The Beatles 1+ Video Collection DVD/Blu-Ray Coming November 6th.

One of the DVD sets from the new Beatles 1 DVD/Blu-Ray collection.

We have some exciting news via The Beatles. If you haven't already heard, they are re-releasing the 1 Album which was a compilation of all 27 Number One singles the Beatles had when they were the world's best chart topping musical artists! Released in 2000, the compilation introduced new fans to the timeless music of the Beatles. Here's the full details from The Beatles website:

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


The Beatles 1 and 1+ Video Collection and the Deluxe Edition will be released on November 6th. It is available to Pre-Order in our store. You can find it on the last page of the DVD section.


Here is a fascinating video on how the Beatles 1+ Video Collection was lovingly restored from the original prints:




This collection has answered many fans wishes for their promotional films to be released officially and now you can finally own the Beatles' promotional films, their 27 Number One singles and all the bonus features with commentary from Paul and Ringo!

Pre-Order Here!

The Beatles' Apple Promotional Film, 1968.

This is the Apple Promotional Film from 1968. In case you haven't a clue, Apple Corps was set up by the Beatles in 1968 and it quickly got out of control. In the below film, you can see that it wasn't exactly thought out.

There's a conversation in the beginning between Paul, John and Dick James (Yes, the same Dick James who sold all of their songs in 1969 without offering the Beatles themselves a chance to buy them!) and then cuts to Paul playing 'Blackbird' in the studio. (The woman seen next to him is Francie Schwartz, one of Macca's many girlfriends at the time) and then at the end of that segment, George Martin briefly appears. Then some more shots of Swinging London, including the much maligned and ill-fated 'Apple Boutique' on Baker Street.

Then a segment with new Apple artist Mary Hopkin singing and playing guitar in what appears to be Paul McCartney's back garden in Cavendish Avenue. Paul's sheepdog Martha is seen making an appearance and then Paul strolls in at the end holding what appears to be a glass of Iced Tea and says "That was Mary Hopkin and this is Alex..."

The 'Alex' in the next segment was John Lennon's new mate Alexis Mardas or "Magic Alex" as he came to be known thanks to Lennon, who was the head of Apple Electronics but when approached to design and build a new studio for the Beatles to use in the basement of 3 Savile Row, failed to do so. The "studio" turned out to be an absolute disaster and Alex quietly disappeared when Allen Klein came in.

After that, it was a piece where John, Paul and Dick James listen to a phone playing music that sounds like "on hold" music. (This may have been what George Harrison remembered in the anthology that Alex Mardas' only invention of note was a "Toilet with a radio in it or something")

The last segment is Paul demoing 'Helter Skelter' and there's a shot of John & Yoko sitting on the floor next to George Martin. The film ends with the painting that inspired it all.

Here's the film:

The Beatles In Review: 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane' (1967)

Nothing Is Real: The Beatles film their promotional video for 'Strawberry Fields Forever' in Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, England in 1967.

 When the Beatles resurfaced in January 1967 with a double A sided single the public all over the world rushed to buy it. It sounded different. 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' but the accompanying promotional film proved a shock to many fans. The Beatles had grown moustaches and side burns and had cut their hair and styled it differently to the mop tops that had made them so loveable and cute. They had also stopped wearing matching suits and ties that had made them easily identifiable. The Beatles had re-invented themselves and if you weren't on board then you were doomed.

'Strawberry Fields Forever' Promotional Film (1967)

 When the video was previewed on 'American Bandstand' Dick Clark sat amidst his audience to get their comments and more than a few looked shocked and stunned. "What'd ya think of that?" Dick asked a smiling teenage boy next to him "I thought it was great!" the boy enthused. Dick obviously wasn't looking for that kind of reaction so he quickly turned his attention to the girl on the other side who said through a plastered on smile "I don't like their hair, their moustaches" Dick nodded "Didn't dig the moustaches, huh?" he replied and then a slightly conservative looking boy next to her piped up "It makes them look older and ruins their image" then he asked a slightly ditzy looking blonde "I thought it was funny!" she said while nodding her head like a bobble-head. Another girl piped up "They're ugly!" and the audience broke out in laughter and applause. "They went out with the twist" another conservative boy said while the girl next to him said "They look like Grandfathers or something". 

 "They look so much different than they used to"

 'Penny Lane' Promotional Film (1967)

 After a showing of the Penny Lane film, the comments were, again, divided: "It was different" said a girl "It was brighter, they smiled in this one at least" a southern boy drawled. "They're as bad as the Monkees" a decidedly uninformed boy snorted derisively. "They look much different than they used to" said a girl who was obviously pondering what this would mean for her love of the group. "I thought they were good" said a girl who got a round of cheers as the only one so far who had commented on the music. "Not much of a change" commented a boy sarcastically which drew laughs. The consensus was the Beatles had turned weird. But there was a definite change about the Beatles. They'd moved on with these two records and their absence for the latter part of 1966 had made their return a shock to everyone.