LONDON—Featuring never-before-heard tracks such as “Why Don’t You Grab My Hand,” “While My Palm Gently Sweats,” and “Hands, Hands, Hands,” EMI Records announced Thursday the release of a new Beatles box set with 172 unreleased songs about wanting to hold hands. “These 16 discs offer dedicated fans a chance to finally experience Help’s ‘Glove In Glove,’ Abbey Road’s ‘My Baby’s Knuckles,’ A Hard Day’s Night’s ‘Clasp It Tight (My Hand),’ and so many of John, Paul, Ringo, and George’s other odes to hand-holding that were previously lost to time,” said spokesperson Peter Totten of the package, which includes bonus features such as the band’s fraught in-studio arguments about John Lennon’s experimental soundscape “Revolution 10,” archival footage of the 90-piece orchestra performing the swelling anthem “The Grasp,” and photos of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s hand-holding meditation that inspired Paul McCartney’s “Mother Nature’s Grip.” “From the German tunes written during their 1964 Hamburg residency like ‘Ich Liebe Deine Fingers’ to later gems like Let It Be’s ‘Entwined With My Honey Pie,’ these recordings make up a massive trove of music about the band’s affinity for clutching your partner’s hand that, until now, have been left on the cutting room floor.” According to sources, EMI decided to leave “Peace Under The Sea (If We’re Hand In Tentacle)” and numerous other Ringo Starr songs off the box set.

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