Today I’m going to introduce a new series of posts here called “From the Underground”. 

These “From the Underground” posts will consist of looking at CDs I’ve garnered over the years that are “gray market” or what’s more commonly known as bootleg CDs. Bootlegs have been around in the music industry for decades but it wasn’t until the late 1980s, and the advent of the compact disc, that bootlegs began to rival the sound of official discs/recordings.

Some bootlegs of course were decent but most of them left a lot to be desired at least sound wise. It was the rare content of these bootlegs that drew fans in even though the sound may have been really dodgy.

Starting in 1988 with the release of the epic and stunning sounding collections of Beatles outtakes known as “Ultra Rare Trax” (Volume 1 and  Volume 2)” the world of bootlegs took a major leap up as far as sound was concerned as these two CDs were fresh from the original Beatles sessions tapes and to this day are THE best sounding glimpses of The Beatles at work in the recording studio.

These collections of mostly stereo outtakes consisted of The Beatles playing live in the studio without any noise reduction or compression; just the raw studio tapes in pristine sound. These first two “Ultra Rare Trax” collections were soon followed by numerous follow-ups that flooded the collectors world with a treasure trove of unreleased Beatles material.

Following the release of the “Ultra Rare Trax” series the market was flooded with CDs of stunning quality of not only Beatles recording sessions but their BBC performances as well as a host of terrific sounding live recordings.

Suffice to say that The Beatles camp and their record company were none too pleased about the release of this material. The fact that these discs sounded better than some of the official Beatles releases really made The Beatles and EMI (their record label) stand up and take notice with an eye to combat the bootleggers.

Because of that flood of quality bootleg material from the 1988 to 1993 CD era The Beatles decided to release their own official releases from their archives. The three Beatles “Anthology” CD sets from 1995 and 1996 were meant to address the leakage of all the unissued Beatles material and improve on the sound quality from the bootleg releases.

While the “Anthology” series was indeed a goldmine for unreleased Beatles material there were still a lot of older bootlegs that had better sound and more material than could ever be issued officially.

This is where today’s post comes in. Today I’m sharing four CDs that contain some of my favorite Beatles live recordings, some of which have come out officially, that have stood the test of time and offer something special for those who want some of the better Beatles live recordings that are out there.

The four CDs I’ve chosen today include:

The Beatles – “Stars of ’63” (Swinging Pig label) – A complete Swedish radio show that features one of the best ever recorded early Beatles performances that also features truly inspired performances from the group with a somewhat unique setlist

The Beatles – “The Ultimate Live Collection” (Yellow Dog label) – A 2 CD set that features four different and excellent Beatles live performances: Indianapolis 1964, Philadelphia 1964 and two shows from 1965 in Houston, Texas

The Beatles – “Hollywood Bowl Complete” – (Yellow Dog label) – This CD features a complete 1964 Beatles show at the Hollywood Bowl in mono from an original Capitol Records acetate and a complete 1965 show from the same venue in stereo plus three bonus live tracks from 1964 from television appearances.

The Beatles – “Shea!/Candlestick Park” – (Spank Records) – Two of the more significant Beatles live performances, 1965’s first Shea Stadium appearance (though just the soundtrack to the 1966 TV special and not the raw audio) and The Beatles last ever live appearance before a paying audience at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park in 1966

These four CDs offer a lot of great Beatles live material that’s not available elsewhere or in better sound than the official release counterparts.

For example most of the “Stars of ’63” appearance made its way to an official release on 1995’s “Anthology 1” but here the performance is complete, with an interview, and in better sound. I love the way this unofficial release sparkles while the same songs featured on “Anthology 1” are a bit flatter sounding with less punch.

The “Ultimate Live Collection” features four of my favorite Beatles live recordings including one captured in my home state of Indiana from September of 1964. Each one of the shows on this set sound very good to excellent and while there’s not a great deal of variation of the setlists they are all really solid and enjoyable live shows that are a must for any true Beatles fan.

The “Hollywood Bowl Complete” CD is special because even though some of these performances were issued on the terrific sounding 2016 “Live at the Hollywood Bowl”, which was remixed by Giles Martin, the two shows on this CD feature the original mixes Capitol Records created for their aborted attempts at an issue of this live material.

It’s so nice to be able to hear what these shows would have sounded like on a Capitol vinyl album from the 1960s and this CD is the nearest you’re ever going to get. Plus these two shows are complete and the “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” CD is a mixture of different performances from different nights.

And last but not least, the “Shea!/Candlestick Park” CD contains my favorite sounding issue of The Beatles final show from 1966. Granted the recording is lower fidelity than the other shows I’ve mentioned as it was recorded with a handheld cassette recorder from in front of the stage by The Beatles press officer but it still sounds good and is a fun listen.

To me it’s the most exciting 1966 Beatles live recording (much more animated than the 1966 Japan shows) and probably the most historic Beatles show as it was their very last one. I must say I listen to this show more than the others as I really enjoy the energy The Beatles give in this performance and I love the feeling that they are having fun and putting their best into this performance.

So there you have it. Just a look at some of my favorite underground releases and the first in a series of these blog posts that will highlight some of the hidden gems that have made it to the compact disc medium oh so  long ago now in the late ’80s and early ’90s.

That’s all for now. 

Until next time be well and healthy and Happy Spring (almost!)