The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour Memories + Composing The Beatles Catalog 1957 – 1965 + 1966 – 1970 (MVD DVDs) + The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder – John, Paul, Tom & Ringo (Shout! Factory DVD)

 

Picture: C+ (C on Magical)     Sound: C+ (C on Magical)     Extras: C/C/D/D     Main Programs: C+/B/C+/B

 

 

On 9/9/09, The Beatles entire catalog of albums will finally be reissued in remastered, updated CDs and more, plus one of the most advanced video games to date will include their music, history and the blitz will be amazing.  In the meantime, we though we should take a look at four DVD releases on the band that you may have missed and might want to catch up with.

 

The Beatles – Magical Mystery Tour Memories does not include the abstract TV film but does feature some interesting vintage footage of London in the late 1960s and some interviews with people who knew the band, including Spencer Davis and Michael McCartney.  It may seem like it might be a throwaway piece, but it is just interesting enough that you might find enough of it worth your time and it is not a wreck.  Originating on analog PAL videotape, the 1.33 X 1image is soft and Dolby Digital 2.0 sound barley stereo, but we have seen worse (this is an NTSC copy) and fans will enjoy it.  You get a bonus 20 minutes more of extras not in the main program, for whatever reason.

 

Composing The Beatles Catalog is offered in two volumes.  The 1957 – 1965 disc is only 80 minutes and disappoints, despite featuring original Beatles hits and seems too rushed for its own good.  Stills are a plus, but this period needed and deserved much more than it gets here and it is a good thing the 1966 – 1970 volume (at 112 minutes) is far more effective, rich and interesting.  Again, you get the original recordings and some interesting interviews, though Robert Christgau goes overboard as if he is trying to shock & impress with his ideas on the band.  It is easily the best of the three DVDs from Music Video Distributors.

 

That leaves us in the NBC archive for a great DVD set licensed to Shout! Factory of The Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder – John, Paul, Tom & Ringo, featuring three long, exceptional interviews the great talk show host did with three of the band members.  DVD 1 is the revised John Lennon interview, which Snyder repeated when he was murdered, showing the whole interview (from 1975) in flashback, then having a discussion with Leon Wildes (Lennon’s attorney), music producer Jack Douglas and journalist Lisa Robinson.  It is Snyder at his finest and some of the most important footage of the response to the shock, loss and outrage that was and still is Lennon’s murder.  DVD 2 has a 1979 Paul McCartney interview done via satellite and 1981 interview with Ringo Starr joined by actress/wife Barbara Bach and later actress Angie Dickinson.  There may be no extras, but this is plenty and all key Beatles programming, looking and sounding good here in 1.33 X 1 analog NTSC video from the masters and Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono that is also very clean for its age.  The interviews on DVD 2 have one Music Video a piece.  Spin It On was one of the last Wings videos and is not even on The McCartney Years DVD compilation reviewed elsewhere on this site, while Wrack My Brain was Starr’s bizarre video that attempted to cross New Wave, Horror films and the Music Video look to odd effects.

 

 

For more on The Beatles, try this excellent book on the band called Can’t Buy Me Love by Jonathan Gould:

 

http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/6334/Can%E2%80%99t+Buy+Me+Love

 

 

You’ll find a ton of information in that book and review, then more Beatles links at the bottom.

 

 

-   Nicholas Sheffo