If it seems like we’ve been discussing the year 1964 for a very long time, it’s because we have. If it seems a bit redundant with the material that we have been presenting in our ‘complete’ coverage of all official Beatles releases, it’s because it is.

In 1964, the Beatles worked relentlessly, and the results were fantastic. If you were around in 1964, you heard the Beatles everywhere, and every day. They were ubiquitous and unavoidable. In a sense, our coverage helps to capture that spirit, but for slightly different reasons. For instance, we are NOT playing the same versions of any recording more than once. What we ARE doing is playing each ‘officially’ released version of each song, and subsequent to the Beatles breakup, numerous releases documented various aspects of their careers, from radio performances (the BBC collection), studio out-takes (the ‘Anthology’ series), and live performances (the Hollywood Bowl concerts).

For this show, though, we are featuring an album that was legitimately released by Capitol Records in 1964. It is a ’documentary’ style album, so it features a lot of talk but no new music. The album has been out of print for some time now, so it ought to prove interesting, if for no other reason than to hear the Beatles themselves discussing various aspects of their career. Material played for this show consists entirely of excerpts from Capitol Records release “The Beatles Story.”