The Beatles are in-between-shows

Capitol Records third Beatles album was released on July 20, 1964 in both mono and stereo.  The company also continued their policy of “Beatles ‘over saturation’ by releasing two more singles that same day: ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ b/w ‘I’m Happy Just To Dance With You’ and ‘And I Love Her’ b/w ‘If I Fell’.  Entering the Billboard album chart on August 8, it became the first Capitol Beatles release to not hit #1, peaking at #2 for 9 weeks.  The album that kept it out of the top spot? ‘A Hard Days Night’.

Nine of the eleven tracks were written by Lennon-McCartney.  The two exceptions were covers of Larry Williams ‘Slow Down’ and Carl Perkins (one of George Harrison’s favorite artists) classic Sun track ‘Matchbox’.  The album stayed on Billboard’s chart for a total of 41 weeks, eventually selling over 2,000,000 copies.

The recently released CD contains both mono and stereo versions of the album.  The mono version of ‘I’ll Cry Instead’ is the longer version with an extra verse repeated clocking in at 2:09 while the true stereo version (not featured on the ‘A Hard Days Night’ album does not have the verse repeated and is only 1:49 long.  The mono versions of ‘And I Love Her’ and ‘If I Fell’ are the American single versions with Paul and John’s voices single tracked on the first verse of each song.  The stereo versions are double tracked vocals throughout.  In fact all of the stereo mixes are the same masters that were used on the 2009 remasters of the British albums.

ABC Theatre, Blackpool

An appearance on the live variety programme Blackpool Night Out, the summer edition of Big Night Out, networked to all ITV stations by ABC Television direct from the town's ABC Theatre between 8:25 and 9:25 pm. As usual, the show was hosted by comedian brothers Mike and Bernie Winters. The Beatles headed the list of guest stars, which also included Chita Rivera, Frank Berry, Jimmy Edwards, and Lionel Blair.

The Beatles had flown up to Blackpool the previous day and spent all of the Sunday rehearsing inside the ABC Theatre. As well as performing five songs, "A Hard Day's Night", "And I Love Her", "If I Fell", "Things We Said Today", and "Long Tall Sally", they also participated in comedy sketches, including one where John, Paul, George and the Winters performed a medical operation on Ringo. In another, they acted as refuse collectors.

• The Beatles' single "A Hard Day's Night" enters the UK chart, a fortnight after the release of the film of the same name.

BBC Paris Studio, London

This second BBC Radio recording session inside four days - a schedule reminiscent of 1963, took place at the Paris between 2:15 and 6:15 pm (inclusive of rehearsal time). The object was the recording of the Beatle's fourth consecutive "bank holiday" special From Us To You, to be transmitted in the Light Programme from 10:00 am to 12:00 noon on Monday, August 3rd. The host this time was Don Wardell, more usually heard as a presenter on Radio Luxembourg and as late a prominent US record industry executive.

The program comprised the usual mix, a chat with the host, the reading of listener's requests, and eight numbers, in this instance "Long Tall Sally", "If I Fell", "I'm Happy Just To Dance With You", Things We Said Today", "I Should Have Known Better", "Boys", "Kansas City"/"Hey Hey Hey", and "A Hard Day's Night". The program also opened and closed with the now familiar recording of "From Us To You", but there was an unfamiliar voice reading the closing credits, that of John Lennon.

The Complete Beatles Chronicle - LS

Beatles, The ‎– Live Melbourne Australia July 16, 1964

Tracklist

The A Hard Day's Night single is #1 for the 1st week and With The Beatles is 24th week in the Top 30.

ABC-TV broadcasts the program "The Road To Beatlemania.

John Lennon buys Kenwood, his home in Weybridge.

Studios B7/S2, Broadcasting House, London

The Beatles made an appearance on the first edition of the BBC radio show Top Gear, a weekly late-night pop music programme, on this day.

Not to be confused with the BBC television show of the same name about motor vehicles, Top Gear was produced by Bernie Andrews, who had worked on the Saturday Club radio show, and was presented by Brian Matthew. This first episode was broadcast two days after the recording, on the BBC Light Programme service, from 10pm on 16 July 1964.

The Beatles recorded six songs between 7 and 11pm at London’s Broadcasting House. They performed Long Tall Sally, Things We Said Today, A Hard Day’s Night, And I Love Her, If I Fell and You Can’t Do That.

This was the only occasion in which The Beatles performed And I Love Her outside EMI Studios. The song never made it into their stage repertoire, despite its popularity, and the group never performed it during their other numerous television and radio appearances.

George Martin was supposed to have joined The Beatles to play the piano solo on A Hard Day’s Night, but failed to show up. As a result, the solo from the studio version was edited into the recording. This version, along with Things We Said Today, was included on the 1994 compilation Live At The BBC.

Another anomaly was the inclusion of I Should Have Known Better in the programme. The Beatles did not perform the song during this session, but the EMI recording was played as if it had been.

The Beatles also joined host Brian Matthew for some light-hearted banter. While introducing And I Love Her, Ringo Starr was asked if he had any plans to write songs. He replied that he had written one, before Paul McCartney interjected by singing “Don’t pass me by, don’t make me cry, don’t make me blue”. Starr had first mentioned Don’t Pass Me By to the press in 1963, and McCartney had sung part of it during a 26 June 1964 interview in New Zealand, but it wouldn’t be recorded until 1968.

Prior to the day’s recording, Paul McCartney gave a 13-minute interview to the BBC’s Michael Smee for the programme Highlight, five minutes of which was broadcast on the General Overseas Service on Saturday 18 July from 11.15am. The interview was also taped at BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London.

The title track of The Beatles debut feature film and fourth US album was released as a single on this day in America.

A Hard Day’s Night was issued as Capitol 5222. Its b-side was I Should Have Known Better.

Its parent album had been released by United Artists, who owned the rights to the film. However, Capitol were able to issue the songs in other formats, hence the release of several songs from the soundtrack as singles.

The single entered the US charts five days after its release, and from 1 August spent two weeks at number one. On that day a record was set, as The Beatles held the number one positions in the single and album charts in both the UK and US.

The single A Hard Day’s Night sold more than a million copies in America in its first five weeks on sale.

Hippodrome Theatre, Brighton

The Beatles returned to the British stage this evening for the first of five summer Sunday concerts at seaside holiday resorts (plus another performed for TV purposes) - a far cry from the 47 they played in 1963.

One of the support acts this particular evening was temporary Beatles drummer Jimmy Nicol, together with his group the Shubdubs. But despite being on the same bill, the paths of Nicol and the Beatles failed to cross.