Saturday, October 26, 2013

Notes for "Tell Me Why"

A very short post on this dismal rainy fall day concerning the short snippet of a take during the Beatles' February 27 1964 recording at EMI Studios number 02. This short snippet happens to be take 4 of "Tell Me Why" (know as "Tell Me Who" on some copies of the US "Hard Day's Night" soundtrack on United Artists..hee hee).
The snippet can be heard commercially on the Anthology VHS/DVD series and can also be found bootlegged on the CD "Abbey Road Video Show" (worth seeking out).

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Notes for "I Should Have Known Better/ And I Love Her"

The Beatles entered EMI Studio 2 once again on February 26 1964 ostensibly to record new material once again. There are two songs available as short snippets (around fifteen seconds) for these outtakes. They are included commercially on the "Anthology" video/DVD by Apple in an audio collage.
You can hear both takes 8 and 11 of "I Should Have Known Better" on the video/DVD as well as hearing take 11 of "And I Love Her" this time with acoustic instruments apart from the bass and the 12 string Rickenbaker which George plays.
Here is a cool video/audio mix someone did of some of the outtakes as well as the commercial versions with some footage at Studio 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFbArd5MxtE

Monday, October 14, 2013

Some notes for the "Can't Buy Me Love/You Can't Do That" Single.

On February 25, 1964: The Beatles entered EMI studio 2 at Abbey Road in St. John's Wood, London in order to complete the recordings for the single started in Paris, France earlier in the year. Mainly, the vocals and guitar solo were re-done and the B-side was completed on this day.
"Can't Buy Me Love" had a fresh vocal by Paul, eliminating the scat background vocals. Also, the original guitar solo by George was replaced with his 12-string Rickenbacker (which was used quite a lot on the "Hard Day's Night" soundtrack).
There were 9 takes of the B-side ; "You Can't Do That" and take 6 has been released commercially on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 1" audio.
It should be noted that other songs attempted at this session include a couple of takes of "And I Love Her"; take 2 can also be heard on the "Anthology" audio, and three takes of "I Should Have Known Better" which remain unreleased.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

"Big Night Out" again; Back on UK Soil.

On February 23 1964, The Beatles taped an episode of "Big Night Out" at Studio One, Teddington Studio Center in the UK. This episode was hosted by Mike Winters and Bernie Winters and was telecast a week later on the ABC UK network. It was the Beatles' second appearance and they were there to basically celebrate their triumph in the USA  and letting people know they were back in the UK once again. The sketches at the beginning of the show emphasis this by showing the Beatles in a boat, then leaving the boat and getting into a car, going through a fake "customs" and performing some songs. They also have a bit of banter with the hosts.
As the Beatles take the stage, they mime to the latest songs from the Beatles second LP in the UK "With The Beatles" as well as performing the A-side of their latest single. First up is "All My Loving" with vocals mainly by Paul although throughout the performance you can see all three frontmen miming away. This is followed by the Ringo vocal "I Wanna Be Your Man". Paul steps up in front and the others are in shadow for his miming of the cover of "Till There Was You". The last two songs are "Please Mister Postman" and the single "I Want To Hold Your Hand". For the last number various dancers appear beside the Beatles and on the stage in front of them twisting away. Parts 1 and 2 of the show can be found on youtube and the Apple "Anthology" show has bits of "I Wanna Be Your Man" and "Please Mister Postman" presented along with the intro bit. Here is a link to the musical portion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GvzTNbwY4ZY

Saturday, October 5, 2013

The Deauville Afternoon and Evening Performance

On February 16 1964, The Beatles performed twice from the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida, USA. Both performances survive; obviously the televised version of their second live appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show circulates commercially, but this afternoon dress rehearsal performance from the same Hotel is also available and in one case, a portion of the dress rehearsal can be found on a commercial entity - see below.
In both the afternoon show and the evening show, the set list is exactly the same. There are no differences with the exception of Paul announcing "Good Afternoon" and "Good Evening" respectively. Both the afternoon and evening sets are performed live in front of an audience although there are sound problems in the afternoon performance that seems to be ironed out by the time the evening performance begins.
The first song played is "She Loves You" with John and Paul singing. John seems to have microphone problems for this tune and sings the wrong lyrics. The next song is the original ballad "This Boy" with three part harmonies from John, Paul, and George. The first segment of the set concludes with another tune from the first Capitol LP: "All My Loving" sung by Paul.
The second segment opens with a performance of "I Saw Her Standing There". During the afternoon dress rehearsal, Paul's microphone is turned off for the first part of the song. During the evening performance, John experiences a misguided microphone placement and has to lean down to do the harmonies on this tune. This is followed by "From Me To You" and ends with the big hit of the day in America: "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
You can find a portion of the afternoon performance on the "Anthology" documentary (it is the introduction to the "I Want To Hold Your Hand" performance). The entire afternoon audio can be found on the bootleg LP "The Beatles Conquer America". The entire evening audio can be found on various bootleg LPs including "Ed's Really Big Beatles Blasts", the evening video of the performance can be seen on the DVD "Ed Sullivan Presents The Beatles" and portions of the evening performance can also be seen on "The First US Visit" (mainly "All My Loving", "This Boy" and "From Me To You". The "Anthology" series shows a part of "This Boy" from the evening performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of724Jlsuxc&list=PLr4Tgy0WHNgmTyA4o6lhSz2hAr8EOZIUm