Singalong with The Beatles to If I Fell & Do You Want To Know A Secret

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Welcome to yet another installment in the Beatles Rarity Of The Week series.

When The Beatles Anthology 1 CD set was released in November 1995, I was truly in awe over it. While I had heard some of the recordings on my own unofficial releases, there were many that were new to me. And in most cases, the quality of the recordings I already had in my possession were significantly upgraded.

One fascinating example of a historically significant set of songs is explained in the set’s accompanying booklet. In the spring or summer of 1958, The Quarry Men (John, Paul, George, John Lowe & Colin Hanton) heard about a guy named Percy Phillips. Percy owned a disc cutting machine, and for a small fee could make them a 78rpm vinyl 10-inch record with one track on each side. So, of course, John’s band had to make the trek across town with their instruments and make their first record. The A-side was idol Buddy Holly’s That’ll Be The Day and the B-side was an original song written mostly by Paul, but had a guitar solo by George that earned him a composition credit too. It was called In Spite Of All The Danger. Both of these songs have lead vocals by John Lennon and both are on The Beatles Anthology 1 CD set.

However there are two more pieces to the story that were not included in the CD booklet:

1) Since there was only one copy of the disc made, it was passed around amongst the band and ended up being saved in John Lowe’s private collection, and in July 1981 he made an attempt to auction it off. Paul McCartney had him served with an injunction until he could make an offer on it himself, and ended up purchasing from Lowe what was really already partially his, for a generous price. Afterwards, Paul made copies so that the original would not be degraded any further from playing.

2) While recording In Spite Of All The Danger, Percy Phillips was signaling frantically for them to wrap it up because they were running out of time on the disc (at 3 and half minutes!). Similarly, when the track was prepared for the Anthology disc, a repeated verse and chorus (around 45 seconds) were edited out of the recording. What you are hearing here is actually a forgery, created from the Anthology 1 account by inserting a second copy of the included verse and chorus that was repeated into the appropriate section that had been removed by EMI. Note that the repeated verse begins with the line I’ll look after you like I’ve never done before.

It’s actually a pretty charming recording with Paul harmonizing and John missing his vocal entrance cues in spots. At George’s guitar solo, an unidentified Quarry Man shouts out “honky tonk!”. Paul claims to have been inspired by Elvis’s Trying To Get To You when he wrote it. And now for your listening pleasure, you have a BROW-version, restoring the song to it’s original length.

Quarry Men photo at The Casbah Club (Liverpool) opening, August 1959

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Have a peak at Paul McCartney’s December 10, 1992 performance for a television special titled Up Close. The gig was filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theatre where Paul made his U.S. debut with The Beatles in February 1964, and the occasion was Paul’s upcoming February 2, 1993 release of his new Off The Ground CD. After opening the show with the Eddie Cochrane rock ‘n’ roll standard “Twenty Flight Rock”, Paul introduced the first track of the evening from the upcoming album – another rocker with an energetic ’50′s sound called Get Out Of My Way. Paul works his Hofner bass and belts out the lead vocal on the track with the full support of his 90′s band including Blair Cunningham on drums, Paul “Wix” Wickens on the keys, Hamish Stuart and Robbie McIntosh on electric guitars and Linda McCartney on tambourine. Interspersed with short segments of backstage commentary, Paul and band kept the show alive with more plugs from Off The Ground such as “Biker Like An Icon” and “Hope Of Deliverance”. He was also quick to throw in a few Beatles tunes for good measure such as “I Wanna Be Your Man”, “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, “Fixing A Hole” and “Lady Madonna”.

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When Ringo spends all the money for rings, the hungry Beatles wire Brian for money before performing a charity concert.

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Welcome to this week’s BROW. Back in October 1973, while John Lennon was in sessions for what would appear later on his collection of oldies called Rock ‘N’ Roll, he wrote a song with producer Phil Spector that remained unissued throughout the remainder of his lifetime. Here We Go Again was eventually released on Menlove Avenue, a collection of out-takes from the Walls & Bridges LP and Rock ‘N’ Roll LP, in 1986. This week’s feature is that same track in demo form. The Spector-produced version on Menlove Avenue sounds very reminiscent of John’s Rock ‘N’ Roll album with lots of brass in the mix and the “wall-of-sound” treatment. The naked version here is quite a contrast with John, still apparently working the song out, and only an acoustic guitar. Additionally, the verse structure is arranged differently, at this point, and there is even an extra verse, apparently omitted later in production, where John sings:

Here We Go Again
Everyone’s a one night stand
You never really heard the band
All I wanted was a thank you, man

While the demo may not have a flawless vocal or be as dazzling as the released version, I think an early account is worthy of a listen. I hope you do too.

John Lennon

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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On June 14, 2008, a record 350,000 braved the inclement weather to see Paul McCartney at this show. The charity concert, in the former Soviet republic’s Independence Square, was Ukraine’s biggest ever. The gig was simultaneously broadcast on giant screens in six other Ukrainian cities and on television, with an estimated 10 million people watching. The charity event raised money for equipment to help children with cancer.

…and have you ever noticed how most Americans misspell the title of this song? I guess that is inconsequentially one of those things I notice, while perusing the Internet. I was really pleased to see Paul pull this one out as a performance, since it was originally a track hidden in the middle of the Band On The Run album, that never really got any concert coverage beforehand, and goes down quite well live. The Ukrainian audience seems to really be getting into the Ho-Hey-Ho! chant right along with the band.

Before beginning, Paul addresses the audience in Ukrainian.
Translation: “We were asked to perform this song”.

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John becomes a specimen for a mad scientist who wants to use his brain to put in the monster she has created.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Welcome to BROW. I’m going to assume that most reading have some familiarity with the double Apple LP The Beatles (aka The White Album) and the two Revolution songs on side 4. Back in the development stages of May of 1968, the avant-garde piece known as Revolution 9, largely a concept of John and Yoko’s, was originally meant to be a chaotic coda to Revolution 1. Takes 1-17 of Revolution 1 were of a standard length, similar to what is now on The White Album. Beginning with take 18 through take 20, the coda was added and later, after further development, John decided to make it a separate track on the record. Although Paul shares a composition credit with John for it, he did not have any involvement with it, outside of the Revolution 1 track. In fact, he, along with producer George Martin, fought desperately to keep it off the record entirely, but John refused to drop it. Featured here is the fully intact account of take 20, where we hear the missing link between Revolution 1 and Revolution 9. The Revolution 1 section sounds very similar to the finalized account of the song but without the signature electric guitar in the intro, yet to be overdubbed in. The Revolution 9 section is certainly recognizable, yet there were a lot more changes to come, after it was separated into a track of it’s own. It’s also interesting to note that although the fast (single) version of Revolution was released first, these 20 takes of the White Album version were all recorded first.

I know some reading this will recall about 13 months ago, take 20 surfaced on a Europe-only bootleg called Revolution: Take Your Knickers Off and was also leaked to YouTube.com on February 23, 2009. YouTube had to remove it within 24 hours at the insistence of EMI. There were also a few other independent web sites actually offering downloads of the recording that EMI reached and demanded that the files be taken offline. It should also be noted that the surviving Beatles, Yoko Ono, the estate of George Harrison, or George Martin have yet to confirm the authenticity of the recording.

The Beatles in the studio, 1968

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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Ringo Starr has assembled his 11th All-Starr line up including: Edgar Winter, Gary Wright and All Starr newcomers Rick Derringer, Richard Page (Mr. Mister) and Wally Palmar (Romantics), and Gregg Bissonette returns on drums.

Ringo Starr

(dates subject to change):

Standard tickets

VIP ticket packages

June 24, 25 – Niagara Falls, ON – Fallsview Casino
June 26 – Bethel, NY – Bethel Woods Center
June 27 – Uncasville, CT – Mohegan Sun Arena
June 29 – Boston, MA – Bank of America Pavilian
June 30 – Westbury, NY – Westbury Theatre
July 2 – Easton, PA – State Theatre
July 3 – Atlantic City, NY – Caesar’s Circus Maximus
July 5 – New Brunswick, NJ – State Theatre
July 6 – Lancaster, PA – American Music Theatre
July 7 – New York, NY – Radio City Music Hall — Ringo’s 70th Birthday
July 8 – Lancaster, PA – American Theatre
July 9 – Cincinnati, OH – PNC Pavillion at Riverbend
July 10 – Atlanta, GA – Chastain Park
July 11 – Durham NC – Durham Performing Arts Center
July 13 – Clearwater, FL – Ruth Eckerd Hall
July 15 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Arena
July 17 – Saint Augustine, FL – St Augustine Amphitheatre
July 18 – Biloxi, MS – Magnolia Ballroom At Beau Rivage
July 20 – Cleveland, OH – City Lights Pavilion
July 20 – Cleveland OH – Nautica Pavilion
July 21 – Canandaigua NY – Sands PAC
July 23 – Windsor, ON – Caesars
July 24 – Hammond, IN – Horseshoe Casino
July 25 – Prior Lake, MN – Mystic Lake Show Room
July 28 – Calgary, AB – Southern Alberta Jubilee Auditorium
July 30 – Spokane, WA – Northern Quest
July 31 – Woodinville, WA – Chateau St Michelle
August 1 – Eugene, OR – Cuthbert Amphitheatre
August 3 – Saratoga, CA – Mountain Winery
August 5 – Rancho Mirage, CA – The Show At Agua Caliente Casino Resort Spa
August 6 – San Diego, CA – Humphrey’s Concerts By The Bay
August 7 – Los Angeles, CA – Greek Theatre
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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On February 11, 1964, while between their first and second appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, The Beatles performed a 12-song show at the Washington Coliseum in DC. CBS videotaped the show and had kinescope transfers made, editing the show together with performances by Lesley Gore and The Beach Boys, for screening in U.S. cinemas over the weekend of March 14-15 1964. Apparently, the only surviving copy of the kinescope footage cuts off abruptly during the 11th song, Twist And Shout. Only as recently as 1995 has the original 2-inch videotape been unearthed, allowing a first look at the final song, Long Tall Sally. Bits and pieces of this were shown on the Beatles Anthology film but hopefully Apple will release the entire video source one day.

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