Beatles – Convention Hall Wisdom (Purple Chick PC-167/168)

Original source notes: “The sixth volume of the Beatles’ live career finishing off their first U.S. tour and bringing us to the end of 1964, plus an orphan show from 1965 (there won’t be room for it next volume!)”“As always. some shows already sounded great (like Indianapolis), our proprietary audio equalization and clean-up system made some significant improvements (like Philadelphia) while some shows were really beyond redemption (like Montreal).”  

“Purple Chick discs are fan created and NEVER FOR SALE!”

Purple Chick has a reputation for being the label of choice for hardcore Beatle fans and has released 6 double volumes of live Beatles concerts beginning with “Live 01 – Star Club”, “Live 02 – Before America”, “Live 03 – Conquering America”, “Live 04 – Adelaide Reaction”, “Live 05 – Seattle Down” and “Live 06 – Convention Hall Wisdom” [PC-157/158/159/160/161/162/163/164/165/166/167/168] of which “Adelaide Reaction June 1964” + “Convention Hall Wisdom” see their release on original silver label issue with the latter being reviewed here.

The mere thought of a Purple Chick release on silver label issue must seem abhorrent and an aberration to this loyal fan base. I say once again, what we have here is potentially the best of both worlds although it is necessary and fair to emphatically state once again that Purple Chick had nothing to do with this development and, hence, did not sell out here.

Disc One begins with the 9-2-64 Beatles performance at Convention Hall in Philadelphia. We are introduced so to speak to the crowd for the first seconds of the recording and then “Twist And Shout” with fluctuating sound. The vocals are very clear with the ongoing crowd buzz in the backround on “You Can’t Do That”. McCartney says: “Thank you very much and good evening – how are you”  before they break into “All My Loving” featuring Lennon’s effective harmonization with McCartney. Lennon follows with: “Our next song is an oldie  from last year” which leads into “She Loves You”. Harrison harmonizes nicely on “Things We Said Today” which is delivered in a smooth, hypnotic and appealing manner. There is no introduction to “Roll Over Beethoven” which is played incredibly fast and in charged form. McCartney asks the audience: “We’d like you to join in on this song…” prior to “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Lennon cracks up laughing toward the end of “If I Fell”. After “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, McCartney states: “Thank you very much. Thank you. Next – hang on just a second. We’d like to do something that we don’t get often much of a chance to doing. We’d like to feature somebody who doesn’t get much of a chance – who doesn’t get much of a chance to sing so – now a special feature singing a feature from our first Capitol album singing a song is RINGO” as they break into “Boys” with Ringo delivering a great charged lead vocal as the crowd pitch continues to elevate. The fidelity is enhanced for most of “Long Tall Sally” which ends the set.

The September 3, 1964 Indianapolis concert at the State Fair Coliseum is a wonderful excellent audience recording which is kicked off with the announcer in crystal clear voice: “…One minute. Just one quick second. Thanks a million for being such a great crowd. I didn’t come up to the Frank Sinatra age. I, I think he is one of the greatest. I miss the Sinatra era. I was right in the middle of the Elvis Presley era but I have never in my life seen anything like you know who. On behalf of all, of the State Fair Board and all of the good guys from WYFE – may I present THE BEATLES”.

The crowd sounds utterly “mad” and driven. “Twist And Shout” bursts out in tremendous fidelity. Lennon’s raspy delivery is accentuated on “You Can’t Do That”. McCartney’s voice sounds great on “All My Loving”. Lennon + McCartney complement each other perfectly on a great rendition of “She Loves You”. “Things We Said Today” is played fast with the bass sounding so clear that it gives you the shivers. The percussion is crisp and steady. Ringo is all over the kit on “Roll Over Beethoven” with the cymbals completely filling the grooves of this track. There are nice deep pulsating bass lines on “If I Fell” with the harmonies sounding a bit tentative.  Lennon sounds like he is going to crack up laughing at several junctures in this track. The rhythm section is strong and powerful on “I Want To Hold Your Hand’. The Beatles really jam on “Boys” which is indicative of their infectious sheer and raw energy. Lennon states: “Thank you Ringo”. Ringo replies: “Thank you John”. Lennon states: “Thank you Ringo”. “A Hard Day’s Night” was played fast + hard with Lennon’s guttural delivery so apparent. This stellar concert performance ends with “Long Tall Sally” which cuts abruptly at the 53 second mark which is noticeable considering the incredible fidelity of those precious 53 seconds.

Disc Two begins with listing several tracks from the 9-5-64 Chicago International Amphitheatre and several tracks from the 9-6-64 Detroit Olympia Stadium venues but music is only actually heard, if for only seconds, on the 4th track, “Can’t Buy Me Love”, with the announcer stating: “The Beatles, well – they were in there somewhere”.

Tracks 5 through 7 cover the 9-7-64 Toronto Maple Leaf Gardens performance with “You Can’t Do That” lasting a mere 32 seconds offering sounds of bass, guitars and, to a lesser extent, vocals. A full rendition of a track, finally, appears with “All My Loving” featuring crowd fanfare that is louder than the music more than intermittently throughout this number in good audience quality. “She Loves You” ends the set clocking in at 1:13.

We move on to the 9-8-64 Montreal concert at the Montreal Forum that was described in the original source notes as being “beyond redemption”. Interestingly enough, I found that Purple Chick [PC-168] represents an upgrade over “Upgrades And Additions Vol. 2” on Monochrome [MC-03006] which includes the same above 10 concert tracks. PC-168 exhibits more gain and a more defined low end and is certainly more conducive to achieving a reasonable listen. PC-168 is a good compressed audience recording with minimal audience sounds which exhibits some distortion at high registers. “Roll Over Beethoven” features a frenzied guitar attack with slightly improved sound. The Beatles, interestingly enough, manage to use the same lines for the introductions of “Can’t Buy Me Love” + “If I Fell”. I was finally moved to notice that on “Boys” Lennon, McCartney & Harrison harmonize in unique fashion to this Starkey lead track. They sound as if they are naturally extending their high-pitched and exaggerated collective harmonies as these 3 do not need to carry the track vocally. John + Ringo thank each other repeatedly,back and forth, after the track. “A Hard Day’s Night” follows and cuts out at 1:39.

The 9-12-64 Boston Garden entry offers a 20 second “Twist And Shout”: “The opening number was “Twist And Shout”. The song you can hear or can’t hear in the backround + twist and shout they did”. The 9-15-64 New Orleans concert at the City Park Stadium is covered for tracks 20 through 27 offering only short introductions to each of those listed tracks elapsing well less than one minute each. Track 28, “She Loves You”, from an unknown venue in September 1964 is heard in a decent audience recording. The 10-3-64 Shindig numbers are primarily in very good to excellent sonic quality. Harrison is heard harmonizing on “Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey”. Waves of hysteria and intermittent shrieks are heard on “I’m A Loser”. The 10-29-64 Plymouth concert at the ABC Cinema includes a 16 second news broadcast snippet of “Twist And Shout”.

Disc Two ends with an inclusion of 5 tracks from the 4-11-65 Empire Pool, Wembley, London NME Pollwinners Concert in very good to excellent audience fidelity. The Intro features extended tuning while the audience sounds swell. The harmonies sound like they have matured on “I Feel Fine”. A raucous “She’s A Woman” is the first number to track over 3 minutes. McCartney wails away on harmony on “Ticket To Ride”.

There have been ample releases of live Beatles performances captured in varying sound quality on Yellow Dog, Silent Sea, DarthDisc, Dr. Ebbetts, Great Dane Records, Secret Trax and VigOtone labels to name just a few. Purple Chick advertises that they have made significant improvements to the Philadelphia 9-2-64 show which, I find, are evident with the definition on the low end and with reduced distortion. When compared with “THE BEATLES – U.S.A. vol. 1 Live Anthology: Tour Of America 1964” on MBE [MBE-0031/2/3] label release, however, I found that MBE did not have the accentuated + defined bass but did have quite a bit more gain overall than the former resulting in more amplification of the distortion already present in the mix. The MBE version incidentally is a very easy listen without question. The MBE inclusion of the 9-8-64 Montreal performance, as part of the above 3 CD volume release, offers, again, more volume gain than its Purple Chick counterpart but the latter label was successful in cleaning up the sound a bit more and boosting the low end without distortion. The comparison between both of the above labels for the infamous Indianapolis 9-3-64 show reveals more parity although I would give the nod  to the MBE version which sounds livelier and may exhibit slightly more gain. MBE released the above 3 CD volume as part of their larger 7 CD collection of live Beatles U.S.A. concerts in chronological order from their 1964 through 1966 concerts which I recommend obtaining without reservations. They boast 24bit Digital Mastering by Easter Sound Lab on this above 2005 Master of Beatles Essentials [MBE] release.

PC-167/168 reflects a successful tweaking of some of these recordings and comes with thick + tasteful informative inserts and graphics which serve to enhance Purple Chick’s hand in providing some of their patented sonic reproductive magic once again.