Ed Sullivan Shows sale

September 13th sees the UK release of the Complete 1964-65 Ed Sullivan Shows Starring the Beatles at a bargain price of only £11.19. In the USA, the set is being released on September 7th, at $11.99. This digitally remastered two disc edition runs to over four hours, complete with all the four appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show in February 1964 and September 1965. All together 15 songs were performed live by the band during these shows, including: “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “Help” and “Yesterday” and it’s now available to view with a brand new 5.1 surround soundtrack and carefully restored video. This special new package also includes an exclusive original Ed Sullivan Show ticket replica from The Beatles 1st appearance and approximately 13 minutes of additional footage. The added material, rare Beatles-related gems from other Sullivan shows, is placed at the end of each disc. Among them is a brief London interview with The Beatles by Sullivan which has not been seen since the day it originally aired on May 24th 1964; a 1966 black-and-white commercial for Beatles dolls introduced by Sullivan in colour; and the host reading a 1967 telegram from The Beatles congratulating him on the renaming of the studio to “The Ed Sullivan Theatre”.

“We used the full extent of today’s technology,” says Andrew Solt, Executive Producer and CEO of SOFA Entertainment, which purchased all 1,050 hours of “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1990. “The quality is better than it ever was, in fact, better than when the shows aired, especially visually. For example, the February 16 performance was from Miami’s Deauville Hotel, not from a studio. The quality of the tape image was very fragile. We went back and improved it frame by frame.”

The set includes the following Beatles performances:

Show #1 – aired Sunday February 9, 1964

• All My Loving
• Till There Was You
• She Loves You
• I Saw Her Standing There
• I Want to Hold Your Hand.

Show #2 – aired Sunday February 16, 1964

• She Loves You
• This Boy
• All My Loving
• I Saw Her Standing There
• From Me To You
• I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Show #3 – aired Sunday February 23, 1964

• Twist And Shout
• Please Please Me
• I Want To Hold Your Hand.

Show #4 – aired Sunday September 12, 1965

• I Feel Fine
• I’m Down
• Act Naturally
• Ticket To Ride
• Yesterday
• Help!

A similar set was released in 2003, but the footage has apparently been remastered on the new set and there is the additional 13 minutes. There will also be the option to play a mono audio track or a 5.1 surround remix.

This looks to be a fantastic set, especially for those who didn’t pick up the earlier, far more expensive release, like we did.