After The Beatles stopped touring, and because travelling around the globe to
promote new releases was impossible, the band increasingly made what could be
described as “mini movies”. These pioneering promotional films and videos
helped to define the way we have come to watch music, not least because The
Beatles approached filming with the same ease and innovative spirit they brought
to the recording studio, exploring new creative possibilities with infectious
delight. Showcasing the band’s filmed work to accompany their 27 No.1, U.K.
and U.S. singles, The Beatles 1 is newly restored and expanded in multiple
configurations for global release on November 6 by Apple Corps Ltd/UMG.
The 27-track CD/DVD and CD/Blu-ray pairs beautifully restored videos for each
song, with new stereo and 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS HD surround audio mixes.
The brand new Beatles 1+ celebrates their career in over 200 minutes through
50 promotional films and videos. This includes the 27 No.1s, with the restored
videos, along with a second disc of 23 videos, including alternate versions, as
well as rarely seen and newly restored films and videos; all include new audio
mixes in deluxe CD/2-DVD and CD/2-Blu-ray packages. The 27-track audio CD is
also being made available with new stereo mixes. A 2 LP, 180-gram vinyl
package will follow.
The new editions of The Beatles 1 have been made possible following
extensive research, and restoration of the original promo films, classic
television appearances and other carefully selected videos spanning the
band’s history. Apple Corps dug deep into The Beatles’ vaults to select a
broad range of films and videos for their rarity, historical significance and
quality of performance. An 18-person team of film and video technicians and
restoration artists was assembled by Apple Corps to undertake painstaking
frame-by-frame cleaning, colour-grading, digital enhancement and new edits that
took months of dedicated, ‘round-the-clock work to accomplish.
The result is a visual run down of The Beatles’ number one records, as well
as the additional tracks on the bonus disc of Beatles 1+ that show the band in
previously unseen standards of clarity and quality; many of the films and videos
have never before been commercially released, in whole or in part.
Beatles 1 and Beatles 1+ offers the restored films, including 35mm negatives
scanned in 4K and digitally restored with new stereo and 5.1 surround audio
remixes, produced from the original analogue tapes by the GRAMMY® winning team
of Giles Martin with Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. For four of the videos,
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr have provided exclusive audio commentary and
filmed introductions, respectively. The 1+ Deluxe Edition, presented in an
expanded 124-page illustrated hardcover book includes ‘an appreciation’ of
The Beatles’ ground-breaking films and videos by music journalist and author
Mark Ellen and extensive, detailed track/video annotation by music historian and
author Richard Havers.
“These videos and films are spectacular reminders of the era we lived in.
They also rock!” – Paul McCartney
“I think it’s really interesting to see the videos we made, some of
them incredible and some of them really incredible. How else would we have got
to sit on a horse?” – Ringo Starr
Between 1962 and 1970, The Beatles released 27 No.1 hit singles in the
U.S. and the U.K. In 2000, these timeless songs were collected for The Beatles
1, which topped the charts in 35 countries and became that
decade’s bestselling album worldwide. 15 years later, 1 is revisited for
this entirely new, visually-inspired presentation.
It’s The Beatles, as you’ve never seen them before.