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Mike Cotton's Collection

The Beatles   ??/??/1964

Beatles at the BEEB, vol. 10, Various, Various
Source (CPTV) Hi Fi VHS Master->DVD
Media DVD   1 disc
Notes A, It Was Twenty Years Ago Today
J-Card Comment Quality: A

"It Was Twenty Years Ago Today"

1987 Granada TV Documentary originally aired in November of 1987 on PBS and BBC TV.


lineage: (CPTV) Hi Fi VHS Master->DVD
transfered by Stu Hanson on January 27, 2005


Basic summary from my post to the BT list:

A few days ago,
several people mentioned that they were interested in the Granada TV produced documentary
"It Was Twenty Years Ago Today," that aired on PBS and BBC TV in 1987.
I had never seen this, but from the descriptions posted and being a fan of The Beatles
as well as psychadelic music circa 1967 in general, I was extremely interested in checking this out.


After quite a bit of web research on it's availibilty, I determined that this has never been officially
released and it has not been rebroadcast since November of 1987.
The only copies I could find were all multigenerated (or flawed in some other way) copies circulating among Beatle fans.


With nowhere else to turn, I contacted my wife's uncle, Alan Bershaw,
who many of you probably know as the source for countless 1960s related masters,
including the now legendary "Acid Test Reels" and "It Crawled Out Of The Vaults of KSAN" compilations.
As I had hoped, he had a complete NTSC HiFi VHS master of this documentary,
taped off Connecticut Public TV in November of 1987, and I now have his master in hand.


I watched this last night and I must say it is one of the best documentaries I've ever seen.
Not only is it of great interest to Beatles fans, but it also examines the summer of love,
the counter-culture, politics, drugs and 1967 music in great detail.
There's many insightful interviews and commentary included,
from the likes of Derek Taylor (whose 1987 book of the same title inspired this project),
Allen Ginsberg, Ed Sanders of The Fugs (including footage from the "Levitating the Pentagon" event!),
Jerry Garcia, Allen Cohen, Peter Coyote, Roger McGuinn, Paul McCartney, George Harrison,
Peter Fonda and Abbie Hoffman, among others who were in the middle of it all.


It runs a little under two hours and it contains so much astounding footage
that I wouldn't know where to begin mentioning it all.
It basically encapsulates that whole 1967 era better than anything I've ever seen.


addendum:

Since there was just enough time to fit it on the same DVD,
I also included another Granada TV item from "World In Action" in 1967.
This is the classic 15 minute Mick Jagger interview that followed the Redlands Bust trial of 1967,
where Jagger is interviewed in depth by UK society and political figures.
Trades Allowed Yes
Ratings Sound: A
Reference / Generation 0005861481
Lists DVD
Owned by Mike Cotton · Last Updated May 23, 2023