Beatles’ New BBC Collection Details Emerge
More details about a new collection of the Beatles’ BBC sessions have emerged, with the The New York Times reporting that On Air – Live at the BBC Volume 2 will be released on November 11th and will include 63 tracks on two discs.
Due out on Capitol Records, the collection will fill in the cracks left by the first Beatles BBC sessions collection. On Air will feature 23 dialogue tracks – interviews, intros and studio banter – and 40 songs, including recordings of some of their biggest early hits like “She Loves You,” “Please Please Me” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” and fan favorites like “And I Love Her” and “This Boy.”
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The new collection will also mark the official release of a handful of covers, including the band’s rendition of Stephen Foster’s “Beautiful Dreamer” and “Happy Birthday” (to mark the anniversary of the BBC program Saturday Club), Paul McCartney tackling Little Richard‘s “Lucille” and John Lennon doing Chuck Berry‘s “I’m Talking About You.”
As for the spoken cuts, there are individual interviews with each Beatle recorded for the Pop Profile show in November 1965 and May 1966. On Air will also include new liner notes by former BBC producer Kevin Howlett, who chronicled the Beatles‘ time at the station in his book, The Beatels at the BBC – The Radio Years 1962-70.