RED HOT DEPOT

Like a lot of people, my first exposure to the song "Red Hot" was through Robert Gordon's 1977 LP with Link Wray. After devouring the LP, yep, the dig was on. It didn't take long to find out that the hit version of "Red Hot" was by Billy Lee Riley (above), recorded at Sun in 1957, with Jerry Lee Lewis on piano. (Gordon's LP also featured Riley's "Flying Saucers Rock 'n' Roll".) It wasn't until years later that I found an earlier version from 1955 by Billy "The Kid" Emerson, also recorded at at Sun. His version (the original?) is a fuckin' party. This would be my cue to hep you to an excellent four CD box set that is the deal of the century. It's called "Rockin' Memphis" and that's where I first heard Emerson's version. It's all stuff recorded at Sun and most of the cuts in the set were licensed to other labels. So you're essentially getting a whole bunch of cool songs that you won't find on official Sun boxed sets. Here's the kicker: Brand new this boxed set goes for about $16! Used copies at Discogs start at eight bucks! There's 114 songs and a 56 page book of liner notes. Get off you wallets tightwads!

Here's the three versions mentioned above and another one by the Beatles recorded in their pre-fame days at the Star Club in Hamburg. Their recording isn't the greatest but you can definitely hear some fine rockabilly licks. John or George? You make the call.

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Listen:
Billy Lee Riley - Red Hot mp3 at Internet Archive 1957
Billy "The Kid" Emerson - Red Hot mp3 at Internet Archive 1955
Robert Gordon w/Link Wray - Red Hot (streaming) at YouTube
The Beatles - Red Hot (Live at the Star Club) (streaming) at YouTube

BEATLES LIVE IN '66? OKAY...

This is really good. It's like watching a home movie except that it has good sound, better picture quality and happens to be of the Beatles in 1966. It's the editing that's home movie like but that's because it's pulled from several sources. Everything is well synched. The description at YouTube is in French, so here's a rough translation (via Google Translate).:

"Montage with various archives of this double show... The shows took place at 5:15 pm and 9 pm. The second broadcast was filmed by the German television channel Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF) and followed a brief afternoon rehearsal scheduled for the cameras. The footage was shown under the title Die Beatles on the second channel on Tuesday, July 5 from 8pm to 8.45pm."

Dig it, its raw but the performance is great, and in 1966 they really were on top of their game.

YOU KNOW WHO THEY ARE

I don't have kids, but I remember very clearly how antsy I was on Christmas Eve when I was young. Just thinking about waking up in the morning with all sorts of new shit to play with, appearing out of nowhere. One year me and my siblings put out heads together and tried to outfox the fat man. We didn't have a fireplace, so we figured the logical place for him to enter would be through the front door, so we hatched a plan. We would put a note on the outside of the front door that said "Santa if you come in this door take this note down." Couldn't fail. I'll tell you though, that jolly fucker is smart. He sent my aunt and uncle over to our house, and they knocked front door, and when my parents answered they said "Hey, look at this note that was out here." Shifty son of a bitch. That was the last year we hassled with anything like that. In the years that followed, the word got out that the man was a fake. So, to whoever got us the Hot Wheels, thanks.

Here's some records that were sent to members of the Beatles fan club, from 1963 through 1969. They range from cocksure smart asses to appreciative wits, but if you've never heard them, they are entertaining. The first link has mp3s, just click on the record labels of each individual record. The second link has the same records streaming, but with descriptions and click-able high resolution images of the covers.

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Listen:
The Beatles Christmas Records Records - 1963 - 1969 mp3s at The Beatles Source NOTE: Click on record labels for mp3s.
The Beatles Christmas Records Records - 1963 - 1969 (streaming) at All Dylan Right click on record labels for high resolution.
High resolution source of above photo

THEY SHOULD'VE USED IT MORE

I'm not a Beatles freak. I recognize their massive talent and all of that, but I really don't listen to them all that much. But like Grandpappy Chuck says, if it's a rocker I'll admit it. And "Revolution 1" slays me. Not because of the tune itself, which is a good one, or the lyrics, which are also good. Nope. I dig it because of the distortion on John Lennon's guitar. Yee haw.

GIMME SOME TRUTH DEPOT

Here's an odd one. The Beatles rehearsing John Lennon's "Gimme Some Truth". A standout track on Lennon's Imagine LP, for me anyway, I had no clue that the Beatles even considered it. I went walking around like that, blissfully unaware for decades. I guess I don't hang with Beatle freaks enough. Here's the YouTube clip of the Beatles fucking around with it, the "official" video for Lennon's version, and a link to a page with an alternate version (along with other Lennon oddballs). If that's not enough, there's a documentary about the making of Imagine.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen/Watch:
The Beatles - Gimme Some Truth (rehearsing) at YouTube
John Lennon - Gimme Some Truth at YouTube
John Lennon - Gimme Some Truth (outtake) at Big O Go there to get it, and several more. Once there, scroll down the page for mp3s.
John Lennon - Gimme Some Truth, The Making Of John Lennon's Imagine Album (documentary) at YouTube

THIRTY YEAR BUGABOO

This is of interest for several reasons, even if you don't like the Beatles. It's a letter written by Paul McCartney, who seems more than a little pissed off at Phil Spector's fix up of "The Long and Winding Road". Though the letter appears to be written to Allen Klein (manager of John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr), both Phil Spector and John Eastman (Paul McCartney's manager at the time), were copied on it. Imagine McCartney's thought process. First hearing the Spector reworked version, then, rather then getting on the horn with a "WTF?!?" with his bandmates, he decides to make it official. (Oh, to be a fly on the wall during ensuing discussions...) Regardless, he would have to wait thirty three years to release the version he preferred, which appeared on the 2003 semi-reissue Let It Be... Naked. "The Long and Winding Road" is far from a favorite of mine, but I like his spunk.

In case you're reading this on one of those gizmo-phones, and can't read the image of the letter, here's the text:

Dear Sir,
In the future no one will be allowed to add to or subtract from a recording of one of my songs without my permission.

I had considered orchestrating "The Long and Winding Road" but I decided against it. I therefore want it altered to these specifications:-

1. Strings, horns, voices and all added noises to be reduced in volume.
2. Vocal and Beatle instrumentation to be brought up in volume.
3. Harp to be removed completely at the end of the song and original piano notes to be substituted.
4. Don't ever do it again.
 

Signed Paul McCartney

Here's two versions of "The Long and Winding Road" (both streaming because I don't want Klein or Eastman snooping around here). Full on disclaimer: I'm not posting these because I like the song, It is decidedly not my bag. I'm posting it so you can hear what the fuss was about. Keep in mind the 1970 released version was released just three weeks after the letter was written. That's pretty late in the game to still be wrangling about production. Too late in this case.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Listen:
The Beatles - The Long and Winding Road (streaming) at YouTube 1970
The Beatles - The Long and Winding Road ("Naked" version) (streaming) at YouTube 2003
Visit:
Let It Be... Naked at Wikipedia

RARE BEATLES STUFF

Sometimes I just have to scrape my jaw off the floor. Yesterday, I was reminded why I love the the internet. For all of it's commercial annoyances, it is a great equalizer. By that I mean, it's the one place that just about anyone can put their stuff out there, and the whole world (with a few exceptions) can see it. This allows fiends of any particular field to collect, cut, paste, annotate, and upload sites about just about anything; and, if the subject happens to be a popular one with a lot of like minded visitors, no matter how extensive the site is, it's never really finished.

Last night, I ran into a Beatles site that is so extensive, I doubt that I will ever get through it all. I spent a couple hours browsing through it, and haven't even come close to scratching the surface. Before I go any further, let me say that I'm not particularly a Beatle fiend. I acknowledge their exceptional talent, but they don't rock my boat like a lot of other bands. That said, I can appreciate those people who consider it their life's work to dissect every bit of Beatle information to create a complete picture. The site I ran into yesterday is the ultimate Beatles time suck.

The navigation is rather chaotic. There are a lot of photos that lead to audio files of unreleased alternate versions, newsreels, or other pages with oddball stuff. You say you want a virtual tour of a street in Hamburg, with all of the clubs and hangouts that Beatles frequented? This guy has you covered. How about letters that Stu Sutcliffe's girlfriend (and early Beatles photographer) Astrid Kirchneer wrote to Stu's mother? Are you starting to get the picture? This dude is a fiend with a capital F.

There's one page with photo of a recording session, that has McCartney's daughter Heather sitting on the floor. This prompts a discussion, not only speculating which studio it was, but what particular date. It's a complete and total minutia overload. Music wise, different songs and eras get different treatment. There are short clips of the earliest recordings (we're talking pre-Beatles 50's stuff) all the way through complete alternate versions of George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." The page for Sgt. Pepper's has a 6 part "Making of.." documentary, another with over 4o galleries of photos taken during the sessions, and another with isolated instrument tracks.

My best advise for sifting through this amazing collection is to just start clicking away, on anything and everything. But, if you run into something you want to find again, you had better bookmark it, because it may be impossible to retrace your steps.

The Beatles Source Home Page
The Savage Young Beatles: Extensive photo collection, from 1957 to 1963 (Ringo playing guitar?)
The Ultimate Acetate Collection: Just what it says. More outtakes and demos than you can shake a stick at.
The Concert Files: Recordings and clips from concerts from 1963 to 1966
TV appearances: Listings with screen shots of TV appearances from 1963 to 1970

Earlier Beatles related posts:
Wu-Tang vs The Beatles
The Beatles' Christmas Records

WU-TANG VS THE BEATLES

You can guess what this is. It's a album length mash up of the Wu-Tang Clan and the Beatles. And it's not quite as gimmicky as it sounds. The guy behind it, Tom Caruana, did a bang up job of using samples, rhythms and vocal tracks only where needed. The thing flows seamlessly (well, most of it), good enough that I caught myself wishing that I wasn't familiar with the Beatles's music, just so I could be really objective. The thing I found pretty remarkable is that the Caruana had to have had a good knowledge not only of the of the Beatles' music (including easy listening covers), but Wu-Tang's entire output, both as a group and solo works; because the vocals are cherry picked from their entire discography. That's the kind of musical knowledge that you rarely find outside of serious music journalists. Combine that with the know-how to actually put it together and you'll understand why you ought to at least check it out.

I'm putting this up, just because it came and went so quickly when it was originally on BandCamp, that it was a nice surprise to see a new download link at Covert Curiosity, posted with their year end "Best of" list. I'm not linking to the download link directly, but you can find the link to the entire album download if you scroll down to the 18th album on the list, at this post. For those not ready to commit to a 178mb download without a sample, there's some links to sites with individual mp3s to test the water.

~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~

Wu-Tang vs the Beatles - Enter The Magical Mystery Chambers (mixed by Tom Caruana) zip download available at Covert Curiosity
(NOTE: Scroll down to the 18th album on the list for download link.)
Wu-Tang vs the Beatles - Got Your Money, Uh Huh mp3 downloads at Subservient Experiment
Wu-Tang vs the Beatles - C.R.E.A.M. mp3 download at IndieShuffle
Wu-Tang vs the Beatles - Forget Me Not mp3 download (scroll to tenth mp3) at The Fmly
Wu-Tang vs the Beatles - Uzi (Pinky Ring), Slang Editorial mp3 downloads (scroll to third & fourth mp3s) at Les Enfants Terribles