ENHANCED STEREO SOUNDTRACK

With this track I've attempted to create a hifi stereo mix of the special which is more faithfull to the original TV soundtrack.

The main change has been adding Paul's CTS bass overdubs to the 1991 stereo mixes. While the bass guitar on the original location recordings is occasionally audible between songs, it's completely drowned out once they start playing. Paul was obviously so concerned by this he went to the trouble of overdubbing new bass parts on I'm Down, Dizzy Miss Lizzy, Baby's In Black and Can't Buy Me Love. They really make the tracks come alive and when combined with the stereo mixes the result is awsome. The irony is that the effect was probably entirely lost on the cheap tv speakers of the day.

I've also boosted the various interviews in level as it seems to me they are very very faint. And the thing that bugged me the most - the baseball crowd cheering and whistling in between tracks - I've fixed by replacing the announcements with the clean versions and then overdubbing (female) screaming instead. So it sounds like the original TV soundtrack, except in stereo and much better quality.

Specific song fixes:

I Feel Fine - I've removed the peculiar bathroom acoustic from this track by using the original film soundtrack and overlaying the missing high frequencies from the 1991 mix. So it sounds just as clear, but without the funny reverb.

Act Naturally - the first part of this was wildly out of synch with the picture so I've addressed that particular issue.

I'm Down - apart from George's farewell I've replaced the final version with a duplicate of the first version which is much better quality. I haven't added John's organ overdub here but you'll find a dedicated mix in the extras.

MONO SOUND WITH OVERDUBS

This is my original First Play At Shea soundtrack but with the CTS bass overdubs added. I've gone further than this and extracted the bass from the CTS performances of I Feel Fine, Ticket To Ride and Help and synchronised and added these to the soundtrack. This soundtrack has a different feel to the stereo one - more funky and in your face and what it might have sounded like to be standing in front of the stage (there always seemed to be some cop, reporter or other hanger-on standing in front of the stage at Beatles concerts, didn't there?) For whatever reason the screaming is quite far-off sounding, which I guess is why they blostered it with screaming from the Hollywood Bowl for the tv special. The various interviews etc are taken from the BBC tv soundtrack.

MONO SOUND UNALTERED

The above soundtrack but without the added bass.

BBC TV SOUNDTRACK

Going by the 1991 version it seems that there is a proper sepmag soundtrack for Shea (that's basically a roll of film with a magnetic coating on it that runs in tandem with the film, giving full frequency range audio) in existence but I've never seen another print with anything other than crappy optical audio (a strip which runs down the side of the main film, giving a frequency response up to about 7khz). This version is from the BBC TV repeat in 1979 which seems as good as any to me. At least it isn't distorted like a lot of versions.

1991 MIX

Ron Furmanek's mix, without alterations.

EXTRAS

- The BBC TV announcemnent to the show from 1979 (plays when you insert the disc)
- Various high quality clips that have appeared over the years including some recent ones. They demonstrate what Shea would look like if Apple actually pulled the finger out and allowed us to buy the bloody thing!
- The B&W French footage with a six second glimpse of She's a Woman
- A clip of I'm Down with a stereo mix containg both organ parts
- Interviews that were originally heard during A Hard Day's Night (plays in the background of the menu)