Although I have long been aware of this release, until now, I had never listened to it. Obviously, it’s long out of print and – to my knowledge, anyway – never received an ‘official’ release during the CD age. Anyway, what a wonderful performance it is. I must say that the recording quality is far superior to what I expected. In my opinion, they need to perhaps turn the audience down a little – if possible! – and polish-up this album for a CD/digital re-release. Let’s remember: this album did actually reach #1 on the U.S. Billboard and British Album Charts back in 1977.

You can get a 2-CD collection of the three Hollywood Bowl concerts they did--one from 1964 and two from 1965, 36 songs in all, plus press conference and interview: [cdcollection.fcpages.com]

Even though you think the audience should be turned down, the truth is that the audience was turned down, or at least the music was "turned up" a bit. One of the reviews of the album in the late 70s commented on how George Martin was able to pull the music out of the muddle of screams with such clarity, because at the time you couldn't really hear the music at the venue and the band couldn't even hear themselves. So there was a bit of studio wizardry involved for this recording and release.

Still, I agree that it should be remastered for CD. With the new standards of remastering, it could be a great release because it captures a band that still performed well and had that spark of enthusiasm, before they became fame- and road-weary.

Great post, stonehearted. It's almost impossible to disagree with you regarding them becoming 'road-weary' Their disillusionment is well-documented and one only needs to view their Budokan or Munich performances on You Tube to get a sense of how they were feeling. They sound so utterly electrifying during this Hollywood Bowl performance.

Seems to me like this release would be a no-brainer. I'll bet anything it's in the works.

The complete, unedited Hollywood Bowl concert from Aug. 23, 1964 was very nearly released as a live album in 1964, but was shelved due to its "poor sound quality." Widely bootlegged, it remains the best available recording of a complete, unedited Beatles concert.






Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-12-31 02:49 by tatters.

The '65 shows are pretty good, too, though Paul was clearly having some problems with his vocal mic the first night, which explains why "She's A Woman" appears on the tape as an instrumental.









Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2013-12-31 16:22 by tatters.

Now, is there a recording of the Stones' 1966 Hollywood Bowl show anywhere?

Thanks for posting, tatters.

The Beatles were my first love and I've drifting back towards them over the past year. My interest never waned, as such, but Stones message boards, concerts, etc, helped to propel my interest in Mick and Keith. I'm glad there are Beatles-friendly posters among us!

I always liked that recording, although found the screaming a major drawback. It just goes to show that the Beatles were once a real rock n roll band.

My now wife went to one of the Bowl shows with some friends. Her Mom dropped them off and sat in the car during the show. Nice of Mom. Anyway, she said she could hardly hear the band over the screaming. She remembers being very annoyed.

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pmk251
My now wife went to one of the Bowl shows with some friends. Her Mom dropped them off and sat in the car during the show. Nice of Mom. Anyway, she said she could hardly hear the band over the screaming. She remembers being very annoyed.

My cousin saw them at the Bowl in '64 and Dodger Stadium in '66...always fun to talk to her about those shows as she still has vivid memories of both.

Beatles Live Albums??? If you like the sound of screaming Girls yes....

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Come to think of it, they could do a lot these days to tweak the sound of the music and dampen the roar of the screams during the songs, the way they did in the Anthology series. Notice how during the segment for Shea Stadium the sound of the guitars was clear and crisp, unlike how it was heard--or not heard--previously.

It would make sense from a marketing standpoint, what with the 50th anniversary of the first Bowl concert coming up in a few months. It would surely be a number 1 album, if properly remastered.

Listen to this version of Help, with the audio from Anthology 2. During the song you hear the music and not the screaming.

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stonehearted
Come to think of it, they could do a lot these days to tweak the sound of the music and dampen the roar of the screams during the songs, the way they did in the Anthology series. Notice how during the segment for Shea Stadium the sound of the guitars was clear and crisp, unlike how it was heard--or not heard--previously.

What the Beatles can no longer do is overdubs. Much of what you hear in the Shea Stadium film was done in a recording studio in London, five months after the concert.

[en.wikipedia.org]

The film is not a completely accurate representation of the actual concert performance. The songs "She's a Woman" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" are omitted from the film due to time and likely camera reel change issues (audio of the latter song was released on The Beatles Anthology Volume 2 CD). The audio for the songs that remained went through a heavy post-production process as well. Some songs were treated with overdubs, or even re-recorded entirely, by The Beatles at London's CTS Studios in January 1966, to cover audio problems throughout the concert recording. In addition, the audio for "Twist and Shout" comes from a show at the Hollywood Bowl later on the same tour, and the audio for "Act Naturally" was simply replaced by the studio version of the song (released on the Help! LP in Britain and on the B-side of "Yesterday" in the US), sped up slightly and poorly edited to sync up to the film.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2013-12-31 14:01 by tatters.

It's possible to find a fan re-edited Shea with the original soundtrack that's a very good effort....the re-edit that is, not the performance. The outstanding number for me is I'm Down. They look like they're having a great time.
In terms of the Hollywood Bowl i'd draw everyone's attention to 1964's Long Tall Sally which absolutely @#$%& rocks and Boys which is an incredible performance with the Nose on lead vocals, banging on the biscuit tins at the same time and Macca's fantastic bass and backing vocals. I think those 3 tracks are my favourite live performances by the Fab Four alongside the Star Club sets which have some real highlights (Red Hot,Shimmy Shimmy,Aint Nothin Shakin)

Great post ash. Yeah, Star Club also would be a great one to remix and remaster. Some smokin versions on it, as well has Hippy Hippy Shake, and a fantastic Red Sails in the Sunset.
I just finished reading Tune In and the detail and passionate writing about their Hamburg times is stunning. I read while listening to the Star Club show. Fantastic.

Have you guys heard Sweden 1963? In my opinion it's the best sounding Beatles concert, though I prefer Tokyo '66 because of a more interesting setlist, including Nowhere Man. Hey Big Al, lately I've noticed a positive shift in the Beatles-Stones rivalry here, I'm very happy too. I was also a Beatles Fan first, though I mostly listen to Stones since 1989 I'm always up for new Macca or Beatles news.

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tatters

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stonehearted
Come to think of it, they could do a lot these days to tweak the sound of the music and dampen the roar of the screams during the songs, the way they did in the Anthology series. Notice how during the segment for Shea Stadium the sound of the guitars was clear and crisp, unlike how it was heard--or not heard--previously.

What the Beatles can no longer do is overdubs. Much of what you hear in the Shea Stadium film was done in a recording studio in London, five months after the concert.

[en.wikipedia.org]

The film is not a completely accurate representation of the actual concert performance. The songs "She's a Woman" and "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" are omitted from the film due to time and likely camera reel change issues (audio of the latter song was released on The Beatles Anthology Volume 2 CD). The audio for the songs that remained went through a heavy post-production process as well. Some songs were treated with overdubs, or even re-recorded entirely, by The Beatles at London's CTS Studios in January 1966, to cover audio problems throughout the concert recording. In addition, the audio for "Twist and Shout" comes from a show at the Hollywood Bowl later on the same tour, and the audio for "Act Naturally" was simply replaced by the studio version of the song (released on the Help! LP in Britain and on the B-side of "Yesterday" in the US), sped up slightly and poorly edited to sync up to the film.

Actually the "raw" line recording of the 1965 Shea stadium show has popped up sometime during the last 10 years – surprisingly its quite good for a 1964-5 Beatles US show (the quality and sound on top of the screaming). In some cases I wasn’t able to determine while certain songs were overdubbed: definitely not when the overdubbing job was so sloppy (*) Today I know that the concept of "live album" as a way to listen not just to "good music played live" but rather "a way to catch the phenomenon" was still in not really thought of in 1964-6! I guess that what we today appreciate as "good Beatles concert" (not that we have any way to know how post Beatles would have sounded live in a real commercial concert, with/without doing their 1963-6 hits), was seen back then as "too bad to be considered a musical product". I believe that only the film done after the Monterey 1967 pop festival opened the gates for the concept of "raw live performance documented entirely".

* I first came to know of the overdubbing not since I read of it, but since in songs like Ticket to Ride you can clearly see that in certain parts the Beatles walk back from the mice while the vocals are clearly heard… This was in the 80's when the famous Shea Stadium & Japan shows were circulating as VHS (Yellow case I think) half boots. I then got my hands over "Do you want to know a secret" and "fixing a hole" (not sure about the name of the 2nd, think it was "FAH") books and there read, I can still quote quite accurately from memory, "The Beatles admitted in 1966 the overdubbed certain parts of the Shea Stadium show for the film".



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-12-31 17:23 by Wroclaw.

I have a great bootleg that I got in the 80's of the afternoon and evening shows for Shea, great cover of an outtake from the Butcher cover sessions. The quality was quite good as well. Another great show is the Paris show, 64 I beleive. Pretty good quality and the screaming isn't as much. On Anthology George relates how most the crowd were slightly "gay boys all yelling" Paul also agreed with a hearty laugh. There is also some great concert footage from Hamburg 64 on the Director's cut Anthology with some great home movie footage as well.

...and I got 'On the Roof' Concert on a bootleg, and that's a listenable Beatles Live-Concert for a change...

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Come On
...and I got 'On the Roof' Concert on a bootleg, and that's a listenable Beatles Live-Concert for a change...

Yup, it's proof they could have rocked the 70's had they had the inclination to stay together and play live.







Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2013-12-31 19:20 by His Majesty.

I love the The Rooftop Concert for a number of reasons. It debunks the myth that The Beatles were a lousy live band and despite what was going on within the band at the time you can see the confidence and dare I say pride of and between Paul and John. The response of the authorities is so silly. Back in the '80's (I think) Dylan was on the Letterman show. After the performance Dave came over, congratulated and thanked Bob and asked "Are you available on Thursdays?" It amuses me to think of someone thanking The Beatles after this performance and asking "So you are available the lunch hour?" Who would complain today to be able to hear the band play the roof again despite the fuss?

THe Beatles are just a bunch of copycats!

Copycats???? Explain please.

They were unique and special! It's as simple as that!

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His Majesty

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Come On
...and I got 'On the Roof' Concert on a bootleg, and that's a listenable Beatles Live-Concert for a change...

Yup, it's proof they could have rocked the 70's had they had the inclination to stay together and play live.

They did a great job on the rooftop gig - yes, BUT one must admit there was no "Beatles magic" there. Just a professional band playing live great. I suspect that if the Beatles had had gone on the road in 1969-70 we would have been talking about "The Beatles 1970 tour that did not even got close to the show given at the time by the Stones, The Who, Zeppelin etc.".

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Wroclaw
They did a great job on the rooftop gig - yes, BUT one must admit there was no "Beatles magic" there. Just a professional band playing live great. I suspect that if the Beatles had had gone on the road in 1969-70 we would have been talking about "The Beatles 1970 tour that did not even got close to the show given at the time by the Stones, The Who, Zeppelin etc.".

Who's we, dear boy? The Beatles first time on tour since 1966? It would have been even bigger than the Concert for Bangladesh in retrospect.

Just what sort of magic were you expecting for the "rooftop gig" anyway? They were just trying to figure out a way to cap off a documentary film, and it was done on the roof of the recording studio where they were doing a new album.

Picture the Stones recording atop Olympic after recording Let It Bleed--how great would that have gone off? Would you have been able to tell how great they would have been in the 70s if you had seen them performing on the roof of their recording studio in 1969? I mean, really!

Plenty of Beatles magic there.

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stonehearted

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Wroclaw
They did a great job on the rooftop gig - yes, BUT one must admit there was no "Beatles magic" there. Just a professional band playing live great. I suspect that if the Beatles had had gone on the road in 1969-70 we would have been talking about "The Beatles 1970 tour that did not even got close to the show given at the time by the Stones, The Who, Zeppelin etc.".

Who's we, dear boy? The Beatles first time on tour since 1966? It would have been even bigger than the Concert for Bangladesh in retrospect.

Just what sort of magic were you expecting for the "rooftop gig" anyway? They were just trying to figure out a way to cap off a documentary film, and it was done on the roof of the recording studio where they were doing a new album.

Picture the Stones recording atop Olympic after recording Let It Bleed--how great would that have gone off? Would you have been able to tell how great they would have been in the 70s if you had seen them performing on the roof of their recording studio in 1969? I mean, really!

The rooftop concert is all we have in terms of answering the question "what would have the common fan/public been remembering of a commercial Beatles 1970 gig". While it was good for showing "the Beatles can rock"-it didnt, to my opinion, do much more. would it have been "big thing"? sure. George Harrison 1974 tour was a big thing, back then, as well. The Macca in disguise at that NYC show is definetly one of its highlighs. as for the "Stones were no better ..." : well. we agree then that the live Beatles of 1969 would have been burned in general memory as similar to the Stones of 1969. thats pretty much what I said.