The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years [DVD] [2016]

In the Summer of 1964 I was 13 years old. “A Hard Day’s Night” was playing at our local cinema in Granada Hills, California, a suburb of L.A. where I lived. Every Saturday in July and a part of August too that summer I rode my bicycle to the movie theatre to attend both matinees, 25 cents each for kids. I saw the movie more than a dozen times and memorized the lines so well I could mimic a Scouser accent. George’s was the most difficult but I loved the challenge of it. I loved George. Everybody did. If I had been a girl I would have tried to get him to marry me (like millions of girls tried or wanted to despite their parents saying no and threatening to ground them).By mid-August I was broke, totally out of cash, my allowance spent on the Beatles, Junior Mints and popcorn. My dad wouldn’t advance me more money, so I started mowing lawns in the neighbourhood and asking neighbours if their cars needed washing, a request which met with disdain or amusement. I scraped together another dollar and went three or four more times. I didn’t mind hearing young girls in the theatre screaming at the movie screen and singing as the Beatles sang. I sang too. It was the most exciting thing that had ever come to our town.The Beatles were the strangest, most exotic, beautiful and magical people I had ever laid eyes and ears on. I couldn’t believe it. They came out of nowhere. For the longest time the world had been as it always had: school, homework, baseball, etc. But then it changed, basically overnight. Now with Beatles in the world it could never be the same again.Growing up all I ever heard from the adults was how great America is and how lucky I was to be in it and of it. Looking around that sounded like malarky to me and besides I wondered how many Americans had ever been to Patagonia, Transylvania, Borneo and other out-of-the-way places by way of comparison. Very few, I reckoned. The Beatles confirmed it: I didn’t know anyone who had ever been to Liverpool or even to England. But I would go. I knew for sure that summer I eventually would. I knew it must be great. The Beatles come from there, so of course it has to be. They even call it Great Britain. It was like I finally understood something for myself for the first time. The Beatles made me love England. They turned me into an Anglophile long before I knew what the word meant. “All my loving,” they said to me. I knew it was meant for me because I heard it. They wanted me to come to England, so I did and it was great, truly great. I lived in London, not Liverpool, and was never disappointed and didn’t get homesick. For the first time in my life I felt part of the world, not just a small part of America. It was liberating. I was living in the land that made “A Hard Day’s Night”.The Beatles arrived at a really good time too in America. Somebody had stupidly shot our President dead the previous year. True story. If America was so great, why do that? My theory was simple but right in my childish mind. They were jealous. JFK was handsome and had a beautiful wife. He was young and intelligent and spoke with a cool accent (from Boston). If he’d been British he would have come from Liverpool, I reckoned, because many Irish come from there, including John Lennon’s family. Boston and Liverpool were better than Granada Hills, my hometown. The Beatles made me feel like a hick.The Beatles also came to cheer us up. They were funny, witty, fresh, charming. They were also cheeky and irreverent but I didn’t know words like that back then. You couldn’t take your eyes off them when they were speaking and they always had something comical to say. Brian Epstein, their manager, booked them to play on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York. So that’s where they arrived first in America — in New York. In their first press conference at the airport an American reporter asked them if they would get haircuts while in America. They shook their heads like they do on stage, but this time without squealing. Then George said into the mic, “I had one yesterday”. Everybody cracked up. That was who they were, the spirit of the Beatles alive and well at their very first press conference.Another word I didn’t know back then when I was 13 was ‘unpretentious’. They were that too. I knew the word ‘fresh’ and knew they were that, but ‘unpretentious’ is more nuanced.Two days after the Ed Sullivan Show another American reporter asked Paul directly:“What place do you think this story of the Beatles is going to have in the history of Western culture?”Paul: “You must be kidding with that question. Culture? It’s not culture.”Reporter: “What is it?”Paul: “It’s a laugh.”I loved Paul for that, and still love him for many other reasons.The following year, 1965, after the Beatles had truly conquered America the British establishment finally woke up to the news. Harold Wilson, the Labour Prime Minister, was always trying to weasel his way into the limelight for attention. The Beatles, to their credit, had never heard of him, or claimed not to know who he was. But Harold got the swell idea to nominate the lads for MBEs, an award usually reserved for military men. He could then hog the cameras with the lads and bask in their reflected glory. So that’s what he did, congratulating himself and the Queen for going along with the plan. After the awards ceremony at Buckingham Palace a reporter asked the lads:“Have any of you any ambitions left at all?”Silence, but one soon broken by Ringo:“I’d like to be a duke.”They laughed. I did too. But I wonder if the reporter did. I love Ringo. He couldn’t write songs but he kept the backbeat going and was the best actor among them, his little vignette along the riverbank in “A Hard Day’s Night” a classic of its kind. Then of course “The Magic Christian” with Peter Sellers, a hero of Ringo’s (and of all the other Beatles) from the Goon Show days with Spike Milligan.But John was the cleverest wit of all. Was he a poet? If not, a punster, a lover of wordplay, the Lewis Carroll of the Beatles. Who else could be the Walrus or see Lucy in the sky with diamonds but him? Paul wrote “Penny Lane” which is upbeat, fun. But John wrote “Strawberry Fields Forever”, which does indeed have a feeling of immortality about it. I’ll always love John. He may have had anger issues and demons from his Liverpool days, but what he wrote and sang and did were great gifts to the world. If not, why is the music still so fresh? “Abbey Road”, which just turned 50, sounds like it was made last week.Many step up to the plate to testify to Beatle greatness in this documentary. Elvis Costello, a fellow musician, does. Whoopi Goldberg, who saw the lads perform at Shea Stadium in 1965, does too. So does Sigourney Weaver, who screamed herself hoarse as a teenager at The Hollywood Bowl when the Beatles played there. Scores of others as well. They tell us what the Beatles meant and mean to them.I doubt a better documentary on the Beatles can be made, as this one does something no other film has previously done. It takes us into their small, intimate, claustrophobic world. From the outside we see all the glory and glamour. But alone in hotel rooms together with handlers (agents, roadies, management, et al.) we see the gilded cage they live in, their isolation and loneliness, or a sort of loneliness or homesickness. For what? For kippers, chips, pints and tea in the afternoon; for girls that are called birds; for jokes that are understood; for Old Blighty itself. We forget how young they were, barely into their twenties, and how small the world they came from was, and how quick and astonishing their success was not only for us but especially them.They were warriors, road warriors for sure. They held up. They survived. Of course they argued, sometimes passionately. But it never came to blows and Paul tells us why. It’s because the Beatles weren’t John Lennon and the Beatles or Paul McCartney and the Beatles. They were just the Beatles, all four of them, a great fraternity where equality ruled. It always took four votes to do anything and their democracy worked much better than those in many countries do. They had each other. Hank Williams only had himself. Elvis too. Those artists were on their own. The Beatles never were until much later, until the Sixties were gone.Things changed with the death of Brian Epstein in the Summer of 1967. Brian, the fifth Beatle, held everything together. “Sgt. Pepper’s” was made when Brian was still living. But after that L.P. things began to unravel. Less discipline, more infighting. The film doesn’t go much beyond 1967, but we know what will happen. The White Album was not a collective so much; more like a desultory collection of individual contributions. “Abbey Road” has more coherence but it’s a road that will dead end soon after “Let it Be” is released, the true end of the line. Apple Corps, Yoko, intense conflict will come later.The film is fresh, just like its subject. But it doesn’t suggest a time of innocence. We know about the background in America and elsewhere, including Britain. The racism of America is not glossed over, nor the violence there (assassinations, the Vietnam War, the atrocious behaviour of the government toward Muhammad Ali). But the focus is on the music, the men who made it and the effect it had on millions — an effect so tender and intimate that the memories of individuals merge with the memories of an entire generation of people all over the world. The Beatles changed millions of lives, including my own. So much so that I can barely conceive of the life I would have had without them.On that note a new film by Danny Boyle is due out soon. The title: “Yesterday”. The theme and premise: a world (the Sixties) in which the Beatles are not present, never existed. Try to imagine that. But maybe now I don’t have to. I just have to watch the film to see how empty the world is without the Fab Four in it. Fab indeed. They were fabulous. If you don’t believe me, watch this wonderful documentary for confirmation of it.

I've been a Beatles fan since I first saw them on our B&W TV in 1963.I appreciate a lot of this content of this film has been seen before but it's all put together well.I would have liked to see more concert footage, one star off for that.Bottom line, I enjoyed it, despite the flaws.

The problem with those who review something before it's released, is that you can't actually tell anyone if there are any surprises; there is on the second disc.Back in 1963, I remember the girls singing a song to the tune of 'We Three Kings'. There may well be some reading this who recall that and some who might have forgotten, so, nearing that time of year again, I thought I'd remind you:We four kings of Liverpool areJohn in a taxi, Paul in a carGeorge on his scooter bibbing his hooterFollowing Ringo Starr.Now, the Beatles is well represented in the CD market and also on DVD, except in one area; whilst there are individual clips of on stage performances, a whole, 12 song show is sadly lacking, and there's a good reason for that. It might come as a shock to most people but, unbelievably, there are only four instances of a complete live Beatles concert on film; Washington Coliseum (1964), Palais des Sports, Paris (1965) and the two at Tokyo's Budokan Hall (1966). Unless someone is hiding something from us, even She Stadium, a concert that many think is a full set, is missing two songs. Apple did make the full Washington DC one briefly available to watch on their website a few years ago, and considering there is the ubiquitous bonus disc here, it's surprising that none of these has been included.It's not worth going over the film itself, as many have seen it and it's been reviewed to within an inch of its life elsewhere. No, it's this bonus disc that will be of more interest. Though it does contain a lot of material, interviews are intriguing first time, but that's all, so I doubt the majority of it will be watched more than a couple of times. So, let's look at it.Words and Music:Though George isn't featured much, forget the interviews that tries to explain the songs, this is worth it for one reason; there's a brief snippet of Paul's demo of 'World Without Love'. “Bass and drum? Where would that be without us?” - Ringo.Early Clues to a New Direction:More interviews including Paul Greengrass (director of the Bourne films) and historian Simon Schama. Why some are subtitled is beyond me.Beatles in Concert:By far the best thing on this second disc and the part that will have repeated viewings. 'She Loves You' and 'Twist And Shout' are both from the ABC, Manchester in 1963, which was the first instance of the pandemonium to be captured on film. However, most of the former is seen at the start of the film anyway, so it's pretty much redundant. The ferocious version of 'Can't Buy Me Love' that follows is from the NME Pollwinners Concert in 1964 and the thing about this is that it's been colourised; 'You Can't Do That' is from Melbourne in 1964, and 'Help' is taken from the ABC in Blackpool, which is available on the 'Anthology' DVD, but here it's either been colourised or someone found a colour film.As welcome as these clips are, there could, and should, have been more. Is there a surprise heading our way in the future, as these are hardly 'rarely seen live performances' as claimed on the box? As for colourising two performances; that's a scandal. Both are far better in black and white.Liverpool:Bill Harry, Allan and Beryl Williams (and her brother, Barry Chang), Beryl Marsden, Freda Kelly, Joe Flannery are those reminiscing.Three Beatles' Fans:Three American women also reminisce and it's all rather pointless. The only thing worth watching this bit for is a few seconds of colour film of the Washington concert. Colour? Is there more of it?Ronnie Spector and The Beatles:Another sequence that isn't much to watch.Shooting A Hard Day's Night:Exactly as it says. Walter Shenson speaks.The Beatles in Australia:A brief four minutes of a tour that should have been much longer. Mind you, there is an edited live version of 'She Loves You'.Recollections of Shea Stadium:Danny Bennett, who is Tony Bennett's son, takes up three minutes of your life.The Beatles in Japan:This sequence was included in the Japanese print of the film and has Shrimpei Asai, official photographer, telling us about it. It's subtitled.An Alternative Opening for the Film:Interesting as an interviewee makes a comparison to Mozart, but it's fortunate this was ditched for what was used.I can't help feeling the director has struggled to fill this second disc. The obvious answer was to include more concert footage but maybe Apple stymied it because it has something up its sleeve for a later date. If not, it might have missed a trick here. Though the enclosed 64 page booklet is a good read and the photos are worth seeing, one thing is certain; the world will never see the like of this again.

A enthralling insight into the band's touring schedules

This is superb for true Beatles fans

Great

It is a mixture of interviews and good live U.S. performed versions of their well known songs, all performed in late 1965, not long before they became entirely a studio band. These songs are obviously straightforwardly performed. But as this Blu Ray only cost a few quid, I would say it was worth it.

This video is so good, a lot better and more to the point than the Peter Jackson Lord Of The Rings Let IT Be film. This one is directed by Ron Howard of Happy Days fame and features a fab cast Paul Dano as John Lennon, Daniel Radcliff as George Harrison and Ant and Dec as Paul and Ringo.