Live

"Make As Much Noise As You Like!"

FLO Records, FLO 006

Liner notes:

"Make as much noise as you like! Will you join in? Clap your hands, stamp your feet...as loud as you want!" Paul McCartney hardly needed to issue these instructions to the hysterical audiences at Beatles concerts. This CD gives you some idea of what it was like to sit in the crowd and try hear the music over the deafening screams-nearly impossible. Most of these recordings are making their debut on CD, and one listen will tell you why.

Don't expect to hear much of their playing and singing, as these tapes were generally recorded by journalists and fans with a single microphone from a sea of thousands.

We begin with a clip from their American prime-time TV debut on "The Jack Paar Show". When this footage was rebroadcast in the 1980's, it merely included a bit of "She Loves You" from the BBC documentary "The Mersey Sound". However, this alternate tape proves that some of the Bournemouth concert was originally aired , and underneath it all, we can hear a live version of "From Me To You" which seems to be from the concert itself. Next up is the partial soundtrack to a newsreel entitled "Beatles At The Stadium" -when shown in Sydney beginning on June 25, 1964 it was advertised as having "Love Me Do" among its songs; odd, since they never performed it live in Australia. It turned out to be merely dubbed from the record, but at least the first two songs from one of the Sydney concerts were captured on film and can be heard here.

From the Summer '64 North American tour we have some of the Cow Palace show, taken from a KRCA-TV documentary, followed by raw newsreel commentary of the Chicago concert (including a snippet of the segue between the first two songs) and some of the Detroit concert, courtesey of WKNR-AM.

Moving on to 1965, the evning Rome concert is taken from the hard-to-find "A.M. Tape" which assembles the best circulating sources of this journalist's tape. From Ringo's appearance on "The View" in 1998 comes a bit of "Act Naturally" from the restored Shea concert film, allowing us to hear his original vocal for the first time. And KEWB-AM reporters bring us some the evening concert at the Cow Palace (excerpts of the afternoon show were on "Vinyl To The Core").

By 1966, The Beatles were tired of the touring grind, but fans weren't tired of screaming! Newsreels from Munich and Hamburg prove this -with the Hamburg tape being an upgrade to the same material on "Vinyl To The Core". The entire Detroit show follows from a poor sounding audience tape; probably the most interesting thing about it is that it proves they were still closing their set with "I'm Down"; by the next day in Cleveland this had changed to "Long Tall Sally". In fact that's one of the songs heard on Bess Coleman's report from the afternoon show at Memphis - it's a pity the evening show, with the "firecracker incident" hasn't turned up yet. Finally from the vinyl documentary LP "Beatles At Shea Stadium-Described By Erupting Fans!" bits and pieces of their last New York concert can barely be heard.

As a bonus, we've added something actually enjoyable to listen to: The Beatles, Donovan, Mia Farrow, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and others having a sing-song by the Ganges. This bonus track assembles the "Arrive Without Aging" and "Another Flaming Pie" tracks into a more complete version. As you listen to this CD, feel free to make as much noise as you like!  

Back to the Beatlegs