Happy New Year (of 1963) from The Beatles! On the final day of 1962, The Beatles rocked in the New Year at the Star-Club in Hamburg. ...and what a year 1963 would be, for them and us!
With Ringo Starr now on board, the band was complete. 1963 would be the year The Beatles began to show the world they were here to stay.
8 January 1963 - While on a short tour of Scotland, The Beatles appeared on a children's magazine program Roundup, live and locally only for the Glasgow, Lanarkshire audience. Here they mimed to their forthcoming single, "Please Please Me".
As with much of the Television work they did that year, nothing of it seems to exist today, but I found what might be a photo from that day, apparently from a book I do not know of, taken from this website link, MultiPlusBooks.com which also includes a nice little story.
At the Cavern Club ca. 1963
Indeed their 'ship' did come in!
13 January 1963 - The Beatles appear on Thank Your Lucky Stars by ABC Television although at the bottom of a seven-act bill, miming to "Please Please Me" and broadcast on January 19, 1963. It was Dick James, the music publisher, who secured them this spot, which was their most important appearance to date as the show was almost fully networked. Most of Britain's teens would have seen this program. Dick James, in turn, would make an immense fortune by winning The Beatle's future song copyrights from "Please Please Me" onward.
Once more, nothing seems to have survived from this day.
While shuffling between studios with first rehearsals and then live studio recordings, The Beatles finished off at the Playhouse Theatre, also in Manchester, on Teenagers Turn: Here We Go singing and performing "Chains", "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why". They also sang "Three Cool Cats" but that was edited out of the transmission tape, which was broadcast January 25, 1963.
For the longest time, I never saw anything from this day surface, but it appears that "Chains" does survive, in fragments, "Please Please Me" is slightly incomplete and "Ask Me Why" does seem to be pretty complete, although all three numbers are not in the best of audio shape.
This photograph was reputed to be taken earlier that day, at EMI House, by photographer Angus McBean, the man who would soon take the photos for the cover of the group's first LP, which would also be photographed at EMI House.
Some of this show, including Beatles' performances, was also transmitted via short-wave frequencies to Australasia, Africa, the Far East, the Middle East, southeast Asia and the Mediterranean area by the then BBC General Overseas Service.
So while they were in the middle of their first British Nationwide Tour, although at the bottom of a six-act bill headed by 16 year old Londoner Helen Shapiro, The Beatles headed to EMI Studios on the 11th of February to record 10 new tracks which would be supplemented by their first 2 singles to fill out a 14 track record, marking their brilliant début album, which would be titled like the single, "Please Please Me".
Remarkably, all 10 takes of "There's A Place" have become available to Beatles' Fans through various resources, including the official/unoffical(?) Beatles' "Bootleg Recordings 1963" that was released at the end of 2013. (It may have been made available through iTunes, but there was absolutely no promotion done for this 'release' leading people to believe it was only put out to extend copyright privileges.)
*Post taken from the book "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner.
*Post taken from the book "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner.
Once more as fortune would have it, all 9 takes of "I Saw Her Standing There" can be found for Beatles' fans.
The afternoon session for the "Please Please Me" LP went from 2:30-6:00pm. Records show during the lunchtime break that while George Martin and the engineers Norman Smith and Richard Langham took their lunch, The Beatles stayed on in the studio to continue rehearsals for the next recording session.
Richard Langham was quoted, "We couldn't believe it. We had never seen a group work right through their lunch break before."
The afternoon session started off with five takes of "A Taste Of Honey". Then it was onwards with another original track, "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" with eight takes made. Take 8 was actually a superimposition of vocal harmony and two drum sticks tapped together onto take 6 and then labeled the best version of the song.
*Post taken from the book "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner.
After finishing "Do You Want To Know A Secret?" The Beatles went back to "A Taste Of Honey" and after doing another couple of takes, there was a superimposition of Take 7 onto Take 5 for a 'more fuller sound'.
The Beatles also went back to "There's A Place" [Takes 11-13] overdubbing harmonica onto take 10.
Some takes from these three tracks can be found here: "Please Please Me" - Afternoon Session
Wrapping up the afternoon session at EMI, The Beatles taped in 11 takes another original song, "Misery". The funny/strange guitar 'solo' was used as a marker where piano could be superimposed at a later date. To make it easier for this dubbing "Misery" was recorded on tape at a speed twice that of normal.
*Post taken from the book "A Hard Day's Write" by Steve Turner.
Some takes from these two tracks can be found here: "Please Please Me" - Afternoon Session 2
A third (evening) session was also booked this day, February 11, 1963, and the most interesting thing I found about that was they did 13 takes of "Hold Me Tight" a version of which would be re-made for their second LP "With The Beatles". I would have loved to have heard this version, but it is thought that no tape of it exists.
The rest of the session went fast as John sang "Anna (Go To Him)" in 3 takes, Ringo did "Boys" in 1 take, "Chains" was done in 4 takes with take 1 selected as best, "Baby It's You" in 3 takes and the final wrap up, "Twist And Shout" with take 1 the best. There was a take 2 but by that time John's voice was gone and it was rejected. Take 1 was so impressive, however, that the next day engineers proudly took the tape of it around to all "the studio copying rooms saying to everyone, 'What the hell you think of this?'"
17 February 1963 - The Beatles return to "Thank Your Lucky Stars" being taped at Teddington Studio Centre southwest of London. During rehearsals, I believe, these photos were taken. They wound up miming "Please Please Me" in the afternoon and the show was transmitted on February 23, 1963.
Billed above The Beatles on that day was Billy Fury, whom they had auditioned for as a backing group in May of 1960.
It appears that only these photographs survive The Beatles' appearance on this edition of "Thank Your Lucky Stars". (Note: It has been said that the early "Beatles" logo on Ringo's drum kit was designed by Paul.)
20 February 1963 - On this day when George Martin was adding piano to "Misery", The Beatles appeared live on the live lunchtime radio show, "Parade Of The Pops" performing "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me". So far it seems no audio has survived from this show.
25 February 1963 - Without The Beatles' participation, George Martin and his engineers created the Monaural version and the Stereo version of the upcoming "Please Please Me" LP. At this time they were using only two-tracks to record with and it is easy to understand why the 'true' form of the record should be considered the mono version.
Nonetheless students of the Beatles' music enjoy studying the separation of vocals from instruments that is very prominent on the 'stereo' version of "Please Please Me" (LP). As George Martin explains, they had what was called a Stereo machine, but he used it in the form of a twin-track to "simply make the mono better, to delay the vital decision of submerging the voices into the background. I certainly didn't separate them for people to hear them separate!"
The first true Beatles' record release in the USA, February 25, 1963. Read how the most successful Black American owned and operated record company before Motown brought The Beatles to America.
2 March 1963 - As The Beatles began to wrap up their package tour with Helen Shapiro, they made a rare TV appearance where they did not perform, on ABC At Large. Along with Brian Epstein they were interviewed by David Hamilton. Gerry Marsden of Gerry and the Pacemakers also made an appearance. (At this time I can not find any photos, video or audio, from this broadcast.)
The session began with "From Me To You" which had only been written 5 days previously. They had it in 7 takes, with an additional 6 takes done as 'edit-pieces' which covered harmonica, a guitar solo and vocal harmony for an introduction.
You can hear most of these takes (1, 2, 4, & 5) and the edit pieces for "From Me To You" from this link: "From Me To You" - Afternoon Session
"Brian Epstein and I worked out a plan," says George Martin, "in which we tried--not always successfully--to release a new Beatles single every three months and two albums a year. I was always saying to the Beatles, 'I want another hit, come on, give me another hit,' and they always responded...from the earliest days they never failed."
Indeed The Beatles never slacked off, even on the 'B' side for a new single. In fact, the two tracks recorded on this day were both considered for the 'A' side with "From Me To You" winning out.
"Thank You Little Girl" which became "Thank You Girl" was initially considered as the top track. It was nailed down in 6 takes with 7 edit pieces for the guitar ending. Take 6 was edited onto take 13 for the completed result.
You can hear takes 1-5 and the edit pieces for "Thank You Girl" from this link: "Thank You Girl" - Afternoon Session
The Beatles were still interested in working on more of their new ideas. For consideration were two additional recordings, one of a song called "One After 909" and the other "What Goes On". They wound up with only enough time for "One After 909" in 4 takes and one edit piece of the guitar solo. Only one take was complete.
The early version of "One After 909" was soon abandoned as incomplete, but George Martin would work with what remained putting together a 'finished' version of the song for release on The Beatles Anthology 1 in 1995.
All of the available known takes for "One After 909" can be found here: "One After 909" - Evening Session
Other ideas are explored here with these photos. "Those were the sort of dreadful stock ideas every photographer went in for then," recalled George.
6 March 1963 - Returning to the Playhouse in Manchester, The Beatles appeared for the final time on the radio show Here We Go performing before a live audience "I Saw Her Standing There", "Misery", "Do You Want To Know A Secret" and "Please Please Me". All but "I Saw Her Standing There" were broadcast on March 12.
You can find these three performances here: Here We Go - 6 March 1963
7 March 1963 - Of interest on this day is the coming together of Brian Epstein's current 'stable of artists' with The Beatles appearing at the Elizabethan Ballroom in Nottingham. Included were Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Big Three and Billy J Kramer with The Dakotas, yet as this ticket stub shows, there was no mistaking who was headlining the event.
Since this would be the first of six shows which included this line-up, the events would become known as the "Mersey Beat Showcase" Tour.
8 March 1963 - I include this date (not only because I can, but) to illustrate how busy The Beatles were during this time. After concluding their Helen Shapiro package tour on March 3rd, they'd played another show at the Plaza Ballroom in St. Helens on the 4th, attended an EMI recording session on the 5th, performed before a live audience for radio broadcast on the 6th, headlined a Brian Epstein artists extravaganza on the 7th, and continued to perform on this date at The Royal Hall in Harrogate before embarking on another theatre package tour to commence on the 9th!
9 March 1963 - The second theatre package tour The Beatles would be a part of was headlined equally by Tommy Roe and Chris Montez. All indications are, however, that the audience was really in attendance to see The Beatles.
On March 13th, 1963, The Beatles attended an overdubbing session at EMI for "Thank You Girl" with presumably John playing the harmonica. He still could not sing and so when the rest of the group headed for another performance on that night at the Rialto Theatre in York, he did not attend.
Mono and stereo mixing of "Thank You Girl" would be completed on this day and "From Me to You" would be mixed for mono the next day on the 14th. The Beatles would play yet another evening without John on the 14th. (I don't believe "From Me To You" was ever properly mixed for stereo, for when it first appeared in that format in 1966, I understand it was simply a direct copy of the two-track original recording.)
John would finally return to the group on March 15th, 1963.
All six songs from this broadcast can be found here, and I've never heard them sound better: Saturday Club - 16 March 1963
The eventual cover for the LP was photographed by Angus McBean, taken as the group looked down over the entrance stairwell inside the Manchester Square building.
One thing not quite nailed down yet was how the songwriting team's surnames would appear with their songs. Initially, as Paul would recollect, it was up in the air who would come first. (Paul would later try to arrange it so that whomever's song it primarily was, that name could go first. "Yesterday" for example should really be a McCartney-Lennon song.) This protocol would be settled by their next record for John eventually 'won out' and it would become forever Lennon-McCartney between the two of them.
(Note: The LP notes were written by Tony Barrow.)
Out Now, on Parlophone!
On March 25th, 1963 The Beatles spent some time with photographer Dezo Hoffmann who took still shots and 8mm home movie film of the group. I am not certain if all of these photographs are actually from that day but I'm confident at least some of them are.
They would repeat the exercise again with Mr. Hoffman in late July of that year.
D'ya mind? We're busy here!
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