Shea footage salvaged?
The upcoming DVD of “The Beatles At Shea Stadium” from HMC will be the 10 song version, due to there being no existing film footage for the missing two songs (“She’s A Woman” and “Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby”), as back when when this version was produced in 1991, it was believed that the raw elements from this filming were not saved after the TV special was produced in 1966. At the time, there was also no longer any offstage footage from this show other than what’s in the film, but this version does have the 10 songs without any talking over any of the songs (in the earlier broadcasts, quotes from interviews with the Beatles, conducted by Larry Kane, was overdubbed to the soundtrack). As in earlier broadcasts of the film, “Act Naturally” is edited to the studio version of the song, because they felt Ringos singing was not up to par. Soundwise, this release will have strikingly better and stereophonic sound, with the screaming lowered and the music boosted so the performance should sound much clearer.
Of course, once it’s out there, other bootleggers will be able to add the original sound as a selectable second audio option, and perhaps try to add the missing songs into the mix – perhaps with a slideshow for visuals.
| Fan-made attempt to illustrate “She’s A Woman” |
However, a rumour says that Paul McCartney has later managed to get hold of a copy of the film as it was before it was sent to Brian Epstein. As we know, the full version was sent to Brian Epstein in November 1965, and the two missing songs edited out by January 1966 – after which all leftover footage was binned. But rumour has it that someone who worked for Sullivan kept a full version of the show, and that his copy was bought by Paul McCartney in recent years. That copy will of course also have the soundtrack as it was before the January 1966 overdubs. So if Apple should decide to release The Beatles’ Shea concert film at some point in the future, they may be able to bring us a version which includes the two missing songs. Ringo’s original concert vocals for “Act Naturally” really aren’t that bad either, they should stick with it.
| Fan-made recreation: “Act Naturally” with the genuine concert audio of the song. |
Depending on the quality of that copy of the film, it may be used to some day bring us the ultimate official version of “The Beatles At Shea Stadium”.
So, essentially you can purchase (at a premium) a less than stellar 10-song version of Shea, which (let's face it) most of us would only play once or twice anyway, or wait until Apple finally deigns to release a complete version, probably sometime in the latter half of this decade.
No, I think they should wait to release it in 2025 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Shea concert. That way, most of us who were alive at the time it was broadcast will be dead. So we can applaud from our graves…bone rattling rock n' roll!
I don't know about you, but ever since I first got hold of a VHS cassette of "The Beatles at Shea Stadium" in the early eighties, courtesy of a British friend who taped it off TV in 1979, I have been enjoying the film countless times. Granted, the documentary portion of the film gets old very quickly, but the Beatles' concert allows for a great time every time I pull it out to warch.
Don't get me wrong, I love the Shea concert as well. And I appreciate your high quality News scoops about the Fabs. What I don't love is Apple shooting themselves in the foot by waiting for all of us to be nearly dead from old age before they decide to release something.
I don't think we'll have to wait until we're in our graves for the Shea Stadium recording from Apple…the next logical release is a box set of the Beatles' best live recordings. Shea. Washington Coliseum. Hollywood Bowl (the full shows) and many European concert recordings that are all over the Internet. I think it will happen.
Though I quickly add that it's Apple, so they might yet screw it up…who else but Apple, just to take one example, would release a major box set of the U.S. albums in the middle of January instead of in time for the just prior Christmas season?
don't know how much of this rumour is true about paul buying the complete shea film.i hope it is true but i won't get my hopes up.