5 Star Rating ***
A collection of The Beatles greatest hits which uses The Beatles 1 album as its main source. Original promotional clips and live performances have been remastered and cleaned for this release.
DISC 1 VIDEO (DVD or Blu-Ray)
- Love Me Do
- From Me To You
- She Loves You
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- A Hard Day’s Night
- I Feel Fine
- Eight Days a Week
- Ticket To Ride
- Help!
- Yesterday
- Day Tripper
- We Can Work It Out
- Paperback Writer
- Yellow Submarine
- Eleanor Rigby
- Penny Lane
- All You Need Is Love
- Hello, Goodbye
- Lady Madonna
- Hey Jude
- Get Back
- The Ballad of John and Yoko
- Something
- Come Together
- Let It Be
- The Long and Winding Road
DISC 1 VIDEO EXTRAS
- Paul McCartney audio commentary
- Penny Lane
- Hello, Goodbye
- Hey Jude
- Ringo Starr filmed introductions
- Penny Lane
- Hello, Goodbye
- Hey Jude
- Get Back
- The Beatles 1+
DISC 2 VIDEO (DVD or Blu-Ray)
- Twist & Shout
- Baby It’s You
- Words Of Love
- Please Please Me
- I Feel Fine
- Day Tripper *
- Day Tripper *
- We Can Work It Out *
- Paperback Writer *
- Rain *
- Rain *
- Strawberry Fields Forever
- Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
- A Day In The Life
- Hello, Goodbye *
- Hello, Goodbye *
- Hey Bulldog
- Hey Jude *
- Revolution
- Get Back *
- Don’t Let Me Down
- Free As A Bird
- Real Love
DISC 2 VIDEO EXTRA
Paul McCartney audio commentary
Strawberry Fields Forever
* alternate version
BEATLES 1 DVD (NOTES)
DISC ONE
1. LOVE ME DO
Newly edited clip, featuring material from BBC TV’s The Mersey Sound, with performance footage filmed on 27 August 1963 at the Little Theatre, Southport.
2. FROM ME TO YOU
A live performance at the 1963 Royal Variety Show, filmed at The Prince Of Wales Theatre, London, on 4 November 1963.
3. SHE LOVES YOU
A live performance from the Swedish Television show Drop In, recorded on 30 October 1963 during a short Scandinavian tour.
4. I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
From the Granada TV programme Late Scene Extra filmed on 25 November 1963.
5. CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
First broadcast in the TV show Around The Beatles, filmed on 28 April 1964 and broadcast the following month. It features a different audio track to that of hit single, recorded by The Beatles on 19 April 1964.
6. A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
Live performance at the Palais des Sports, Paris on 20 June 1965, while on a short European tour.
7. I FEEL FINE
Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965. One of ten films shot that day to satisfy global TV demand for broadcast material to accompany The Beatles’ hit records.
8. EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
A brand new clip edited from material filmed at the Shea Stadium concert in New York City on 15 August 1965, during which the band performed twelve songs, but ‘Eight Days A Week’ was not among them. The clip says so much about the band’s frenetic lifestyle in 1965, at the height of Beatlemania.
9. TICKET TO RIDE
Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965.
10. HELP!
The less frequently seen clip of those filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965.
11. YESTERDAY
Paul performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, videotaped in New York City on 14 August 1965 and broadcast the following month, the day before the single was released in America.
12. DAY TRIPPER
Three versions of this clip were filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965. This is version 2, in which all of the group are wearing polo neck sweaters, except for Paul, who wears a black shirt.
13. WE CAN WORK IT OUT
There were three versions of the ‘We Can Work It Out’ video filmed atat Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965. This is version 2 in which all four Beatles are wearing black polo neck sweaters.
14. PAPERBACK WRITER
Filmed in 35mm, and in colour, in Chiswick Park, West London, by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
15. YELLOW SUBMARINE
This clip is newly created from original Yellow Submarine footage.
16. ELEANOR RIGBY
This clip is taken directly from the Yellow Submarine movie.
17. PENNY LANE
A ground-breaking clip by Swedish director Peter Goldmann that captures The Beatles in Stratford, London, and at Knole Park in Kent, with additional material shot in Liverpool.
18. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
Filmed in Studio One at Abbey Road, on 25 June 1967, and beamed around the globe as a part of the TV programme Our World. This colourised version was created for The Beatles Anthology TV programme in 1995.
19. HELLO, GOODBYE
London’s Saville Theatre was the location for this promo film, shot on 10 November 1967; The Beatles wear their Sgt. Pepper outfits.
20. LADY MADONNA
Just prior to leaving for India, The Beatles met up in Studio Three at Abbey Road, on 11 February 1968. They were filmed while recording ‘Hey Bulldog’.
21. HEY JUDE
Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September, for broadcast on David Frost’s TV show, Frost On Sunday. The introduction by David Frost is different from that on disc 2.
22. GET BACK
The promo clip made available at the time of the original release of the single featured performances from the Apple rooftop synched to the record. This new clip has been rebuilt to replicate the original but with improved picture quality.
23. THE BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO
This original promo clip features outtakes from the Let It Be movie, with other private footage shot in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Vienna.
24. SOMETHING
The video features George and Pattie, John and Yoko, Paul and Linda, and Ringo and Maureen. and was filmed at locations in Berkshire, Surrey, and the Mull of Kintyre.
25. COME TOGETHER
The clip was created in 2000 by Melon Dezign for the launch of thebeatles.com and the original Beatles 1 album.
26. LET IT BE
A 1970 promo clip was made available to support the release of the single and it was different to the one featured in the Let It Be movie; this clip has been rebuilt from the original footage.
27. THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
This clip is taken straight from the Let It Be movie.
DISC TWO
1. TWIST AND SHOUT
From the Granada Television programme Scene At 6.30, which was videotaped on 14 August 1963.
2. BABY IT’S YOU
One of two clips used to promote the single taken from the 1995 Live At The BBC album. The clip is enhanced by the inclusion of unique colour footage of The Beatles filmed outside the BBC’s Paris Studio on Lower Regent Street, London.
3. WORDS OF LOVE
When On Air – Live At The BBC Volume 2 was released in 2013, it included ‘Words Of Love’, a Buddy Holly composition that the band recorded for radio. This new clip is a mix of existing footage and innovative animation.
4. PLEASE PLEASE ME
A live performance videotaped on 9 February for The Ed Sullivan Show, which was screened on 23 February 1964.
5. I FEEL FINE
Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965, this clip shows The Beatles eating fish and chips during their lunch break.
6. DAY TRIPPER
From the TV special The Music Of Lennon & McCartney that first broadcast in mid-December 1965.
7. DAY TRIPPER
Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965, with the group wearing their Shea Stadium Jackets with the ‘Nehru’ collars.
8. WE CAN WORK IT OUT
Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965 – showing The Beatles wearing the Shea Stadium jackets.
9. PAPERBACK WRITER
Shot on videotape at Abbey Road, on 19 May 1966, this studio version is prefaced by a short introduction by Ringo. It was broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show in America.
10. RAIN
‘Rain’, the B-side of ‘Paperback Writer’, was filmed in colour at Chiswick House, West London, on 20 May 1966.
11. RAIN
This black and white clip is a new edit from several takes of ‘Rain’ videotaped at Abbey Road on 19 May 1966.
12. STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
Directed by Peter Goldmann and with newly restored footage, this was filmed at Knole Park, Kent on 30 and 31 January 1967.
13. WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU/TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
The merging of these two tracks, one from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the other from Revolver, was created for The Beatles Love show by Cirque du Soleil, which opened in June 2006 in Las Vegas. This video was created to promote the Love album released later that year.
14. A DAY IN THE LIFE
Filmed in Studio One at Abbey Road on 10 February 1967, this includes classical musicians, who were asked to wear evening dress, fake noses and funny hats for the recording session.
15. HELLO, GOODBYE
This clip is another shot at London’s Saville Theatre on 10 November 1967; The Beatles wear their ‘street clothes’.
16. HELLO, GOODBYE
This third version was also shot at London’s Saville Theatre on 10 November 1967; it includes elements from the first two films but with additional footage unique to this edit.
17. HEY BULLDOG
The original footage from a 1968 shoot for the ‘Lady Madonna’ promo film was unearthed in the mid-1990s. It was revealed that The Beatles were recording ‘Hey Bulldog’ and is an edit done to promote the reissue of the Yellow Submarine movie in 1999.
18. HEY JUDE
This is an edit of the two other takes filmed on 4 September 1968 for the Frost On Sunday TV show. This has a different David Frost intro to the clip on disc 1.
19. REVOLUTION
One of two versions, this was shot the same day as ‘Hey Jude’. John’s lead vocal is completely live, as are most of Paul and George’s backing vocals. The instrumentation, including Nicky Hopkins’ electric piano, is from the master tape.
20. GET BACK
This clip was assembled in 2003 to support the release of the album Let It Be…Naked and utilises studio footage from the famous Get Back/Let It Be sessions.
21. DON’T LET ME DOWN
This was the B-side of ‘Get Back’ and this clip is a composite of two live performances from the Apple rooftop in 1969. It was made available to support the release of Let It Be…Naked in 2003.
22. FREE AS A BIRD
The 1995 video is a work of art by director Joe Pytka, who used the concept of a bird’s-eye view to pay homage to many Beatles songs and images.
23. REAL LOVE
This video directed by Geoff Wonfor and ex-10cc and leading pop promo-maker Kevin Godley, this video was made in 1996 to support the release of the single.See Also - The Beatles 1
The Beatles 1 Video Collection - Review
5 Star Rating ***I was very excited about this collection being released, so it was a bit of a disappointment to view the finished result. I had hoped for high quality restored or constructed videos for each of the 27 songs which originally featured on the Beatles 1 CD back in 1999. By that, I mean the studio tracks, we all know the Beatles were a bit crap when they performed live, so why do we need so much live stuff? I appreciate well known video's like Paperback Writer, Penny Lane, We Can Work It Out, etc. have all had a lavish makeover and 3 cheers for that, but why do we need Eleanor Rigby ripped straight from the Yellow Submarine film when we could have been treated to a great montage representing 1966 rather than 1968, two years after the song's release! The other disappointments include I Want To Hold Your Hand, A Hard Days Night and other early tracks where known video's containing perfectly good studio performances have been ignored for the yawn-fest of shabby live performances! Another gripe is the Let It Be songs which have sadly been left as McCartney would no doubt have liked them, but have an unfinished quality, which the Phil Spector versions don't lack. All in all it was a missed opportunity.
Jonathan Poole (October 2015)