Saturday, November 24, 2012

"Pop Go the Beatles" episode number Five.

On July 02 1963 (the day after the recording session for the "She Loves You/I"ll Get You" single) The Beatles recorded a BBC radio performance at Studio Five, Maida Vale Studios in London. The host for the show on this particular day was Rodney Burke.
This is one of the best BBC shows that is available to the public. Most of the songs from this show are currently out in commercial form on the 2-LP/2-CD "Live At The BBC" from Apple. The show consists of only one song from the first LP and the rest of the tunes are covers that have never been recorded for commerical purposes (and never showed up on the official Beatles catalogue until 1995 and the above mentioned album).
The first song played is an Elvis cover "That's All Right Mama" which is sung by Paul. This is followed by "There's A Place" from the first LP. A Chuck Berry cover is up next with John singing "Carol". The next tune is one of my favourites; the soulful Arthur Alexander "Soldier Of Love (Lay Down Your Arms)" - a great job by Lennon on this one. "Lend Me Your Comb" is performed after a short intro to the song by Rodney Burke and finally Paul lets out a great vocal for his cover of "Clarabella".
This particular episode has been heavily bootlegged on LP titles such as : "Piece Of Mind", "Rare Beatles", "Soldier of Love" "Broadcasts" "The Beatles At the Beeb, Volume Three" and on the complete sessions CD box set. As stated above, all of songs (with the exception of "There's A Place") have been commercially released on the Apple album but I've included it for continuity purposes.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

"She Loves You" Remix Stereo 2

On July 01 1963 at EMI studios (Abbey Road) number two, The Beatles recorded both sides of their latest single. The A side was to be "She Loves You" while the B side was to be "Get You In The End". The title of the B side was changed, however, before release to "I'll Get You".
An interest bit of recording history: the original master reels for this session have been lost or destroyed by 1966. A little carelessness on behalf of EMI considering that this single was one of the best selling singles up to the time in the UK. Strange, in fact. The loss of the reels created a problem.
When came time to create a stereo mix for the A-side, it would be impossible to do correctly without the master reels. How to remix? Well, the EQ was re-arranged to have the bass in one channel (left) and the high end in the other channel (right). This concept was used on the EMI UK only LP "The Beatles Oldies...But Goldies" Christmas 1966 release. A little known fact is that there was another attempt to create a stereo remix (known as Remix Stereo 2) which basically moved the chorus and some guitar parts from the left channel to the right channgel. The RS 2 mix was never used but the take announcement (by Geoff Emerick) and the mix are available on bootleg.
Both announcements and mixes (stereo 1 and 2) for "She Loves You" can be found on "Abbey Road Tape Volume One" and on the CD "Turn Me On, Deadman"

Saturday, November 17, 2012

It's Just Another "Saturday Club"

The Beatles recorded a "Saturday Club" radio show for the BBC on June 24 1963. The recording took place at the Playhouse Theatre in London. The host for this particular show was Brian Matthew.
This recording contains two covers, three upcoming tunes from the not-yet-released second LP "With The Beatles" and the current single.
Lots of Chuck Berry tunes on this show. In fact, the first cover is "I Got To Find My Baby" sung by John Lennon. This is followed by "Memphis, Tennessee" which is also sung by John. The third song in the set is the Motown "Money (That's What I Want)" which would be recorded for thier second LP and be the last track on side 2. Following this rocker, we hear Paul sing the showtune: "Till There Was You" - the song would also find it's way on the second LP. The current single "From Me To You" is performed next with John and Paul sharing vocals. Finally, we get to hear George on "Roll Over Beethoven". A version of this would turn up on the Beatles' second LP as well.
The vinyl LP "Outakes 1" (sic) feature some of the tunes while most of the show is available on the bootleg LP "The Beatles At the Beeb, Volume Two" and on CD as "The Complete BBC Sessions".

Saturday, November 10, 2012

"Easy Beat" Live Performance

On June 19 1963, The Beatles headed to the Playhouse Theatre in London to perform in concert for a live audience. The occasion was also recorded for an episode of "Easy Beat" on BBC radio so I guess this falls under the catagory of both concert performance and radio performance.
The host for this show was Brian Matthew. The concert took place in the evening with a very enthusiastic audience of mainly young teenage girls (as was the norm for the time).
The first song to be played live for the crowd is the cover "Some Other Guy" with both John and Paul on the lead. This is followed by a slower song "A Taste of Honey" ; the cover from the first LP with Paul singing the lead. Next up are the two sides of the latest 45 single: both original material "Thank You Girl" with John and Paul on vocals and they end with the A-side "From Me To You" with once again John and Paul on vocals.
"Some Other Guy" and "Thank you Girl" made it to commercial release with the 2-LP/2-CD version of Apple's "Live At the BBC" while these tunes and the rest of the show can be found on the LP "The Beatles at The Beeb, Volume One" and the usual suspect on CD "The Complete BBC Sessions".

Saturday, November 3, 2012

"Pop Go The Beatles" Episode Four

Another radio performance for the BBC, this time recorded on June 17 1963 in Studio 5, Maida Vale Studios in London, England. The host for this particular show is Lee Peters.
The musical numbers for this show all stem from the current Beatles' LP at the time "Please Please Me" and they are broadcast in the same order as heard on the LP. This is not unusual when one hears the other shows as the band was prone to promote the lastest offering; usually the new single and it's B-side.
The show starts with the original tune "I Saw Her Standing There" with Paul on vocal. The next number features John on the cover "Anna (Go To Him)". The next song features Ringo on vocal and is a cover of "Boys". George is featured next on the cover of "Chains". An original number is next featured and the B-side to the first single "P.S. I Love You" sung by Paul. Lastly, the closing number being the excellent cover "Twist And Shout" screamed by John. :)
The show can be heard on the LP "The Beatles At The Beeb, Volume Three" and also on the usual CD box Set: "The Complete BBC Sessions".