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The Beatles: The BBC Archives Kindle Edition

by Kevin Howlett (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 205 ratings
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A carefully curated collection of the surviving transcripts of the Beatles’ appearances on BBC Radio and Television from 1962 to 1970, featuring commentary from author and Beatles expert Kevin Howlett and rare photographs and memorabilia from the BBC.

The year 2013 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of The Beatles’ first album, Please, Please Me. To celebrate this event with material that has never been in print or has not repeatedly resurfaced is a challenge. But a great deal of both—namely, never-before-seen BBC transcripts, historical documents, and rare photos—will be the main thrust of the book The Beatles: The BBC Archives. Not since The Beatles’ Anthology of 2000 has a work of this magnitude been offered.

Author Kevin Howlett delves into the BBC television and radio archives and draws on previously unpublished transcripts of interviews, as well as personal reminiscences from presenters, producers, and studio staff to reveal the creative and personal evolution of the band—from the witty, irreverent foursome of the early sixties, to the more reflective and confessional individuals before the split at the end of the decade. Each chapter details a full year in the life of the band and is introduced with an engaging text by Howlett that puts the following material into historical context. The book features rare photos of the Fab Four at the BBCs studios, both onstage and off, and eight removables documents of historical merit, direct from the BBC archive itself.

This is the story of two of Britain’s most important cultural forces in tandem . . . word for word, event by event, as it happened with verbatim, unabridged transcripts. This has never been offered to reader before; it is a significant publishing event.

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  1. Print length
    584 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
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  4. Publisher
    Harper
  5. Publication date
    November 5, 2013
  6. File size
    29688 KB
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kevin Howlett is the author of two Beatles books: The Beatles at the Beeb: The Story of their Radio Career, 1962-1965 (1982) and The Beatles at the BBC, the Radio Years, 1962-1970 (1996). He co-wrote with Mark Lewisohn In My Life: John Lennon Remembered (1990) based on his ten-part BBC radio series.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00FDRT858
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper; Box Pck edition (November 5, 2013)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ November 5, 2013
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 29688 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 584 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 205 ratings

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Kevin Howlett

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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
205 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

James King
5.0 out of 5 stars This is an excellent Beatles book that sits in distinguished company along side ...
Reviewed in the United States on April 19, 2016
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This is an excellent Beatles book that sits in distinguished company along side Mark Lewishon's Recording Sessions , The Beatles Anthology and any of the titles written by Bruce Spizer. Mr. Howlett's passion is the Beatles' 'BBC Archive and this book is clearly the result of a labor of love. All the information one would want is here and this volume is a wonderful and valuable companion for those of us who have amassed large BBC collections of our own that go well beyond the official Apple releases. The physical aesthetics of this title are simply gorgeous. The hardback volume is housed in its own box. Facsimiles of contracts and various BBC ephemera are beautifully reproduced in a separate folder. All photos are clear as a bell and each page chock full of information. For fans of The Beatles BBC recorded legacy , this book is a must. Its a publication that one will page through often when seeking particular information or for the sheer enjoyment . If anyone is a hardcore collector of these recording,s this book and Doug Sulpy's recent effort chronicling the history of how many of these recordings became available to collectors is all you will need.
10 people found this helpful
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Walter Five
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding in-depth on the Beatles BBC performances!
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2013
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Over the last three decades several series and/or CD box sets have boastfully purported to be " The Beatles the Complete BBC Sessions ," the most recent being up to 25 CDs and having an accompanying DVD. No such collection can possibly be complete: This book, written by BBC Producer and Author, Keven Howlett documents all of the Beatles BBC Radio and TV appearances from 1962-1971, showing sadly how much of the original BBC material was erased, lost, stolen. Most of the BBC Sessions that are in existence (and make appearance on the  Live At The BBC (Remastered)  and the forthcoming On Air - Live At The BBC Volume 2  are because they were home-recorded by dedicated fans using primitive remote microphones and reel-to-reel recorders to make recordings of the radio broadcasts. Thankfully much video material has been saved, as previously cataloged in Jon Winn's "Lifting Latches." This book will also work as a companion to the 1st and forthcoming 2nd BBC Radio sets as well as the aforementioned 'complete' BBC collections.

I like these sort of reproduction books, with removable documents, ticket stubs, mini-flyers and posters. This was an aspect of Beatles history that well deserves a magnification, and the fan will get it here! Wonderful stuff for us Beatlemaniacs these days!

Be aware that due to different publishers, there are different prices for the UK and U.S. Editions of this book. The material contained is identical in each edition, but the U.S. box is slightly smaller, NOTE about different versions of the book/box:
The UK box dimensions are 300mm x 300mm x 63mm and the publisher is BBC Books. Publication date: 17 October 2013.
The US box dimensions are 274mm x 274mm x 38mm and the publisher is Harper Design. Publication date: 29 October 2013.
99 people found this helpful
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Jim Dickinson
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding!
Reviewed in the United States on May 15, 2019
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Enjoyable reading, well written. Really good insights into the boys' lives as they were climbing the ladder of success. Loaded with lots of pics of the band. Really enjoyed the pics of BBC internal memos and other letters. It puts you into the times, as they were unfolding. Funny to read the comments from the "higher ups" believing they would flop at any moment and then only realizing their true value after the band began to pull away from the BBC toward their next phase.
Highly recommended.
2 people found this helpful
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Jerry L. Taylor
5.0 out of 5 stars Do Not Trust me ... I am a Beatles NUT!!!
Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2014
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I will not lie to you, I love everything Beatles. Made it to Liverpool this past summer totally for Beatles purposes and saw everything .. even got a tour of the Casbah Club with Rory Best ... Pete's brother ... that was too cool. I digress .... this is wonderfully packaged ...put together ... and terrific content ... its about the Beatles. If you love them, you will love this ... it is really that simple to me. Nothing earth shattering or revealing, nice well presented material covering the journey of the Beatles on the BBC. Fun ... great coffee table material for guests to peruse.
3 people found this helpful
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me the reviewer?
5.0 out of 5 stars The Beatles: The BBC Archives: 1962-1970
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2014
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This Beatles: The BBC Archives: 1969-1970 is a really nice book. It has some great interviews, fabulous pictures and nice stories as well as a list of songs that were played by The Beatles on each of the shows. If you are looking for something on The Beatles and the BBC radio shows, this is the book to get. It will go great with The Beatles At The BBC (Volumes 1&2) CD's that have been released by Apple Records. There is a complete Beatles At The BBC package, but it is not an official Apple release. It is hard to find and fairly expensive.
5 people found this helpful
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Amazon Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars This was great nostalgia for me
Reviewed in the United States on March 8, 2015
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I grew up with the Beatles on the BBC. This was great nostalgia for me. They certainly matured very fast. The early stuff is cute bubblegum. I guess that they invented it. Some great insight into what was a magical time.
One person found this helpful
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beatlesexpert
5.0 out of 5 stars Great box!
Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2013
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Just in time with the new Beatles album, Mr. Howlett does a painstaking work showing each session he could find on the boys at the BBC. Good info, if a bit scarce on some dates due to the fact that some tapes were lost, taped over, or simply stolen. A good addition to my ever growing collection of Beatles stuff. Quick hint for hardcore Beatles buyers like myself: if you have the Beatles Compleat BBC performances ( the 90's bootleg box set ) you should put those albums while reading this book. It's kind of refreshing to read and listen to the material Howlett talks about here but hasn't seen the light of day officially...yet.
4 people found this helpful
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Howard Cohen
5.0 out of 5 stars I am enjoying this book
Reviewed in the United States on January 3, 2014
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For those of you who collect and love listening to the Beatles BBC songs this is the book for you. The author goes
to great length in documenting the Beatles history with the BBC and it is a most fascinating read. Great pictures throughout this book and just love the entire packaging with some bonus goodies to boot... I am glad I picked this one up..
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Davi Severiano
5.0 out of 5 stars Para fãs hardcore
Reviewed in Brazil on May 5, 2017
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Se você é um beatlemaníaco fissurado, que adora um souvenir, que se interessa por todas as minúcias da história fabulosa dos Beatles, esse produto é pra você. Uma edição realmente de luxo, com réplicas de cartas, documentos de gravação e muitas fotos. Para comprar, guardar na estante e pegar de vez em quando, quando bater aquela vontade.
2 people found this helpful
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Luis Merino
5.0 out of 5 stars Espectacular publicación
Reviewed in Spain on October 20, 2017
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Yo tenía todas las grabaciones de #theBeatles para la BBC en la caja de Complete Sessions. Acabo de recibir el libro editado por la BBC en la que incluye todo lo relacionado de JPG&R relacionado con esa casa ejemplo de Radio y TV.
Todo lujo de detalles: contratos, informes de audiencia, etc y reproducciones facsímil de otros documentos. Fantástica obra que a los que hayáis trabajado en comunicación os impresionará por la cantidad de información almacenada y rigor de la misma. Gozada Total.
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Bootsy (Shell)
5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive
Reviewed in Canada on November 15, 2013
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This book covers every Beatle appearance (radio and TV) including the later years when the Beatles were on the verge of "officially" breaking up, though for all intents and purposes they already had. All the details of every song played and a lot of transcriptions of interviews that were done on some of the shows. Very Informative. There are interesting pictures as well.
This is almost a scholarly work in its details yet is a comfortable read. Its a great informative piece on a facet of the Beatles that has been, till now, pretty much glossed over. I like the early chapter descriptions of what is going on around the world as the chapters subject is about to be discussed. It really anchors the chapter to its place in time.
Well done Kevin Howlett. This book is a strong 5 of 5.
11 people found this helpful
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Guido
5.0 out of 5 stars Eccellente
Reviewed in Italy on March 22, 2014
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Si tratta delle versione originale in inglese, e quindi bisogna conoscere bene la lingua per apprezzarlo a pieno.
Un libro per fans accaniti che vogliono conoscere tutto nei minimi dettagli, ricco di fotografie anche rare e con riproduzioni di documenti che segnano alcune delle tappe principali della presenza dei Beatles alla BBC. Le informazioni sono una miniera: di più non si può fare.
E' un complemento, e non un semplice remake, del precedente libro di Howlett "The Beatles at the BBC".
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arthur
5.0 out of 5 stars Un bon produit
Reviewed in France on March 2, 2014
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Ce livre complète lesx diisques récemment parus des sessions enregistrées par les Beatles à la BBC. C'est un document précieux pour tout fan sérieux.
2 people found this helpful
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