Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Share the latest updates from the Fabs/Friends. Links to interviews and articles go here.
Phil_Lip
Posts: 532
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 1:29 pm
Has thanked: 189 times
Been thanked: 138 times

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by Phil_Lip »

He confirmed on Twitter that it was being recorded, although he had no plans about what would be done with it yet.
Most of my links are to OneDrive. However, OneDrive does impose a download limit and when this is reached displays a message that the files are deleted or have expired. Leave it a while and try again later.
Lewis Marconi
Posts: 8
Joined: Sun Oct 09, 2022 11:56 am
Been thanked: 2 times

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by Lewis Marconi »

Mark Lewisohn - Evolver 62 - Bloomsbury Theatre, London 8/10/22 matinee show 2.30pm

Second half link below. Apologies - I do not have the first half.

Firstly I would say that it was a lovely way to spend 2.5 hours, but all is covered by the first volume of Tune In (especially the extended edition) so wouldn't worry if you weren't able to attend.
No merchandise except to buy Tune In books and some free badges with the Evolver62 logo.

IMHO the second half was better as contained more from The Beatles themselves (snippets of interviews etc.).

From memory, the first half covered:

Mark came on pretending he knew he has something to do but what... oh yes, write another book! Goes to his filing cabinet, turns round and is surprised by the audience! So may as well tell the story of 62...

Brian bought them alarm clocks so they wouldn't be late for appointments. Mentioned in here:

LOTS of examples (magazine covers etc) that 'groups' weren't the thing back then - solo artists were very much the order of the day (Cliff, Elvis etc) and music was often treated as fads (the twist, Acker Bilk with trad jazz etc.).

Despite what many books say, the lads DID NOT hear records of the day via sailors bringing them back from the US. They heard them via record booths in shops such as NEMS.

Paul was a big fan of James Ray's 'If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody'. Snippet of that song played along with a few other influences.

Ringo came back from Hamburg because of the bad floods - if he hadn't then may not have been available to be asked to join The Beatles. Plus a plane crash (the one in which Linda's mum died) had an influence.

The first time all 4 autographed something even though RS wasn't yet a member - covered here:

The infamous 'Prellies' photo. John did most, then George, Paul not much, Pete none. All in Tune In.

Unlike most managers of the day, Brian looked out for the lads and even didn't sign an early contract so it would be easy to void if necessary.

In one formal document (contract?) they were incorrectly named as The BeatTles. In the 2nd half there is mention of a document in which they are incorrectly named The BeatlesS ("a bit harsh on Ringo!").

Paul could have been 'Paul James' rather than McCartney... covered here:

Stuart's death - John is told in Hamburg and is subsequently photographed by Astrid in same location of the room as Stu was (including sitting in Stu's chair). GH had photo taken at same time. These 'half of face in shadow' photos would be mentioned again in the 2nd half.

At one point in the early 60s there seemed to be a flurry of quickly signing artists who wore glasses and looked similar to Buddy Holly (e.g. Hank Marvin), so maybe if John had worn his specs at Decca...

Brian DID NOT force them to wear suits. They were fully on board with it.

A special night at The Cavern, covered here:


Their setlists (not many exist) reveal that GH was singing as many songs as JL & PMc (approx. 4 each).

Pete never seemed to be 'one of them'; usually played with his head down, not looking at the group (compared with RS in 2nd half).

1st half ends with the realisation that they need to replace Pete...

[link removed by admin]
User avatar
Lord Reith
Posts: 4601
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:22 am
Location: BBC House
Has thanked: 139 times
Been thanked: 3941 times

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by Lord Reith »

Phil_Lip wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:20 pm He confirmed on Twitter that it was being recorded, although he had no plans about what would be done with it yet.
Maybe if he plans to use the audio then we shouldn't upload it publicly? Mark is just a fan like us, so we should treat his stuff with the same respect as we do each other's. :)
User avatar
WilliamShears
Site Admin
Posts: 368
Joined: Mon Feb 15, 2021 6:16 pm
Location: Here
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 19 times
Contact:

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by WilliamShears »

Lord Reith wrote: Mon Oct 10, 2022 12:05 am
Phil_Lip wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 12:20 pm He confirmed on Twitter that it was being recorded, although he had no plans about what would be done with it yet.
Maybe if he plans to use the audio then we shouldn't upload it publicly? Mark is just a fan like us, so we should treat his stuff with the same respect as we do each other's. :)
Agreed. YouTube videos are okay but I removed the download link…
fabwill
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2021 4:30 pm
Has thanked: 103 times
Been thanked: 10 times

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by fabwill »

Lewis Marconi wrote: Sun Oct 09, 2022 5:20 pm Mark Lewisohn - Evolver 62 - Bloomsbury Theatre, London 8/10/22 matinee show 2.30pm

Firstly I would say that it was a lovely way to spend 2.5 hours, but all is covered by the first volume of Tune In (especially the extended edition) so wouldn't worry if you weren't able to attend.
No merchandise except to buy Tune In books and some free badges with the Evolver62 logo.
I second this - a great evening, but no new news. The only stuff that seemed new to me was a small section about Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, making it clear that failing the Decca audition was a lucky escape (all of which I can see is in a footnote to the extended book).

Lewisohn didn't say it, but it seemed clear that if the Beatles had been asked to do what Brian Poole and the Tremeloes had to (record an LP of covers (https://www.discogs.com/master/563853-B ... Hits-Of-62), record an english language version of an Italian song, back Jimmy Savile and also change their name from Tremilos after the label repeatedly misspelt it), then they might not have lasted very long, much less change the direction of recorded music.

I was pleasantly surprised how many people were buying books - the Extended version was on offer. Almost reassuring that Mark's audience is still growing, becuase 9 years after release, some people were prepared to spend £34 on a night out to see a man whose book they didn't yet own.

A note also about the point of the evening. The Bloomsbury Theatre holds about 540, according to Google. My tickets were £34.50 each. Assuming 3 full houses (which Saturday night wasn't, because of rail strikes), the maximum gross is £56,000, from which theatre hire, filming and other costs need to be deducted. A nice 'windfall' for airing material he collated a while ago, but it's not going to last him very long, expecially at present.

So either a) he's not as far away from finishing part 2 as we might think, or b) maybe this was proof of concept for something else.
User avatar
Lord Reith
Posts: 4601
Joined: Thu Feb 18, 2021 8:22 am
Location: BBC House
Has thanked: 139 times
Been thanked: 3941 times

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by Lord Reith »

The Beatles made it by the skin of their teeth through 1962. It could all have gone horribly wrong. So many groups were signed to record contracts only to find that the label was useless, or that they were tied to egomaniac producers, or that their label lost interest in them after one failed single.
Women there don't treat you mean, in Abilene
ashwom1
Posts: 169
Joined: Sat Feb 20, 2021 9:15 am
Has thanked: 16 times
Been thanked: 14 times

Re: Lewisohn's Evolver 62: 7-8 October in London

Post by ashwom1 »

I went to the late show on Saturday night, drove down from Liverpool with a friend in the morning.

Although Mark said at the start of the show that the audience had been 'decimated by the train strike' it looked pretty full for our show.

I recorded both parts (2 x 62m) - I won't upload them here because a) I don't know how to, and b) for the reasons others have already given.

I also took some photos and got a couple with Mark Lewisohn at the end when he was signing books. He was selling the expanded 2-book version of Tune In for £94, which is the "cheapest" I've seen it. I already have it on Kindle.

Mark signed my copy of his Beatles London book, which I put to good use in the 7 or so hours we had in the city before the show. We saw approximately 40 locations out of the 467 in the book,and walked 13.6 miles! The following day we went to St. Pancras church yard to recreate the Mad Day Out photos (Beatles 1962-70 inner gatefold picture among them), Chiswick Park (identical to how it was in Paperback Writer / Rain videos) and finally the Row Barge inn (where the Beatles get chased by a Pipe Band next to the Thames, go into the pub and order two lagers and lime....and two lagers and lime- which we did!)

Great weekend :)
Post Reply