BeatlesForever
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Registered: Jul 2011 |
 Posted September 23rd, 2011 11:55 PM IP   
How's it going Beatles fanatics? I hope all is well with all of you.
THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM! There has been so much written about this historic concert and yet, it has never been officially released for the entire world to see. 15 August 1965 will forever go down in world entertainment history as being the first time that a music act (THE BEATLES) has ever filled and performed live in a stadium. New jobs would be created and there would need to be more advanced improvements to the maximum advanced technology that was available at the time for film making and live recordings. If it wouldn't have been for THE BEATLES, none of this would have ever happened or if it would happen, it would have taken more years later for it to be achieved. Then again, Rock n' Roll would sound completely different if THE BEATLES did not exist.
Will THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM ever be released? That's a question that every music fan (Including myself) and critic has been asking themselves for decades. In my opinion, please forgive me, it pains me to say this, I don't think that this concert will ever be released on CD or DVD.
Why? Because Ed Sullivan Productions, the ones that originally filmed the concert, has lost the original master film. Secondly, the original master internal line feed audio tape of the Shea Stadium concert was sold on eBay. What does all of this mean? There are no original masters available in order to mix and remaster a supreme suitable film or CD version. How sad! THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM is the single most important and historic event in music history and yet, the advanced technology available at the time, was not good enough to capture it.
Another reason is that there is no back-up film and audio master available in order to create, remix and remaster a new suitable master with today's advanced technology techniques. The original 1965 film was tampered with remixing, re-recording and overdubbing thus losing the original master, as it was filmed on 15 August 1965, forever. And even the original master film, as is, is missing.
Enclosed is some documentation that might shed some light on this subject as follows:
[/quotehttp://www.beatlesource.com/bs/to-shea1.html]
The Shea Stadium Concert
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This recording was auctioned by
It's Only Rock n Roll in December 2005.
See the auction description below.
A short composite excerpt from this tape set
can be heard - here
It's Only Rock n Roll December 2005
The Beatles Unreleased 1965
Shea Stadium Audio Tape
ItsOnlyRocknRoll.com has been so incredibly fortunate in our first four sales to have been able to bring to auction an amazing selection of rare memorabilia relating to a watershed moment in rock n roll history....
The Beatles 1965 Shea Stadium concert.
In addition to the unused tickets, handbill, poster, press credentials, radio ticket giveaways, Sid Bernstein mailings, and the like.....we also were extremely fortunate, in our last sale, to offer the actual Los Angeles master film that ran on ABC television in January '67...the very same three reels as seen by millions west of the Mississippi! Rounding it all out were the fabulous, then unpublished, color photographs of the concert and backstage activities taken by George Orsino, most recently seen on the covers of the special Shea Stadium 40th Anniversary editions of TV Guide.
Well, we've pulled out all the stops this time around! We are excited to be able to offer this piece de resistance of Shea Stadium memorabilia...the never before heard nor circulated, professionally recorded audio tape of the internal line feed from the public address system as it all happened, minute by minute on the evening of August 15, 1965.
In laymen's terms, this is the "warts and all" version of the most famous rock concert in history...no remixing, no re-recording, and no overdubs.
And when we say minute by minute, we mean just that....from the playing and singing of our National Anthem by King Curtis and thousands in attendance...to Cousin Brucie and Murray the K...to the complete performances by all of the support acts...to the singing of the Beatles/WMCA jingle by the "Good Guys"...to Sid Bernstein's introduction of Ed Sullivan, and on to the last crescendo of "I'm Down" and, finally the Beatles departure from the stage!
Except, of course, for The Beatles themselves and their inner circle, this writer was assured that he would be only the second person in the world to ever hear this historic recording that has been stored away since 1965. In a word...or, maybe a phrase...this is one for the time capsule!
It is not generally known how much "doctoring" was done to prepare "The Beatles At Shea Stadium" for television. Until the publication of Mark Lewisohn's "The Complete Beatles Chronicles", in 1992, even the most ardent Beatles experts, were under the impression that, other than the fact that several songs were cut from the television special due to time constraints, the only such "doctoring" was the substitution of the recorded single version of "Act Naturally" for Ringo's live vocal.
Lewisohn's chronicle of the Beatles activities on January 5, 1966, however, reveals in detail the extent of remixing, re-recording, and ovrdubbing. For it was on this day that the group entered CTS Studios in Kensington Gardens Square, London, to do just that.
CTS (CIne Tele Sound) was the UK's state of the art audio-to-film dubbing studio at the time. Since the advent of sound motion pictures, such dubbing has been an integral part of movie-making. The practice has been common in live music film just as long. What artist doesn't want to release the best possible performance?
The reasons The Beatles, Brian Epstein, and producer George Martin, elected to facilitate a makeover, of sorts, on many of the Shea Stadium tracks, was two-fold. First, even though state of the art technology, by 1965 standards, was utilized for the flm and audio recording of the event, a myriad of complications with the audio feed arose (eg. drop-outs, missing bass tracks, microphone malfunctions, equalization problems...etc. The filming of the Shea Stadium concert for television was the first event of any kind (live or in the studio) to utilize eight cameras. Boy, would we love to get a look at that from eight camera angles and zooms! The bottom line: technical difficulties necessitated re-recording and overdubbing on certain tracks. Second, the conditions at Shea Stadium were electrifying from the audiences standpoint. After all, it was the largest audience in history to ever attend a concert, and the high-decibal screaming was to be expected. From the Beatles standpoint, between the sheer immensity of it all with 55,600 in the seats, they had a hard time hearing themselves. Under such conditions, the performance itself is bound to suffer somewhat. But there is no need to make excuses because from this listeners standpoint, this Beatles "warts and all" performance was just fine. Sure, there were some strained vocals, a few mangled lyrics, and the like, but overall, nothing avid listeners to the abundance of Beatles concerts haven't become accustomed to from other '65 shows. It's too bad that some of the banter was cut, and Ringo's lyric could have made the cut as well. Lewisohn relates that the re-recording and overdubbing that took place at CTS Studios that day was taken very seriously, as the group wanted to adhere to the live-concert sound and be careful in matching the singing and playing to the on-screen images...a tough task. The most striking aspect of listening to the Beatles performance particularly, was the fact that the screaming, while constant throughout, on this line feed is relegated to the background on this mix. Lewisohn confirms that screaming from the unreleased Hollywood Bowl performance of August 30, 1965 was extensively incorporated into the Shea Stadium film. Interesting, eh?We urge you to read Lewisohn's full account in 'The Beatles Chronicles.'
And now....on to the show!
Tape #1 (28 minutes)
crowd sounds and King Curtis tuning up
Introduction of the King Curtis Band...King Curtis "National Anthem" with unknown vocalist and audience participation...WABC's Cousin Bruce Morrow welcomes the audience and introduces Murray the K...Murray the K introduces the Discotech Dancers medley of songs...It's Not Unusual, Downtown, Can't Buy Me Love, I'm Telling You Now, A Hard Days Night...Cousin Brucie introduces Scott Ross of WBIZ, Long Island...Ross introduces the King Curtis Band...What'd I Say, The Branch, Soul Twist....Cousin Brucie addreses the audience and introduces WMCA's Frank Stickle...Stickle introduces the WMCA 'Good Guys'...Each 'Good Guy' introduces himself, then they harmonize on a Beatles/WMCA jingle (quite well, actually)...and they introduce Cannibal & the Headhunters...Out of Sight, Now Lady Now
Tape #2 (32 minutes)
Cannibal & The Headhunters continued...The Way You Do The Things You Do, Land of 1000 Dances...Cousin Brucie introduces DJ Hal Jackson...Jackson introduces Marvin Gaye...Cousin Brucie introduces Brenda Holloway...Shake, Satisfaction, I Can't Help Myself, You Can Cry On My Shoulder, When I'm Gone...Cousin Brucie introduces WABC dj Charlie Greer...Cousin Brucie introduces Sounds, Inc....America (from West Side Story), Fingertips, William Tell Overture, Instrumental, In The Hall Of The Mountain Kings
Tape #3 (37 minutes)
Sid Bernstein introduces Ed Sullivan
Ed Sullivan introduces The Beatles
Beatles tuning up and cutting up
TWIST & SHOUT...UNRELEASED...the version heard in the tv special was taken from the Hollywood Bowl recording of August 30, 1965.
SHE'S A WOMAN...UNRELEASED...this song was cut from the tv special
I FEEL FINE...UNRELEASED...the version heard in the tv special was recorded on January 5, 1966 at CTS Studios, London
DIZZY MISS LIZZY...Paul overdubbed a new bass track on 1/5/66 at CTS Studios, London
TICKET TO RIDE...Some instrumental overdubbing was added on 1/5/66 at CTS Studios, London
EVERYBODY'S TRYING TO BE MY BABY...this song was cut from the tv special. (Note: the version released on The Beatles Anthology is an alternate mix.)
CAN'T BUY ME LOVE...Paul overdubbed a new bass track on 1/5/66 at CTS Studios, London.
BABY'S IN BLACK...UNRELEASED...the version heard on the tv special was recorded on 1/5/66 at CTS Studios, London
ACT NATURALLY...UNRELEASED...the version heard in the tv special was dubbed from the commercially released single recorded on 6/17/65
A HARD DAYS NIGHT...this version is not obscured by the voice-overs heard in the tv special
HELP!...UNRELEASED...the version heard in the tv special was recorded on 1/5/66 at CTS Studios, London
I'M DOWN...Paul and John overdubbed new bass and organ tracks, respectively, on 1/5/66 at CTS Studios, London
Beatles Leave The Stage
It would have been a wonderful surprise for Beatles fans to be treated to this recording in an official release along with the re-mastered color television special this past summer on the 40th anniversary of "The Beatles At Shea Stadium." Well, maybe one day!
The concert is recorded on three reels of Scotch 1/4" recording tape at 7 1/2 ips and comes housed in Scotch brand boxes. Go to our online site to hear snippets from this historic recording. This audio tape is sold with no rights, given or implied. It is sold as a collector's item only!
There has been many bootleg CD's and DVD's of THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM that has come out from the underground through the years. The very first "THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM" version that I ever owned was on VHS by Video Warehouse Inc. in 1987. The picture and sound quality of this version was poor. Consequently, this company was closed down by MICHAEL JACKSON.
More versions of this historic concert would appear later on DVD in the 1990's and into the new millennium (2000's) with much improved picture and sound quality despite certain labels lying that the DVD film is from the original ABC-TV 35mm Broadcast Master when in reality, none of the DVD bootleg releases are from the original masters seeing that they are missing and are not available.
I own at least 20 different bootleg DVD versions of this concert, some have no info such as label name, ID matrix number or date of release. Some of them are as follows:
(1.) Seltaeb Fan Club, Ltd. - Matrix # DVD0005
(2.) Darthdisc - Matrix # DVD11
(3.) Shea-656A/B/V
(4.) Misterclaudel Live Chronicle Series -
mccd-67/68 & mcdvd - 02
In my opinion, all of these DVD versions have the best as well as much improved overall picture and sound quality available to date. I hope that you can find one of these four, you won't be disappointed. Just be careful and make sure that you get factory pressed DVD's and not DVD-R's. Misterclaudel has a great reputation for selling factory pressed DVD's. Of the four mentioned above, only Darthdisc sells DVD-R's which I got for free.
I hope that this thread has shed some light as to where we, the fans, stand as far as ever seeing a possible release of THE BEATLES AT SHEA STADIUM concert on DVD. Believe me, I don't like this anymore than you. Take care.
(Edited by BeatlesForever)
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