Friday, June 27, 2014

"She's A Woman" Outtakes

The Beatles entered EMI studio 2 on October 08 1964 in order to record their new Lennon/McCartney original entitled "She's A Woman". There were six (or seven) takes recorded in the afternoon. Some of the outtakes have made their way onto bootleg:
The first take for this song can be found on the soundtrack to the "Beatles At Abbey Road" presentation source and can also be found on the bootleg CD "Abbey Road Video Show". Most of the other takes can be heard on the "Ultra Rare Trax" series on LP and on CD. For instance, you can find take two on the "Ultra Rare Trax , Volume one" series or "Unsurpassed Masters Volume six". Takes three and four (including a false start) can be found on "The Ultimate Collection, Volume Three: Studio Sessions 1964" and take 5/7 which includes a long jam can be found on "Ultra Rare Trax, Volume 3 and 4" as well as the bootleg CD "Unsurpassed Masters, Volume 2``.
This tune was mixed once the master was chosen (take six, actually) and an addition vocal from Paul was added, some guitar from George and a chocalho shaker was added by Ringo along with piano by George Martin to complete the song. All of this done in one day. Mixed for mono and stereo on October 12 1964
On October 21 1964, the song was once again mixed with addition echo and reverb for the North American version and sounds awful. If you have the EMI EP blue box set, check the bonus disc and you can hear the count-in of the song by Paul.
This song ended up as the B-side for Ì feel fine (single) and also ended up on the `Beatles `65`LP. I`ve added all of the takes below as well:



Friday, June 20, 2014

Shindig !

On October 03 1964, The Beatles appeared on the US television show "Shindig!" which in this case was presented to the world from London, England. The performance was taped at the Granville Studio and was shown in North America four days later on October 07 and was on the ABC network.
The Beatles performed three songs: "Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey!" ( a cover of Little Richard), "I'm A Loser" ( a Lennon/McCartney original which had been recorded back in Mid-August of that year), and the chestnut from the first LP "Boys" (another cover sung by Ringo). The Beatles also participated in the closing credits while the song "Swanee River" is played.
I've included the youtube clip of the performance. The audio can also be found on the vinyl bootleg "The Beatles Conquer America".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ig3n19Y5bOs

Saturday, June 14, 2014

"For Sale" Studio Outtakes

After the North American tour, The Beatles headed back to the UK and to EMI studios to continue working on the follow up LP to the first film soundtrack. The LP would eventually be titled "Beatles For Sale".
On September 30 1964 from Studio 2, we have two outtakes from this session. The first outtake being a completely different arrangement of "What You're Doing" (take 11) (Lennon/McCartney) which heavily features a 12 string Rickenbaker and a key change in the middle before reverting back to it's original key. We also have a different, faster version of "No Reply" (take 2) and also (Lennon/McCartney).
"What You're Doing" is in stereo and can be found on the John Barrett tapes entitled "Turn Me On Dead Man" from bootleg CD. The take 2 version of "No Reply" is commercially available on the 3LP/2CD Apple "Anthology 1" recordings.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH8iGKWB1JI 

Friday, June 6, 2014

The Beatles Live in Montreal

On September 08 1964, The Beatles performed twice on the same day at the Montreal Forum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The set list is the same as the other shows and this was supposedly the show where a death threat was put out for Ringo and he was escorted by a policeman crouching down beside him as he played! (As Ringo relates the story on the "Anthology" DVD).
I've included a "youtube" video of the press conference between the afternoon show and the evening as well as footage of the arrival by the group at Dorval airport. There seems to be a circulation of the show although it's incomplete - I haven't heard the tape but it seems to not be the best quality; the track listing is as follows: "Twist and Shout/ You Can't Do That/ All My Loving/ She Loves You/ Things We Said Today/ Roll Over Beethoven/ Can't Buy Me Love/ If I Fell/ Boys/ A Hard Day's Night".  Missing from the tape are the performances for "Long Tall Sally" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLJSQOTCiD0