The Beatles: The First US Visit

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,grover
Date: 31 Jan 12 - 10:12 PM

While the Ed Sullivan appearance certainly jolted the States to it's core I prefer the performance a/t Royal Variety Command Performance in November of 1963. No screaming fans...which was fine they were teen idols, after all. But one could actually hear them. The level of musicianship/vocal ability/timing/joy/cheekyness, etc. was astonishing to say the least.

As an accomplished session musician/songwriter myself I'm truly humbled by their level of expertise as young men in their teens and 20s. In my own experience I was in my mid-30s before I had a clue of what I was doing. Still don't really, but I can fake it. :-)

The aforementioned video is probably watched by me 15-20 times per year since I became aware of it. It makes me ache and tear up in a good way everytime I watch it. And I'll see some little facet I've missed in watching it many times before. As much as we were saturated by Beatlemania here in the States we didn't get 1/10th of what they were 'really' about. Thank goodness we've got that performance for posterity.

Like Paul once said, "All in all I think we were a pretty good little band." Well spoken.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 31 Jan 12 - 07:38 PM

Run ExpatShield. Then run get_iplayer to download the file without DRM. Or go to the BBC iPlayer website and use the download option there - but the file will expire after about 30 days. Meanwhile you might be able to play it and screen scrape the image with a video capture app. BTW if you don't like ExpatShield then there are other apps. out there esp. for Macs that set up a VPN with a UK IP address. The film is also on TheBox.bz for torrent downloading.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,Tunesmith
Date: 31 Jan 12 - 02:48 AM

Well, the makers of the show made a stupid mistake by showing Dion singing "Ruby Baby" as an example of the soft-pop that The Beatles were about to blow away.
Dion was/is a fabulous artist and, of course, "Ruby Baby" is a classic R&B number originally recorded by The Drifters.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 31 Jan 12 - 12:04 AM

With all due honor and deferrence O Esteemed and Ancient One...I humbly offer

Top Hits of 1962

And among those names seek and ye shall find
James Darren
Bobby Vee
Neil Sedaka
Bobby Rydell
Paul Anka etc

So the Sweater Boys were still hanging on when the Fab Four came on the scene in 63.

And...you ain't that much older'n me.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 11:16 PM

Well, EJ, seems that those folks were fadin' fast... Frankie Avalon was done.... Bobby Rydell??? Done... Pat Boone and Neil Sedaka??? Done... They were the 50s... All done by '64... Believe me... I'm older... I know...

By '64 we were down to surf or MoTown... Supremes, Four Tops, Jan 'n Dean, Ventures, Beach Boys...

That was all we had....

No one else...

Believe me...

B~

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 11:04 PM

Well, I just finished watching the film and maybe it was worth dealing with all the adware and popups. Great stuff! Forgot how young those guys were when this maelstrom of popularity swept over them and for a while, watching them, I felt about 14 too. That alone is worth the hassle. Thanks CJB!

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 08:28 PM

Only ever been one of these guys, and then the mold got broke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL357969B09D08ED19&feature=player_detailpage&v=0Me_FQnRmnY

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 07:43 PM

Not just Motown and Surf...how about all the American Idols like Bobbie Rydell, and Frankie Avalon, and Paul Anka, and Pat Boone, and Neil Sedaka, and their ilk. In fact, "ilk" is probably the perfect word for it. Boone converted classic rock n roll songs like Good Golly Miss Molly into pap that was boiled and strained for the consumption of the red blooded American Teen. The Beatles heard Little Richard, rocked it even harder, fed it back and those same teens ate it up like starving hamsters.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Bobert
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 06:25 PM

Very exciting times... Mo-Town and Surf music had purdy much settled in and dominated ate airwaves... Not much else... The 50's sound was long gone... So I was real happy to have something new and, boy, was it!!!

And over the following year the British invasion lit a fuse on a bomb that we are still feeling...

B~

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 06:07 PM

Thank you, Ernie. I was just about to and noticed this thread had a few more posts. I owe you.

BM

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 05:23 PM

UPDATE on the malware issue. Spybot wont remove several components of the nasty pop-ups, bots and adware that come with the Expat Shield software and I'll have to involve my system administrator to eliminate them. DONT DOWNLOAD THIS SOFTWARE

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: Lonesome EJ
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 04:46 PM

Speaking of sewage problems, if you load that expatshield software it will come with an amazing amount of promotional popup crap, some of which blocks window info and pops up over important information, and won't vanish when you click its x box. I'm about to run spybot to try and clear it out.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: gnu
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 03:42 PM

Ya know... after their first song on the Sullivan show, when the adverts came on, many cities and towns in NA had problems with their sewage systems not being able to meet the demand. Hype? Perhaps. But I recall the media reports about it.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 11:23 AM

Thank you.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 10:48 AM

Use ExpatShield first ...

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 09:09 AM

Crap. Available in UK only.

Subject: RE: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: GUEST,999
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 09:08 AM

With a name like that and hair that long, they'll never amount to anything in music, CJB.

Thanks for the link. It'll be fun to revisit my teenage years, except I didn't really find out about them until 1965. Other than "I Want to Hold Your Hand" which I love and play (arranged) to this day.

Subject: The Beatles: The First US Visit
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 30 Jan 12 - 09:02 AM

The Beatles: The First US Visit

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00mq5bw/The_Beatles_The_First_US_Visit/

including amazing live performances on the Ed Sullivan Show.

"The story of two remarkable weeks in 1964, when Beatlemania first ignited in America. From airport to hotel to TV studio, the pioneering Maysles brothers were at the Beatles' shoulders on their first US visit. The siblings filmed them off guard and off duty, in nightclubs, at photo shoots, press conferences, in limos and on trains. The footage includes a performance on the Ed Sullivan Show, when they played to 73 million television viewers, and their concert at the Washington Coliseum."

Can be viewed on iPlayer (if overseas use ExpatShield first). Can be downloaded with DRM (expires in 30 days). Or download without DRNM using get_iplayer

Great entertainment.

Enjoy!!