"The Beatles: Rock Band" Boasts Unheard Lennon, McCartney Audio

"Hello, this is John speaking with his voice. We're all very happy to be able to talk to you like this ..." The voice is John Lennon's, cheerfully greeting fans from a 1963 Beatles Christmas disc recorded for members of their fan club, and it's just one of many gems hidden within the upcoming The Beatles: Rock Band game.

New details of the title were released today from MTV Games/Harmonix, which is releasing The Beatles: Rock Band on September 9th (or 9/9/09, a playful nod to the early Beatles tune "One After 909," among other references). Beyond the 45 songs included in the game, fans will hear things never before released, from Paul McCartney tuning up in the moments before recording "Yellow Submarine" and "Twist and Shout" to studio chatter between the band and producer George Martin.

A day in the life of the Beatles: photos from 1963.

The Beatles' first Christmas greeting is just one of the many unlockable rewards of rare video, photographs and audio inside, while "story mode" will provide the vivid back-story to the classic songs being made. There is behind the scenes performance footage, animation and clips of the band in the studio, at home and more that fans can discover between performances. All of it is accessible to players of any difficulty level.

As previously reported, players will be able to download additional Beatles content, including the entire Abbey Road album, and the single version of "All You Need is Love," an Xbox exclusive with proceeds going to Doctors Without Borders.

Look back at all the LPs in the Beatles catalog, with their RS reviews.

Drum lessons will guide fans in recreating the distinctive "Beatle Beats" of Ringo Star, who never played the same fills twice — playable on any Rock Band drum kit (or the new Ludwig set that includes a kick-drum head with the classic Beatles logo). As reported earlier, the game also includes vocal training in the band's three-part harmonies. "You have to train to be a Beatle," said John Drake, a Harmonix spokesman. "It turns out it's not that easy."

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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