Twist and Shout

Twist and Shout is an extended play on Parlophone (catalogue GEP 8882), released 12 July 1963. UK No.1 EP for 21 weeks. Tracks compiled from the Please Please Me LP.

Recorded during the band's Beatlemania (1962–1964) period, produced by George Martin with Norman Smith engineering. The tracks were committed to tape at EMI Studios, Abbey Road on Twin-track BTR-2 (1962); Studer J37 four-track from late-1963 via the REDD.37 / REDD.51 valve consoles.

Twist and Shout is a Beatles EP issued in the United Kingdom on 12 July 1963 by Parlophone under catalogue number GEP 8882. It sits in the band's Beatlemania (1962–1964) period. The release arrived 112 days after the parent LP Please Please Me, placing it firmly within that album's commercial window.

Sessions were produced by George Martin with Norman Smith engineering, working at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. The signal chain ran through the Twin-track BTR-2 (1962); Studer J37 four-track from late-1963 • REDD.37 / REDD.51 valve consoles, with vocals captured on Neumann U47, U48. This combination of room, tape format and outboard chain is the same one heard across the band's other releases from the era — meaning the release shares its sonic identity with its parent LP rather than departing from it.

The EP collects 2 tracks — Twist and Shout, A Taste of Honey — drawn from contemporaneous LP and single sessions. Each individual song entry preserves its full session history and pattern analysis, which the EP-level page references rather than duplicates.

Documented alternate masters and remaster passes can be found via the linked entries above; the editorial position throughout Beatles Answers is that the original UK mono master is the canonical point of reference for any EP from this era, with the 2009 and 50th-anniversary stereo remasters treated as documented variations rather than replacements. Catalogue numbers, label copy and matrix data are taken from EMI/Parlophone primary documentation and cross-checked against Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (1988).

Each track on this EP carries its own session history on the dedicated entry. The summary below pulls the most distinctive editorial detail from each:

• Twist and Shout — Take 1 was selected for the album, a rarity suggesting either a first-take performance of exceptional quality or the decision to preserve the energy of an unrehearsed, spontaneous studio approach.
• A Taste of Honey — Take 7 was selected for the final version, suggesting multiple attempts to achieve the delicate vocal balance required. The song's lack of drums or percussion, apart from subtle string-like guitar work, distinguished it as among the sparsest Beatles recordings of the era.

• The Beatles' Hits
• The Beatles (No. 1)