Rating: 
Summary: Finally,Finally it's here!!!!
Review: After years and years of fuzzy,poor quality bootlegs and incomplete bits and pieces,we finally are able to get the complete,unedited,as it happened Beatles/Ed Sullivan shows in stunning quality.This is a absolute must(the commercials are also priceless)...I have been waiting about 30 years for this to happen,it's about time!!!
Rating: 
Summary: The Ed Sullivan/Beatles Time Machine
Review: Almost every Sunday night, either at home or at my grandparents' house, we all sat around the TV to watch Ed Sullivan. I still remember like it was yesterday watching the Beatles' first performance. What a shock it was to me when I opened up Ed Sullivan Presents The Beatles and popped it into the DVD. The Beatles were exactly as I remembered them. The rest of the Sullivan show was a different story altogether. How did people consider some of the other stuff on the show to be entertainment? Even today the Beatles performances are magical.
In comparison to them, though, some of those singers were simply horrible.Watching the shows in their entirety, commercials included, was great. It is really something to see, with the passing of 40 years, how much television has changed, both for the good and the bad. For example, performers of today dress extremely casually- guests on Letterman and Leno rarely are seen wearing suits and ties. On the Sullivan show the male performers wore not suits and ties but tuxedos! The commercials were surreal (but also amazingly brief. Most of the commercial breaks were for only one short ad, not the 5 or 6 we have become accustomed to). By far the best part of the shows, though, is the Beatles. It is great to see the entire performances just as they aired back in 1964 and 1965. Over the years we have seen countless clips of the Beatles on Ed Sullivan, but normally they seemed to be limited to a short video clip of Paul McCartney singing Yesterday. Here you get the whole thing-- I think 21 songs. Ringo singing a song called (I think) "Act Natural" is a treat. Buy this set. It's well worth the money to travel back in time in Television Land.
Rating:
Summary: PURE 1960'S NOSTALGIA
Review: As my brother is a huge Beatles fan I got this DVD set for him this Christmas. I too am a fan, especially of the early days and we immediately fired up the DVD. I am too young to have seen these performances originally and all I've ever seen our clips or perhaps one complete song performed by the Beatles.
But in this set you get the complete Ed Sullivan shows from the the Beatles four appearances in 1964 ad 1965. Not just the Beatles mind you, but you get the ENTIRE show with all of the other performers as well as the original commercials. Really incredible! Many of these performers have long since been forgotten but some are familar such as Cab Calloway, impressionist Frank Gorshin, Mitzi Gaynor, and Soupy Sales.
One thing I never knew until now is that the Beatles didn't perform just one song but they did as many as SIX songs everytime they appeared on Sullivan! This really is a testament to just how popular they were. In fact, Sullivan actually took his show on the road to a Miami Hotel where the Beatles were performing JUST so he could have them on again.
Many of the songs are repeated over the four appearances but in all you get the Beatles performing 20 songs including seven #1 hits. "All my Loving", "She Loves you", "I Wanna Hold Your Hand", "From Me to You", "Twist & Shout", "Help" and "Yesterday" are just a few of the songs on this two DVD set.
The quality of the prints are very good. Truly a time-machine back to a magical time and place.
Rating:
Summary: TV.,American.,Music History All Rock & Rolled Into One FAB4
Review: Come One Come ALL & Celabrate History with this dvd..It was Yesterday February 9 2004 Monday was the 40th anniversary of The Beatles debut on The Ed Sullivan (2 years before i was born)..And last night i watched it on this dvd in its entirity right at 8pm just as it was for so many American viewers back 40 years ago on February 9 1964..The world of music changed overnight with this one performance..Buy this dvd and witness it firsthand..The Beatles came along back then and saved rock and roll from boring acts..We need the same thing now to come along and knock today's music on their ass..This double dvd only fault to it is NO EXTRAS..Would've been nice some behind the scenes stuff.Or some interviews with people who were there that night and watched it then on tv..But even so with no extras this is worth it completely at any price..Before now bits and pieces been shown since it was aired in 1964..Here that historic first performance along with the other 3 times they were on Ed Sullivan is here too all in their complete entirity..Complete with the same vitage commercials that viewers back then had seen during the breaks..Also get to see all the other acts that shared the bill with the Beatles..Some are really good some not so good but still history nonetheless..Some of the other performers highlights are : Fred Kaps : Card and Salt Shaker Trick / Frank Gorshin a very funny impressionist ("ding dong ding dong" LOL:) / Mcall and Brill office skit ("my daughter used to be in the Beatles..Yeah what happened to her..Someone steped on her..") / Soapy Sales does the Mouse (YEAH)..AND here is something to really watch for.Its the 1st episode.There is a performance by the stage cast of "Oliver"..Watch for the one singing in the top hat..Its Davey Jones PRE~Monkees..So how ironic is that???? The night the Beatles make their debut as the Saviors of Rock and Roll.Davey Jones makes his American Debut singing Broadway tunes before his days in fame with the Monkees..Wild Uh???? The rest i can't comment on coz i have them saved to watch later on this month when the 40th anniversary of those shows rolls round..Even has Ringo singing Act Naturally..Shows the Beatles humor and fun in their performing with some very funny adlibs that they did before the songs..The Beatles does 2 sets of songs in every episode..
Which avarages between 5 and 6 performances every episode..And may i say ARE THEY GOING TO RELEASE THE SHEA STADIUM CONCERT??? I seen it on local tv here in the 80s and would love to see that on dvd.A little hint to the powers that be.More Fab 4 Please.So i end by saying purchase this and witness the magic that changed music overnight and whose power is still felt to and beyond this very day/night 40 years later..LONG LIVE ROCK&ROLL!!!!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Ed and the Beatles live on!!!
Review: Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of receiving my copy of this marvelous, long-awaited DVD from another retailer, and boy, am I glad it's in my library. (I'm getting another copy soon since one of the discs is unplayable...boo hoo). Here for your viewing pleasure are four episodes of the "Ed Sullivan Show" from February 1964 (3) and September 1965 (1) featuring the Fab Four in all their early chart-making glory (20 songs), along with other great acts such as Cilla Black, Allen and Rossi, Mr. Acker Bilk, Gordon and Sheila MacRae, Cab Calloway, Soupy Sales, and others. These are the complete one-hour shows as originally broadcast in glorious black and white...with classic commercials for Anacin, Pillsbury, Lipton Tea, and others. Too bad that the TV variety show genre is virtually non-existent (except for American Idol). This is a glorious trip back to a time when we had wholesome, family-oriented programming - in stark contrast to the junk that we're currently viewing.
Rating:
Summary: Nostalgia
Review: Even though I was only about 15 months old when the Beatles hit America, watching this really took me back in time. Although I couldn't, obviously, remember watching it (my parents probably didn't watch it. They always told me as I got older not to have anything to the do with The Beatles), see this show in its entirety is quite a neat concept.
I watched it last night (Sun.) at exactly 8 P.M., the same day and time it aired on 2/9/64. Next week, I am going to do the same with the Miami Beach show and the week after with the third show (I can't wait 1 1/2 years for the forth show).
I even looked up info on the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach where the second show was done. It is now the Radisson Deaville Hotel in Miami. It had a $20 million renovation a few years ago. It looks exactly as it did 39 years ago.
I even plan to find out how much room 1111 (suite) goes for per night. I thought it would be a neat idea to stay in that room one night with my wife and check out the hotel (including the Napoleon room where they did the Ed Sullivan show). Room 1111 was the room the Beatles stayed in. Unfortunately my wife isn't much of a nostalgia freak like I am.
I highly recommend getting this DVD set and watching it on Sundays at 8 P.M. like I did.
Rating:
Summary: Definitely a must have for the Beatle fan
Review: Great set, nicely divided into chapters for each performance so there is no searching for whichever song you are wanting to hear. The other acts' performances are each given a chapter also.
It's interesting to see Paul in 1965 playing the same Epiphone Texan guitar on "Yesterday" (which he used to write the song) that he is still using today, and you can see him using it on his "Back in the US" concert film.
You also get to hear John butcher the words to "Help" during their final appearance. The other acts are interesting, even though I was not around at the time they originally aired. They are standard fare for what was popular at the time.
Almost 40 years later, and the Beatles are still having reviews written about their performances. What else needs to be said?
Rating:
Summary: Where were you when he said..."And now..."
Review: Great! The first show split pop history in two. Like it or not, as far as American teens went, They really were more popular than... anybody! It's interesting to watch the other acts and commercials and all. But after the first time, I'll probably just skip through to the real reason all of us bought the thing.
Rating:
Summary: Evocative momento of a historic time
Review: Having seen the Beatles perform twice in Chicago, I own this because it evokes a wonderful time in my life that I will always treasure. An innocent moment that was to turn out to be all too fleeting for a world in turmoil. A moment when innocence might have triumphed over cold dark cynicism. But didn't. And we are paying the price of that failure every day. It's a shame we didn't recognize the opportunity when it was before us.
Rating:
Summary: Reliving 1964... for the first time
Review: I am old enough to claim that the Beatles were still technically a group when I was born. But I wasn't one of the millions upon millions of people who saw these shows when they were originally broadcast. Considering so many people (listeners, fans, musicians, journalists) all agree that this was a pinnacle moment for them, the shows themselves had been pretty much hidden from public view since they aired. I had seen the clips of them playing in the "Anthology" and other documentaries. I thought their performances were fun, but I never had a feeling of how they fit in with contemporary 1964 culture and why it was all such a big deal.
Until now.
The two-set DVD has the four Ed Sullivan shows, complete with commercials, from February, 1964 and September, 1965. All I can say is... wow. The shows themselves feature a variety of acts, but they all share one thing in common: they are all totally lame compared to the Beatles. Mitzi Gaynor singing "It's Too Darn Hot"? Yikes! The comedy musings of Dave Barry? Oh dear. I can commiserate all too well with the Anacin commerical as it intones, "pain... pain... pain..."
Okay, maybe I'm being a little harsh here. I did enjoy Tessie O'Shea. She's not cool and she's not trying to be. She's just having fun and it's infectious as she belts her way through a bunch of old standards. The bit from "Oliver!" was cute (see the young Davy Jones, later of Monkees fame) and it was historically amusing to see Sonny Liston take a bow as the "heavyweight champion of the world"... when we know he will be knocked out by Cassius Clay the following week.
You begin to understand how much of a shock the Beatles were to the national psyche. Long hair? Maybe not from today's standards, but look at what everyone else looks like on these shows! Music? Well, today Beatles music is all mixed up on the radio, played against songs made some 10 - 20 years after their debut. Here, you can see what they were up against at the moment... and they just blow the doors off of everyone including Cilla Black, one of their contemporaries.
The video is clearest on the clips that feature the Beatles (as you would imagine). The rest varies. Some looks a bit blurred and there are some analog tracking issues. Well, the videotape is 40 years old, in a format that has been dead for at least 20 years. It's probably a miracle that the shows look as clean as they do. The sound is pretty good, but keep in mind that these were live performances. And "TV" and "hi-fidelity" didn't exactly go hand in hand in 1964. The second show in "Myamuh Beach" has some serious audio defects, but that's how it sounded then. I enjoyed the live performances, warts and all. Unlike a lot of shows from the 1960's, the performances on Ed Sullivan were live rather than lip-synched.
DVD extras? Not a one. The shows themselves are the extras. There's no documentaries necessary, no secondary audio channel needed to explain the phenomenon, it's just, "Ladies and Gentlemen... the Beatles".
And really, that's all you need in the end.
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