The Beatles - Shea! Stadium Ultra Deluxe (5-disc set); plus concert film

Sixty years to the day since The Beatles played Shea Stadium in New York on their second American tour... hard to fathom that it's been THAT long since that watershed moment in rock history.

I was going to pen one of my extended screeds in celebration of and in relation to this day... but it appears that Rolling Stone magazine beat me to it. I don't think I can improve upon this article, which contains the following summation:

"...Shea was more than just the first high-profile stadium concert. It showed everyone how huge, untamable, crazed pop music could be. It destroyed the hopes of everyone who still thought the Beatles — and their young female audience — were just a passing fad, which was still the conventional adult wisdom in 1965. The Fabs couldn’t be dismissed anymore, and neither could the girls. It shattered all the cliches about how show-biz was supposed to work. Never before had that many humans joined together in one place to celebrate music — and on a deeper level, to celebrate each other. That’s why “Shea Stadium” is still the two-word code for the culmination of pop dreams at their loudest, lustiest, scariest, and most deranged."

Can't add much else to this phrase, or the overall writeup in general... so I'll just shut up and provide the music!

I was thinking about posting the venerable Purple Chick Sheaken Not Stirred two-disc set - but I think that the one offered here is better. Here's the Shea! Stadium Ultra Deluxe set, a fan-generated compilation that popped up on a Beatles bootleg site a couple of years ago. This set features the ENTIRE concert, with music from opening acts including King Curtis, Brenda Holloway, Sounds Incorporated and Cannibal & The Headhunters; 1991 stereo versions and 2003 remix/remastering of the Fab Four's set; and bonus tracks.

And speaking of bonuses...

Knowing that the Shea Stadium show was going to be a big deal, NEMS Enterprises (band manager Brian Epstein's holding company) and Sullivan Productions (television host and show presenter Ed Sullivan's firm) arranged for the concert to be intensively documented on film. More than a dozen cameras were deployed in and around the stadium and backstage to capture the frenzy of the moment. The hours of tape generated were then edited down to a fifty-minute-long documentary, The Beatles At Shea Stadium, which premiered in England in early 1966, but not shown in America until January 1967.

The Beatles At Shea Stadium should not be considered a "true documentary", however. A couple of songs played that night were not included due to concerns about the film's length. The remaining songs were heavily edited.in post-production - some being overdubbed, and a couple replaced with studio versions already existing on record or rerecorded by The Beatles at a London session in early January 1966. The Shea! Stadium Ultra Deluxe set includes the soundtrack from this movie (in mono format)... and I included the film here as well, for your review and amusement.

So, again, for this post, I'm providing:

• Shea! Stadium Ultra Deluxe, a five-disc bootleg set released in 2023; and
• The Beatles At Shea Stadium concert film, released to television and theaters in 1966

I hope these offerings help you to either relive or experience for the first time the revelry, euphoria and hysteria from one of the landmark shows in music history! Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

• The Beatles- Shea! Stadium Ultra Deluxe (5-disc set): Send Email
• The Beatles - The Beatles At Shea Stadium: Send Email

Just a small reminder...

For those of you who have been watching and enjoying Peter Jackson's Beatles documentary Get Back on Disney+ over the past week: This site has long had an offering available directly related to this streaming TV program, as one of many "secret posts" I'd hidden throughout this blog over the years (I'm sure that, with a little thought (traveling down the road/running the gamut from A to B...) you can guess what that offering entails...).

Where is that secret post, you may ask?  Well, it could be somewhere in here... or possibly here... or maybe here... (but definitely NOT here - this would be a particularly POOR place to look... 😉).  Either way, I'm not tellin'!

Happy hunting!

The Beatles - The Beatles EP Collection (Plus) (18 Discs)

 

In addition to the thousands of CDs I have in my possession, I also own a couple hundred extended plays (EPs).  Included in that group are some of the most important and celebrated EP releases by some great artists over the years: Flying Nun Records' legendary Dunedin Double EP; The Buzzcocks' Spiral Scratch; The Clash's Cost Of Living; R.E.M.'s Chronic Town; U2's very first release, Three; An Ideal For Living by Joy Division; The Pixies' Come On Pilgrim - along with some personal favorites: Slates by The Fall; Pavement's Watery, Domestic; Mission Of Burma's Signals, Calls And Marches; The Raveonettes' Whip It On; Nirvana's Hormoaning; Stink by The Replacements; pretty much all of The Cocteau Twins and Stereolab's EPs... and many, many more, including some I've written about and posted here in the past, such as Ratcat's 'Tingles' EP, the S.F. Seals Baseball Trilogy and the vinyl B-52's remix EPs.

Based upon all of this relatively recent activity, you'll be forgiven if you thought (as I once did) that EPs were a fairly recent innovation to music sales. If so, than like me, you would be wrong. A combination of market factors and competition drove the development of extended play discs. What follows is an abbreviated history of record playing formats:

78 rpm records (discs made of shellac or vinyl. with a playing speed of 78 revolutions per minute) were generally the standard recording format from the beginning of the 20th century into the mid-1940s. These discs came in two sizes, 12" and 10", and due to its fast rotation speed and larger playing groove, contained a maximum sound duration of five and three minutes, respectively.

While since the early 1930s some companies had made half-hearted attempts to market longer playing records for home use (all of which failed for economic reasons, as the Great Depression was in full swing), it wasn't until 1941 that a recording concern (Columbia) made a concerted effort to extend the playing duration of discs. Although research was interrupted by World War II, in the summer of 1948 Columbia unveiled their new creation: a disc rotating at 33 revolutions per minute (less than half of that of a 78) with a finer groove, in two sizes identical to that of the reigning format: a 12" and 10". These new long players (otherwise known as LPs) had an original capacity of 22 minutes per side, a playback capacity that only increased with subsequent improvements in technology.

In response to this, RCA Victor released the 7" 45 rpm record in the spring of 1949, as a smaller, more durable and higher-fidelity replacement for the shellac 78s. To compete with the LP, boxed album sets of 45s were issued. But despite intense marketing efforts by RCA Victor, by the mid-50s, the 45 ultimately succeeded only in replacing the 78 as the preferred format for singles. While most of the unit volume in those days was in 45 rpm sales, in terms of dollar sales, LPs led singles by almost two-to-one.

Partly as another attempt to compete with Columbia's LP, RCA Victor introduced the first "Extended Play" 45s during 1952. Their narrower grooves, achieved by lowering the cutting levels and sound compression optionally, enabled them to hold up to 7 and a half minutes per side [Generally speaking, an EP is described as "a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but less than a full album or LP" - a pretty vague description, all in all. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) officially defines an EP as containing three to five songs or under 30 minutes in length, which fits the original EP running time to a tee. While other recording organizations around the world have other varying descriptions of what an EP is in terms of track numbers and overall length, for the sake of time and argument, let's just use the RIAA's].

RCA issued more than two dozen Elvis Presley EPs during the decade after it signed him away from Sun Records, and they were fairly popular releases. But other than those Elvis discs, EPs were relatively uncommon and hard to find in the U.S. by the early 1960s, all but fading away here as the Album Era gained strength and popularity from the late Fifties onward.  In the UK, however, the EP format continued to be successful, with chart-topping releases throughout the decade from such artists as The Shadows and Cliff Richard.

But the undisputed kings of British EPs were, believe it or not, The Beatles. Their first EP, Twist And Shout, sold over two million copies, topped the UK EP charts for more than five months, and was on the charts for more than a year. This disc and the three #1 UK EPs that followed (The Beatles' Hits, The Beatles (No. 1) and All My Loving) all contained songs that had been included in previously released Beatles albums. It wasn't until the release of the Long Tall Sally EP in the summer of 1964 that some original content was included (although all of the songs on this disc would be released on albums before that summer was out).

All of the British Beatles EP were issued by EMI/Parlophone on the dates indicated below, and all except for the Magical Mystery Tour EP were released in mono format. In 1981, all fourteen of the UK releases were gathered into one box set, The Beatles EP Collection, along with a new disc, titled The Beatles, which compiled previously unavailable stereo mixes of four songs.   Here are some of the specifics on each disc in this set:

The Beatles' Hits EP (originally released September 6th, 1963)

1. From Me To You
2. Thank You Girl
3. Please Please Me
4. Love Me Do

 

Twist And Shout EP (originally released July 12th, 1963) 

1. Twist And Shout
2. A Taste Of Honey
3. Do You Want To Know A Secret
4. There's A Place
   

The Beatles (No. 1) EP (originally released November 1st, 1963)

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. Misery
3. Anna (Go To Him)
4. Chains
   

All My Loving EP (originally released February 7th, 1964)

1. All My Loving
2. Ask Me Why
3. Money
4. P.S. I Love You
   

 

Long Tall Sally EP (originally released June 19th, 1964)

1. Long Tall Sally
2. I Call Your Name
3. Slow Down
4. Matchbox
   

 

Extracts From The Film A Hard Day's Night EP (originally released November 4th, 1964)

1. I Should Have Known Better
2. If I Fell
3. Tell Me Why
4. And I Love Her
   

Extracts From The Album A Hard Day's Night EP (originally released November 6th, 1964)

1. Any Time At All
2. I'll Cry Instead
3. Things We Said Today
4. When I Get Home
   

Beatles For Sale EP (originally released April 6th, 1965)

1. No Reply
2. I'm A Loser
3. Rock And Roll Music
4. Eight Days A Week
   

Beatles For Sale No. 2 EP (originally released June 4th, 1965)

1. I'll Follow The Sun
2. Baby's In Black
3. Words Of Love
4. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
   

The Beatles' Million Sellers EP (originally released December 6th, 1965)

1. She Loves You
2. I Want To Hold Your Hand
3. Can't Buy Me Love
4. I Feel Fine
   

Yesterday EP (originally released March 4th, 1966)

1. Yesterday
2. Act Naturally
3. You Like Me Too Much
4. It's Only Love
   

 

Nowhere Man EP (originally released July 8th, 1966)

1. Nowhere Man
2. Drive My Car
3. Michelle
4. You Won't See Me
   

 

Magical Mystery Tour (Stereo Version) EP (originally released December 8th, 1967)

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Your Mother Should Know
3. I Am The Walrus
4. The Fool On The Hill
5. Flying
6. Blue Jay Way
   

Magical Mystery Tour (Mono Version) EP (originally released December 8th, 1967)

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Your Mother Should Know
3. I Am The Walrus
4. The Fool On The Hill
5. Flying
6. Blue Jay Way

The Beatles EP (originally released December 7th, 1981)

1. The Inner Light
2. Baby You're A Rich Man
3. She's A Woman
4. This Boy
   

 

[In my opinion, there should be one more Beatles disc that should have been released as 

an EP - Yellow Submarine, which contains only four new songs by the band, then pads the "album" out with songs from the film's orchestral soundtrack recorded and produced by George Martin.  Of all the Beatles albums, this one is truly viewed as a contractual obligation/crass money grab semi-effort by the band, as the four new songs were all but screaming for an EP release... But heck - we already broached this subject, didn't we?]

 

In addition to the British EPs collected above, three Beatles EPs were released in America - the first being Souvenir Of Their Visit To America. EMI's US subsidiary Capitol Records consistently refused to put out any Beatles material in the States during 1963 and early 1964 - despite the success the band was having overseas, the label just didn't believe the Fabs could make it in America and had ZERO interest in them. So EMI worked out a licensing deal with small independent Vee-Jay Records for the American release of the group's 1963 singles and debut album Please Please Me (Vee-Jay was actually eager to acquire the license to another popular EMI recording at the time, "I Remember You" by Frank Ifield, and took on the Beatles material as a throw-in/favor to EMI). Vee-Jay had limited resources to promote the music properly, which initially led to poor sales of Beatles product over here.  Once the Beatles were signed in November 1963 to play on the popular and influential The Ed Sullivan Show, Capitol Records SUDDENLY saw the light and changed their minds, exercising their option to release Beatles music in the U.S.

However, as a condition of their earlier contract, Vee-Jay was permitted to market any Beatles material they had licensed for another year, through October 1964. Their subsequent mail order EP offering was a huge success, more than making up for those lackluster Beatles sales the year prior.

The other two U.S. EPs, Four By The Beatles and 4 By The Beatles (confusingly similar names, but different content), were both Capitol's belated attempt to hop on the Beatles gravy train. But due to coming out after Vee-Jay's more successful disc, better distribution of full Beatles albums in the States, and the relatively unpopularity of the EP format here, sales for these two discs were not what Capitol anticipated, and they were both quickly deleted from Capitol's catalogue by the end of 1965.

Here are the details on the U.S. EPs:

 

4 By The Beatles EP (originally released February 1st, 1965)

1. Honey Don't
2. I'm A Loser
3. Mr. Moonlight
4. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
   

Four By The Beatles EP (originally released May 11th, 1964)

1. All My Loving
2. Please Mr. Postman
3. Roll Over Beethoven
4. This Boy
   

Souvenir Of Their Visit To America EP (originally released March 23rd, 1964)

1. Misery
2. A Taste Of Honey
3. Ask Me Why
4. Anna (Go To Him)
   

After the Beatles' EP heyday ended in the late 1960s, extended plays wouldn't become popular again until the rise of punk in the mid-1970s, when bands found it to be a more cost-efficient way to bring their music to the public's attention. This trend continued through the New Wave and alternative eras. While the use and sales of the EP have declined in the digital age, they are still being made, and are still out there ready for listeners to expand their musical horizons with. I, for one, hope the EP format never dies out.

...and, at least in the case of The Beatles, it lives on here! For your listening enjoyment, here is the entire slate of Fab Four EP releases:

• The Beatles EP Collection, containing fourteen EPs originally released between 1963 and 1967 in the UK, plus a bonus disc of never-before released stereo material.  This set was initially put out on vinyl by EMI/Parlophone on December 7th, 1981, and subsequently on compact disc on May 26th, 1992; and
• The three U.S. EPs, originally released by Vee-Jay and Capitol Records, respectively, in 1964 and 1965.
  

Enjoy these brief but extended blasts of Sixties rock goodness... and as always, let me know what you think.

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

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The Beatles Book (1963 - 1969)

Here's something that's a bit of a departure from my usual music posts (although it IS music-related).  I still think that this offering will be warmly appreciated by a broad majority of readers here.

Beat Monthly was a pop/rock magazine that began being published in Great Britain in May 1963. As indicated in the title, the magazine focused on the country's burgeoning beat music scene and the popular groups emerging from it: The Shadows, Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Tornados, Wayne Fontana & The Mindbenders, Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers, The Big Three and the like. Beat Monthly was put out by Sean O'Mahony, a young publisher and entrepreneur, and his target audience wasn't music fans, but the musicians themselves, the emphasis being on instruments, production and equipment in its articles. The mag gained a small but devoted following, changing its name from Beat Monthly to Beat Instrumental Monthly in the fall of 1964, then simply to Beat Instrumental in 1966, and it continued being published regularly until 1980.

The Beatles were featured on the cover of the second issue of Beat Monthly in June 1963, shortly after their second single "Please Please Me" had been released in the UK and climbed to #2 on the charts, a significant improvement over the performance of their first single, "Love Me Do", which only made it to #17. The band's album of the same name (Please Please Me) hit the music shops in late April of that year, and by late May it was the top-selling album in the nation, where it would remain for the next six months (until replaced by another Beatles album, With The Beatles). O'Mahony sensed early on that The Beatles were going to be huge, bigger than just being a featured artist in his beat magazine. So he reached out to the group's manager, Brian Epstein, and asked if he could publish a magazine solely focused on and devoted to Epstein's band. At the time, Epstein was dependent upon the releases of the group's press agent, Tony Barrow, to keep The Beatles' names and activities in the public eye. So he welcomed O'Mahony's exclusive offer.

The first issue of The Beatles Book (also known as Beatles Monthly) came out in August 1963, in an initial print run of 80,000. The magazine was an immediate smash, the go-to source for Beatles fans for up-to-the-minute information on the group. By the end of 1963, circulation in Britain had more than quadrupled, to over 330,000 subscribers, with hundreds of thousands of issues being sold overseas. O'Mahony retained control over Beat Monthly and other magazines (such as the similarly group-dedicated Rolling Stones Book beginning in 1964 and Record Collector) under his Beat Publications corporate umbrella, but he began devoting most of his time and energy to editing and overseeing the Beatles mag, penning opening editorials in every issue under the pseudonym Johnny Dean. Tony Barrow also became a regular contributor, writing articles under his pen name Frederick James and ghostwriting columns presented to readers as being written "on tour" by Beatles roadies Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans.

In O'Mahony's case, on being admitted into the band's trusted inner fold, he occupied a very rarified and privileged perspective in Beatleworld, and he knew it (the following is taken from John McMillan's book Beatles Vs. Stones):

O'Mahoney operated from a special vantage; awarded the sole and exclusive rights to publish their profit-oriented fan magazine, he became thickly intertwined in a socio-professional relationship with Epstein... and how the group [was] managed. Whatever O'Mahony's private knowledge or feelings, his acquiescence was complete. [For example] in 1964, when journalist Michael Braun released his book Love Me Do! - a gossipy account of his travels with The Beatles during the first flush of Beatlemania, which rather contradicted the group's "squeaky clean" image - its publication was not even mentioned in The Beatles Book. Nor was O'Mahony eager to reveal that John Lennon was married, since Epstein feared that the knowledge would adversely affect the band's popularity with teenage girls. When publishing photos of The Beatles, O'Mahony often turned to retouch artists who would fix any splotches or blemishes on their faces, thereby making sure they were "the sort of pictures Brian wanted to see".

In other words, O'Mahony in this period closely resembled a Madison Avenue flack. Whatever inside information he had, he would never have wanted to print anything truly relevatory about John or Paul... Instead, his magazine was merely [a] platform... meant to promote the Beatles' carefully considered "brand" meticulously.

Along with O'Mahony, staff photographer Leslie Bryce also gained exclusive and unrivaled access to the band in both their public and most private moments. He traveled the world with John, Paul, George and Ringo and took literally thousands of pictures, a multitude of which adorned the magazine during its run but the vast majority of which have never been seen in public.

As much as O'Mahony appeared to be co-opted by Beatles management, the man still showed flashes of independence in his coverage of the band.  In its later years, The Beatles Book did not hide from controversial subjects, such as whether songs should be credited to Lennon/McCartney or McCartney/ Lennon, and the nature of the relationship between John and Yoko Ono. And on the one occasion when The Beatles and their representatives pushed the publisher too hard, he showed that he too had real teeth and could push back even harder than they could. Also from Beatles Vs. Stones:

...In 1966, The Beatles decided they'd had enough of their silly fan magazine, and so they stopped providing Sean O'Mahony with the access, interviews, and photographs he needed to keep The Beatles Book afloat. But O'Mahony would not be deterred so easily. In response to The Beatles' new attitude, he phoned his lawyer and called for a meeting. Epstein likewise showed up with his solicitor, plus two more advisors, and he matter-of-factly told O'Mahony it was time to wind down the publication of The Beatles Book. Asked for an explanation, he replied, "They feel you don't tell the truth. You're not reporting them as they are..."

"O'Mahony exploded with anger," said Epstein's biographer:

The truth? What do you mean? Do you mean for example when we were in Blackpool, John Lennon flinging open the window of the dressing room and shouting to the fans below: "Fuck off and buy more records?" Was that the level of revelation Epstein and the Beatles expected from their authorized mouthpiece? Should the Beatles be reported as they really were? Or were there no-go areas?

A brief silence fell over the room... after which the two parties were able to proceed amicably enough to reach an agreement.

The Beatles Book continued to be published for another three years, until December 1969, when it was then obvious to all that the end of the group was nigh. This final issue (#77) contained a long and remarkable article by O'Mahony regarding the circumstances behind the rise and fall of the publication. In it, he levels pointed criticism at the band for their drug use, disassociating himself from that aspect of their lives (Golly, it only took him six-plus years to finally come out and condemn it, but still...).

Although the original print run of The Beatles Book ended in the late '60s, in 1976 O'Mahony revived the magazine, reprinting each of the old issues every month surrounded by eight to sixteen pages of new Beatles-related material. When after six and a half years, he ran out of material to reissue in September 1982, O'Mahony kept the magazine going with new articles and information for another twenty years, finally throwing in the towel with issue #321 in 2003. By then, circulation had dropped to below 10,000, a decent number for a fanzine, but not one to make a publisher economically viable.

I personally have never had much interest in the reissued format of this magazine that started coming out in the mid-70s, and neither have many fans. However, the original Sixties run is highly sought after and celebrated by Beatles aficionados, who eagerly sell and trade old copies on sites like eBay and Amazon. A few years ago, I found an offering of the original seventy-seven issues digitized in .pdf format, and moved quickly to acquire a copy. I can't remember for the life of me where I found these; I'd like to give the compiler the props he or she is due. But in any event, here they are for your Beatles reading enjoyment: the entire original print run of The Beatles Book, from 1963 to 1969, formatted for viewing on your computer or printing, if you're so inclined.

This one's for the legions of Beatles fans out there! Download, have a gander, and as always... well, you know.

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The Beatles - Strong Before Our Birth (Purple Chick) (2-disc set)

Sixty years ago today, on a warm but cloudy Saturday afternoon at a church fair in a suburban town in the North of England, two teenage boys met for the first time . . . and the history of music was forever changed.

Yes, today is the diamond anniversary of the fabled first (well, perhaps not*) meeting of John Lennon and Paul McCartney at the St. Peter's Church garden fete in Woolton, Liverpool. I will refrain from retelling the oft-told tale of how the two famous musicians and songwriters came together that day - there will be plenty of stories in that vein today. So I'm going to keep this posting short.

However, I will call attention to one of these articles, which deserves recognition and merit - a write-up in today's Daily Beast about the momentous day, written by my good friend and Beatles fanatic Colin Fleming, that's worth your time and attention.

To commemorate this momentous day, I proudly present to you the Beatles' Strong Before Our Birth Purple Chick two-disc set, compiling the best and most important existing recordings from the band's early years (1957 to 1962) (The non-Purple Chick bootleg Complete Home Recordings 1958-1962 contains a couple of different tracks: mostly long, meandering 15-20 minute guitar noodlings of limited import and interest). This set contains mostly recordings of practices and jam sessions held at McCartney's bedroom at his family home, 20 Forthlin Road in Liverpool, along with some early Cavern Club recordings and 1958's "In Spite Of All The Danger", the pre-Beatles first professionally recorded original song.

These discs also include fragments of selections played by The Quarrymen on the very night of John and Paul's meeting - as fate would have it, one of Lennon's schoolmates, Bob Molyneux, was on hand with his new Grundig reel-to-reel machine, making recordings of all the bands playing that night's Grand Dance. Molyneux ended up with several reels of taped music, which he stored away and all but forgot about until decades later. By that time, many of his tapes had gone missing or were destroyed, victims of house moves and time. But luckily, the one surviving reel he salvaged was the one containing the first recordings of John Lennon performing in public. It's not the highest fidelity recording, but it's unmistakably John's voice.

Here's the track listing for both discs:

Anyway, here you are - check it out, and let me know what you think. Happy Beatles Day!

Please use the email link below to contact me, and I will reply with the download link(s) ASAP:

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* In Beatles expert Mark Lewisohn's recently published bio of the band's early years, The Beatles: All These Years, Volume One – Tune In, he mentions that on numerous occasions in recent years, McCartney has spoken of seeing Lennon in and around Liverpool several times prior to 1957 - riding on buses with him and the two crossing paths while Paul was on his paper route. McCartney even mentions speaking with him once or twice during those years, in front of local shops. But as there are no independent eyewitness accounts of these encounters, nor any definitive dates or times when they occurred, we'll stick with July 6th, 1957 as Day One.

Paul McCartney & Wings - Venus And Mars Outtakes Are Alright Tonight, Vol. 1 & 2

Happy 75th Birthday, Sir Paul! Many, many more!

I was too young to absorb the Beatles in real time, so the first Beatles-related release I was conscious of as a kid was McCartney's "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey", a single from his first solo album Ram, released in August 1971.

I can't tell you why I enjoyed this tune so much as a child - maybe it was the sound effects (thunderclaps, ringing phones, seagulls), that made it seem more like a Yellow Submarine outtake (I'd just seen that movie for the first time that year, as part of a summer film series for kids sponsored by the local elementary schools - I saw Willy Wonka and The Phantom Tollbooth for the first time that summer as well).   After that limited exposure to McCartney's work, I wasn't really aware of anything regarding his music for another three years.

I remember when Band On The Run came out - my older cousin had a copy of the LP, and he played it for me during a visit my family paid to his in 1974. I was fascinated with the "jailbreak" cover! Outside of Paul McCartney and his wife, I didn't know or recognize any of the other people featured on the front of that album. But it didn't matter - I thought that everything about Band On The Run - artwork and music - was great. My favorite songs at the time, outside of the title track, were "Mrs. Vandebilt" and "Helen Wheels" - they remain some of my favorite Paul tracks to this day. By the time I got to experience the album, it seemed that a vast majority of Americans and the world seemed to think as positively about this disc as I did. I had no idea until much later how much work and effort went into making this album the runaway hit it became.

Due to the mixed critical and commercial reception of the group's first two albums, 1971's Wild Life and 1973's Red Rose Speedway, buyers were initially reluctant to shell out their hard-earned cash for Band On The Run, only to get burned again by yet another weak Wings release.  So, despite some positive reviews from influential music writers and publications, early sales performance of this release in December 1973 was good, but not great.  The album rose slowly on the US Billboard charts to a peak of #7 in early February 1974, before beginning to slowly slide back down the list.

To counter this perceived public lack on interest, Apple (well, specifically, Capitol Records, Apple's US distributor) embarked on a very planned and methodical marketing campaign - quite possibly the first one ever considered necessary for a Beatles-related release. Essentially the brainchild of Capitol's marketing head, Al Coury, Coury goosed LP sales by strategically releasing album singles at key points during the year, initially over McCartney's objections.  The first single Marketing released was "Jet" b/w "Let Me Roll It" in late January 1974.

The song quickly shot into the Top Ten in both Britain and America, where it remained until late spring, and rekindled public interest in the album - Band On The Run began moving up the charts again, and reached #1 US for a week in mid-April. When album sales began declining again that month, Coury arranged for the release of the next album single, the title track "Band On The Run" b/w "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five". This single was even huger than the previous release; "Band On The Run" topped the American charts by June, and dragged the album along with it - the LP hit #1 again for three weeks that same month. Band On The Run topped the US album charts yet again in July. All told, the release was at or near the top of the charts for almost the entirety of 1974, staying in the Billboard Top Ten from January to late November. Its reception made McCartney the most commercially successful of the solo Beatles from that point on (believe it or not, but George Harrison was eating Paul's lunch on that measure in the early '70s).

After this year of great success, both McCartney and Capitol Records were eager to keep the money train rolling. Wings' lineup was augmented with new members during mid-1974 (Geoff Britton on drums and Jimmy McCulloch on lead guitar joined Paul & Linda McCartney and guitarist Denny Laine), and after some early session work in Nashville and London in the fall of 1974, the band headed to Sea Saint Studios in New Orleans in January 1975 to complete recordings for the next album. The Louisiana sessions were progressing fairly well, except in one area - some animosity had arisen between Britton and McColloch during the Nashville stay, and by the time they reached New Orleans, they fucking HATED each other. Fed up with the tense atmosphere, Britton suddenly quit the band in the middle of their Sea Saint session - he'd been a member of Wings for less than six months. McCartney scrambled to find a replacement, quickly auditioning a suitable alternate, American drummer Joe English. Despite that brief hiccup, the main album tracks were all laid down less than a month after arrival in New Orleans. Some rerecording and overdub work was completed in California a couple of months later.

The album Venus and Mars was released in late May (two weeks after the release of the lead single, "Listen To What The Man Said") to a public still hungry for Wings product, and in the afterglow of the positive vibes for the last album. Both the single and the album topped the US charts, with the latter selling over 4 million copies worldwide. However, the overall critical reaction to Venus and Mars was much more subdued and muted than for Band On The Run; the LP was generally viewed by music writers as a step back by the band. Still, it sold - which was all Capitol cared about.

The commercial success of this album served as the impetus for McCartney and Wings to embark on a year-long worldwide concert tour, Wings Over The World, where the band played over sixty arena-rock shows in eleven countries on three continents. In all, more than a million people attended those sold-out concerts, further establishing McCartney's reputation as a commercial juggernaut.

The tour even resulted in a companion album, the triple-disc Wings Over America live release, another Number One record for the band in early 1977.

Generally, I tend to agree with the critics regarding Venus and Mars. Outside of "Listen To What The Man Said", I've never found the music on this disc to be as immediate or compelling as that of the previous album. It's not as though McCartney was resting on his laurels here, after the huge success of Band On The Run - there was some thought and hard work put into these selections. I don't know whether it was due to the band turmoil during the recording, or label pressure to start milking Paul and his band as a financially-viable hit machine . . . but for me, there's something missing in the overall album.

However, some folks regard Venus and Mars as equal to, if not superior, to Band On The Run. I'll let you all be the judge of that, by giving you a glimpse into the creative effort behind the making of this album. Here are an assortment of demos and rehearsal tracks from the Venus and Mars sessions in 1975. According to bootlegzone.com, The 910 (a key publication on unreleased Beatles recordings) states that the source of this music is an unnamed person (presumably in the production crew) who surreptitiously recorded and retained a low bias cassette dub of some early takes and some later, more polished remixes.

Here is an excerpt from the liner notes on the 2005 release of this bootleg, containing a bit more info:

"The music was culled from sessions that took place between January and April of 1975, first at Sea Saint Studios, New Orleans and later at Wall Heider Studios in Los Angeles. The majority of the sessions feature the fifth Wings line-up of Paul/lead vocals, guitar, bass; Linda/piano, synth, backing vocals; Denny Laine/guitar, bass, backing vocals; Jimmy McCulloch/guitar, backing vocals (lead on Medicine Jar); and Joe English/drums (it is unknown whether this music features any of Geoff Britton on drums)."

In terms of track listings, here's the lineup for both discs:

Disc 1

1. Venus And Mars (instrumental)
2. Rock Show
3. Love In Song
4. Letting Go
5. Medicine Jar
6. Venus And Mars (reprise)
7. Listen To What The Man Said, Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People, Crossroads Theme
8. Venus And Mars
9. Rock Show

Disc 2

1. Love In Song
2. You Gave Me The Answer
3. Magneto And Titanium Man
4. Letting Go
5. Medicine Jar
6. Venus And Mars (reprise)
7. Spirits Of Ancient Egypt
8. Call Me Back Again
9. Listen To What The Man Said
10. Treat Her Gently/Lonely Old People
11. Crossroads Theme
12. Lunch Box/Odd Sox

For your consideration, here are Vols. 1 and 2 of Venus And Mars Outtakes Are Alright Tonight, a rare and hard-to-find selection of rough cuts, rehearsal tracks and unreleased material from Wings' sessions for the album of the same name, first pressed by bootleg label Starlight Records in 1990 and subsequently released on CD by equally shady German record label No Pig International in 2005. Have a listen, and as always, let me know what you think.

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The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Purple Chick) (6-disc set) (RS500 - #1)

Fifty years . . . wow.

What is widely considered to be the greatest rock album of all time was released half a century ago today.  That length of time is truly hard to fathom.  This album is still as fresh and vital as the day it came out.

What else can I say about this album that hasn't already been said, or will be said on its golden anniversary today? Nothing . . . so why continue to elaborate, and/or belabor the point?

Thus, here you are - the six-disc version of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, collected, compiled and remastered by the good people at Purple Chick back in 2007. Here's the complete track lineup, in case you're interested:

Don't squander your hard-earned coin on the latest loudly-trumpeted "50th Anniversary Deluxe Rerelease - in glorious 5.1 sound!" - who gives a crap? The good stuff is all right here, and at no charge!

Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think.

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(and yep - I'm back (kinda . . .) - frankly, I've always been here, and never left.)

The Beatles - Yellow Submarine (2009 Stereo Remaster)

(Seems like I'm writing more and more of these "tribute" posts nowadays . . .)

I was sorry to hear this morning of the death of Beatles producer Sir George Martin at age 90. The man was quite possibly the most famous record producer who ever lived . . . but he was more than just a guy working the mixing board controls behind the glass. Martin was a true collaborator with the group, helping John, Paul, George and Ringo hone and polish their sometimes rough and sketchy ideas and musical doodles into the legendary Beatles hits we all know and love. Without George Martin's influence, support and quiet guidance, there would BE no Beatles.

My words of respect for Martin's work and my regret at his passing will no doubt be inadequate . . . so I'll enlist some assistance. My friend, the writer and Beatles expert Colin Fleming, penned a piece for Rolling Stone earlier today in remembrance of Mr. Martin - it superbly and succinctly sums up the man's life and the nature and importance of his interactions with the most influential rock band of all time. Check out Colin's article here.

I can't add much more to that, so I'll leave you all with this: The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, the soundtrack album to the animated film of the same name, issued by Apple Records on January 13th, 1969. In addition to the previously released songs "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love", this album includes four other Beatles tunes of second-rate quality that the band admittedly put minimum effort into, to satisfy their contractual obligation of United Artists for new music to use in the film (still, you've got to admit - "second-rate" Beatles music is still pretty doggone good).

The last half of the album is a re-recording of the incidental orchestral music used in the film, composed by George Martin himself. At first listen, the Martin songs seem lightweight and out of place on this disc. But further listening reveals hidden gems and surprises Sir George placed in his music, like his references to other Beatles songs (for instance, "Sea Of Time" briefly and quietly quotes "Within You Without You") and tucking in nods to works by Stravinsky and Bach.

Since its release, Yellow Submarine has generally been slagged by critics as a "meh", mostly inconsequential album, and it really isn't considered a major or important addition to The Beatles' overall canon, due to the inclusion of older and/or "filler" material like the Martin orchestral tracks (Magical Mystery Tour is another Beatles release that gets slammed for similar reasons). Some have gone so far to say that this album would have made a superb 4-song EP, with the other songs left off entirely or perhaps relegated to a separate release.

But I think by now that the Yellow Submarine album, as it is, has been with us so long that most people are sort of used to the juxtapositions inherent within it. For example, I recall how

appalled I was when Yellow Submarine Songtrack was released in 1999 - the album was being promoted as a remixed "movie soundtrack" album, when in actuality it was little more than a compilation of Beatles music from that period. It just looked like a crass Beatles money-grab . . . plus, it just didn't sound "right" - like the Yellow Submarine album I grew up with. I own Songtrack, but I rarely if ever play it. For good or ill, warts and all, I'm sticking with the original album, if only to hear George Martin's music which can be found nowhere else. And I don't think I'm alone in that attitude; in regards to Yellow Submarine, David Gassman at PopMatters magazine wrote: "No matter how you get them, though, the otherwise unavailable songs on this album ought to be part of any thinking Beatles fan's collection."

Yup - I agree wholeheartedly. And I KNOW you're ALL thinking Beatles fans. So, here ya go. Enjoy this version of the original Yellow Submarine (remastered and reissued on September 9th, 2009), and as always, let me know what you think.

R.I.P., Sir George.

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Beatles Haikus

 
As (apparently) a small number of you are aware, for the past couple of years, to amuse myself (and hopefully you as well), I've hidden links to a few (about four or five) "secret posts" throughout this blog within already-existing posts. The posts are mostly for Beatles-related stuff I didn't feel like making fully available to casual visitors, but only to intrepid, observant, regular visitors to this site who actually take the time to read my verbose narratives - hopefully in the course of which they'll stumble over some pretty cool and amazing stuff. Usually, there's a special phrase or password that requestors have to send along in their email request, to confirm their discovery.

(And no - I'm not going to give out any clues as to any of their locations in this post . . . you're just gonna have to track them down yourself! *)

For one of my better "secret posts", in addition to forwarding a password, I had folks jump through one more hoop - they had to provide in their email an original Beatles-related haiku. I've collected some of the better ones here for your amusement (some people were inspired enough to submit more than one):

Sergent Pepper's Band
They hope you enjoy the show
Your evening well spent

- Andrew Siegel

Welcome to Hamburg
Preludin makes music fast
We should poach Ringo.

- Ted Roberts

Who’s this George Martin?
Peter Sellers fancied him
But not Peter Best…

- Ted Roberts

John, Paul, George, Ringo
All together or solo
Music I follow

(Comment: I like poems that rhyme so came up with this one first.)

- Adrian Lewis

Plastic Ono Band
James Paul McCartney and Wings
Ringo's All Starr Band

Plastic Ono Band
The Traveling Wilburys
McCartney & Wings

McCartney & Wings
The Traveling Wilburys
Ringo's All Starr Band

(Comment: Four solo Beatle bands don't fit into three lines, so I have three different combination versions.)

- Adrian Lewis

Purple Chick bootlegs
iTunes-friendlier mpegs
Download “Scrambled Eggs”?!

(Comment: Working title and substitute opening verse lyrics of “Yesterday” had "Scrambled Eggs/Oh, my baby how I love your legs".)

- Adrian Lewis

Yellow Submarine
The Hunt for Red October
The Spy Who Loved Me

(Comment: Three submarine films.)

- Adrian Lewis

Help me if you can,
Seek and you shall find," said he,
Hey, you've got to hide . . .

- Buddy Woodward

Adjusting my specs:
(Damnable dyslexia!)
All you need is luck!

- Buddy Woodward

Sixth time's the charm, eh?
A puzzle worthy of John;
Jai guru deva

- Buddy Woodward

John, Paul, George, Ringo
Sang many songs long ago
Hidden from their fans

- Jeffrey Cellers

From a tiny club,
To a record-breaking crowd;
The Beatles live on.

- Robert Harrison

Hopes for affection
Possesses nothing but love
Eight days in a week

- Robert Harrison

Mop top to long hair
Clean cut lads to hippie men
Eight short years of change

- Daniel T Monk Pelfrey

Ed Sullivan Show,
Screaming girls going crazy;
“Beatlemania”

- Kevin Swesey

I’m fixing a hole,
Sgt. Pepper rocks my world...
Paul was the walrus

- Kevin Swesey

The White Album rocks
The summer of sixty eight -
Revolution comes

- Kevin Swesey

Yellow Submarine
Sing it out loud all day long
Ringo Starr sings best

- Brad First

Waves of joy and love;
Sea of green and sky of blue;
Is it all too much?

- Brad First

Secret message found

Purple Chick. Incredible!

Beatle passions rise.

- David Pannell

Wisened words, whispered
Let it Be, Mother Mary
There is an answer

- Charles Fontaine (Dec 2021)

A mystery search
for transitory things, when
All you need is love

- Todd Glaeser (Dec 2021)

As I receive additional verses from new finders, I'll continue adding the best ones here. Congratulations and thanks to everyone who have discovered them and participated so far - I look forward to greeting and publishing the works here of more observant souls!

I hope that you enjoy these, and thanks for continuing to visit and support my blog. More music to come!

* - OK, OK - I'm just kidding . . . I kinda/sorta WANT people to find them.  For example, you might want to take a close look at this old post. But this is absolutely, positively the only secret post clue I'm giving out - it's up to you to find the rest!  Happy hunting!

The Beatles - Please Please Me (Purple Chick) (2-disc set)

R.I.P. to British musician Andrew White, who died on Monday, November 9th at the age of 85. Beatles aficionados know of Andy White as one of many "Fifth Beatles", although his claim to that title is more secure than other would-be pretenders: he was the session drummer who infamously was called in to replace Ringo Starr on the kit during the recording of The Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do".

White began drumming literally before most of The Beatles were even born, and by the mid-1940s, before George Harrison had started primary school, he was working as a professional session drummer. In the late 1950s, he formed a big-band outfit that was good enough to take across the Atlantic; his group toured the Eastern Seaboard of the U.S., sharing bills with early American rockers like Bill Haley and Chuck Berry. Quickly seeing where the future lay, White abandoned his big band shortly

thereafter, and more and more began working with members of the nascent British rock scene. In 1960, he served as drummer for Billy Fury on his debut album, The Sound of Fury, credited as the first authentic English rock 'n' roll album. By the early '60s, White knew both his craft and his way around the rock genre.

The Beatles, recently signed by Parlophone, went into EMI Studios in London in early September, 1962 to record sides for their debut single, scheduled for release later that fall. The band had prepared six songs for eventual selection as A/B sides, including "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me", and a lightweight Adam Faith-penned song called "How Do You Do It?" (a hit the following year for Gerry & The Pacemakers). At that point, the band's producer George Martin had little confidence is his new charges' songwriting abilities, and for that reason was pushing for "How Do You Do It?" as the debut A-side. But Martin began showing interest in "Love Me Do", mainly due to the wailing harmonica played by John Lennon, a sound that had featured on several British hits that year, including Bruce Channel's "Hey Baby" and Frank Ifield's "I Remember You". After recording both songs, and after much deliberation, the decision was made on September 4th for "Love Me Do" to be the lead single.

However, Martin was dissatisfied with Starr's drumming on the September 4th recording, considering it to be not as "tight" as he would prefer. A rerecording session was scheduled for a week later; Martin was going to be absent from the studio, so assistant producer Ron Richards was placed in charge of the session for that day. The weekend prior to the session, acting on Martin's orders, Richards quietly contacted Andy White and requested that he attend the upcoming Beatles session (George Martin had used White as a session musician several previous times in the early 1960s, and was thoroughly familiar with his style and professionalism).

So Ringo and the band were taken by surprise when, on September 11th, they arrived at EMI to find White behind the drum kit. But Starr took it like a man; as Richards recalled later: "He just sat there quietly in the control box next to me . . . Ringo is lovely—always easy going" [Richards' memory was in error - during the recording, Ringo was out on the floor with the band, but was relegated to playing the tambourine].

Though he appeared to hide it well, needless to say Ringo WAS disappointed, recalling later:

"On my first visit in September we just ran through some tracks for George Martin. We even did "Please Please Me". I remember that, because while we were recording it I was playing the bass drum with a maraca in one hand and a tambourine in the other. I think it's because of that that George Martin used Andy White, the 'professional', when we went down a week later to record "Love Me Do". The guy was previously booked, anyway, because of Pete Best [the band, with Best on drums, had recorded a version of the song during their EMI Artist Test session earlier that year in June that Martin was also dissatisfied with]. George didn't want to take any more chances and I was caught in the middle. I was devastated that George Martin had his doubts about me. I came down ready to roll and heard, 'We've got a professional drummer.' He has apologised several times since, has old George, but it was devastating — I hated the bugger for years; I still don't let him off the hook!"

With the Andy White version of "Love Me Do" in the can, work then immediately commenced on the B-side, "P.S. I Love You". White also drummed on that, with Ringo again playing a backup role, shaking maracas in the background.

The version of "Love Me Do" with Starr on drums was used on the early British pressings of the single, released on October 5th, 1962. But the version with White on drums was used on the first American pressings of the single (released on April 27th, 1964), all later releases of the single, and on the Beatles' debut British album, Please Please Me, in 1963.

Most of The Beatles' subsequent albums that included the song used the White version (a simple way to distinguish between the two is that White's version features Starr on tambourine; there is no tambourine on Starr's version).

For his labors at the studio that day, Andy White received a grand total of 10 pounds as payment, plus an extra 50 pence for bringing his drum kit. He received no royalties from, nor credit on, the recording. It was the first and last time White ever worked with the band, but it was enough to get him in the history books as the first "fifth Beatle" whose contributions made it onto an official recording during the band's active life.

White remained a session drummer for the remainder of his career, playing with the likes of Herman's Hermits and Anthony Newley. He did participate on other hit records, most notably drumming on Tom Jones' 1965 smash "It's Not Unusual". He ended up on the cabaret and backing band circuit until his retirement in 1975. In the late 1980s he moved to the U.S.; he married and settled in New Jersey, where he lived until his death, teaching music and working for regional pipe band associations.

In commemoration of Andy White's life and the small but important contribution he made to the early Beatles' sound and subsequent legend, I proudly offer Please Please Me (Deluxe Version), compiled by the good people at Purple Chick in 2006. This two-disc set includes mono and stereo versions of songs on the album, along with various takes of selected tunes. As an added bonus, I've included both the Ringo version of "Love Me Do" and the Pete Best version as well. The latter went missing for years and was assumed lost, but was tracked down in the EMI archives and included in the 1995 Anthology 1 set. See if you can spot the differences in each of the three versions!

Enjoy, and as always, let me know what you think. And on behalf of the band (including Ringo) and Beatles fans the world over, let me say thank you once again, Mr. White.

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