Monday 31 August 2015

The Mersey Sound (1963)


The Beatles were in Southport for a series of six nights at the Odeon Cinema when they also took part in The Mersey Sound, a documentary made by Manchester-based BBC producer Don Haworth. Haworth had first met the group on 21 July 1963 to discuss his idea to capture the spirit of Mersey Beat on camera. He signed a contract with Brian Epstein on 6 August, granting him exclusive access for a time.
Shooting took place in Southport, Manchester and Liverpool between Tuesday 27 and Friday 30 August. On this first day The Beatles were filmed at the Little Theatre on Hoghton Street, Southport, performing on stage without an audience. Haworth knew that if he filmed a real concert the sound and the fury from the fans would have made the footage unusable. Filming began at 9.30am. The Beatles performed versions of Twist And Shout and She Loves You, while wearing their grey collarless suits. They then changed into black collarless suits and performed Love Me Do, with a curtain behind them to suggest a different location.
Haworth later edited in footage of fans from The Beatles' concert on the previous night at the Odeon. In the final cut, however, the EMI recordings of the songs was dubbed onto the footage in place of the live audio.
On the second day, the filming took place in a dressing room at the BBC's Dickenson Road studio in Manchester. They spoke about their past, future plans and their belief that the present beat music boom wouldn't last for ever. They were also shown applying make up and waiting in the wings their instruments, in a sequence which was intended to precede the 'concert' footage filmed the day before.
The BBC's first north of England television studios were situated at the corner of Dickenson Road and Wilmslow Road, Manchester, in the former Dickenson Road Methodist Church. The building was demolished in the late 1960s.
For the third day of filming, The Beatles were filmed in their home city Liverpool.
Two locations were used. The first was aboard a ferry crossing the Mersey from Liverpool Pier Head to Wallasey. They were filmed on board signing autographs and meeting fans. Following this they were taken to Speke Airport - later renamed Liverpool John Lennon Airport - where they pretended they were arriving back in England by descending the steps of an aeroplane.
On the fourth and final day, filming took place outside 10 Admiral Grove, Liverpool 8, Ringo Starr's family home. Starr was filmed leaving the house through the front door, being crowded by a horde of local children, and leaving in George Harrison's open-top sports car.
Also present were John Lennon and Paul McCartney, although footage of them from this day wasn't used in the final edit. Afterwards, Haworth filmed a scene in which Starr walked alongside a row of women sitting underneath hairdryers in the salon at the Horne Bros clothes store in Lord Street, Liverpool.

The Mersey Sound was first aired on Lennon's 23rd birthday, 9 October 1963, from 10.10-10.40pm, in the London and northern England regions. It's first nationwide broadcast was on 13 November 1963 from 7.10pm.

Tuesday 25 August 2015

Brother Malcolm



Revolver TV has published another item from their collection, this time it's a clip of "Let It Be" from the filming of the "Let It Be" film. The finished film would be a different take of this song, and included footage of the other Beatle members in the studio, but this camera focuses solely on Paul McCartney. The audio on the original upload was somewhat dodgy, so in this presentation it has been replaced with the same recording, taken from the Nagra tapes.

Many people are complaining about the huge watermarks embedded in Revolver TV's videos. However, the watermarks ensure that the unmarked original in their collection cab still be used in trades with other collectors for more rare material. Without watermarking, these videos would not have seen the light of day at all.

Friday 21 August 2015

Thursday 13 August 2015

John turns 40



Another offering from Revolver TV. John Lennon and his son Sean are celebrating their birthdays. Sean turns five, his dad turns 40, sadly that would be his last birthday. The scenes from the birthday party take place at the Tavern on the Green restaurant near Central Park, NYC, on possibly Monday the 18th, or Tuesday the 19th of October, 1980, while the other footage is from Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island. Some of this footage has been used earlier in the official music videos of Yoko Ono's "Walking on thin ice" and John Lennon's "I'm Stepping Out".

Wednesday 12 August 2015

Fifty years later: The Beatles at Shea Stadium


Part I

Part II


The Beatles' concert at Shea Stadium, 1965. LPP 16mm Film Print Digital Telecine version, original audio soundtrack without the 1966 overdubs.

I wonder what TheBeatles.com have up their sleeves for the fiftieth anniversary on August 15?

Tuesday 11 August 2015

Lennon at the Hit Factory, 1980



Incredibly, footage of John Lennon recording "I'm Losing You" at the Hit Factory Studio, NYC, August 19th, 1980 has emerges after 35 years.

Sunday 9 August 2015

4-way Paperback Writer

Nowhere Man in Munich in colour



Our friend HIWAX in Japan keeps getting better at colourisation. This is a clip from the six-song broadcast of the Beatles' concert in Munich 1966, which was broadcast on TV in black and white, now colourised by HIWAX. You can compare his efforts with this clip, which was filmed the same day, only in real colour:

Wednesday 5 August 2015

"Rain" multi-view



Four different promotional films (aka music videos) for the song "Rain" in multi-view, two in black and white, two in colour.

Monday 3 August 2015

Paul McCartney at the Jonathan Ross Show 2014



Here is the appearance of Paul McCartney on the Jonathan Ross show aired on 6/12/2014 from the British channel ITV.

Sunday 2 August 2015

Paul McCartney: Lollapalooza Music Festival 2015

Recorded at Paul McCartney's brilliant performance at the Lollapalooza Music Festival held in Grant Park in Chicago, Illinois USA on July 31st, 2015. This is the complete, uncut performance with all songs and dialogue included.