Blackpool Night Out 64 Upgraded (Unicorn Records UC-123/24)
Disc 1 (72:14): Blackpool Night Out – July 19, 1964 (Upgrade From Tape Source, Speed Corrected) Intro, A Hard Days Night, Things We Said Today, You Can’t Do That, If I fell, Long Tall Sally. Cow Palace, San Francisco August 19, 1964 – Twist and Shout / She Loves You / A Hard Days Night. Cow Palace, San Francisco August 31 1965 (evening show) – Twist and Shout / She’s A Woman. Cow Palace, San Francisco Concert Coverage 1964/5 (From News Reel) – Arrival / Concert / Interviews. CBS New York Press Conference 1965. Paris Olympia, January 16, 1964 (From 16mm News Reel) – Twist And Shout (Partial) – Paris ’64, Cleveland (Concert Intro August 14, 1966), Apple promo (June 1968), Radio City Promo Medley (Radio City Promotion Medley 2000 For “The Beatles 1”)
Disc 2 (67:57): Live at ABC theatre, Blackpool, August 1,1965 (Complete Show With All Intros Plus A Short Sketch) – Sketch / I Do Like To Be by The Seaside, Intro / I Feel Fine, I’m Down, Act Naturally, Ticket To Ride, Yesterday, Help!. Live at ABC theatre, Blackpool, August 1,1965 (From “Anthology” CD And Video, Plus Mythology) – I Feel Fine, I’m Down, Act Naturally, Ticket To Ride, Yesterday, Help!. Live at Empire Pool Wembley April 11,1965 – Intro, I Feel Fine, She’s A Woman, Baby’s In Black, Ticket To Ride, Long Tall Sally. Live Broadcast Of The TV Show “Ready Steady Go” April 16. 1965, Studio One, Wembley London. John And George Join In With Other Guests In The Studio – I Need Your Loving. Live at ABC Theatre, Blackpool, July 19, 1964 Complete Version With Outro – Long Tall Sally. All Tracks From The Popular U.S TV Show Shindig! October 3, 1964. Complete With The Undubbed Version Of “Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey” – Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey! (Undubbed Version), Kansas City/ Hey Hey Hey! (Broadcast Version), I’m A Loser, Boys, Closing Theme
The Beatles made four appearances on the Mike and Bernie Winters BBC television variety program “Big Night Out” between 1963 and 1965. On the July 19th, 1964 telecast, The Beatles performed comedy sketches with Mike and Bernie Winters and played “A Hard Day’s Night,” ”And I Love Her,” ”If I Fell,” ”Things We Said Today,” and “Long Tall Sally.” Somewhat carelessly you might think, ABC seem to have misplaced this film as well, though the audio exists and some still photographs. The only video extant is a short clip with Ringo on a gurney in front of the rest of the band.
Four tapes are in circulation. Source “A” is a pristine recording of the set except that “Long Tall Sally” cuts out in the middle. Source “B” has the complete performance in a fair mono recording. Its advantage over the first source is a complete “Long Tall Sally.”
Source “C” is the opening table sketch. This is the audio the short clip seen in the newsreel with Ringo laying on the gurney and source “D” is a great sounding recording of “If I Fell” only.
A comprehensive collection was issued in 2009 on ‘Beatles’ Big Night Out! 1963, 1964 & 1965 (Misterclaudel mccd-125/126/127). Unicorn Records offers the complete mono recording (source “B”) in excellent sound quality. Compared to Misterclaudel, the audio is much cleaner and runs at the correct speed. It’s a nice upgrade over the older title and is definitely worth having.
The rest of disc one contains a potpourri of various radio broadcasts and interviews from the height of Beatlemania. The two Cow Palace fragments are in good quality.
The most substantial track is the twenty minute newscast from San Francisco with interviews of the band, excerpts from “She’s A Woman,” and fan reaction to the performance. The San Francisco broadcast is followed by a ten minute newscast from CBS from their visit to New York.
The second disc starts off with their last appearance on “Blackpool’s Big Night Out.” It is a live concert filmed on August 1st, 1965. Of all the appearances this is the only one where they play live and, as it turns out, is their only television appearance in Britain to promote the Help! LP (other shows had to run pre-recorded clips instead.)
Blackpool Night Out was made by ABC TV, and was filmed at the ABC Theatre in Blackpool. It was shown by all but one of the ITV companies across the UK, in a live broadcast between 9:10 pm and 10:05pm. The Beatles begin with ”I Feel Fine” followed by a tight version of ”I’m Down.” Like in the Shea Stadium footage weeks after this John Lennon plays the electric piano with is elbows with a wide grin on his face.
Ringo introduces himself for “Act Naturally” saying: “And now we’d like to do something we don’t often do, give someone a chance to sing who doesn’t often sing, and here he is all out of key and nervous, singing ‘Act Naturally,’ Ringo!”
“Ticket To Ride” features great harmony between John and Paul and George almost flubs the solo. Paul McCartney sings “Yesterday” on his own. It was the first time the song had been performed on British television and there is an amusing skit onstage where John gives Paul a bouquet of flowers only to have then snap in Paul’s hand, leaving him holding the stems. Lennon introduces the final song as “Our latest record, or our latest electronic noise, depending on whose side you’re on.”
The rest of the disc covers other television appearances including the 1965 Wembley performance, sets on “Ready, Steady, Go” and the American television program “Shindig.” Like the others, Unicorn use the best possible sources for this material.
All of this material has been available before, but this title is worth having for the improved version of the July 1964 “Big Night Out” performance. The bonus clips such as the CBS press conference and the Apple Promo from 1968 are fascinating to hear and add much to this collection.
