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)

1. Dream Baby
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Please Mr. Postman
4. Ask Me Why
5. Besame Mucho
6. A Picture Of You
7. Some Other Guy
8. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby
9. Beautiful Dreamer
10. I Saw Her Standing There
11. Misery
12. Too Much Monkey Business
13. I’m Talking About You
14. Please Please Me
15. The Hippy Hippy Shake
16. From Me To You
17. Twist And Shout
18. From Me To You
19. Side By Side Theme
20. Long Tall Sally
21. A Taste Of Honey
22. Chains
23. Thank You Girl
24. Boys
25. I Saw Her Standing There
26. Do You Want To Know A Secret?
27. Boys
28. Long Tall Sally
29. From Me To You
30. Money

June 1963 (Disc 2)

1. Pop Go The Beatles
2. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
3. Do You Want To Know A Secret?
4. You Really Got A Hold On Me
5. Misery
6. The Hippy Hippy Shake
7. Pop Go The Beatles
8. Too Much Monkey Business
9. I Got To Find My Baby
10. Young Blood
11. Baby It’s You
12. Till There Was You
13. Love Me Do
14. A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
15. Memphis, Tennessee
16. A Taste Of Honey
17. Sure To Fall
18. Money
19. From Me To You
20. Some Other Guy
21. A Taste Of Honey
22. Thank You Girl
23. From Me To You
24. Too Much Monkey Business
25. Boys
26. I’ll Be On My Way
27. From Me To You
28. Anna (Go To Him)
29. I Saw Her Standing There
30. Boys

June 1963-July 1963 (Disc 3)

1. I Got To Find My Baby
2. Memphis, Tennessee
3. Money
4. Till There Was You
5. From Me To You
6. Roll Over Beethoven
7. A Taste Of Honey
8. Twist And Shout
9. That’s Alright (Mama)
10. There’s A Place
11. Carol
12. Soldier Of Love
13. Lend Me Your Comb
14. Clarabella
15. I Saw Her Standing There
16. A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues
17. There’s A Place
18. Twist And Shout
19. Sweet Little Sixteen
20. Nothin’ Shakin’
21. Love Me Do
22. Lonesome Tears In My Eyes
23. So How Come No One Loves Me
24. Memphis
25. Do You Want To Know A Secret?
26. Till There Was You
27. Matchbox
28. Please Mr. Postman
29. The Hippy Hippy Shake

August 1963 (Disc 4)

1. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Cry Over You
2. Crying, Waiting, Hoping
3. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey
4. To Know Her Is To Love Her
5. The Honeymoon Song
6. Twist And Shout
7. Long Tall Sally
8. Please Please Me
9. She Loves You
10. You Really Got A Hold On Me
11. I’ll Get You
12. I Got A Woman
13. She Loves You
14. Words Of Love
15. Glad All Over
16. I Just Don’t Understand
17. Devil In Her Heart
18. Slow Down
19. Long Tall Sally
20. She Loves You
21. Glad All Over
22. I’ll Get You
23. Ooh! My Soul
24. Don’t Ever Change
25. Twist And Shout
26. Anna (Go To Him)
27. A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues

September 1963-October 1963 (Disc 5)

1. From Me To You
2. Money
3. There’s A Place
4. Honey Don’t
5. Roll Over Beethoven
6. Too Much Monkey Business
7. Love Me Do
8. She Loves You
9. I’ll Get You
10. A Taste Of Honey
11. The Hippy Hippy Shake
12. Chains
13. You Really Got A Hold On Me
14. Misery
15. Lucille
16. From Me To You
17. Boys
18. She Loves You
19. Ask Me Why
20. Devil In My Heart
21. I Saw Her Standing There
22. Sure To Fall
23. Twist And Shout
24. I Saw Her Standing There
25. Memphis
26. Happy Birthday Saturday Club
27. I’ll Get You
28. She Loves You
29. Lucille

October 1963-February 1964 (Disc 6)

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. Love Me Do
3. Please Please Me
4. From Me To You
5. She Loves You
6. She Loves You
7. All I Want For Christmas
8. This Boy
9. I Want To Hold Your Hand
10. Till There Was You
11. Roll Over Beethoven
12. She Loves You
13. Crimble Medley
14. From Us To You
15. She Loves You
16. All My Loving
17. Roll Over Beethoven
18. Till There Was You
19. Boys
20. Money
21. I Saw Her Standing There
22. Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport
23. I Want To Hold Your Hand
24. From Us To You
25. All My Loving
26. Money
27. The Hippy Hippy Shake
28. I Want To Hold Your Hand
29. Roll Over Beethoven
30. Johnny B. Goode

March 1964-May 1964 (Disc 7)

1. From Us To You
2. You Can’t Do That
3. Roll Over Beethoven
4. Till There Was You
5. I Wanna Be Your Man
6. Please Mr. Postman
7. All My Loving
8. This Boy
9. Can’t Buy Me Love
10. From Us To You
11. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
12. I Call Your Name
13. I Got A Woman
14. You Can’t Do That
15. Can’t Buy Me Love
16. Sure To Fall
17. Long Tall Sally
18. From Us To You
19. Whit Monday To You
20. I Saw Her Standing There
21. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey
22. I Forgot To Remember To Forget
23. You Can’t Do That
24. Sure To Fall
25. Can’t Buy Me Love
26. Matchbox
27. Honey Don’t

July 1964 (Disc 8)

1. Top Gear Spot
2. Long Tall Sally
3. Things We Said Today
4. A Hard Day’s Night
5. And I Love Her
6. I Should Have Known Better
7. If I Fell
8. You Can’t Do That
9. From Us To You
10. Long Tall Sally
11. If I Fell
12. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
13. Things We Said Today
14. I Should Have Known Better
15. Boys
16. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey
17. A Hard Day’s Night
18. From Us To You
19. From Us To You
20. From Us To You
21. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
22. I Should Have Known Better
23. I Should Have Known Better

November 1964-June 1965 (Disc 9)

1. I’m A Loser
2. Chat
3. Honey Don’t
4. She’s A Woman
5. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
6. I’ll Follow The Sun
7. Chat
8. I Feel Fine
9. Rock And Roll Music
10. Chat
11. I’m A Loser
12. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
13. I Feel Fine
14. Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey
15. She’s A Woman
16. I Feel Fine
17. She’s A Woman
18. Ticket To Ride
19. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
20. I’m A Loser
21. Chat
22. The Night Before
23. Honey Don’t
24. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
25. She’s A Woman
26. 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.

1. Jam – The Northern Dance Orchestra
2. Misery
3. Do You Want To Know A Secret
4. Please Please Me
5. Warmed Over Kisses (Left Over Love) – Ben Richmond
6. Waltz In Jazz Time – The Northern Dance Orchestra
7. 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

Back cover, box