket To Ride
23.Dizzy Miss Lizzy
24.Medley:Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey
25.Set Fire to That Lot!
26.Matchbox
27.I Forgot to Remember to Forget
28.Love These Goon Shows!
29.I Got to Find My Baby
30.Ooh! My Soul
31.Ooh! My Arms
32.Don't Ever Change
33.Slow Down
34.Honey Don't
35.Love Me Do

Twenty-Five years after the breakup of The Beatles, there had been no "new material" to surface other than an odd sub-par live album or two (none were deemed satisfactory enought to make the transition to compact disc). It sort of caught everyone by surprise when this release attracted as much attention as it did. Sales initially went through the roof and many retailers sold out of their initial quantities. The message was clear - The Beatles were truly, well, forever.

In hindsight, it's easy to forgive those that thought the demand wouldn't be as high as it was. After all, a lot of these songs had been released before and, let's face it, most people shy away from Double CD's that, unlike double "albums" from two decades ago, cost almost twice as much as a single disc.

What made this release so special (other than the fact it was The Beatles) was that all the material here was presented in a unique form. These were the unreleased sessions that the band played on BBC radio from 1962 - 1965, the time when Beatlemania was at its peak. All the songs on here sound fresh, exciting and vibrant. In the days when it was impossible to ever truly love a Beatle concert (their shows lasted no longer than 40 minutes, due to the band members' frustration that they could barely hear each other due to the rabid screaming fans), this release shows you just how could they could play live - even when they weren't in front of an actual audience. They play selected songs from their early albums through Help! as well as several cover songs that were early Beatle standards as well as audience favorites. This works to the band's advantage as well, since around 1965 is when they started to get "artsy". Not that being "artsy" was ever a bad thing, it's just that a lot of that material would be out of place here - during the time of simple 4-track studio recordings.

At first glance, the Double CD contains sixty-nine tracks - a little misleading since there are a lot of quick interviews, comedy snippets and silliness about here. Once that's whittled down, there's still probably close to fifty songs. None of the little interruptions are ever a distraction, thankfully. They just help capture the frivolty of the performances and, well, the band themselves. When most people look back at the group's history and point out the group's later efforts as their best (true), it's nevertheless refreshing to hear a reminder that this band was still extremely talented before they added so many bells and whistles and became "masters" of the recording studio. Plus, they really seemed to be enjoying themselves.