Saturday, December 28, 2013

"I'll Be Back" Outtakes

On June 01 1964, The Beatles gathered at EMI Studio 2 in order to continue recording the soundtrack album to the first film and the third official EMI LP : "A Hard Day's Night". The last song on the UK LP and the last song on the US LP: "Beatles '65" was the song entitled "I'll Be Back".
"I'll Be Back" was mainly written by John Lennon with the middle eight probably assisted by Paul. John is the main vocal although the song is sung in parts as a duet between John and Paul.
There are two takes of the song available commercially on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 1" album. These are takes 2 and 3. Both of the takes are mono. Take 2 is an attempt to play the song in 3/4 time (like a waltz) but it seems that the tempo sounds and feels awkward and the song is then changed to the regular 4/4 time. There is another attempt as take 3 but John seems to have problems with the phrasing of the lyrics as he sings them.
There are also some some very short snippets of the session (takes 12, 13, 14 and 15) also available commercially from the "Anthology" DVD series. These mainly consist of count-ins and breakdowns.

Sunday, December 22, 2013

From Us To You For A Third Time

The Beatles recorded a radio show for the BBC on May 01, 1964 which was for their own show entitled "From Us To You". This show would be broadcast almost three weeks later on May 18 1964. The location of the recording are the BBC Paris Studios in London. The host for this show is Alan Freeman and various guests appear like Lulu, etc.
The theme song is sung by the band as "From Us To You" based on the previous hit "From Me To You" with some of the words changed, of course. The next song performed would be "White Monday To You" as this was a bank holiday in England. The tune is performed to the music of "Happy Birthday to You" (done twice, the second version being with more "gusto" and faster.The next track is from the first UK LP and the flip side of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in the states:  "I Saw Her Standing there" sung by Paul. Following this, the Beatles' arrangement of  "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey" is performed and this is a pre-EMI recording of the tune which would eventually appear on the fourth UK LP "Beatles For Sale"; once again sung mainly by Paul.
The next song performed is a cover of the Elvis tune "I Forgot To Remember to Forget" sung by George which has a play of words including an annoying introduction between George Harrison and Alan Freeman. After reading some requests, The Beatles perform the B-side to their latest single in the form of "You Can't Do That" which is sung by John with background vocals from Paul and George and featuring the 12-string Rickenbaker guitar ( a fairly new acquisition by George). The Beatles follow this is a performance of the cover "Sure To Fall (In Love With You)" featuring some nice harmonies and vocal by Paul in the middle part. This song would later feature on the Ringo Starr solo LP: "Stop and Smell The Roses" in the early 80s.
This is followed by an introduction by Paul and the performance of the latest single A-side "Can't Buy Me Love" double tracked by Paul. Another Carl Perkin's cover is then performed by the band: "Matchbox" sung by Ringo (taking over from an earlier version by John). The song would be officially recorded for EMI a month after the taping of this radio show and would appear on the "Long Tall Sally" EP in the UK. The third Carl Perkins cover is "Honey Don't" with having John Lennon on vocals although Ringo take over this rendition when recorded for the fourth LP "Beatles For Sale" later in the fall of 1964.
The show concludes with a repeat of the theme song "From Us To You" with a voice over and fades. The entire show can be found on the boot vinyl LP "The Beatles At the Beeb, Volume Ten" as well as on the  bootleg CD box "The complete BBC Sessions". Commercially, the song "I Forgot To Remember to Forget" can be found on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Live At the BBC"

Saturday, December 14, 2013

Big Beat '64 (Also known as The Pollwinner's Concert)

On April 26, 1964 The Beatles played a live show at the Empire Pool in Wembley. This show was part of the "Big Beat '64" program on ABC Television in the UK. It is also known as the "New Musical Express Pollwinner's Concert". After the show was taped, the broadcast for the concert was shown on May 10 1964.
The line up of musical material consists of the following: After an introduction by Murray "The K" who was a New York American DJ at the time, the first song performed is "She Loves You" which, of course, was the fourth single in the UK line up. After this, the latest B-side is performed in the form of Lennon's "You Can't Do That". The last song from the first LP is played; the cover version of the Isley Brother's tune "Twist And Shout" with John on lead. Paul gets his turn with the Little Richard cover of "Long Tall Sally" and the last song of the show is the current (at the time) A-side of the new single "Can't Buy Me Love". The Beatles were then presented with trophies by the actor Roger Moore who would later appear as James Bond in the movies.
You can find the show on the vinyl bootleg, "The Beatles At The Beeb Volume Thirteen" as well as the CD bootleg "Mythology, Volume 1". I've also presented the audio only for the show below. Some of the "Can't Buy Me Love" video footage can be seen commercially on the Apple "Anthology" DVD.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-fxBYpHoVY&list=PLr4Tgy0WHNgn8UdBa9eTifTDk3YIAit_g

Saturday, December 7, 2013

"Around The Beatles" recording session.

On April 19 1964, The Beatles entered the IBC recording studios in London to prepare for a televised performance special entitled "Around The Beatles". This show would be broadcast 10 days later on April 29 1964.
For the event, various songs were performed "live" in the studio and the Beatles would mime to these live recordings during the visual event. Nine songs have surfaced from these recordings which were taped on three track machines. Some of the bootlegged material has been mono but the commercial release of some of the material on the "Anthology" series has been re-mixed from the master tapes to stereo back in the mid- 90s.
The songs that are strictly mono (at the moment) and can be found on bootleg include a version of "Twist and Shout", "Roll Over Beethoven", a medley terribly spliced/edited together for the television special including "Love Me Do/Please Please Me/From Me to You/ She Loves You/ I Want To Hold Your Hand" and a cover version of "Shout!" which is only performed for this television appearance.
The "Anthology" tunes are all mixed for stereo and include the following: "I Wanna Be Your Man", "Long Tall Sally" "Shout!" (with a shortened edit and the beginning edit as well) and the outtake which didn't make it onto the television special "Boys" sung by Ringo.
The audio bootlegs of the mono tunes can be found on various bootlegs including the vinyl LP "Not Guilty" as well as the CD "Not For Sale". The commercial stereo tunes can be found on the 3-LP/ 2-CD Apple release "Anthology 1".
The actual television special taping will be included in a separate blog entry.