Many Years From Now…You Still Need Us (Apocalypse Sound AS138)
Big Night Out – September 1st, 1963 (From Me To You / She Loves You / Twist And Shout / I Saw Her Standing There). Ready Steady Go! – October 10, 1963 (Twist And Shout / I’ll Get You / She Loves You). Mersey Sound – August 27-30, 1963 (Twist And Shout / Love Me Do / She Loves You). Thank Your Lucky Stars – October 20th, 1963 (Money). Drop In: Stockholm, Sweden – October 30th, 1963 (She Loves You / Twist And Shout / I Saw Her Standing There / Long Tally Sally). This Week TV show – November 5th, 1963 Royal Variety rehearsal – November 4th, 1963 (She Loves You). Royal Variety performance – November 4th, 1963 (From Me To You / She Loves You / Till There Was You / Twist And Shout). Late Scene Extra, UK-TV special aired on November 27th, 1963 (filmed at Granada TV-Center, Manchester November 25, 1969): I Want To Hold Your Hand, comedian Ken Dodd interviews the band, This Boy. The Beatles Come To Town, full screen version (She Loves You / Twist And Shout) Thank Your Lucky Stars – December 15th, 1963 (I Want To Hold Your Hand / All My Loving / Twist And Shout / She Loves You). Morecombe & Wise Show – December 2nd, 1963 (This Boy / All My Loving / I Want To Hold Your Hand / Moonlight Bay). Big Beat, UK ABC TV, Aired on May 10th, 1964: Intro with Murray The K, She Loves You, You Can’t Do That, Twist And Shout, Long Tall Sally, Can’t Buy Me Love, awards ceremony
Many Years From Now…You Still Need Us gathers together relevant Beatles television appearances from late 1963 to the spring of 1964. Nothing in this collection is new and has been released before (most recently on From Us To Youon MBE). But the virtue of the Apocalypse Sound collection is that all of this is packaged on one convenient DVD in quality that is equal if not slightly superior to other titles. The DVD is pressed in NTSC region zero to be compatible with all DVD players and the sound is presented in Dolby digital 2.0.
The disc begins with their performance on ABC-TV’s (UK) comedy show “Big Night Out.” This was taped on September 1st, 1963 at Didsbury Studio Centre in Manchester in very good quality black and white. This is the first of four appearances on the television program and was originally scheduled for August 18th with an August 24th air-date. The Beatles mimed four songs: “From Me To You,” “She Loves You”, “Twist and Shout”, and “I Saw Her Standing There” while standing on a stage in a mock up of The Cavern in Liverpool. This appearance on “Big Night Out” consists of Mike and Bernie Winters’ opening and the musical performances.
Apocalypse Sound also include their February 23rd, 1964 on “Big Night Out.” There is a mistake in the track listing on the back which attributes this also to September 1st, but they are two different programs six months apart. This clip is in good black and white with a time counter in the lower left hand corner of the screen. It begins with the band arriving to the studio by boat with George narrating the scene into a microphone. The footage then goes silent while they are lead past a screaming mob into the studio. After that Mike is sitting on a couch in moptop wig saying: “The Beatles? Nah, it will never catch on.” He turns and says “Hey Bern, is the tea ready yet?” Just then there is an explosion and The Beatles come out of destroyed wall to applause from the audience.
There is a skit with the band with the premise “We are definitely the best group and we should be on ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’…but there is something lacking.” “Maybe it’s the hair” Ringo says. “It’s the name.” “What’s wrong with The Mike Winters Six?” The four Beatles leave the set to eat chocolate cookies and Mike turns to Bernie and says they should sack the four because they are jealous of his looks and are holding him back! (The delivery is very funny). The program continues with The Beatles miming to “All My Loving,” “I Wanna Be Your Man,” “Till There Was You,” “Please Mr. Postman,” and “I Want To Hold Your Hand” over the closing credits. There is a very short silent black and white clip following showing Ringo laying down on a gurney on stage with the band looking on with “If I Fell” playing as a soundtrack.
This is followed by the October 4, 1963 episode of Associated-Rediffusions’s “Ready Steady Go!” They mime to “Twist and Shout,” “I’ll Get You,” and “She Loves You.” But the broadcast also includes Ringo being interviewed by Dusty Springfield and Paul judging the “Mime Time.” Four girls lip sync to Brenda Lee’s “Let’s Jump The Broomstick.” Paul of course picks the prettiest girl, Melanie Cole with the black dress. “Twist and Shout” and “She Loves You” were released officially on Ready Steady Go: Volume 2. All three songs appear on the Japanese laserdisc Ready Steady Go.
A thirty minute documentary follows titled The Mersey Sound. Made by filmmaker Don Haworth, The Beatles worked over four days on this project. On August 27th they were filmed performing “Twist And Shout,” “She Loves You,” and “Love Me Do” in an empty theater in Southport. This was edited with footage of a screaming audience from the August 26th show at the Southport Odeon. On August 28th they filmed interviews, on August 29th a mock airport arrival and a ferry trip were filmed, and finally on August 30th Ringo and George were interviewed. The video is in excellent quality black and white. The documentary was first broadcast on 9 October 1963. “She Loves You” performance was also sold on to the Jack Paar Show in America where it became the first Beatles US TV show appearance on January 3rd, 1964.
This is followed by an eight and a half minute color newsreel from November 20, 1963. This features a concert at the ABC, Ardwick, Manchester and is titled “The Beatles Come to Town.” Run in theaters on December 22nd, it includes two songs: “She Loves You” and “Twist and Shout.” It is fantastic seeing this film with a live performance instead of the mimed ones that make up the bulk of the disc. There are great close ups but Lennon becomes camera shy during “Twist And Shout” for some reason. This is followed by their appearance on the October 20, 1963 “Thank Your Lucky Stars.” They mimed to three songs but only one, “Money,” has surfaced among collectors and is included in this collection in very good quality. The final clip is their appearance on the Swedish television program “Drop In” on October 30, 1963 and aired on November 4th. The Beatles performed “She Loves You,” “Twist and Shout,” “I Saw Her Standing There,” and “Long Tall Sally.”
There is short black and white film of their rehearsal before the show taken from a newsreel, and is followed by the Royal Variety performance with “She Loves You,” which was not broadcast, taken from a fair quality print. The rest is in excellent condition. This edit also appears on the recent Misterclaudel release in identical quality. Following this are interviews from the following day from the TV show “This Week.” Filmed in the back of the limo, they talk about success, their haircuts, and fans state how sexy they are. The November 25th, 1963 “Scene At 6:30″ clip was filmed at the Granada television studio in Manchester. Liverpool commedian Kenneth Dodd is interviewed with the band and the first question asked is, “to what extent do they attribute their success to their hair styles.” Dodd, with his hair sticking straight up, says it has a tremendous amount of influence on his success and goes on to say The Beatles are Martians. Dodd goes on to say that isn’t true for the Beatles “because they have a tremendous gimmick: talent.” After a rather lengthy and silly interview, the band mime to “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” and “This Boy.”
The disc ends with their set for the NME award show at Wembley which was telecast on Big Beat on UK ABC TV on May 10th, 1964. Murray The K from America, introducing himself as “the fifth Beatle,” mcs the band as they come on stage and play “She Loves You,” “You Can’t Do That,” “Twist And Shout,” “Long Tall Sally,” and “Can’t Buy Me Love.” The broadcast ends with a short awards ceremony. All of this is in good black and white and is among the best clips in this collection with raw live performances by the band. In short, this is a good one DVD collection of television appearances of The Beatles’ apotheosis and is worth having.
