Today in Beatles History: June 26

** The following events in Beatles history all took place on June 26. **

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Beatles * [J] John * [P] Paul * [G] George * [R] Ringo * [O] Other
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1961
The Beatles perform at the Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg, West
Germany. (1201)

1963
The Beatles perform at the Majestic Ballroom, Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Afterwards, in their hotel room, John Lennon and Paul McCartney
write the song "She Loves You", which will be chosen for the A-side
of the next Beatles single. (1830)

1964
US release of Beatles soundtrack LP "A Hard Day's Night" (United
Artists). Songs: "A Hard Day's Night", "Tell Me Why", "I'll Cry
Instead", "I'm Happy Just to Dance With You", "I Should Have Known
Better", "If I Fell", "And I Love Her", and "Can't Buy Me Love".
Also includes instrumental music from the movie (directed by George
Martin). Although the album is released in both stereo and mono,
the Beatles tracks are in mono on both versions; only the
instrumental tracks are issued in stereo/mono versions. On the
album cover the title to "I'll Cry Instead" is incorrectly printed
as "I Cry Instead", but the song title is correct on the record
label. 51 weeks on Billboard chart; highest position #1. (23)

1964
The Beatles, continuing on their world tour, perform two shows at
Town Hall, Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand. The flight from
Auckland to Dunedin had been rather tense due the receipt of an
anonymous threat that a "germ bomb" had been placed on board the
aircraft. (2140)

1966
The Beatles' train travels to Hamburg, from where The Beatles last
departed on January 1, 1963. Their train is met by a lot of faces
from the past, Astrid Kirchherr and Bert Kaempfert two of the most
memorable. Later, The Beatles play two shows at Ernst Merck Hall,
Hamburg, West Germany. Around midnight, John and Paul take a walk
through the Reeperbahn. (2548)

1967
The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios,
London). Ringo records a drum roll that is added to the start of
"All You Need Is Love", then the song is mixed for immediate
release as a single (the flip side to be "Baby You're a Rich Man").
The single will be issued in the UK eleven days later, on July 7.
The quantity and quality of The Beatles' recorded output during
1967 is rather remarkable: "Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane"
(single), "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (album), and now
"All You Need is Love/Baby You're a Rich Man" (single). Before the
year is out, The Beatles will release even more material. (2712)

1968
The Beatles in the recording studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios,
London). Rehearsal and recording of "Everybody's Got Something to
Hide Except Me and My Monkey". This night's tapes will all be
wiped and the recording begun again the next night. (2855)

[G] 1999
US premiere of the restored 1968 British film "Wonderwall" at the
Egyptian Theatre, Hollywood, as part of a ten-day film festival
dedicated to movies of the sixties. The film's soundtrack was
written and produced by George Harrison; it was Harrison's first
solo project. A portion of the soundtrack was released as
Harrison's first solo album and the first album to appear on the
Apple label, "Wonderwall", released in late 1968. The motion
picture, which was first shown at the Cannes Film Festival on May
18, 1968, was released in the UK on January 20, 1969. It was not a
financial success and was not distributed in the US. The film's
director, Joe Massot, re-e***ed the film nearly 30 years later, and
he re-created the soundtrack from the original master tapes. He
obtained the tapes from EMI's London and Bombay studios and from
George Harrison's personal archives. While going through
Harrison's tapes, Massot discovered an unreleased song titled, "In
the First Place". The 1967 song, which features a George Harrison
vocal, had never been submitted to Massot for inclusion in the film
because Harrison's commission had been for an instrumental
soundtrack. Massot requested the inclusion of this song in the new
"director's cut" that he was preparing and Harrison agreed, on
con***ion that he be given cre*** only as the song's producer, that
the performance be cre***ed to the Remo Four (the backing group
accompanying Harrison's vocal), and that writing cre*** be given to
Colin Manley and Tony Ashton. The song was released in the UK as a
CD-single on January 20, 1999, on Massot's Pilar label. (3875)


Hasta La Vista