Posted on 08/25/2016 4:34:02 PM PDT by Mariner
Here's something I find remarkable: There are only three professionally made recordings of The Beatles playing live in concert. Sure, there are bootleg recordings that don't sound very good. And there's a single-microphone recording from the band's days performing in Hamburg in the early '60s, but that's it.
All three professional recordings were done at The Hollywood Bowl. One is a performance from August 1964 and the other two from August of '65. And "professional" in the mid-'60s means they were recorded on three-track analog tape. That's the best they could do. Even the label, Capitol Records, concluded the recordings didn't sound good enough to release. They eventually did, but not until 1977, and even then the album they put out, The Beatles Live At The Hollywood Bowl, sounded just okay.
All that's changed thanks to the remarkable work of Giles Martin, son of the legendary Beatles producer, George Martin. Using new technology, Giles Martin has brought new clarity to the recordings, more presence and reduced the overall roar of the crowd, a sound that was so loud it drowned out much of the band's performance. Give a listen to Martin's reworked version of "A Hard Day's Night."
(Excerpt) Read more at npr.org ...
Who is going to see the movie?
I don’t know how they dealt with the wall of constant screaming.
It was absolutely insane.
When I was in London last year, I watched on TV a documentary on the Beatles and part of it focused on teenage girls screaming and fainting at the concerts and that the girls constantly screaming became such a problem that the Fab Four could barely hear themselves playing their music (that is why they stopped giving concerts by about 1966).
They even had footage from that time of Paul being interviewed and you could tell he really did not like dealing with that (the constant screaming).
The secret to their success was they had a songwriting genius named John Lennon who I believe went beyond what normal songwriters would go to get a hit song because he had a mental issue from being rejected his whole life since he was a kid. Paul McCartney was talented, but every High school has someone like that. Lennon though was a mutant.
The Beatles story is the story of John Lennon.
You are right. If it were not for Lennon, McCartney would have ended up as the High School Music teacher.
His silly love songs are just that, silly...at best.
Lennon was truly genius.
But McCartney taught Lennon to tune and play a guitar so he thinks he was the superior musician. Worthy of recognition like Lennon.
I saw the Beatles at their second to last concert at Dodger stadium 50 years ago tomorrow, Aug. 26, 1966. There was a lot of screaming from thousands of teenage girls.
If Paul McCartney would keep his politics and idiotic comments to himself I would listen to the Beatles. Why he would lower himself and grovel to the Clintons and Obamas is mind boggling. You’re a BEATLE, for crying out loud. Act like one.
“Paul McCartney was talented, but every High school has someone like that. Lennon though was a mutant.”
I listen to the songs written by Paul on Abbey Road, Sergeant Peppers, Revolver, and the White Album and I reach a different conclusion. He also was superlatively unique. Paul, who ultimately couldn’t stand John after Yoko arrived, added genius in his own way and if you removed him from the band they wouldn’t be remembered as best of their era as they are now.
It is nice to read stories like these about the restoration and improvement of recordings made way back then. However, it is still both maddening and (in some cases) heartbreaking to learn of what will still be lost because the very bright people (sarc) at the BBC and elsewhere mindlessly decided to chuck or erase or tape over in order to save storage space or economize on video or audio tape usage.
This includes Beatles’ performances, Doctor Who episodes, sporting and news events, and entire television series made both in the U.K. and U.S., among other things.
“If Paul McCartney would keep his politics and idiotic comments to himself I would listen to the Beatles.”
Lennon was a hardcore leftist before it was fashionable for rockers to be total leftists. I have a feeling Lennon, if alive, would be a Bernie supporter. To the greater point, it’s safe to assume all current “artists” vote Marxist these days. If I start to like any music I intentionally avoid learning of the band’s/artist’s politics — as I’m sure it would ruin the experience.
Yeah OK, Am I missing the movie where the Beatles stood on the roof of their house and played the Let It Be album?! It was live! And then the neighbors complained about the noise and the British police arrived and shut it down. And every year Red Rocks Colorado replays the 1964 movie of the Beatles Live concert in Morrison, Colorado. So...were those live recordings. Yes?!
When the Beatles come on stage,
They scream and shriek and cheer them.
Now I know why they’re such a rage,
It’s impossibe to hear them.
Allan Sherman - Pop Hates The Beatles
Could Lennon play keyboards, and drums and lead guitar like McCartney could?
Go to tela.sugarmegs.org to find several live Beatles shows fro. 64-66 including a great set in Tokyo. Enjoy!
That was a very interesting discussion with Giles Martin. Thanks for posting this.
There's at least a thousand guys on the Holiday Inn circuit that can and do, every night.
But how many of them, McCartney included, could conceive and write Tomorrow Never Comes, Nowhere Man, And Your Bird Can Sing or A Day in the Life? Norwegian Wood. Revolution.
I could go on but you get the picture.
I will definitely see the movie. Elvis got me interested in music when I was 9 yrs old, but the Beatles brought me true joy in music. I know they were idiots politically and morally, though that didn’t begin to come out until later, but musically they made my teen years a wonderful memory.
Every new Beatle record was something a bit different . I still remember the day I heard “Day Tripper” brand new on the radio, just a great, solid, rock song. I love that memory. So, yes, I want to see film from that time period again.
Paul and John were opposite ends of the spectrum, and they balanced one another so perfectly that it made the band truly great. It was that ying and yang...sugar and salt, light and dark. They were perfect as a team. When they split, so did the magic.
Re: “They were perfect as a team. When they split, so did the magic.”
I gotta agree with you. They had a competitive relationship which, as you pointed out, produced some wonderful music. Of course George Martin’s influence nourished their creativity too.
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