Harry And His Box Set (V1, 2, 7, 10, 12, 15, 14 update.)

[Lord Reith]

Yes, ITB was not recorded very well sadly and there is too much screaming which drowns out some numbers like Money. It seems as though the production team were completely unprepared. Obviously they'd never seen a Beatles concert and did not realise that the girls would be screaming at maximum volume throughout. It makes me realsie that I generally don't like the hysterical performances, with the exception of Washington and Melbourne where the stars aligned and it kind of came out okay (although John's guitar is way too loud on the latter). The shows I like are the quiet ones, like the two 63 Swedish shows, Morecambe & Wise, Royal Variety, Paris 64 & 65, Rome (the brief excepts shared sound incredible), Shindig. The louder the audience, the more I'm not likely to enjoy it.

There was a marked drop in the quality of The Beatles' live singing around November 1963. The earlier shows from Stowe, the Roy orbison Tour, Bournmouth, even the Palladium have incredibly good vocals that are pitch perfect. Once the audience started wailing from start to finish, the singers started shouting and straining on stage and things went downhill pretty quickly. Some of the singing on those stadium gigs is, I'm sad to say, utterly appalling. If you didn't know any better you'd think they couldn't sing! If I Fell and Baby's In Black are particularly painfull, but Help was another one they murdered live.

[Spaniard in da Works]

Given that they used 2 mics on stage, with George pivoting from one to the other, so they could never hear the full three part harmonies up there, it's a marvel they managed to sound even remotely decent.

I don't know if you have heard the Stones' Honolulu 1966 show. It's one of the best recorded live Stones 60s shows, and the only one with a listenable Mother's Little Helper... Which makes more infuriating that in said song, Mick Jagger doesn't realise until half the first verse that he's singing in the wrong key. That these kind of things did not happen frequently to the Beatles is Titanic in itself.

[hallucalation]

Given that they used 2 mics on stage, with George pivoting from one to the other, so they could never hear the full three part harmonies up there, it's a marvel they managed to sound even remotely decent.

I don't know if you have heard the Stones' Honolulu 1966 show. It's one of the best recorded live Stones 60s shows, and the only one with a listenable Mother's Little Helper... Which makes more infuriating that in said song, Mick Jagger doesn't realise until half the first verse that he's singing in the wrong key. That these kind of things did not happen frequently to the Beatles is Titanic in itself.

There isn't any other Mother's Little Helper performances captured on tape. They only briefly did it during US tour in 1966 (at least in the 60's that i know of).

[Spaniard in da Works]

There isn't any other Mother's Little Helper performances captured on tape. They only briefly did it during US tour in 1966 (at least in the 60's that i know of).

I did not want to be so categoric because I did not remember if any of the sonic travesties that ABKCO released for copyright extension was a version of MLH.

[Lord Reith]

Given that they used 2 mics on stage, with George pivoting from one to the other, so they could never hear the full three part harmonies up there, it's a marvel they managed to sound even remotely decent.

I'm always amazed that they managed to sound as good as they did. If you look at what is going on at the Washington concert, it is enough to strike the fear of God into any performer. For starters they have no proper PA, just the stadium's system used for boxing matches. They could hear what they were singinging enough to know that one of the mics was dead, but it couldn't have been any more than a faint echoey noise. Their amps were pointing in the wrong direction for most of the show, so they had little chance of hearing those either. Ringo's drums teetered precariously on a wobbly platform that he was expected to turn himself. There was a constant hail of hard jelly beans flying onto the stage. They had to run the gamut through a frenzied crowd to make their way to and forth the stage. And to cap it all off they had tv cameras pointing at them the whole time. Yet they just shake it all of and turn in this brilliant performance with seemingly no effort. How do they manage to stay so perfectly in time without a single beat out of place? When they can hardly hear what they're doing? It's pretty miraculous.

[RunoutGroove]

Given that they used 2 mics on stage, with George pivoting from one to the other, so they could never hear the full three part harmonies up there, it's a marvel they managed to sound even remotely decent.

I'm always amazed that they managed to sound as good as they did. If you look at what is going on at the Washington concert, it is enough to strike the fear of God into any performer. For starters they have no proper PA, just the stadium's system used for boxing matches. They could hear what they were singinging enough to know that one of the mics was dead, but it couldn't have been any more than a faint echoey noise. Their amps were pointing in the wrong direction for most of the show, so they had little chance of hearing those either. Ringo's drums teetered precariously on a wobbly platform that he was expected to turn himself. There was a constant hail of hard jelly beans flying onto the stage. They had to run the gamut through a frenzied crowd to make their way to and forth the stage. And to cap it all off they had tv cameras pointing at them the whole time. Yet they just shake it all of and turn in this brilliant performance with seemingly no effort. How do they manage to stay so perfectly in time without a single beat out of place? When they can hardly hear what they're doing? It's pretty miraculous.

Deffo to all that! American 'Groups' were witnessing the world's first Rock and Roll 'Band!'

[MarkRJones1970]

Given that they used 2 mics on stage, with George pivoting from one to the other, so they could never hear the full three part harmonies up there, it's a marvel they managed to sound even remotely decent.

I don't know if you have heard the Stones' Honolulu 1966 show. It's one of the best recorded live Stones 60s shows, and the only one with a listenable Mother's Little Helper... Which makes more infuriating that in said song, Mick Jagger doesn't realise until half the first verse that he's singing in the wrong key. That these kind of things did not happen frequently to the Beatles is Titanic in itself.

There isn't any other Mother's Little Helper performances captured on tape. They only briefly did it during US tour in 1966 (at least in the 60's that i know of).

This one I presume?

(Starts at 13:39)

[Spaniard in da Works]

Yes that one. Actually the trainwreck IS shorter than I remember. Funnily enough, Mick does the intro on key, but something he hears apparently makes him think he did not, he adjusts for the first line of the first verse but soon he notices that *now* is when he goofed.

BTW, the guys are on fire on that show. First time I heard it was when I noticed that Brian Jones must have used a different fingering for The Last Time than the obvious first positions one, because with that it's almost impossible to play at the speed he does in this show. He's also excellent on Get Off Of My Cloud, and Keith, Bill and Charlie are great throughout. Really, if you're minimally interested, it's one great show.

[hallucalation]

That is the last US show for Brian Jones.

[Spaniard in da Works]

That is the last US show for Brian Jones.

I always chuckle at the mischievous tone with which Mick says "and this is our last concert ever".

Good old Jagger, milking the old "this could be the last time" stunt for 58 years and counting.