jfn Beatles Music & Memories: April 2025

April 25, 2025

The Beatles - Roxburgh Hall, Stowe School Concert, Buckinghamshire, Britain, 04-04-1963

Here's something that's pretty amazing, if you're a Beatles fan. I'm writing this in December 2023. Back in September, there were some articles in the mainstream media about a recently discovered bootleg recording of a 1963 Beatles concert at the Stowe School in Buckinghamshire, Britain. Here's one such article. I suggest you read it to be familiar with what I'm talking about:

The Beatles Stowe School Concert Is Unlike Any Other Show in History (thedailybeast.com)

I'll explain more about the story behind this concert and how it got recorded in a bit. But first, I want to say that I tracked down that recording after reading about it, and I have to admit I was pretty disappointed, due to poor sound quality. Amongst many other problems, the vocals were so low that they often couldn't be heard at all. I tried my best to fix things with my limited ability using the artificial intelligence based audio editing programs that have come out in recent years, but the recording was too poor to be salvageable. I didn't even bother keeping a copy of the concert in my music collection, because it wasn't worth hearing for me.

Or so I thought. Enter Lord Reith. He's someone who has been editing and improving Beatles recordings for years. I don't know if he's a magician or what, but what he did with this Stowe School bootleg is nothing short of miraculous! There are still some problems, which I will get to in a bit, but he's completely transformed the sound quality, making it almost sound as good as some soundboard recordings. In particular, he did wonders to make the vocals audible. So, in my opinion, this has gone from not worth listening to more than once (if that) to being one of the most interesting and listenable live Beatles recordings, period. If you're a fan, and you can tolerate some sound quality issues, definitely give this a listen.

Now, let me explain a bit more about what this concert is and why it's so unique. Again, I highly recommend you read the above newspaper article, but in case you don't, here's a short summary. At the time of this concert, the Beatles were right on the cusp of being big stars in Britain, but they weren't quite there yet. They'd released their first single, "Love Me Do," in late 1962. It made the Top Twenty in Britain, which was a good start. Then, in January 1963, they released the single "Please Please Me." It reached Number One in most British charts. In late March 1963, they released their first album, also called "Please Please Me." That would go on to be a huge hit, staying in the Top Ten of the charts for over a year, which would set a record for the next fifty years. Then, only one week after this concert, the single "From Me to You" would be released, and that would be another Number One hit in Britain.

So, mere weeks after this concert, Beatlemania hit Britain in a big way, just as it would hit the U.S. in early 1964. From that point on, pretty much all Beatles concerts would be short, a half an hour or less, and so filled with screams from overexcited girls that one couldn't really hear the music. If you're heard live Beatles recordings, then you know it's usually a pretty rough listening experience, due to all that screaming and cheering.

Previously, the Beatles had spent a couple of years in Hamburg, Germany, honing their music skills by playing in small clubs. There are some rough live recordings from that, and they're very interesting, but they consisted almost entirely of cover songs.

This recording is unique, however, in part because the Stowe School is very unusual. In 1963, it was only for boys aged 13 to 18. As you can see from this photo, it was only for the children of the elite. It looks less like a high school and more like a palace! The Beatles were booked to perform there months before the concert date, when their fame was a lot less. But they upheld their agreement and played there in April 1963 anyway. Not only that, but they played for over an hour, instead of the mere half hour or less they were already doing for screaming fans in other shows.

But what's really great is, because the audience considered entirely of boys, and well-behaved upper class boys, no less, there was no screaming. According to articles I read, most of the boys in the audience hadn't even heard of the Beatles yet, so they weren't swept up in any hysteria. The Beatles played virtually all the songs from the "Please Please Me" album, plus "From Me to You" and its B-side "Thank You Girl," despite the fact those last two songs still hadn't been released. Yet they also played a bunch of cover songs that they'd done in Hamburg. This is probably the last time most of those covers were played by them in concert, as they switched to doing very short concerts consisting entirely of their best known songs. So this is the one and only concert recording with a mix of the "old" Beatles of Hamburg cover versions and the "new" Beatles with their remarkable original songs. How lucky we are that one of the boys in the audience snuck in a tape recorder and recorded it.

So that's the good news. The bad news is, even after Lord Reith's miraculous transformation of the recording, there still are sound quality issues. The biggest problem is the banter between songs. There was a lot banter, between almost all the songs. Unfortunately, the recording of those bits were very quiet, way more quiet than the music. So I suspect there just wasn't much there on the recording for Lord Reith to work with. I took his version, with the banter way down low, and boosted the volume of those bits so the banter can be clearly heard. But unfortunately, all that means in that quiet jibber jabber is now louder jibber jabber. I've included a couple of extra text files. One of them is a list of all the changes Lord Reith made to make this listenable. The other is a transcript of what he and other die-hard Beatles fans have managed to figure out from the banter. If you read that as you listen, you can catch most of it. But otherwise, the talking is pretty hard to understand, other than the occasional phrase.

Due to this seemingly unfixable problem, I'm posting two versions of this album. One contains the banter and the songs, and the other one contains just the songs. I much, much prefer the music only version. The banter is interesting to hear once or twice, but beyond that, it drags down the overall recording. So maybe you'll want to download both, and listen to one version and then the other.

There's one other big problem. The tape in the tape recorder only lasted for about sixty minutes. The recorder was up at the stage and the boy who recorded it was sitting in the audience, so when the tape ran out, there was no way for him to flip it over and keep recording. Thus, the end of a second version of "I Saw Her Standing There" was cut off, plus all of the last two songs, "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Long Tall Sally." Most of the second version of "I Saw Her Standing There" survived, and luckily it happened to be the only song played twice. So I patched in the ending from the first version earlier in the show. But the last two songs are lost.

And there's one more lost song. Right before that second version of "I Saw Her Standing There," the Beatles played "Money (That's What I Want)." Unfortunately, there's only about twenty seconds of this on the recording, and then it gets replaced by the hit version of "Surfin' Bird" by the Trashmen! Probably what happened was that the boy who recorded it accidentally recorded that song off the radio over the Beatles concert. I removed the snippet of "Money" and the little bit of banter before it, because it's frustrating to get only such a short part of that.

Furthermore, note that even after all of Lord Reith's edits, there were still some problems with the vocals. I used UVR5 to boost all the vocals a bit. I think that helped to make the singing easier to hear. But some songs are better than others. For "Matchbox" in particular, only bits and pieces of the lead vocals can be heard. I figure that's because that song was sung by Ringo Starr, the drummer, and maybe he was sitting back and too busy with drumming to keep his mouth near the microphone all the time. (That reminds me: there are no lead vocals from George Harrison because he was recovering from a cold.)

If you want to know even more about this remarkable concert, I recommend this link:

The Beatles concert at Roxburgh Hall, Stowe School in Buckingham on Apr 4, 1963 (the-paulmccartney-project.com)

It includes lots of great photos and stories. You can learn the whole story of how this bootleg came to be recorded and then rediscovered decades later. It's really interesting stuff, if you're a Beatles fan. That also includes a transcript of the banter between songs.

Here's the track list to the version that includes the banter. This version is 58 minutes long.

01 talk (Beatles)

02 I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles)

03 Too Much Monkey Business (Beatles)

04 talk (Beatles)

05 Love Me Do (Beatles)

06 talk (Beatles)

07 Some Other Guy (Beatles)

08 talk (Beatles)

09 Misery (Beatles)

10 talk (Beatles)

11 I Just Don't Understand (Beatles)

12 talk (Beatles)

13 A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (Beatles)

14 talk (Beatles)

15 Boys (Beatles)

16 talk (Beatles)

17 Matchbox (Beatles)

18 talk (Beatles)

19 From Me to You (Beatles)

20 talk (Beatles)

21 Thank You Girl (Beatles)

22 talk (Beatles)

23 Memphis, Tennessee (Beatles)

24 talk (Beatles)

25 A Taste of Honey (Beatles)

26 talk (Beatles)

27 Twist and Shout (Beatles)

28 talk (Beatles)

29 Anna [Go to Him] (Beatles)

30 talk (Beatles)

31 Please Please Me (Beatles)

32 talk (Beatles)

33 The Hippy Hippy Shake (Beatles)

34 talk (Beatles)

35 I'm Talking about You (Beatles)

36 talk (Beatles)

37 Ask Me Why (Beatles)

38 talk (Beatles)

39 Till There Was You (Beatles)

40 talk (Beatles)

41 I Saw Her Standing There [Edit] (Beatles)

And here's the link to the version with the banter:

NOTE: The download link has been removed due to a copyright issue, sorry. But check the comments below.

Here's the track list for the version with only the music. This version is 50 minutes long, eight minutes shorter than the other version.

01 I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles)

02 Too Much Monkey Business (Beatles)

03 Love Me Do (Beatles)

04 Some Other Guy (Beatles)

05 Misery (Beatles)

06 I Just Don't Understand (Beatles)

07 A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (Beatles)

08 Boys (Beatles)

09 Matchbox (Beatles)

10 From Me to You (Beatles)

11 Thank You Girl (Beatles)

12 Memphis, Tennessee (Beatles)

13 A Taste of Honey (Beatles)

14 Twist and Shout (Beatles)

15 Anna [Go to Him] (Beatles)

16 Please Please Me (Beatles)

17 The Hippy Hippy Shake (Beatles)

18 I'm Talking about You (Beatles)

19 Ask Me Why (Beatles)

20 Till There Was You (Beatles)

21 I Saw Her Standing There [Edit] (Beatles)

Here's the link to the version with no banter, and only songs.

NOTE: The download link has been removed due to a copyright issue, sorry. But, again, check the comments below.

Again, especially if you're not a die-hard fan, I recommend just getting the music only version.

For the cover photo, I used one of the photos from this exact concert and colorized it, using the Palette program. You can see a larger and uncropped version of the original black and white photo in one of the above article links.

Posted by Paul at 4:12 PM

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Labels: 1963, Beatles, George Harrison, John Lennon, live, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr

16 comments:

PaulDecember 6, 2023 at 5:33 PM

By the way, thanks to Mike Solof for alerting me to Lord Reith's edits, which totally changed my opinion about this recording. Lord Reith has done similar eye-opening work on the Beatles' recordings from the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany. I plan on posting that here soon as well.

Michael solofDecember 6, 2023 at 8:17 PM

:-) Glad the BEatle of service!

Replies

PaulDecember 6, 2023 at 8:29 PM

I see what you did there.

lemonflagDecember 6, 2023 at 8:36 PM

Thanks Paul Thanks Mike.

Lord Reith has also done the BBC recordings.

GmanDecember 6, 2023 at 8:55 PM

fantastic!

juan manuel muñozDecember 6, 2023 at 9:09 PM

Excelente, amigo. Muchas gracias.

Dr RobertDecember 6, 2023 at 9:49 PM

Maybe one to look at is the recording of a concert from Melbourne on their '64 tour of Australia - I think all the audio is available but not all the visual of the show.

Replies

PaulDecember 7, 2023 at 11:17 PM

That's an interesting idea. I just heard a recording, it's very good, but I'm still annoyed by the level of screaming throughout (though it's a lot less than usual for their live recordings). I wonder if there's a way to get rid of the remnants of that? I'll look into it. So much is possible these days with new technology.

EasilyConfusedDecember 5, 2024 at 2:10 AM

x-minus.pro now has an excellent crowd removal programme.

EZ6December 6, 2023 at 10:51 PM

Thanks !

copacetic47December 7, 2023 at 4:24 AM

WOW!!! Thank you very, very much. Your work is much appreciated.

Replies

PaulDecember 7, 2023 at 11:18 PM

I dig your Wow. Thanks.

Brett AlanDecember 7, 2023 at 11:07 PM

This is AMAZING! It's still not an audiophile's dream, but it's pleasant to listen to. And historically--a recording of a show from 1963, but a full hour show where they do covers they never recorded except at the BBC--a collector's dream! I read about this show many years ago in Mark Lewisohn's first book. Never dreamed I'd hear it! Thank you so much.

Replies

PaulDecember 7, 2023 at 11:18 PM

That's great, that you're psyched about it. What to you think about the version with banter vs. the version without?

PaulSeptember 13, 2024 at 9:30 PM

Here's a link to download the music (music only version):

https://atseghost.blogspot.com/2024/09/blog-post.html

And here's a second download link (the music and banter version):

https://atseghost.blogspot.com/2024/09/blog-post_6.html

juanApril 19, 2025 at 11:20 PM

wow !!! muchas gracias...

Source: https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-beatles-roxburgh-hall-stowe-school.html

April 24, 2025

Looking back at: The Beatles: The Complete BBC Sessions by Great Dane-10 Disks

This was such a ground breaking collection of Beatles complete BBC radio performances never before available. It deserves another look and listen. You can still find these CD sets on eBay. Enjoy.

The Complete BBC Sessions is a bootleg 10 CD box set from Great Dane Records, Italy. Total running time is approximately 10 hrs. 16 min. It is comprised of all the available recordings (from private collectors) of The Beatles appearances on BBC radio from March '62 to June '65. (All of these recordings couldn't have been recorded off the air because a couple from '64 are clearly the working recording sessions.) There were a total of 52 known appearances (not counting interviews), of which this collection has 44 (complete and partial).

I have compiled a track listing of the 9 CDs plus the unavailable performances. Since the source is from the tapes of collectors, the sound quality ranges from very poor to excellent. I've made an attempt to grade each song: P (poor), G (good), VG (very good), E (excellent)

To keep my sanity, I didn't try to be that precise with the grading. I just used my intitial reaction to each song. So some would undoubtably rate some "G"s as "P"s, "VG"s as "E"s, and so on. I just wanted to give an idea of how much the sound quality varies. Of course this reflects just the sound not the performance (which IMO is excellent throughout).

I highly recommend this box set to anyone who wants all the BBC broadcasts (especially if one doesn't already have many BBC bootlegs). Others may find this overwhelming and repetitious. Some may want to seek out a good compilation. And (finally!) there is the new "Live at the BBC" from EMI.

One last note: I have heard that Great Dane is to release a 2 CD update to the box set this coming February. (old post)

The Complete BBC Sessions

Disc 1 (71:58) Show Trk Song Qlty

1 Teenager's Turn NA Hello Little Girl (not broadcast) (Here We Go) 1 Dream Baby P r 3/7/62 a 3/8/62 2 Memphis P 3 Please Mr. Postman P 2 Here We Go 4 Ask Me Why P r 6/11 a 6/15 5 Besame Mucho P 6 A Picture Of You P 3 Here We Go NA Sheila (not broadcast) r 10/25 a 10/26 NA Love Me Do NA A Taste Of Honey NA P.S. I Love You 4 Talent Spot NA Love Me Do r 11/27 a 12/4 NA P.S. I Love You NA Twist And Shout

5 Here We Go NA Chains r 1/16/63 a 1/25/63 NA Please Please Me NA Ask Me Why NA Three Cool Cats (not broadcast)

6 Saturday Club 7 Some Other Guy P r 1/22 a 1/26 8 Keep Your Hands Off My Baby P 9 Beautiful Dreamer P NA Love Me Do NA Please Please Me

7 Talent Spot NA Please Please Me r 1/22 a 1/29 NA Ask Me Why NA Some Other Guy

8 Parade Of Pops NA Love Me Do r 2/20 a 2/20 NA Please Please Me

9 Here We Go NA Misery r 3/6 a 3/12 NA Do You Want To Know A Secret? NA Please Please Me NA I Saw Her Standing There (not broadcast) 10 Saturday Club 10 I Saw Her Standing There P r 3/16 a 3/16 11 Misery P 12 Too Much Monkey Business P 13 I'm Talking About You P 14 Please Please Me P 15 The Hippy Hippy Shake P

11 On The Scene NA Misery r 3/21 a 3/28 NA Do You Want To Know A Secret? NA Please Please Me

12 Easy Beat NA Please Please Me r 4/3 a 4/7 NA Misery 16 From Me To You P 13 Swingin' Sound 17 Twist And Shout P r 4/18 a 4/18 18 From Me To You P

14 Side By Side NA Side By Side Theme r 4/1 a 4/22 NA I Saw Her Standing There NA Do You Want To Know A Secret? NA Baby It's You NA Please Please Me NA From Me To You NA Misery 15 Side By Side 19 Side By Side Theme VG r 4/1 a 5/13 20 Long Tall Sally VG 21 A Taste Of Honey VG 22 Chains VG 23 Thank You Girl VG 24 Boys VG NA From Me To You

16 Saturday Club 25 I Saw Her Standing There G r 5/21 a 5/25 26 Do You Want To Know A Secret? G 27 Boys G 28 Long Tall Sally G 29 From Me To You G 30 Money G

17 Steppin' Out 31 Please Please Me P r 5/21 a 6/3 32 I Saw Her Standing There P NA Roll Over Beethoven NA Thank You Girl NA From Me To You NA Twist And Shout (not broadcast)

Disc 2 (77:55) Show Trk Song Qlty

18 Pop Go The 1 Pop Go The Beatles Beatles NA From Me To You r 5/25/63 a 6/4/63 2 Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby G 3 Do You Want To Know A Secret? G 4 You Really Got A Hold On Me G 5 Misery P 6 The Hippy Hippy Shake P 7 Pop Go The Beatles G 19 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 8 Too Much Monkey Business VG r 6/1 a 6/11 9 I Got To Find My Baby VG 10 Young Blood VG 11 Baby It's You VG 12 Till There Was You VG 13 Love Me Do P Pop Go The Beatles+

20 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 14 A Shot Of Rythm And Blues G r 6/1 a 6/18 15 Memphis P 16 A Taste Of Honey VG 17 Sure To Fall VG 18 Money VG 19 From Me To You P Pop Go The Beatles+ 21 Easy Beat 20 Some Other Guy G r 6/19 a 6/23 21 A Taste Of Honey VG 22 Thank You Girl G 23 From Me To You G

22 Side By Side Side By Side Theme+ r 4/4 a 6/24 24 Too Much Monkey Business VG NA Love Me Do 25 Boys G 26 I'll Be On Way VG 27 From Me To You G

23 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 28 Anna G r 6/17 a 6/25 29 I Saw Her Standing There G 30 Boys G 31 Chains G 32 P.S. I Love You G 33 Twist And Shout G Pop Go The Beatles+ NA A Taste Of Honey (not broadcast)

Disc 3 (70:55) Show Trk Song Qlty 24 Saturday Club 1 I Got To Find My Baby VG r 6/24/63 a 6/29/63 2 Memphis VG 3 Money P 4 Till There Was You P 5 From Me To You G 6 Roll Over Beethoven G

25 The Beat Show NA From Me To You r 7/3 a 7/4 7 A Taste Of Honey P 8 Twist And Shout P 26 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 9 That's All Right (Mama) G r 7/2 a 7/16 10 There's A Place G 11 Carol VG 12 Soldier Of Love VG 13 Lend Me Your Comb VG 14 Clarabella VG Pop Go The Beatles+ NA Three Cool Cats (not broadcast) NA Sweet Little Sixteen (not broadcast) NA Ask Me Why (not broadcast)

27 Easy Beat 15 I Saw Her Standing There P r 7/17 a 7/21 16 A Shot Of Rythm And Blues P 17 There's A Place P 18 Twist And Shout P

28 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 19 Sweet Little Sixteen G r 7/10 a 7/23 NA A Taste Of Honey 20 Nothin' Shakin' VG 21 Love Me Do P 22 Lonesome Tears In My Eyes VG 23 So How Come No One Loves Me VG Pop Go The Beatles+ 29 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 24 Memphis VG r 7/10 a 7/30 25 Do You Want To Know A Secret? G 26 Till There Was You VG 27 Matchbox G 28 Please Mr. Postman G 29 The Hippy Hippy Shake VG Pop Go The Beatles+

Disc 4 (66:57) Show Trk Song Qlty 30 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 1 I'm Gonna Sit Right Down VG r 7/16/63 a 8/8/63 And Cry Over You 2 Cry, Waiting, Hoping VG 3 Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey G 4 To Know Her Is To Love Her VG 5 The Honeymoon Song VG 6 Twist And Shout G Pop Go The Beatles+ 31 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 7 Long Tall Sally G r 7/16 a 8/13 8 Please Please Me G 9 She Loves You VG 10 You Really Got A Hold On Me VG 11 I'll Get You VG 12 I Got A Woman VG Pop Go The Beatles+ 32 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 13 She Loves You G r 7/16 a 8/20 14 Words Of Love G 15 Glad All Over G 16 I Just Don't Understand G 17 Devil In Her Heart G 18 Slow Down P Pop Go The Beatles+ 33 Saturday Club 19 Long Tall Sally P r 7/30 a 8/24 20 She Loves You P 21 Glad All Over P NA Twist And Shout NA You Really Got A Hold On Me 22 I'll Get You P 34 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 23 Ooh! My Soul P r 8/1 a 8/27 24 Don't Ever Change G 25 Twist And Shout G NA She Loves You 26 Anna P 27 A Shot Of Rythm And Blues G Pop Go The Beatles+

Disc 5 (71:13) Show Trk Song Qlty 35 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 1 From Me To You P r 8/1/63 a 9/3/63 NA I'll Get You 2 Money P 3 There's A Place G 4 Honey Don't (John) G 5 Roll Over Beethoven G Pop Go The Beatles+ NA Lucille (not broadcast) NA Baby It's You (not broadcast)

36 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 6 Too Much Monkey Business VG r 9/3 a 9/10 7 Love Me Do G 8 She Loves You G 9 I'll Get You G 10 A Taste Of Honey VG 11 The Hippy Hippy Shake VG Pop Go The Beatles+ 37 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 12 Chains VG r 9/3 a 9/17 13 You Really Got A Hold On Me VG 14 Misery VG 15 Lucille VG 16 From Me To You VG 17 Boys VG Pop Go The Beatles+ 38 Pop Go The Pop Go The Beatles+ Beatles 18 She Loves You* G r 9/3 a 9/24 19 Ask Me Why VG 20 Devil In My Heart G * from 9/10 21 I Saw Her Standing There G PGTB 22 Sure To Fall G 23 Twist And Shout G Pop Go The Beatles+

39 Saturday Club 24 I Saw Her Standing There E r 9/7 a 10/5 25 Memphis E 26 Happy Birthday Saturday Club E 26 I'll Get You E 27 She Loves You E 28 Lucille E

Disc 6 (72:41) Show Trk Song Qlty

40 Easy Beat 1 I Saw Her Standing There G r 10/16/63 a 10/20/63 2 Love Me Do G 3 Please Please Me G 4 From Me To You G 5 She Loves You G

41 Ken Dodd Show 6 She Loves You P r 10/9 a 11/3

42 Saturday Club 7 All I Want For Christmas r 12/17 a 12/21 NA All My Loving 8 This Boy G 9 I Want To Hold Your Hand G 10 Till There Was You VG 11 Roll Over Beethoven VG *from 10/5 12 She Loves You* G Sat Club 13 Crimble Medley G

43 From Us To You 14 From Us To You G r 12/18 a 12/26 15 She Loves You G 16 All My Loving G 17 Roll Over Beethoven G 18 Till There Was You VG 19 Boys VG 20 Money G 21 I Saw Her Standing There G 22 Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport G 23 I Want To Hold Your Hand VG 24 From Us To You G 44 Saturday Club 25 All My Loving G r 1/7 a 2/15 26 Money G 27 The Hippy Hippy Shake G *From 12/21 28 I Want To Hold Your Hand* G Sat Club 29 Roll Over Beethoven G 30 Johnny B. Goode G 31 I Wanna Be Your Man G

Disc 7 (65:35) Show Trk Song Qlty

45 From Us To You 1 From Us To You G r 2/28/64 a 3/30/64 2 You Can't Do That G 3 Roll Over Beethoven VG 4 Till There Was You VG 5 I Wanna Be Your Man G 6 Please Mr. Postman G 7 All My Loving VG 8 This Boy G 9 Can't Buy Me Love VG 10 From Us To You G

46 Saturday Club 11 Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby P r 3/31 a 4/4 12 I Call Your Name P 13 I Got A Woman VG 14 You Can't Do That P 15 Can't Buy Me Love P 16 Sure To Fall VG 17 Long Tall Sally G

47 From Us To You 18 From Us To You G r 5/1 a 5/18 19 Whit Monday To You G 20 I Saw Her Standing There G 21 Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey P 22 I Forgot To Remember To Forget G 23 You Can't Do That P 24 Sure To Fall P 25 Can't Buy Me Love P 26 Matchbox P 27 Honey Don't (John) P

Disc 8 (51:20) Show Trk Song Qlty

48 Top Gear 1 Top Gear Spot r 7/14/64 a 7/16/64 2 Long Tall Sally E 3 Things We Said Today E 4 A Hard Day's Night E 5 And I Love Her E 6 I Should Have Known Better G 7 If I Fell P 8 You Can't Do That P

49 From Us To You 9 From Us To You P r 7/17 a 8/3 10 Long Tall Sally G 11 If I Fell G 12 I'm Happy Just To Dance With You G 13 Things We Said Today G 14 I Should Have Know Better G 15 Boys G 16 Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey G 17 A Hard Day's Night G 18 From Us To You P

49a From Us To You 19 From Us To You P recording session 20 From Us To You P 7/17 21 I'm Happy Just To Dance With You P 22 I Should Have Known Better P 23 I Should Have Known Better P

Disc 9 (67:37) Show Trk Song Qlty

50 Top Gear 1 I'm A Loser VG r 11/17/64 a 11/26/64 2 (Chat) 3 Honey Don't E 4 She's A Woman E 5 Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby E 6 I'll Follow The Sun E

7 (Chat) 8 I Feel Fine E

51 Saturday Club 9 Rock And Roll Music G r 11/25 a 12/26 10 (Chat) 11 I'm A Loser* VG * same as 11/26 12 Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby* E Top Gear 13 I Feel Fine* E 14 Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey E 15 She's A Woman* E

51a Sat Club/Top Gear 16 I Feel Fine VG recording session 17 She's A Woman E 52 Invite You To Take 18 Ticket To Ride (short) G A Ticket To Ride 19 Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby G r 5/20/65 a 6/7/65 20 I'm A loser G 21 (Chat) 22 The Night Before G 23 Honey Don't G 24 Dizzy Miss Lizzy E 25 She's A Woman G 26 Ticket To Ride (long) VG

9 disc set with bonus tenth disc and booklet.

Source: https://www.beatlesagain.com/barchive/gdane.html

More info is available here:

Disc 1-2 https://tinyurl.com/sodgcbm

Disc 3-4 https://tinyurl.com/rwclvnc

Disc 5-6 https://tinyurl.com/shfqnhw

Disc 7-8 https://tinyurl.com/w337svm

Disc 9-info https://tinyurl.com/val8k7t

April 19, 2025

How Apple Constructed Let It Be Naked - from Mix Magazine 2004

How Apple Constructed Let It Be Naked-
The Naked Truth About The Beatles' Let It BeNaked
Jan 1, 2004 12:00 PM, By Matt Hurwitz – Mix Magazine

Ever wondered what The Beatles' Let It Be album would have sounded like had it been properly completed instead of released as a companion disc to their 1970 fly-on-the-wall motion picture of the same name? Such was the charge given to EMI's Abbey Road Studios by the group's Apple Corps Ltd. The result is the recently released Let It Be…Naked (Apple/Capitol-EMI).

After the tumultuous sessions for the 1968 album The Beatles (aka, The White Album), the Fabs regrouped at Twickenham Film Studios in London in January 1969 to make a TV special showing the group rehearsing and recording an album. The concept was a “warts and all” view of the band with no overdubs; everything was as live as possible. After those sessions broke down, the production moved to the basement studio of The Beatles' own Apple offices, where recording continued through the month. The sessions culminated in a historic live performance (The Beatles' last) on the office's rooftop on January 30 of the same year with their new temporary “fifth Beatle,” keyboardist Billy Preston (himself an Apple recording artist by the end of the sessions), who played on the studio recordings, as well.

Glyn Johns, who had recorded the sessions, was given the task of mixing and compiling the recordings into an LP (originally titled Get Back) in May of that year, though the group chose not to release it. Johns tried a second compilation in January 1970, though that version also failed to see the light of day. John Lennon, on new manager Allen Klein's advice, brought in legendary producer Phil Spector to revamp the album in March 1970, which he did, adding orchestration to three tracks and editing others. The result — with studio chatter and quips intact — was the May 1970 Apple release Let It Be, The Beatles' last original album (although , which came out in 1969, was actually recorded after Let It Be).

In February 2002, following a chance meeting of Paul McCartney and the film's original director, Michael Lindsay-Hogg, Abbey Road veteran Allan Rouse received a call from Apple's Neil Aspinall asking him to take a stab at remixing the album. Rouse had acted as project coordinator for a number of Beatles remix projects, among them The Beatles Anthology, Yellow Submarine Songtrack and Lennon's Imagine. While the task for those projects had always been to re-create the original mixes known to millions of fans using current technology, the charge for the Let It Be project was different.

“This was not an attempt to remaster an existing album,” Rouse says. “We were asked to make it sound the way the band had believed the finished album was going to sound.” This meant, for the most part, producing mixes that reflected only what the four bandmembers (or five, including Preston) could play live: no overdubbed guitars or vocals, and certainly no orchestras.

In addition, all of the between-song chatter, breakdowns, jokes and ditties — including “Maggie Mae” and the “Dig It” jam — were dropped. Says Rouse, “They just didn't really fit in with an album of 11 songs and neither did the dialog. Those little bits were fine for a soundtrack album, which Glyn's was, but they didn't fit comfortably with the concept of a straight album.”

Rouse tapped two young staff engineers, Paul Hicks and Guy Massey, for the job. Both had worked on prior Beatles projects (and had, coincidentally, started at the studio on the same day in 1994), including the 5.1 surround mixes for the recently released The Beatles Anthology DVD set.

The group took a team approach, making decisions democratically, each chipping in suggestions but deciding with one voice. During a two-week period, the three listened to all 30 reels of 1-inch 8-track session tapes, which had been recorded through a pair of borrowed 4-track consoles onto a 3M 8-track machine. As a reference, the producer/engineers also studied the released Spector album and both of Johns' versions. “We mainly listened to identify the takes they used,” says Rouse. They also noted where Spector had made any edits, deciding if there was a good reason to either keep or discard those edits. “As it turns out, Glyn and Phil had done most of the legwork. We ended up using the vast majority of their takes.”

But because the group's mission was to make the best possible album, they didn't limit themselves to what had been done previously. “Once we started, we would A/B against the Spector disc to see if what we were doing was an improvement,” says Massey.

Upon listening to the tapes in Rouse's room at the studio, they were transferred into Pro Tools 5.2 using a Prism Sound Dream ADA 8 A/D converter. And, as part of the improvement process, once the recordings were in the digital world, the engineers began researching which takes were the best performances, and, if more than one take of a song had strong attributes, trial edits were made to see what combination would make the best overall performance. “Once we had the building blocks in the digital domain,” says Massey, “we'd delve into a bit more detail. If there were fluffed lines or pops, etc., if there was another take without the errors, we'd try inserting that part from the other take.”

Adds Hicks, “Sometimes we did the tiniest little things. If something wasn't quite right — if there was a bend in a note or something — we did actually replace it with a slightly better one. Again, our main theme was to make it as strong as possible.”

The live rooftop recordings offered their own special challenges, given that the band was playing on a blustery winter day. Because the group was being filmed, the film crew had chosen an unobtrusive vocal microphone during the sessions, the Neumann KM84i, which features a small capsule on the end of an extension tube, with the mic's preamp located at the bottom near the floor. (The mic was commonly used for TV talk shows and awards programs.) The same mics were brought upstairs to the roof, where second engineer Alan Parsons simply tied clippings of pantyhose over the capsules to act as windscreens. “The wind noise was actually quite manageable,” says Hicks. “It was really only when they weren't singing that you could hear it.” For the inevitable hard consonants and mic pops, “We mainly handled that with a combination of filtering and EQ,” notes Hicks. A small amount of de-noising was done using an analog Behringer dynamic filter.

The following is a breakdown of what was done to each Let It Be…Naked track (in running order, along with the mix engineer's name in parentheses):

“Get Back” (Hicks): While Johns and Martin used a master recorded on January 28, 1969, for the aborted LP and released single, Spector had used a recording from the day before, and the same master is used on this album. Notably absent is the song's coda, which appeared on the single. “It turns out that the coda had been recorded as an edit piece four or five reels later,” explains Hicks. “Since it wasn't on the original session recording for the song, it wouldn't have represented what actually took place in the studio during that take, so it was decided to leave it off.”

“Dig a Pony” (Massey): Those who've heard bootlegs of Johns' mixes know the song originally featured an “All I Want Is You” intro and outro, which Spector removed for his LP. “The tuning is particularly bad in the beginning,” says Massey, prompting the decision to eliminate them in the new version, as well.

“For You Blue” (Hicks): Using the same master as Spector used, Hicks mainly focused on keeping the sounds bright and clear. What was interesting, he says, was learning about the unique sound McCartney got out of his piano. “It's a fuzzy, metallic sound, which he did by putting a piece of paper in the piano strings, causing them to vibrate against the paper when struck. You can hear on the session tape Paul's fiddling around, trying to get the right sound.” And because McCartney is playing piano, he does not play bass on the song. “The bass comes from the piano,” says Hicks, with McCartney playing a bass line on the keys. George Harrison's vocal, it turns out, was one of the few overdubs used. “We took out his live vocal, which was basically a guide vocal. It wasn't a complete take, really, and I don't think it was ever intended to be used.”

“The Long and Winding Road” (Hicks): Perhaps the greatest achievement on the album is the improvement to this track, easily accomplished by removing Spector's overblown orchestra. Actually, though, the master on Let It Be…Naked is not even the one used by Spector; it's the only take on the album that was changed in its entirety. The group returned to the Apple basement the day after their rooftop show to record three more songs, this one among them. Says Rouse, “Spector had used one take recorded five days earlier.” “This version, recorded on January 31, we felt was a stronger basic performance,” says Hicks. “There's also a slight lyric change,” adds Rouse, who suggests that, this being the later recording, it represents McCartney's final lyric choice.

As a listening experience, it's a first for Beatles fans to hear them play the song instead of an orchestra. The recording features McCartney on piano, Harrison playing lead guitar through a Leslie speaker, Lennon on a newly acquired Fender Bass VI and Ringo Starr keeping light time with his hi-hat.

“Two of Us” (Massey): The same master used by Spector, also from January 31, 1969, features Lennon and McCartney on acoustic guitars, Harrison on electric and Starr providing a simple bass drum/snare/tom beat. By the way, Starr's drums were typically recorded onto a single track, precluding mixing them into stereo. Small amounts of de-essing and rumble filtering were also performed.

“I've Got a Feeling” (Massey/Hicks): A rooftop recording, this song was edited by Massey before being mixed by his colleague. Massey used the best of each of two rooftop takes of the song, creating a version, Hicks says, with the most energy. And while Johns had opted for a studio recording of the song for his version of the album, there was no beating the live performances. Notes Hicks, “I don't know if it was just the fact that they were playing live and knew it or just because they were so cold, but there was just so much more energy in the live recordings.” Sonically, he notes, the live recordings — minus the wind and pops — are not much different from their studio counterparts, making a surprisingly good match when listening to the album.

“One After 909” (Hicks): Another rooftop performance, though, interestingly, the team did consider using a studio version. “We did research to see if there was another version,” says Hicks. “But it was just much slower, and it had a completely different feel. There was no contest, really. It's one of the more up-tempo numbers, so we went with the live one.” Hicks is proudest of his drum sound, bringing Starr out to the fore. “We found so many details we wanted to bring out, which we tried our best to do. Everything is a lot more focused.”

“Don't Let Me Down” (Hicks/Massey): Though not included on Spector's album, this song was a product of those sessions. A studio version from January 28, 1969, was released as the B-side to the “Get Back” single. This version, however, is an edit of the two rooftop versions. The Beatles recorded a second take because Lennon forgot the lyrics during the first take.

“I Me Mine” (Massey): This song was not originally recorded at Apple in January 1969, though Harrison is seen in the film playing it briefly at Twickenham. In January 1970, Harrison, McCartney and Starr recorded a studio version of the song, with Harrison playing acoustic guitar and singing a guide vocal, McCartney on bass and Starr on drums for the master take. Electric piano, electric guitar, lead vocal, backing vocals, organ and a second acoustic guitar were added as overdubs. The recording was a brief 1:34 in length, so before adding his orchestra, Spector lengthened it by repeating one of the verses, resulting in a 2:25 final master. The Naked team decided to leave in the overdubs — which made the recording complete as The Beatles had envisioned it — and Spector's edit. “We were originally going to do it unedited,” says Massey, “but if you listen to it at that length, it's just far too short.” Jokes Rouse, “That was our one concession to Mr. Spector.” Massey also built up the mix as the song progressed by adding elements of the mix as the song enters the second verse.

“Across the Universe” (Massey): Again, while no studio recordings of this song were made at Apple, Lennon is seen playing the song at Twickenham in the film. “Across the Universe” was actually recorded a year earlier, in February 1968, at the same Abbey Road sessions that produced “Lady Madonna” and “Hey Bulldog.” The basic track featured Lennon on acoustic guitar, his vocal and a tom-tom (all recorded onto one track), with Harrison playing a tamboura. At the time, George Martin had added background vocals and animal sound effects. Spector's version removed the latter two parts, as well as the tamboura, replacing them with an orchestra and a choir.

The new mix features Lennon's guitar and vocal, Starr's drums and the tamboura. “Again, because the concept was whatever the guys could play live onstage, we took everything else away,” says Rouse. The ending has been given a spiritual touch, with a building echo (via real Abbey Road tape delay) added.

“Let It Be” (Massey): another recording from January 31, 1969, the day after rooftop, with McCartney on piano, Lennon on Fender Bass VI, Harrison on lead guitar (through a Leslie), Starr on drums and Preston on organ. Three months later in April, Martin added a new electric guitar lead from Harrison, and in January 1970, added backing vocals from McCartney and Harrison, brass and cellos and yet another pass at a Harrison lead. Martin produced the single release of the song, issued in March 1970 (pre-Spector), featuring the April 1969 guitar solo. Upon Spector's arrival, the song was lengthened by repeating a chorus and issued featuring the January 1970 guitar lead.

The new version features the same master and uses a few edits from other takes, most notably the Harrison guitar solo that came from the take of the song that appears in the film. “We'd always thought that the guitar lead in the version in the film was just really soaring,” says Massey. “We edited it in, just as a trial take, and we all thought it sounded great.”

The album comes with a 22-minute companion “fly-on-the-wall” dialog/music disc put together by the BBC's Kevin Howlett and engineer Brian Thompson. Howlett listened to more than 80 hours of tapes, recorded in mono by the film crew during both the Twickenham and Apple sessions, discovering a number of previously unknown Lennon/McCartney tunes (which are included on the disc), as well as some other surprises. “I had expected to hear the kind of disagreements and arguing we've all heard about,” Howlett tells Mix. “Instead, I heard the bandmembers actually having a good time. By the end, they were, in fact, quite excited about what they were doing.”

Remixing an album by the greatest rock band of all time can be, well, daunting. “It's hard to make it as up-to-date as stuff nowadays, because it wasn't recorded these days,” says Massey. “From that point of view, it was a challenge to make it sound as punchy and as present as possible. But it's a good representation of what they were like then.”

Adds Hicks, “We all collectively felt that we wanted it to stand along all the other Beatles albums, and hopefully, we've achieved that.”

Let It Be . . . Naked

How much better, you could be forgiven for wondering, could Let It Be be? The answer, perhaps surprisingly, is "a bit". Let It Be, while obviously better than almost everything ever recorded by anyone else, was compromised by the fact that the Beatles were disintegrating as a unit during the recording sessions, the rancour most famously illustrated by John Lennon calling in Phil Spector behind Paul McCartney's back to rework "The Long and Winding Road". Let It Be... Naked, then, is the album as the Beatles would have heard it while they were making it.

2004
Side 1
1. Get Back
2. Dig A Pony
3. For You Blue
4. The Long And Winding Road
5. Two Of Us
6. I've Got A Feeling Side 2
7. One After 909
8. Don't Let Me Down
9. I Me Mine
10. Across The Universe
11. Let It Be

Let It Be (Original)

Recorded in January 1969 at Twickenham Film Studios just outside London, Let It Be was a miserable experience for all concerned. The Beatles were constantly filmed while making the album in the process of falling apart. They were so dispirited that, having recorded the tracks, none of them could be bothered to do the necessary post-production work, which was delegated first to producer George Martin, then to Glyn Johns, and finally to Phil Spector. Their unlucky 13th, and last, album, Let It Be was released on May 8, 1970, in the U.K., topping the chart two weeks later. In America, with 3.7 million advance orders, it achieved the highest initial sale of any album in history, and subsequently picked up an Oscar as best Soundtrack of the Year.

George Martin: We'd do take after take after take--and then John would be asking whether Take 67 was better than Take 39. I'd say, "John, I honestly don't know." "You're no f***ing good then, are you?" he'd say. That was the general atmosphere.

John Lennon: It was a dreadful, dreadful feeling in Twickenham Studios being filmed all the time. You couldn't make music at 10 in the morning, or whatever it was, with people filming you and colored lights.

Engineer Glyn Johns edited the original session tapes into a a finished album called Get Back. The Beatles could not agree on the final product and the entire project was shelved for over a year until Allen Klein, the Beatles' new manager, dusted it off.

Klein wasn't happy with the quality of the tapes Johns had edited and hired Phil Spector to produce a soundtrack album, giving him the formidable task of sifting through hundreds of hours of studio and live tapes to produce something marketable. Spector, who had never worked with the Beatles before, added orchestrations and female choruses. The resulting record was a disappointment to many Beatle fans and the Beatles themselves. Still, Let It Be was a No. 1 record.

John Lennon: By the time we got to 'Let It Be', we couldn't play the game anymore; we couldn't do it anymore. It came to the point where it was no longer creating magic, and the camera, being in the room with us, sort of made us aware of that, that it was a phony situation ... "It was hell making the film Let It Be. When it came out, a lot of people complained about Yoko looking miserable in it. But even the biggest Beatle fan couldn't have sat through those six weeks of misery. It was the most miserable session on earth.

Paul McCartney: In fact, what happened, when we got in there, we showed how a break-up of a group works. We didn't realize that we were sort of breaking up as it was happening.

George Harrison: As everybody knows, we never had much privacy and, you know, this thing that was happening was they were filming us rehearsing. There was a bit of a row going on between Paul and I. You can see it, where he's saying, 'Well don't play this', or something and I'm saying, 'Well, you know I'll play what you want or I won't play if you don't want it, you know, just make up your mind.' That kind of stuff was going on. And they were filming us, recording us having a row, you know, it was like, terrible really. I thought, 'I'm quite capable of being relatively happy on my own and I'm not able to be happy in this situation, you know, I'm getting out of here.'

Ringo Starr: I think everyone was getting a little tired of us by then because we were taking a long time and there were many discussions going on by then — many heated discussions."

By the end of 1970, the Beatles had sold over 500 million records.

1970
Side 1
1. Two of Us
2. Dig a Pony
3. Across the Universe
4. I Me Mine
5. Dig It
6. Let It Be
7. [Maggie Mae]
Side 2
1. I've Got a Feeling
2. One After 909
3. The Long and Winding Road
4. For You Blue
5. Get Back