New album of Beatles rarities set for release

The Beatles -- from left to right, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and George Harrison -- arrive at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York on February 7, 1964. A box set of previously unreleased recordings and studio chat by The Beatles including early hits and cover versions is to be released later this year, their record company said Friday. (AFP/File)

LONDON (AFP) – A box set of previously unreleased recordings and studio chat by The Beatles including early hits and cover versions is to be released later this year, their record company said Friday.

The tracks from radio broadcasts at the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in 1963 and 1964 include 37 performances which have never been issued before now and 23 tracks of conversations featuring the Fab Four.

The album, "On Air - Live At The BBC Volume 2", is a follow-up to a similar box set released in 1994 and will be available from November 11, Apple and Universal Music said in a statement.

It includes two songs which were never recorded for their record label and which have not had official release, "Beautiful Dreamer" and Chuck Berry's "I'm Talking About You."

Beatles fans first noticed the box set was coming when there was a posting on the website of an offshoot of music company Universal in the Philippines last month, but the full details of the recordings were not confirmed until now.

The Beatles performed 275 times at the BBC between March 1962 and June 1965, playing 88 different songs in total, mostly done in one take.

The previous volume of BBC recordings sold five million copies worldwide. It has been remastered and will come out the same day.

The Beatles came out of Liverpool in northwest England to become one of the best-selling and most influential rock bands in history.

Founding member Paul McCartney and drummer Ringo Starr are still alive, while John Lennon was shot dead in 1980 and George Harrison died of cancer in 2001.