The Beatles Rarity

I’ll Follow The Sun

Happy Nat — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 11:00:04 +0000

A masked highway robber captures The Beatles and holds them for ransom.

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Beatles Rarity Of The Week – If I Fell, Live In Philadelphia, 1964

Happy Nat — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 11:00:52 +0000

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. It’s no secret that The Beatles summer 1964 tour of the U.S. was a tremendous success and the shows at Philadelphia’s Convention Hall were no exception. Apparently it was simulcast by radio station WIBG giving us one of the few decent soundboard recordings of The Beatles touring days and thankfully, it has survived. John’s guitar might be mixed a bit too loud but the vocals are up front and the music isn’t completely drowned out by the screaming. This was one of the first concerts to be bootlegged, appearing on the Live At Whiskey Flats LP in fairly good quality. As a follow-up to last week’s BROW, where I posted the original composing tape of John Lennon’s If I Fell, I’ve opted to feature a live account of the song where John and Paul have somewhat of a giggling fit while singing it. A special thanks goes out to Facebook subscriber Ric Serrano, for mentioning this recording to me and giving me the idea to include it this week.

The Beatles - If I Fell (Live in Philadelphia)

A press conference with The Beatles backstage at Convention Hall Philadelphia, Sep. 2, 1964

A Happy Note from Happy Nat: As of this month, the BROW is 3 years old! Can you believe it! I know most of you haven’t been around that long to read and hear them but they are still here in case you still need to (and want to) catch up. It’s been beyond fun so far, and I’ve got to know a lot more fans too – and that alone makes it worth it. So thanks everyone for sticking around and there is a lot more good stuff to come. Stay tuned…

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8000 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

She’s A Woman – Live in Paris, 1965

Happy Nat — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 11:00:16 +0000

This footage comes from The Beatles’ evening show at the Palais des Sports, Paris, France on June 20, 1965. It was recorded for French television and broadcast on October 31 of the same year.

Release date approaches for the John Lennon solo remasters

Happy Nat — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 11:26:21 +0000

John Lennon Signature Box Set, release date: 10/5/2010

It’s going to be three separate releases. I have updated an article on this originally posted in June here.

John Lennon solo remasters to be released in October 2010

A Night In The Life: A John Lennon 70th Birthday Celebration

Happy Nat — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 19:40:39 +0000

For you John Lennon fans who want to celebrate his upcoming 70th birthday in style, here is something you might appreciate, if you can be in the New York City area on Saturday, September 25:

Imagine: Global Harmony for John Lennon & His 70th Birthday

The great Beatles tribute band, The Fab Faux, will be returning to NYC with a new show – The Fab Faux presents A Night In The Life: A John Lennon 70th Birthday Celebration. On September 25th, The Fab Faux will take the stage at Radio City Music Hall to perform two sets of John Lennon’s greatest music from The Beatles and his solo career.

Tickets to this once in a lifetime event can be purchased here: http://www.radiocity.com/events/fab-faux-910.html

In celebration of this event, MSG.com has created The Fab Faux hub page which features everything Beatles, including exclusive, never-before-seen photos of the band, the Fab Faux Sweepstakes, and more! And if you click that sweepstakes link and decide to fill out the little entry form, you just might win two tickets to the show as well as a Beatles and John Lennon Box of Vision Set.

Also, click here for some new Beatles photos from MSG.com.

I’ll Cry Instead

Happy Nat — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 11:00:10 +0000

While in the Orient, George hurts his hand when Ringo gives him a handshake, and while seeking a hand doctor, he ends up in a judo match.

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Beatles Rarity Of The Week – If I Fell (composing tape, Jan. 1964)

Happy Nat — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 11:00:56 +0000

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. John Lennon got a head start on writing new material for the yet untitled first Beatles movie, in early January 1964, when he wrote and recorded the initial home demos for If I Fell in his London flat. Legend has it that the recordings were taped over an audio message sent to John by a fan who had seen The Beatles November 17, 1963 show in Coventry. Her message had been recorded on New Year’s Eve, 1963. If I Fell would go on to be one of the 7 new songs completed specifically for A Hard Day’s Night (film and album) as well as the B-side of a July 1964 single paired with And I Love Her as the A-side. The other new songs for the film would be written during the upcoming tour of France and America.

This historical recording is divided into five separate demo/fragments:

1) The tape starts with a take already in progress, but this is cut off for a complete attempt (0:00-0:13).
2) John plays through the complete song with the structure and lyrics nearly finalized. The melody line he sings would eventually be given to Paul McCartney, with John taking a lower harmony. Here John is obviously straining to reach the notes. Note that the ending riff would be removed from use on this song and used instead on I Should Have Known Better (another song for the film yet to be written) (0:14-2:40).
3) John sings the final verse an octave lower which is much more suited for his vocal range (2:41-3:08).
4) John tries singing falsetto again, but only the first verse (3:09-3:45).
5) John tries just a couple lines of the first verse, singing falsetto again and snaps off the tape (3:46-4:00).

The Beatles - If I Fell

John Lennon, 1964

A short Texas-style interview w/The Beatles (1964)

Happy Nat — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 11:00:57 +0000

This week’s VOW feature comes from a local television interview in Dallas, Texas while The Beatles visited on their 1964 American Tour. This was recorded on the evening of September 18 and as you can see Paul decided to wear a cowboy hat for the occasion.

The Beatles On Juke Box Jury

Happy Nat — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 21:49:42 +0000

I had a recent request from my friend Cara, to share some of The Beatles on the UK BBC Television program Juke Box Jury. So here is an audio recording preceded by some background info about the show:

On December 7th 1963, the Beatles gave an afternoon concert at the Empire Theatre in their hometown of Liverpool which was filmed for BBC-TV. Following the concert, the Beatles rushed to the Odeon Cinema in Liverpool for a special taping of Juke Box Jury.

Juke Box Jury was a weekly program featuring a panel of four celebrities who were given the task of rating newly released records as ‘HIT’ or ‘MISS,’ based on their personal opinions of the recording’s potential to become a popular chart hit.

When the Beatles appeared as the four panelists for this edition of the show, they rated the latest releases by artists like Elvis Presley, Steve and Eydie, Bobby Vinton, Billy Fury, and the Swinging Blue Jeans. Most of the predictions the Beatles made on this episode of Juke Box Jury proved later to be correct, and only three of their predictions turned out to be incorrect.

The video of the Beatles’ appearance on Juke Box Jury seemingly no longer exists. Luckily, the audio from this television appearance has survived.

Their December 7th Juke Box Jury appearance and a 30 minute film of their concert earlier that afternoon at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre would both be telecast by BBC-TV later that same evening.

Juke Box Jury began as a program in America during the earliest days of television. The BBC version of the show debuted in 1959 and ran until 1967. The host of Juke Box Jury in Britain was David Jacobs.

This is the audio from the final 9 minutes of this Dec. 7th 1963 appearance when the Beatles rated:

1) Do You Really Love Me Too – Billy Fury: the record was compared unfavorably to a Cliff Richard record though John & Paul liked the song and said it would be a hit..they were right as it ended up going to number 15 in the UK. Note: The audio here begins after the song has played.

2) There I’ve Said It Again – Bobby Vinton: All 4 correctly voted this a miss for the UK. But in the U.S. it was a #1 a month later and ironically I Want To Hold Your Hand was the song that dethroned it on the Billboard singles chart. Note: All but a few seconds of the track has been clipped from the recording.

3) Love Hit Me – The Orchids: The Orchids are a trio of schoolgirls from Coventry and John criticizes the group as a clone of The Ronettes or The Crystals. Paul & George are a little more enthusiastic but they ultimately vote it as a miss. Then they get suddenly and humorously apologetic when they are told afterward that the Orchids are in the audience and are told by announcer David Jacobs to stand up. John then says he’ll change it to a hit and buy two!

4) I Think Of You – The Merseybeats: As they are running out of time, they cut the discussion and go straight for the vote. All vote this one a hit for these fellow Liverpudlians.

The theme song Hit And Miss closes the show.

The Beatles - Juke Box Jury (BBC TV)

The Beatles on Juke Box Jury on Dec. 7, 1963

An abbreviated transcription of this show is online here which is where much of the info on the program in this post came from.

Singalong 10: I’ll Follow The Sun/When I Get Home

Happy Nat — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 11:00:48 +0000

Sing along with The Beatles to I’ll Follow The Sun and When I Get Home.

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