New Beatles Documentary

A Martin Scorsese produced documentary, directed by David Tedesch, has appeared and is on Disney+. It documents the cultural impact of the Beatles on the USA in the aftermath of their first three-week visit to the country in February, 1964, which included their historic first performances on The Ed Sullivan Show. It includes archival footage from the Beatlemania era. Scorses and Tedeschi did a orevious documentary on George Harrison, which I have not seen. The film features footage shot by Albert and David Maysles originally for the 1964 documentary What's Happening! The Beatles in the U.S.A., digitally restored. New interviews with McCartney and Starr were also filmed. Footage of the Beatles' February 1964 performances on The Ed Sullivan Show and at the Washington Coliseum has also been restored, with audio from these performances remixed by Giles Martin using de-mixing technology developed by Peter Jackson's WingNut Films and previously used for Beatles releases on the 2022 reissue of Revolver and the 2023 reissue of 1962–1966. A soundtrack album from the film has been released digitally and on streaming platforms. The album contains studio recordings by the Beatles of songs featured in the film, as well as the original versions of tracks covered by the Beatles (eg the Chuck Berry recording of "Roll Over Beethoven," the Little Richard recording of "Long Tall Sally"). The compilation also includes a striking cover of "Yesterday" performed by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968.

Mac 64

It was in 1964 that Paul McCartney apparently bought this appropriately

number plated Aston Martin DB6.

Top 10 songs of 1964

First Top of the Pops

At 6.35 pm on January 1 the premiere of the half hour British TV programme Top of the Pops was shown for the first time. Acts performing included (in order of appearance) Dusty Springfield (I only wanna be with you); The Rolling Stones (I wanna be your man); Dave Clark Five (glad all over); The Hollies (Stay); Swinging Blue Jeans (Hippy hippy shake) and The Beatles (I wanna hold your hand, that week's number one). The programme continued until July 30 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its history, it was broadcast on Thursday evenings on BBC 1. Each show consisted of performances of some of the week's best-selling popular music records, usually excluding any tracks moving down the chart, including a rundown of that week's singles chart. This was originally the Top 20, though this varied throughout the show's history. The Top 30 was used from 1969, and the Top 40 from 1984. The first programme was produced in Studio A at Dickenson Road Studios in Rusholme, Manchester. The presenter was the late and now disgraced Jimmy Savile, with a brief link to Alan Freeman in London to preview the following week's programme. The tape was wiped. Throughout its history, the programme proper always (with very few exceptions) finished with the best-selling single of the week, although there often was a separate play-out track over the end credits.

Beatles Albums USA

No less than six albums were released in the USA in 1964, as the American label Capitol sort to catch up with the UK releases and spread things out a little. The first album to be released was on Vee Jay records and was called - Introducing... The Beatles. It came out in two forms. Meet the Beatles!, The Beatles' Second Album, (sic, as it was on Capitol) A Hard Day's Night (which included George Martin scored instrumentals from the film)  Something New, Beatles '65 (sic, it came out in December of 1964). 

Beatles Albums UK

In the UK two Beatles albums came out in the UK, both on Parlophone. A Hard Day's Night was the third studio album, released on 10 July 1964. The first side contained songs from the soundtrack to their film of the same name. In contrast to the Beatles' first two albums, all 13 tracks on A Hard Day's Night were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, showcasing the development of their songwriting partnership. Beatles for Sale the fourth studio album was released on 4 December 1964.

Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show

On February 9 The Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, marking their first live performance on American television. Seen by an estimated 73,000,000 viewers, the appearance becomes the catalyst for the mid-1960s "British Invasion" of American popular music. (Ed Sullivan was cagey enough to put them on at both the beginning and the end of the program in order to keep the audience tuned in throughout). The idea that crime rates plummeted at the time is false and arose out of a sneering comment to the effect that all the criminals were watching the Beatles.

Beatles' First American Number One

On February 1 The Beatles sprang to the #1 spot on the US singles charts for the first time, with "I Want to Hold Your Hand". This marks the start of the British Invasion.