Early Beatles Around UK 1962-1964 (Misterclaudel MCCD-128/129)
DISC ONE: [60:21]: CAVERN CLUB LIVERPOOL 22nd AUGUST 1962 01. Some Other Guy (take 1) 02. Some Other Guy (take 2) CAVERN CLUB LIVERPOOL 5th SEPTEMBER 1962 03. Some Other Guy 04. Kansas City (voice over) 05. Kansas City (voice removed) CAVERN CLUB LIVERPOOL (REHEARSALS) OCTOBER 1962 06. I Saw Her Standing There 07. One After 909 (take 1) 08. One After 909 (take 2) 09. Cats Walk (take 1) 10. Cats Walk (take 2) GRANADA TV CENTRE MANCHESTER “PEOPLE AND PLACES” 29th OCTOBER 1962 11. A Taste Of Honey ROYAL ALBERT HALL LONDON 18th APRIL 1963 12. Twist And Shout 13. From Me To You TELEVISION THEATRE LONDON “POPS AND LENNY” 16th MAY 1963 14. From Me To You LITTLE THEATRE SOUTHPORT 27th AUGUST 1963 15. Twist And Shout 16. I Saw Her Standing There (instrumental) 17. She Loves You VAL PARNELL’S SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM 13th OCTOBER 1963 SOURCE A 18. From Me To You 19. I’ll Get You 20. She Loves you 21. Twist And Shout SOURCE B 22. Introductions 23. From Me To You 24. I’ll Get You 25. She Loves You 26. Twist And Shout 27. Closing theme SOURCE C 28. Paul’s introductions 29. Twist And Shout SOURCE D 30. I’ll Get You
DISC TWO: [66:33] GRANADA CINEMA EAST HAM LONDON 9th NOVEMBER 1963 SOURCE A 01. From Me To You 02. Unknown songs by opening acts 03. Introductions 04. I Saw Her Standing There 05. From Me To You 06. All My Loving 07. You Really Got A Hold On Me 08. Roll Over Beethoven 09. Boys 10. She Loves You SOURCE B 11. From Me To You 12. Unknown songs by opening acts 13. Introductions 14. I Saw Her Standing There 15. From Me To You 16. All My Loving 17. You Really Got A Hold On Me 18. Roll Over Beethoven 19. Boys 20. She Loves You WINTER GARDENS THEATRE BOURNEMOUTH 16th NOVEMBER 1963 SOURCE A 21. Introduction 22. From Me To You SOURCE B 23. She Loves You ABC CINEMA MANCHESTER 20th NOVEMBER 1963 SOURCE A 24. She Loves You 25. Twist And Shout 26. From Me To You (instrumental) SOURCE B 27. She Loves You 28. Twist And Shout ELSTREE STUDIO CENTRE BOREHAMWOOD “MORECAMBE AND WISE SHOW” 2nd DECEMBER 1963 SOURCE A 29. Opening jingle 30. This Boy 31. All My Loving 32. I Want To Hold Your Hand 33. Chat with the Beatles 34. Moonlight Bay 35. Ending theme SOURCE B 36. This Boy 37. I Want To Hold Your Hand 38. Chat with the Beatles 39. Moonlight Bay SOURCE C 40. All My Loving 41. I Want To Hold Your Hand EMPIRE THEATRE LIVERPOOL AUDIENCE SOURCE 7th DECEMBER 1963 42. This Boy (partial) 43. I Want To Hold Your Hand (partial) 44. Money (partial) 45. Twist And Shotu (partial) VAL PARNELL’S SUNDAY NIGHT AT THE LONDON PALLADIUM 12th JANUARY 1964 46. I Want To Hold Your Hand 47. This Boy 48. All My Loving 49. Money 50. Twist And Shout 51. Twist And Shout (instrumental) 52. Ending theme
MCCD-128/129 is a mixed affair as it offers a chronological collection of Beatles United Kingdom performances and rehearsals from 1962-1964 in varied sonic fidelity. Misterclaudel includes very tasteful inserts featuring a thick glossy replica of graphics containing corresponding concert programs, tickets, Cavern Club Membership Cards, concert posters and snapshots of The Beatles at each of the above recorded venues. The closest compilation/collection of the above Misterclaudel release that I am aware of is “The Beatles Live In United Kingdom 1962-65” which was released by Bulldog Records Of Italy in Limited Edition to 2000 Numbered Copies [BGCP 90512] in a 2 CD fatboy format covering various live concerts in the U.K. from 1962-65.
“Some Other Guy” from the 9-5-62 Cavern Club performance in Liverpool offers amazing clarity and fidelity from this early period as compared with the first 2 takes from 8-22-62. Listen to the relaxed twist-induced 3:02 minute “I Saw Her Standing There” from the October 1962 Cavern Club Rehearsals with its catchy instrumentation and smooth-pegged harmonies. This just reinforces my long-time feeling that The Beatles were a much different sounding band in rehearsal. Case in point with take 1 of the “One After 909” which is also from the October 1962 Cavern Club Rehearsals. The Beatles sound hungry with the 3:12 minute take 2 of the same track. “Cat Walk” really sends a spine-tingling shiver down my back and would be perfectly suited as a backdrop for the classic movie, “Psycho”.
The bass guitar jumps out on the 4-18-63 Royal Albert Hall performance of “Twist And Shout”. A slower and more gripping “From Me To You”, from the same venue, with its signature harmonies sounds perfectly balanced and not drowned out by the manic fans. The more deliberate “Twist And Shout” from the 8-27-63 Little Theatre in Southport captures the crowd bedlam nicely. A welcome and invigorated partial “I Saw Her Standing There” instrumental from the above source mixes things up. The Beatles packed quite a a punch with their sound as heard with “She Loves You”. The simple but infectious sounding chord structures and accompanying brilliant harmonies from “From Me To You” originating form SOURCE A of the 10-13-63 Val Parnell’s Sunday Night At The London Palladium are offered in compromised fidelity. SOURCE B is an improved and more complete audience source. SOURCE D of “I’ll Get You” is the best sounding of all 4 sources from 10-13-63.
I can’t detect major differences between SOURCE A and SOURCE B of the intermittently annoying tape loops heard from the 11-9-63 Granada Cinema East London show. SOURCE B is an upgrade over SOURCE A fro the 11-20-63 ABC Cinema performance in Manchester. SOURCE B is also preferred over SOURCE A for the more complete 12-2-63 “Morecambe And Wise Show” from the Elstree Studio Centre in Borehamwood. We get snippets, literally, from the audience source for the 12-7-63 Empire Theatre Liverpool show. The 1-12-64 Val Parnell’s Sunday Night At The Palladium segment that closes out DISC TWO is a weak audience source. I personally would have preferred to see this 2 CD compilation condensed into a single CD release. There is a bit of overkill with some of the multitude of source offerings here. I believe that the flow of the music would have been enhanced with further editing of these above sources.
MCCD-128/129 certainly has its moments and will be a welcome addition to the ever growing collections for Beatles completists and others wishing a chronological glimpse of The Beatles staging their magic in the U.K. from 1962-1964.
