The Complete BBC Sessions
9-disc box set released on the Great Dane label, Italy, 1993. Contains every existing Beatles performance on BBC radio, from March 1962 through their final set in June 1965. Only a relatively small portion of these performances, all recorded exclusively for BBC broadcast (and thus different from the familiar LP studio versions), are otherwise available. Sound quality varies, particularly on the earlier discs, with much of the material derived from personal collections when it could not be located in the BBC archives. Contains 257 tracks in total, including many takes of the hits (for example, “She Loves You” and “From Me To You” are repeated fairly often, but it’s a different version each time) and many obscurities (a studio rehearsal of just the backing track of “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You;” George crooning Joe Brown’s pop hit “A Picture of You;” the lads backing Rolf Harris on a demented reqrite of his hit ditty, “Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport”). Perhaps the biggest treat for fans are several “Pop Goes the Beatles” shows in their entirety, including playful banter between songs. Includes a 28-page, 12 X 12 full color booklet on high-quality paper.
A legitimate tenth disc was issued after the box set was released (see below). Fake releases of an eleventh and twelfth disc exist with similar but inferior artwork – these are not part of the Great Dane release set.
March 1962-June 1963 (Disc 1)
- Dream Baby
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Please Mr. Postman
- Ask Me Why
- Besame Mucho
- A Picture Of You
- Some Other Guy
- Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
- Beautiful Dreamer
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Misery
- Too Much Monkey Business
- I’m Talking About You
- Please Please Me
- The Hippy Hippy Shake
- From Me To You
- Twist And Shout
- From Me To You
- Side By Side Theme
- Long Tall Sally
- A Taste Of Honey
- Chains
- Thank You Girl
- Boys
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Do You Want To Know A Secret?
- Boys
- Long Tall Sally
- From Me To You
- Money
June 1963 (Disc 2)
- Pop Go The Beatles
- Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
- Do You Want To Know A Secret?
- You Really Got A Hold On Me
- Misery
- The Hippy Hippy Shake
- Pop Go The Beatles
- Too Much Monkey Business
- I Got To Find My Baby
- Young Blood
- Baby It’s You
- Till There Was You
- Love Me Do
- A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
- Memphis, Tennessee
- A Taste Of Honey
- Sure To Fall
- Money
- From Me To You
- Some Other Guy
- A Taste Of Honey
- Thank You Girl
- From Me To You
- Too Much Monkey Business
- Boys
- I’ll Be On My Way
- From Me To You
- Anna (Go To Him)
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Boys
June 1963-July 1963 (Disc 3)
- I Got To Find My Baby
- Memphis, Tennessee
- Money
- Till There Was You
- From Me To You
- Roll Over Beethoven
- A Taste Of Honey
- Twist And Shout
- That’s Alright (Mama)
- There’s A Place
- Carol
- Soldier Of Love
- Lend Me Your Comb
- Clarabella
- I Saw Her Standing There
- A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
- There’s A Place
- Twist And Shout
- Sweet Little Sixteen
- Nothin’ Shakin’
- Love Me Do
- Lonesome Tears In My Eyes
- So How Come No One Loves Me
- Memphis
- Do You Want To Know A Secret?
- Till There Was You
- Matchbox
- Please Mr. Postman
- The Hippy Hippy Shake
August 1963 (Disc 4)
- I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You
- Crying, Waiting, Hoping
- Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey
- To Know Her Is To Love Her
- The Honeymoon Song
- Twist And Shout
- Long Tall Sally
- Please Please Me
- She Loves You
- You Really Got A Hold On Me
- I’ll Get You
- I Got A Woman
- She Loves You
- Words Of Love
- Glad All Over
- I Just Don’t Understand
- Devil In Her Heart
- Slow Down
- Long Tall Sally
- She Loves You
- Glad All Over
- I’ll Get You
- Ooh! My Soul
- Don’t Ever Change
- Twist And Shout
- Anna (Go To Him)
- A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
September 1963-October 1963 (Disc 5)
- From Me To You
- Money
- There’s A Place
- Honey Don’t
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Too Much Monkey Business
- Love Me Do
- She Loves You
- I’ll Get You
- A Taste Of Honey
- The Hippy Hippy Shake
- Chains
- You Really Got A Hold On Me
- Misery
- Lucille
- From Me To You
- Boys
- She Loves You
- Ask Me Why
- Devil In My Heart
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Sure To Fall
- Twist And Shout
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Memphis
- Happy Birthday Saturday Club
- I’ll Get You
- She Loves You
- Lucille
October 1963-February 1964 (Disc 6)
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Love Me Do
- Please Please Me
- From Me To You
- She Loves You
- She Loves You
- All I Want For Christmas
- This Boy
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Till There Was You
- Roll Over Beethoven
- She Loves You
- Crimble Medley
- From Us To You
- She Loves You
- All My Loving
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Till There Was You
- Boys
- Money
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- From Us To You
- All My Loving
- Money
- The Hippy Hippy Shake
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Johnny B. Goode
March 1964-May 1964 (Disc 7)
- From Us To You
- You Can’t Do That
- Roll Over Beethoven
- Till There Was You
- I Wanna Be Your Man
- Please Mr. Postman
- All My Loving
- This Boy
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- From Us To You
- Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
- I Call Your Name
- I Got A Woman
- You Can’t Do That
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- Sure To Fall
- Long Tall Sally
- From Us To You
- Whit Monday To You
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey
- I Forgot To Remember To Forget
- You Can’t Do That
- Sure To Fall
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- Matchbox
- Honey Don’t
July 1964 (Disc 8)
- Top Gear Spot
- Long Tall Sally
- Things We Said Today
- A Hard Day’s Night
- And I Love Her
- I Should Have Known Better
- If I Fell
- You Can’t Do That
- From Us To You
- Long Tall Sally
- If I Fell
- I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
- Things We Said Today
- I Should Have Known Better
- Boys
- Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey
- A Hard Day’s Night
- From Us To You
- From Us To You
- From Us To You
- I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
- I Should Have Known Better
- I Should Have Known Better
November 1964-June 1965 (Disc 9)
- I’m A Loser
- Chat
- Honey Don’t
- She’s A Woman
- Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
- I’ll Follow The Sun
- Chat
- I Feel Fine
- Rock And Roll Music
- Chat
- I’m A Loser
- Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
- I Feel Fine
- Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey
- She’s A Woman
- I Feel Fine
- She’s A Woman
- Ticket To Ride
- Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
- I’m A Loser
- Chat
- The Night Before
- Honey Don’t
- Dizzy Miss Lizzy
- She’s A Woman
- Ticket To Ride
Here We Go (Disc 10)
A supplemental tenth disc was later issued by Great Dane containing a 13:44 long recording of an FM broadcast of the March 12, 1963 show “Here We Go”. The recording session took place at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester on March 6, 1963. And contains only 3 songs by The Beatles. A fourth song, I Saw Here Standing There, was never broadcast. This disc is not included in the original box set.
- Jam – The Northern Dance Orchestra
- Misery
- Do You Want To Know A Secret
- Please Please Me
- Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love) – Ben Richmond
- Waltz In Jazz Time – The Northern Dance Orchestra
- Untitled Instrumental – The Trad Lads
Release history
- Great Dane Records, 9326/1 through 9326/9 (complete 9-disc box set), released 1993
- Great Dane Records, GDR 9326/10 (disc 10 alone), released 1993