RECORDED HIGHLIGHTS & ACTION REPLAYS (Archives)

The DVD news is highlighted by some new material to silver disc this week...from the Polyworks Label comes LITTLE FEAT "Rainbow Rocket 1977", a LOWELL GEORGE-era proshot video from London's Rainbow Theater circa 1977 (date unconfirmed upon article publishing) with bonus footage that includes 2 tracks from The Old Grey Whistle Test 1975, and 3 songs from The Midnight Special performance 1977...and I had been digging around for this information for the last 2 weeks to answer HW On-line Member, Heartbreaker's question regarding the ELTON JOHN DVD, "Christmas In London" from Retrotone - and here it is...this excellent proshot video of ELTON's December 24, 1974 Chrismas concert at The Hammersmith Odeon has arrived...I only had the audio for this one and I'm pretty sure it's the same show that features ROD STEWART and GARY GLITTER joining EL and band for a rousing version of "White Christmas" as an encore...I've heard good things about the quality of this show and hope I can procure a copy to check it out first-hand.  Boogie Mama is back in the news with yet another version of  the LED ZEPPELIN Seattle '77 proshot video, this one on a DVD-9 Dual Layer disc and is called "Final Kingdome"...Genuine Bastards original "Knebworth '79" Dual Layer release of the 2nd Knebworth ZEP performance on August 11, 1979 has also been made available in a new 2nd pressing with modified digipack artwork.  

Next up is something very fascinating and I haven't quite been able to ascertain whether it's an absolutely incredible bootleg production - or a glorified, over-hyped, self-promoting quasi-official compilation...either way it's absolutely newsworthy and warrants highlighting right here at HotWacks On-line.  Available very soon will be a new BEATLES 3DVD set called "From These Small Beginnings 1962-63" from a UK Entertainment Group called British Lions...the release information on this one smacks of self-promotion but if this production is anything close to how it is described, it'll be the must-have for the year for many music fanatics.  In regards to the importance of the material and incredible quality, the DVD's are compared to the Ultra Rare Tracks CDs from the 90's and Lost Lennon Tapes or many cool BEATLES Promotional Video compilations...here's an excerpt:

Through their many sources and connections British Lions have gathered the best quality and the rarest footage of The Beatles to surface so far. Much of the material on these discs not only rival what was on the Anthology series, but even surpasses much of the official footage we have so far.

A bold statement to say the least, and it sure got my heart racing a bit.  I wavered on whether to reprint alot of the press release material forwarded to me but I felt that when push comes to shove you would all enjoy reading about this stuff as much as I did when it was passed along.  After a second reading through, it is clearly comparing the set to other "Beatlegs" and ultimately endeared itself to being profiled here. The only caveat I need to make is that these aren't words written by anyone here at HotWacks On-line, with that here are some descriptions of some of the included material to wet your appetite:

Disc One Track One
Floral Hall, 2/20/62
Here we are treated to the earliest footage of The Beatles in existence � and in color! The boys are shown wearing their black leather jackets. We see Paul, George and John as very young men. No drummer is seen, but we must assume it was Pete Best. Bits and pieces of this footage have surfaced; however, this is the complete and unedited film as it was shot. And the quality is really pretty good considering the age of the film - silent film, by the way.

Disc One Track Six
6/30/63 Interview
This is the interview that the band gave in Britain to an Italian reporter. Previously, this interview had only been available with Italian overdubs on I Favolosi Beatles. This version has the original English audio and is flawlessly synched to the video.

Disc One Track Eight:
Jersey 8/6 thru 8/10/63
The Beatles relaxing while on tour surfaced in March of this year on a BBC documentary where it was seen in fragments. Here we have the complete and original footage. Super rare!

Disc One Track Ten
Blackpool 8/25/63
From the same documentary just mentioned. Again, this is the complete color film of The Beatles in their collarless suits. There are only three color films of The Beatles in their suits and this is the only one that shows all four Beatles. The backstage footage is of The Fabs with Hank B. Marvin of The Shadows who, at the time, was more famous than The Beatles.

Disc One Track 13
Listen Here! 9/10/63
The very first U.K. newsreel that The Beatles were seen in! How rare is it? Well, at the time boxer Sonny Liston was more newsworthy than The Fabs!

Disc One Track 15
London Palladium 10/13/63
The backstage interview spliced together from two sources. This is, for the first time anywhere, the complete interview. (Source: Peiper & Path, The Complete Film Chronicles).

Disc Two Track One: Twist & Shout � Live at the Cavern
This is a video created by British Lions specifically for this set. It is a very creative video featuring footage from the 1963 Cavern Club that I have never seen before. Very entertaining. I also need to note that most of the Cavern footage here is the best I’ve seen. The film evidently comes from the three different shoots that Granada TV did over the course of several visits to the Cavern. There is material here not on the Anthology or on the Picture Perfect DVDs.

Disc Two Track Three
Return From Sweden 3/10 � 3/31/63
This is the second newsreel from that period which has never been seen on any disc.

Disc Two Track Four
Royal Variety Rehearsal
A seldom seen film of The Beatles rehearsing for the Royal Variety Show. This version is ID’d and has audio.

Disc Two Track Five
Royal Variety Show 11/10/63
The raw footage of the TV broadcast � including She Loves You which was not included on Anthology. This is the first appearance of that film in this form.

Disc Two Track Eleven: Bournemouth 11/16/63
Most books on The Beatles filmed appearances state that only 2:56 exist of this concert; however, there is nearly double that amount here and in superb quality.

Disc Two Track 13
Come To Town Newsreel
This is the first pro-shot color film of The Beatles and is the ‘letterbox’ version! The concert footage is especially amazing � probably comes from the pop movie classic, Pop Gear.

Disc Two Track 15
Scene At 6:30 11/25/63
The Fabs with Ken Dodd has 12 minutes of footage that isn’t seen on the original broadcast. This had surfaced last year but has not seen much distribution among collectors. There is also some cool backstage film included.

Disc Two Track 18
It’s The Beatles 12/7/63
Note: all circulating versions of It’s The Beatles have the same flaws � the intros of I Want To Hold Your Hand and Money are trashed. Same here; however, the overall picture quality is much better than any version I’ve ever seen. And on Disc Three there is outtake footage of the group doing This Boy! Another first.

Disc Three Track One: It Won’t Be Long 2007 version
British Lions work their magic with Apple-quality creative and technical skills. A fun video.

Disc Three Track Eight: CBS Evening News 11/21/63
America’s very first glimpse of The Beatles! This historic broadcast is found on one other Beatleg video, but is incomplete and in atrocious quality. Here it is in pristine quality and complete!

Disc Three Track Ten: Thank Your Lucky Stars 12/15/63
This is the complete show with all the Merseyside acts (Billy J. Kramer, Cilla Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers, etc). And most of them are singing Beatles songs! The quality is fair; but having the entire show is worth it.

Keep an eye out for this set!  Let us know if you see or hear any more on when it might be hitting the streets as no other details have been provided yet.  It certainly sounds like a cool set!...More on this one to come...

On the CD front it's a bit short and sweet...a brand new announcement out of Japan today included details of the new QUEEN title from Wardour, "Operatic Ecstacy" 2CD, featuring a superb audience tape of their performance at The Budokan in Tokyo on March 31, 1976.  And I figured since it was a light week we could offer some visual stimuli of the new Tarantura titles we cited last week...featured above is the new BAD COMPANY 2CD, "Boot Co." also a tape from The Budokan 1975...and the NEIL YOUNG & CRAZY HORSE 2CD "Wet Show" from Nagoya '76.  If you're anything like me, you want to see these as well as hear about 'em. 

That's a wrap for this Monday round-up...thanks all for the two-way flow of information and sharing the buzz of the hobby that is bootleg collecting.  As always, keep your browser pointed to the soon to be more active News Ticker here at the HotWacks On-line Homepage...and visit often.  Have a great week!

Svengi, May 7, 2007