Friday, July 30, 2010

Spare Parts



Bird Brain Records, 1987

An aptly-named concoction, full of unrelated tracks from other bootlegs. Bird Brain was better known as Starlight Records.

- That's All Right Mama
- I Saw Her Standing There
- Lonesome Tears In My Eyes
- Do You Want To Know A Secret
- And I Love Her
- Honey Don't
- Dizzy Miss Lizzy
- Ticket To Ride

- I'm Looking Through You
- I Am The Walrus
- Act Naturally
- Birthday
- Dig It
- Her Majesty

Thursday, July 29, 2010

A Delaide Drummer


The Beatles spent the first week of their June 1964 Australasian tour a man short. Jimmy Nicol filled in admirably on drums while Ringo recuperated from inflamed tonsils back in London.

By the 13th, he was declared fit enough to travel and, accompanied by Brian Epstein, made the arse-numbing journey from London to Adelaide, via San Francisco and Honolulu. He chatted with an ITV reporter before setting off.



Other than a brief stopover in Los Angeles by John and George the previous month, this was the first Beatle visit to US soil since their history-changing February tour. Naturally, the San Francisco press descended upon Ringo, although this reporter seemed to bear a grudge for having to cover the event.


Meanwhile back in Adelaide that day, John, Paul and George killed time waiting for their bandmate by bantering with Bob Rogers and, uh... looking at kangaroo pelts.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Return To Abbey Road



no label, 1986

A nice Abbey Road-themed compilation, pairing the No. 3 Abbey Road NW8 tape with various "Get Back" session rehearsals.

- Something
- Maxwell's Silver Hammer
- Oh! Darling
- Octopus's Garden

- Because
- You Never Give Me Your Money
- Sun King
- Mean Mr. Mustard
- Polythene Pam
- She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
- Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight
- Her Majesty

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

The Witty Beatle



Here is the second in the series of Beatle Pop Profiles done by Brian Matthew for BBC Radio. The Beatle under scrutiny this time is John, in a conversation recorded November 30th, 1965. Again, this is the complete uncut program from Transcription Disc.


Monday, July 26, 2010

Pittsburgh, PA



On September 14th, 1964, The Beatles flew to Pittsburgh for a concert at the Civic Arena, where fans had been lining up since the previous evening. When they arrived at the airport, a few mischievous kids lobbed tomatoes in their direction, but the performance went off without a hitch.

Here's a lengthy (and low-fi) recording of the pre-show press conference as aired on radio station KQV-AM.


Sunday, July 25, 2010

Cinelogue III: A Hard Day's Night



Instant Analysis, 1974

Pretty straightforward - a copy of the complete soundtrack to the first Beatles movie, A Hard Day's Night, obviously taped off a TV speaker during a broadcast of the film. In the days before home video, this was a fun way to revisit the dialogue and musical score.

- A Hard Day's Night
- I Should Have Known Better
- I Wanna Be Your Man
- Don't Bother Me

- All My Loving
- If I Fell
- Can't Buy Me Love

- And I Love Her
- I'm Happy Just To Dance With You

- Can't Buy Me Love
- Tell Me Why
- If I Fell
- I Should Have Known Better
- She Loves You
- A Hard Day's Night

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Ringalong Singalong



Each of the Beatles gave individual interviews to promote Abbey Road in the autumn of 1969. John's turn came in September when he spoke with Tony Macarthur of Radio Luxembourg. In addition to commenting on each track on the LP, John discussed his recent performance at the Toronto Rock And Roll Revival concert, the Moog synthesizer, and other current topics. The interview was aired September 27th.


Friday, July 23, 2010

Renaissance Minstrels Volume II



no label, 1970

A mono copy of an earlier stereo bootleg, Homogenized Beatles.

- The Walk
- Teddy Boy
- Two Of Us
- I've Got A Feeling
- The Long And Winding Road
- For You Blue
- Dig A Pony

- Across The Universe
- The Inner Light
- Let It Be
- Don't Let Me Down
- Get Back
- I'm Down
- Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)

Thursday, July 22, 2010

Egg And Spoon



Just a quickie recording of some TV interviews from the Munich press conference on June 23rd, 1966.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Renaissance Minstrels Volume I



no label, 1970

A very frustrating release, with the first appearance of Ed Sullivan Show material, but in scrambled order and with nearly every song extended by 30 seconds to a minute by editing in repeated verses and choruses.

- From Me To You
- Twist And Shout
- This Boy
- I Saw Her Standing There
- She Loves You

- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Please Please Me
- All My Loving
- She Loves You

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sock It To 'Em, Johnny!



Apple Records was launched in America with a blaze of publicity from Lennon and McCartney. In May 1968, they flew to New York City to give interviews to local and national reporters, and to appear on public TV and NBC's Tonight Show. On the 14th, they held a press conference at the Americana Hotel, with Apple's new spokesman Derek Taylor fielding questions.

Here is a composite recording of the event, from newsreels and WABC radio's coverage.

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Candlestick Park



Beatlive Records, 1984

The first appearance of Tony Barrow's cassette of the final Beatles concert - unfortunately missing the final song, "Long Tall Sally". Filling out the LP is the TV broadcast of the 1964 Melbourne show. An early effort from Yellow Dog.

- Rock And Roll Music
- She's A Woman
- If I Needed Someone
- Day Tripper
- Baby's In Black
- I Feel Fine
- Yesterday
- I Wanna Be Your Man
- Nowhere Man

- Paperback Writer
- You Can't Do That
- All My Loving
- She Loves You
- Can't Buy Me Love
- Twist And Shout
- Long Tall Sally

Friday, July 16, 2010

Alps!



On March 13th, 1965, location shooting for Help! moved to Austria. The Beatles and co-star Eleanor Bron flew from London Airport to Salzburg, arriving at W. A. Mozart Airport. A press conference followed at the hotel Österreichischer Hof.

Both the arrival and conference were covered by WDR Radio for broadcast two days later across West Germany.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Yin Yang



Bag Records, 1984

The second in NEMS Records' occasional Bag series of Lennon/Ono LPs (culminating in the Lost Lennon Tapes series). A nice collection of excellent-quality solo tracks.

- Serve Yourself
- Mucho Mungo
- Stand By Me
- Slippin' And Slidin'
- Yer Blues
- Whole Lotta Yoko

- Mucho Mungo
- Imagine
- Radio Peace
- Love
- Walking On Thin Ice
- Give Peace A Chance

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Crazy Little Women



"In the fall of 1964 Finley was in the doghouse in Kansas City because of his seemingly constanct efforts to move the team someplace else–it was Dallas one day, Seattle the next, Oakland every third Wednesday, etc.–and to gain fan approval he engineered a concert with the Beatles in Kansas City. Finley saw that the Beatles did not have a Kansas City stop on their first U.S. tour, and he tracked down manager Brian Epstein at the Cow Palace in San Francisco to try to bring the band to Municipal Stadium. He offered $50,000 for an appearance, but Epstein said that the going price was $100,000 so Finley countered with a $150,000 offer.


Epstein agreed to divert the band’s tour to Kansas City for an additional concert date at the Kansas City Municipal Stadium, and they played on September 17, 1964 for only 31 minutes to a crowd of about 20,208 fans. Drew Dimmel recalled that “When confirmation was announced on my local ‘rock’ station, WHB, that tickets were going on sale to see The Beatles, live, at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City I persuaded my dad to drive me down to the ticket booth. I bought two field-level tickets, paying $6.50 apiece; one for my little brother and one for me. I was 15 and he was 12.” In actuality, the standard ticket price for this concert was $8.50, making it the highest in the 1964 tour, except for one concert in New York City. But Finley also had a $2.00 ticket, which is one of the lowest admission prices of any Beatles concert. Never shy about publicity, the back of the $8.50 tickets featured Charlie Finley wearing a Beatles Wig as a joke.


Jim Schaaf, who ran the A’s promotions department in Kansas City, recalled the excitement surrounding that first Beatles tour through the U.S. The band “came in early in the morning, and there was all kind of people at the Muelbach Hotel. I mean, people lined up all over the place…young kids out there when the Beatles came in, and then…When these guys came in, they got in about 2:00am…and they were a bunch of fun guys. They didn’t go to sleep.” The next morning they held a press conference, inviting all of the high school journalists in the Kansas City area to meet the Beatles. Schaaf recalled trying to get them out of bed, “I felt a heck of a lot of pressure because they wouldn’t get up!” Schaaf knew this was something that Finley prized, and he eventually pushed the press conference back to noon and it turned out well. Finley was delighted. Schaaf concluded, “I thought we had a big crowd because we had people sitting on the infield.”


The Beatles began their set with the song “Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey,” and the crowd went wild. Some fans rushed the stage but stage manager Derek Taylor settled them down. The Beatles then continued their show. Because it did not sell out, Finley did not make back his promotion of the concert. Of course, some did make money on the deal, especially the two people who acquired the sheets on the beds of the Beatles rooms in their hotel. They cut them into small squares and sold them as souvenirs. They netted $159,000 for their efforts."


Source: http://launiusr.wordpress.com/2010/01/04/the-beatles-and-charles-o-finley-owner-of-the-kansas-city-as-in-the-1960s/


Here are a few recordings from The Beatles' only Kansas City visit:


press conference

Larry Kane interviews

KHB-AM interviews



Monday, July 12, 2010

Shout



Manto Records, 1982

An obscure Beatleg, with some true rarities on side 2; most of the solo material made its debut on this album. Side 1 includes a common BBC Radio session, but with a unique introduction from a later re-airing.

- From Us To You
- Can't Buy Me Love
- Till There Was You
- Roll Over Beethoven
- All My Loving
- I Wanna Be Your Man
- Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey!

- Hey Jude
- Shades Of Orange
- Loving Sacred Loving
- Waltzing Matilda/Yesterday
- Eleanor Rigby
- Simple Life ads
- Give Peace A Chance
- Boys
- Dark Horse

Sunday, July 11, 2010

A Light At The Local



Paul and Linda took a delayed honeymoon to Corfu on May 16th, 1969. The day before they departed, Paul was visiting relatives in Liverpool and consented to an interview with former Liverpool Institute schoolmate Roy Corlett. An edited version of the conversation, taped at Jim McCartney's home in Heswall, was aired on BBC Radio's Light And Local.

Here is the raw tape of the complete interview.

Friday, July 9, 2010

Shea The Good Old Days



no label, 1971

One of the earliest issues of the Hollywood Bowl acetate (not Shea).

- 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
- I Want To Hold Your Hand
- Boys
- A Hard Day's Night
- Long Tall Sally

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Where It's At



By request, here are more Kenny Everett-Beatle interviews for BBC Radio's Where It's At.

First, some Sgt. Pepper promotion from the May 20th, 1967 edition; the interviews may have been taped at the Pepper launch party the previous day, although that wouldn't explain George's absence.

Kenny also spoke with Paul the week following the Our World telecast, for the July 1st, 1967 edition of Where It's At. Paul reveals that he wrote a song for the occasion (possibly "Your Mother Should Know") which had yet to be recorded (thus it can't be "All Together Now").


Wednesday, July 7, 2010

More Get Back Session



no label, 1971

Very early Beatleg taken from the soundtrack of the film Let It Be.

- Maxwell's Silver Hammer
- Besame Mucho
- Two Of Us
- One After 909
- Rip It Up/Shake Rattle And Roll
- Get Back
- Dig A Pony

- Jazz Piano Song
- Suzy Parker
- I Me Mine
- I've Got A Feeling
- Let It Be

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!



On February 19th, 1964, The Beatles were in the middle of a relaxing week of fun in the sun on Miami Beach. After performing live on The Ed Sullivan Show the previous Sunday, they had four free days to enjoy the warmer climes of Florida before flying back to London via New York on Friday the 21st.

One of the only interviews they granted during their precious days off was to Lee Alan, a disc jockey from Detroit's KNUZ-AM. The lads were in a happy and silly mood as they chatted about their impressions of the US and their love for Motown artists. Later that year, the interview was split across both sides of a limited-edition single, A Trip To Miami: