It’s not often that something truly monumental sneaks out of the blue, arrives out of nowhere and takes your breath away. This week my friends, that’s just what’s happened.
You see I discovered the audio of a previously unknown live recording of The Beatles from April 1963 two days ago online and nearly fainted. The story broke earlier this year that the tape of this concert had been found but the odds of hearing it were slim to none in my mind as it wasn’t owned by The Beatles.
The concert was recorded by a then 15-year-old student at the Stowe School (a boys school in Buckinghamshire, England) named John Bloomfield who recorded it with a microphone set on the stage with The Beatles that was connected to a newly acquired reel-to-reel tape machine.
How on earth this tape remained a secret for almost sixty years is amazing but more amazing is that Bloomfield captured The Beatles at the precise moment they were about to explode onto the music scene in Britain and the world and had yet to downsize their stage show to just ten to twelve of their recent hits.
(Note: Bloomfield recently donated the tape of this show to the British Library where the public can make an appointment to hear it. I’m guessing that’s the source of the leak of the audio of this show. A Japanese bootleg CD of this performance has recently been released as well and the audio I discovered online is from that CD).
This amazing concert features several songs that The Beatles never recorded in the studio as well as 3/4 of the their recently released first album “Please Please Me”. Truly an astonishing find and a must listen for any Beatles fan.
Of course being a physical media guy I promptly burned myself a homemade CD of this concert with an understated but if I do say so myself a lovely cover and thus a new Beatles CD (albeit homemade) was born – “The Beatles – Live at Stowe School, April 4, 1963”.
Now the recording isn’t exactly in commercial release quality. The vocals at times are buried (the recording mike seems to be nearer an amp with more of the guitar prominent and the vocals distant) and some songs are distorted from the volume on stage but overall it’s a very listenable recording.
The CD is a really fun listen and what it does give you is the best record yet of how much of a shit hot live band The Beatles were and if anyone disputes that play them samples from this show and they might just change their mind.
The main benefit of this recording is that the audience is totally male thus no screaming to drown out the music and the pure testosterone and energy coming from the audience seems to have made The Beatles more energized and they put on one hell of a good show.
Below are my song by song first impressions of this long lost concert:
I Saw Her Standing There – the vocals were a little distant on this one but it had a nice punchy sound to it. Much like the BBC versions but with more energy. In fact energy is how I would describe this entire show – energy and electricity
Too Much Monkey Business – this is an absolutely blistering take on this song and much better than the BBC take and just a terrific performance. This really shows the power of the Beatles live in the early 60s
Love Me Do – another great rocking yet bluesy performance! It’s great to hear all the males in the audience clapping along and howling to this song. It really went over well and this sounds so good live, probably my favorite live version of this song. It still has that slightly different arrangement that was played by Pete Best which is fun to hear as well.
Some Other Guy – another absolutely blistering take on this song, The Beatles sound like a freight train out of control – such a great performance
Misery – this actually comes to life more than any other version I’ve ever heard. It’s great hearing the raw guitar push this song along and quite frankly the male audience is so energetic and so overwhelming with their response it really pushes The Beatles performance to be even gutsier
I Just Don’t Understand – another terrific performance. The vocals are actually much more up front on this song as it’s not quite as loud and blistering as the others but it’s my favorite version of this song and is even better than the BBC performance. It just seems rawer
A Shot of Rhythm and Blues – a great performance! The vocals aren’t nearly as clear as the last song. The highlight of this song is George Harrison’s absolutely wicked guitar playing, just terrific
Boys – a great rocking version of this one and you can actually hear Ringo’s vocal pretty darn clearly, so good and raw
Matchbox – what a powerhouse performance. The vocals are hard to hear because this one’s much louder than the others so it drowns out the vocals but another energetic take with Ringo on vocals (I think)
From Me to You – more energy than other live performances and the vocals are much clearer on this than the last song. It’s a raw and a somewhat chunky (I couldn’t think of another word for it) version of this song
Thank You Girl – well this is by far the ballsiest version of this song I’ve ever heard. What really makes this good is having the guitar so in your face which electrifies the performance, terrific
Memphis Tennessee – well this is the rockiest version I’ve ever heard the Beatles do this song mainly because George Harrison’s guitar is so prominent. Man is it raw and lively – love it
A Taste of Honey – the vocals are very easy to hear on this take. It sounds much like the record and the BBC version but this may have the edge
Twist and Shout – it’s hard to believe that this version could be almost as rocking and blistering as the take on the record but wow a terrific performance of this one
Anna (Go to Him) – again because of the prominence of George’s guitar this song sounds more raw and into almost more of a punk style version, so good live
Please Please Me – probably the biggest audience reaction to this song. Obviously they like it they really know it and they howl and sing along all the way through, a great performance egged on by the crowd
The Hippy Hippy Shake – wow this is an absolutely blistering take on this song. This is by far my favorite version of this song I’ve ever heard by The Beatles they just sound out of control but in a good way
I’m Talking About You – wow this one is equally blistering as “Hippy Hippy Shake”, just out of control rocking. Anyone who ever says the Beatles weren’t good live needs to listen to this tape! This is just an absolutely blistering show.
Ask Me Why – standard performance of this song great to hear it live with so much energy but very much like the BBC versions
Till There Was You – very much like the Ed Sullivan performance with a little bit more energy. Great
Money (That’s What I Want) – because the guitar is so loud and blaring this is much more menacing version. It ‘s like the BBC and the album version only on steroids. Unfortunately it’s only a fragment of the song which is too bad but what we have is great
I Saw Her Standing There (reprise) – by request the Beatles go into a blistering take on this with the audience loudly singing along. This is complete and ends with screams for the audience perfect way to end an exquisite find of a concert. Of the two versions of this song in the show this one is a bit better – more energetic and you can hear the vocals a bit better as well.
I think the all male audience really gives this show a different energy to most of the live Beatles performances out there. The crowd is boisterous and interact with the group by yelling out requests and frequently chatting with them between songs.
You get to hear a lot of interaction with the crowd which is something that doesn’t exist on the professionally recorded Beatles shows like the Hollywood Bowl and Shea Stadium.
This concert recording is the closet we’ll get to hearing what a Beatles show at the Cavern Club sounded like unless of course some tape of one of those shows jumps out of the sky and lands online – you never know, who’d have thought this tape existed.
Well, that’s all for now.
This show is out there online in several places if you look for it. It’s not for the casual listener as it’s a rough recording but it’s historical nature is so great that hearing it is a complete pleasure and something I didn’t think would ever be heard and not just a mere fours months after it was announced that the tape was discovered.
I’ve read other folks online say the concert didn’t sound as good as the Star Club tapes but I disagree, I think it sounds on par with that tape. It’s such an incredible find that even though it’s a bit rough it’s still amazing to hear.
More blog posts to come and as usual have a great day and I hope you’re well.
See you soon!
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