Basie with a Beatle beat (9/12/98) When Beatlemania spread worldwide in the early '60s, a wide range of musical acts, from the Chipmunks to the Boston Pops, covered Beatle songs to jump on the bandwagon. Few of them were as respected as Count Basie and his Orchestra, whose 1966 album, called "Basie's Beatle Bag," has just been released on CD by Verve in the U.S. It puts Beatle songs in a big band context that older listeners of the day outside the range of the Beatles could appreciate, and as typical with Basie, he really makes them swing. The 12 tracks (including one non-Beatle song covered by the Fabs): "Help", "Can't Buy Me Love," "Michelle," "I Wanna Be Your Man," "Do You Want To Know a Secret?", "A Hard Day's Night," "All My Loving," "Yesterday," "And I Love Her," "Hold Me Tight," "She Loves You," "Kansas City." All the songs except one ("Yesterday," sung by Bill Henderson) are instrumentals. The package includes the original cover and liner notes, too.