US album release: The Beatles’ Story

On 23 November 1964, Capitol Records in America issued a documentary album, The Beatles’ Story.

The double album – The Beatles’ first – featured interviews, press conferences and extracts of songs by the band. It entered the Billboard Top LPs chart on 12 December at number 97, and on 2 January 1965 peaked at number seven, a position it held for four weeks.

The Beatles’ Story was essentially an attempt to capitalise on public demand for The Beatles. Although it sold more modestly than their other Capitol releases, in its first week of release it was certified gold, signifying sales of more than one million.

The album contained a 48-second extract of ‘Twist And Shout’, recorded on 23 August 1964 at the Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles. It was the only part of the recording made commercially available until The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl was issued in May 1977.