Harry And His Box Set (V1, 2, 7, 10, 12, 15, 14 update.)

[rtbcIII]

Why so much Honey? The short answer is Marketing.

From Me to You was for the kids. A Taste of Honey (already a beloved UK standard) aimed a little higher and wider.

I suspect Mr. Epstein, a former successful record retailer, had some helpful guidance there.

[MrMurphMcgee]

Joe, it is easily forgotten what a huge hit From Me To You was at the time. It was No. 1 in the chart for most of May and June 1963, which coincided with a lot of the BBC appearances. Why wouldn’t you play your current No. 1 every chance you could?

I agree with your point re A Taste Of Honey, though…

She Loves You wasn’t released until the end of August. So From Me to You was the big Beatle record from late April through the summer. My thinking on A Taste of Honey is that the Beeb liked it, but it was also on the Twist and Shout EP which picked up where From Me to You left off chart wise.

[Ziggy C]

Also consider that the market in the UK was still a singles-oriented market. From Me To You did not see an album release in the UK. Neither did She Loves You. Nor did I Want To Hold Your Hand. Not until the Collection Of Beatles Oldies in '66. The kiddies were more likely to shell out their precious pence for the singles. And maybe an EP. So, we get FMTY, SLY, LMD, etc.

I'm in agreement with rtbcꞮꞮꞮ re A Taste Of Honey; a marketing strategy. Also, a favorite of McCartney's. As was Till There Was You. He has a heart for the schmaltzy. It's certainly done him well throughout his career.

Whatever the tune choice, whether belting out Chuck Berry or Arthur Alexander or Carl Perkins, show tunes, or even LR (Little Richard in this case,) The Beatles had a distinctive sound. This sound is what drew in the masses, old and young.

1963 was a unique time in their career when they were sticking it out there. Nobody had shite on them. In their bubble they might have had an inkling of this. Might. But they hadn't been to America yet. They were still just the kings of their microcosm in Britain. Their exposure to the masses through the BBC was something they and their management exploited to its fullest. What the hell, right? If it didn't work, Ringo would have been happy as a hairdresser. George as an electrician....

This time in their career fascinates beyond end.

[Lord Reith]

In ep3 of PGTB, Lee Peters asks The Beatles to play From Me To You and they groan and say "Not again! We've been doing it every night!" But you gotta remember that the Light Programme only rarely played singles. The single of FMTY might have got the occasional airing on Saturday Club or Two Way Favourites but otherwise the only way fans could hear it was if they caught it played live on tv or radio. That sounds insane when any other country in the world would just play a charting single whenever they pleased. Imagine if during their first US visit they'd had to peform all their songs literally every time a radio station wanted to play one of them! But that's in fact what they were up against in England. They no doubt enjoyed playing all the oldies on radio but they must have gotten mightily sick of recreating their records every time they wanted one plugged on the radio. But of course it worked out wonderfully for us, 60 years later. The BBC sessions are like the alternate Beatles catalogue to me. They issued as much material over the airwaves in two years as they did in their entire career at EMI. Sure there was some repetition but that's still a good four or five albums worth of nuggets.

These days it's easy for people to say "Oh Till There Was You and A Taste Of Honey was granny music and not cool". But if you listen to the Stowe concert, those two songs get a huge round of applause. There's no way you can get around the fact that a lot of people liked those songs and Paul had a very finely tuned commercial ear that rarely steered him wrong. And also it was normal in those days for artists to show off their capacity for a wide variety of styles. The Beatles weren't the Stones or The Who and weren't just rock. They were a weird group that liked to play lots of different things and that was one of their strengths. If I listen to one of those other bands, I am sick to death of them after only five or six songs. Most of them only had one string in their bow and could play in one style well and that was it. The Beatles were so much more.

[Lord Reith]

1963 was a unique time in their career when they were sticking it out there. Nobody had shite on them. In their bubble they might have had an inkling of this. Might. But they hadn't been to America yet. They were still just the kings of their microcosm in Britain. Their exposure to the masses through the BBC was something they and their management exploited to its fullest. What the hell, right? If it didn't work, Ringo would have been happy as a hairdresser. George as an electrician....

Yeah, there was certainly no reason to believe the phenomena would actually grow in 1964. Once they came back from the US in February '64, there was a noticeable change in their attitude. Up till then they'd been fighting for their place in heaven. But after that they knew they had made it and could relax a bit more. And while they did amazing, wonderful things after that, I think a little bit of the fire went out of it somehow. John of course exaggerated this to ridiculous proportions with his "we were sick of it by the end of the first British tour" but there was some small truth in what he said. They did kind of lose their hungry quality as time wore on. By '65 they seem particularly weary and lost.

[JosRem]

Not to forget the role of Radio Luxembourg (208 meter, 1440 kHz) the first commercial broadcaster in Europe. I remember listening in the evenings back in 1963. At least one Beatles song (often more) were played every hour both from single or LP. Radio Luxembourg was very popular before the others like Radio Caroline, Radio London and Radio Veronica took over from sea. I was a newspaper delivery boy in the summer of 63, remembering the headlines such as The Great Train Robbery for weeks at a stretch. I could afford a little transistor radio FM/AM to enjoy the charts. I remember From Me To You and She Loves You. That was really something. My first single was IWTHYH. For the cinemas everywhere Beatles Come to Town was played over and over again in between news reeels. Those were the days.

[Lord Reith]

Yes, there is a 1961 Radio Luxembourg records show with Brian Mathew hosting. Very interesting. I would love to hear the Friday Spectacular shows, even though they just played the records because it would be interesting to hear what The Beatles had to say so early on. Did they forsee their success?

And the talking certainly helped on the BBC shows too I would guess. It showed that they were funny and intelligent and not the usual "Yes sir, no sir" wax dummies foisted on British teens. I mean, Pop Go The Beatles would have been the cool show, the show that the hip kids at school listened to and talked about the next day. It was the closest thing to Cavern lunchtime performances for the masses, and it had exactly the same effect on radio listeners as it did to the kids in the Cavern. So even though the whole business of constantly having to re-record stuff might have been a pain in the arse for The Beatles at times, it certainly did them a huge favour (and us, of course).

I actually don't mind hearing From Me To You 15 times. Even when, basically, they all sound pretty much alike. Anything they played in 1962-3 sounds magical to me. Even pop goes the weasel.

[urasam2]

What still surprises me is that, despite being an ardent Beatles fan since January 1963, I never knew about the Pop Go The Beatles programme until some time in the mid 70s. I bought the Yellow Matter Custard LP in 1971 or 2, and it was credited to "EMI Out-takes". Being none the wiser I kind of accepted this, though it was clear that the production sound was different to the official studio releases. Quite how I was unaware that my favourite group was appearing every week on The Light Programme is a mystery. I wonder how many other Beatles fans missed out on this treat. I would certainly have taped the shows, I used to record records off Saturday Club even as early as 1959, (or was it Easy Beat then?).

[Lord Reith]

What still surprises me is that, despite being an ardent Beatles fan since January 1963, I never knew about the Pop Go The Beatles programme until some time in the mid 70s. I bought the Yellow Matter Custard LP in 1971 or 2, and it was credited to "EMI Out-takes". Being none the wiser I kind of accepted this, though it was clear that the production sound was different to the official studio releases. Quite how I was unaware that my favourite group was appearing every week on The Light Programme is a mystery. I wonder how many other Beatles fans missed out on this treat. I would certainly have taped the shows, I used to record records off Saturday Club even as early as 1959, (or was it Easy Beat then?).

Did your school friends like The Beatles too? It seems odd that no-one ever would have mentioned it to you.

If you weren't told by someone, it would be tricky to know they were on. Flicking through an issue of Radio Times, I have to look really hard to find the listing, even when I know it's supposed to be there. It's literally three lines. I would guess that very few if any people heard ALL the radio programmes The Beatles were on because it would have required scanning each RT very carefully in advance. I mean, you wouldn't know they were going to appear on, say, Side By Side in advance. You'd really need to be looking for any Beatles mention of any kind. But with PGTB I guess if you heard it once then you would probably remember most of the time to tune in again.

[JosRem]

Not to forget the role of Radio Luxembourg (208 meter, 1440 kHz) the first commercial broadcaster in Europe. I remember listening in the evenings back in 1963. At least one Beatles song (often more) were played every hour both from single or LP. Radio Luxembourg was very popular before the others like Radio Caroline, Radio London and Radio Veronica took over offshore. I was a newspaper delivery boy in the summer of 63, remembering the headlines such as The Great Train Robbery for weeks at a stretch. I could afford a little transistor radio FM/AM to enjoy the charts. I remember From Me To You and She Loves You. That was really something. My first single was IWTHYH. For the cinemas nationwide Beatles Come to Town was played over and over again in between news reeels. Those were the days.