Video may have killed the radio star, but seeing these old Ed Sullivan clips is certainly a treat. Without any decently recorded live albums, the only evidence of how great a live band The Beatles were exists solely in old video footage.
After they stopped touring in 1966, they increasingly wrote and recorded music that would have been impractical to perform live, even if they had the desire to do so. Paul McCartney has been doing later period Beatle songs in his shows and they translate wonderfully. My favorite Beatle period is 1965-66. For the most part,the instrumentation is still two guitars, bass and drums, but the songs are deeper in meaning and the maturity and craft they bring to a 2:30 Pop song is still exciting 40 years later.
Check out "Help!". They absolutely nail the arrangement, the vocals, and George has his tricky guitar lick down cold...amazing.
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One cool visual effect I've always enjoyed ( a happy accident, if you will) is made possible by McCartney's left-handedness. When he shares a mike with George, both guitars are pointed in the same direction, while they are face to face. Very nice effect.
Yeah. Imagine playing in a band where your bookend bass guitarist and rhythm guitarist are Paul McCartney and John Lennon...jeez.
The Beatles album (I have it on vinyl, but I imagine it's available on CD) 'Live At The Hollywood Bowl' is pretty good, IMO. It was released in the mid '70s, and it's comprised of recordings from their 2 concerts at the HB in '64 and '65.
They had no monitors and there were thousands of girls and women screaming in their faces so loud they could hardly hear themselves, but they soldiered on and did a damned fine job of it. If you're a Beatles fan and you haven't heard it, you need to. It's muy bueno!
Oh, and you can see the opening band's gear stacked to the right of the stage in the pics inside. Bill Black's Combo is printed on the bass drum head.
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