"Make as much noise as you like! Will you join in? Clap your hands, stamp
your feet... as loud as you want!" Paul McCartney hardly needed to issue
these instructions to the hysterical audiences at Beatles concerts. This CD
gives you some idea of what it was like to sit in the crowd and try to hear
the music over the deafening screams - nearly impossible. Most of these
recordings are making their debut on CD, and one listen will tell you why.
Don't expect to hear much of their playing and singing, as these tapes were
generally recorded by journalists and fans with a single microphone from a
sea of thousands.
We begin with a clip from their American prime-time TV debut on "The Jack
Paar Show". When this footage was re-broadcast in the 1980's, it merely
included a bit of "She Loves You" from the BBC documentary "The Mersey
Sound". However, this alternate tape proves that some of the Bournemouth
concert was originally aired, and underneath it all, we can hear a live
version of "From Me To You" which seems to be from the concert itself. Next
up is the partial soundtrack to a newsreel entitled "Beatles At The Stadium"
- when shown in Sydney beginning on June 25, 1964, it was advertised as
having "Love Me Do" among it's songs; odd, since they never performed it live
in Australia. It turned out to be merely dubbed from the record, but at least
the first two songs from one of the Sydney concerts were captured on film and
can be heard here.
From the Summer '64 North American tour we have some of the Cow Palace
show, taken from a KRCA-TV documentary, followed by raw newsreel commentary
of the Chicago concert (including a snippet of the segue between the first
two songs) and some of the Detroit concert, courtesy of WKNR-AM.
Moving on to 1965, the evening Rome concert is taken from the
hard-to-find "A.M. Tape" which assembles the best circulating sources of this
journalist's tape. From Ringo's appearance on "The View" in 1998 comes a bit
of "Act Naturally" from the restored Shea concert film, allowing us to hear
his original vocal for the first time. And KEWB-AM reporters bring us some of
the evening concert at the Cow Palace (excerpts of the afternoon show were on
"Vinyl To The Core").
By 1966, The Beatles were tired of the touring grind, but fans weren't
tired of screaming! Newsreels from Munich and Hamburg prove this - with the
Hamburg tape being an upgrade to the same material on "Vinyl To The Core".
The entire Detroit show follows from a poor-sounding audience tape; probably
the most interesting thing about it is that it proves they were still closing
the set with "I'm Down"; by the next day in Cleveland this had changed to
"Long Tall Sally". In fact, that's one of the songs heard on Bess Coleman's
report from the afternoon show at Memphis - a pity the evening show, with the
"firecracker incident" hasn't turned up yet. Finally, from the vinyl
documentary LP "Beatles At Shea Stadium - Described By Erupting Fans!" bits
and pieces of their last New York concert can barely be heard.
As a bonus, we've added something actually enjoyable to listen to - The
Beatles, Donovan, Mia Farrow, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and others having a
sing-song by the Ganges. This bonus track assembles the "Arrive Without
Aging" and "Another Flaming Pie" tracks into a more complete version. As you
listen to this CD, feel free to make as much noise as you like! |
