I've been a beatles fan for most of my life. I'm only 27 years old ... but I remember at a young age finding some Beatles records that belonged to my parents. I was never really into music ... but something changed when I first heard their songs. I listened to them constantly ... and would read as much as I could about them. They were part of a musical revolution ... and because of them, music would never be the same.
The Beatles inspired me in many ways ... so much so that I started playing guitar when I was 14 years old ... and now, 13 years later, I'm still doing it (http://www.seandayton.com/). So .. needless to say, even though I was born well after the break-up of the beatles, it didn't stop their influence on me.
A few years ago .. my mom gave me a box of some old beatles stuff. Some of this stuff was passed down by my grandfather - who attended a Beatles concert in 1964 in Toronto, along with my mother. There were several items in this box, most of which just stayed there for a while. It wasn't until just a few weeks ago that I started thinking about the contents of this box. My wife and I had been doing some purging ... getting rid of stuff we didn't need ... when she brought out a reel-to-reel tape that had been sitting there for quite some time. It was labeled "Beatles in Toronto - 1965". At first, I didn't think too much about it, but then I was reminded of a recent reel-to-reel discovery from a 1966 Beatles concert in Toronto -- and people seemed to be making a big deal out of that tape. I started to wonder whether what we had was also a rare find -- and whether it was a Beatles recording that had never been heard before.
I contacted beatles expert and author, John C. Winn (Way Beyond Compare, That Magic Feeling), to help discover what was on the tape ... and he suggested I forward him some clips once I converted it to mp3. I found a reel-to-reel player at my friend's work (a radio station) to listen to the tape. It was pretty exciting knowing that we could potentially be listening to a very rare beatles recording. Unfortunately, the player wasn't able to play the tape slow enough to listen to at the normal speed ... but what we could hear sounded like a documentary of The Beatles - with a narrator, fan interviews, a beatles interview/press conference, and a song or two. Later that week ... I brought the tape into an old record store and they were able to convert the reel-to-reel tape to CD. I popped the CD into the CD player in my car and began listening to what was an amazing 25 minute documentary on the Beatles and the Beatlemania phenomenon. It felt like I was right there ... transported to the 60's.
After sending the mp3 file to John Winn ... he was able to verify that some of the material on this tape was indeed unique (to his knowledge) ... although, we have yet to confirm the origins of this recording. Parts of the documentary (ie. the beatles interview) have been circulating on DVD from a CBC-TV report on "This Hour Has Seven Days". But several pieces, including the narration, part of the beatles press conference, and some of the fan interviews seem to be unique. We have yet to determine where/when this documentary aired. My grandfather used to tune into a weekly radio show in Toronto called "Calling All Britons" ... maybe he recorded it from that show. Or maybe it was recorded from a TV program. Or perhaps he just took several clips from various shows and hired somebody to do the narration. There's a chance that he recorded the interview and press conference himself since he was allowed into the press area -- which is how he took (& devoloped) the photograph in the picture above. Regardless, it's still a bit of a mystery as to where this documentary came from (ie. what show/station).
It was really exciting to be able to discover some of this footage ... and to also find out a bit more about my grandfather - who passed away a few years ago. I've included some clips of the documentary to let you hear it first hand ... and maybe you can help us find out where this came from. If you have any ideas ... feel free to email me or comment on this post. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the clips!!
Sean
NOTE: Clips have been removed. Thanks to everyone for helping discover the origins of this documentary.
The Beatles inspired me in many ways ... so much so that I started playing guitar when I was 14 years old ... and now, 13 years later, I'm still doing it (http://www.seandayton.com/). So .. needless to say, even though I was born well after the break-up of the beatles, it didn't stop their influence on me.
A few years ago .. my mom gave me a box of some old beatles stuff. Some of this stuff was passed down by my grandfather - who attended a Beatles concert in 1964 in Toronto, along with my mother. There were several items in this box, most of which just stayed there for a while. It wasn't until just a few weeks ago that I started thinking about the contents of this box. My wife and I had been doing some purging ... getting rid of stuff we didn't need ... when she brought out a reel-to-reel tape that had been sitting there for quite some time. It was labeled "Beatles in Toronto - 1965". At first, I didn't think too much about it, but then I was reminded of a recent reel-to-reel discovery from a 1966 Beatles concert in Toronto -- and people seemed to be making a big deal out of that tape. I started to wonder whether what we had was also a rare find -- and whether it was a Beatles recording that had never been heard before.
I contacted beatles expert and author, John C. Winn (Way Beyond Compare, That Magic Feeling), to help discover what was on the tape ... and he suggested I forward him some clips once I converted it to mp3. I found a reel-to-reel player at my friend's work (a radio station) to listen to the tape. It was pretty exciting knowing that we could potentially be listening to a very rare beatles recording. Unfortunately, the player wasn't able to play the tape slow enough to listen to at the normal speed ... but what we could hear sounded like a documentary of The Beatles - with a narrator, fan interviews, a beatles interview/press conference, and a song or two. Later that week ... I brought the tape into an old record store and they were able to convert the reel-to-reel tape to CD. I popped the CD into the CD player in my car and began listening to what was an amazing 25 minute documentary on the Beatles and the Beatlemania phenomenon. It felt like I was right there ... transported to the 60's.
After sending the mp3 file to John Winn ... he was able to verify that some of the material on this tape was indeed unique (to his knowledge) ... although, we have yet to confirm the origins of this recording. Parts of the documentary (ie. the beatles interview) have been circulating on DVD from a CBC-TV report on "This Hour Has Seven Days". But several pieces, including the narration, part of the beatles press conference, and some of the fan interviews seem to be unique. We have yet to determine where/when this documentary aired. My grandfather used to tune into a weekly radio show in Toronto called "Calling All Britons" ... maybe he recorded it from that show. Or maybe it was recorded from a TV program. Or perhaps he just took several clips from various shows and hired somebody to do the narration. There's a chance that he recorded the interview and press conference himself since he was allowed into the press area -- which is how he took (& devoloped) the photograph in the picture above. Regardless, it's still a bit of a mystery as to where this documentary came from (ie. what show/station).
It was really exciting to be able to discover some of this footage ... and to also find out a bit more about my grandfather - who passed away a few years ago. I've included some clips of the documentary to let you hear it first hand ... and maybe you can help us find out where this came from. If you have any ideas ... feel free to email me or comment on this post. Thanks for reading. Enjoy the clips!!
Sean
NOTE: Clips have been removed. Thanks to everyone for helping discover the origins of this documentary.
Hello .... just wanted to let you know ... after listening to the Concert Segment of "She Loves You" from the the portion you upload is not Maple Leaf Gardens 1964 ..... its actually from the First Ed Sullivan Show with a lot dubbed in screaming that is looped.... if you want to .... listen to the concert clip first and then Ed Sullivan and Noted the Tone of Paul Vocals and George Guitar Parts .... the Version of she Loves from USA Tour is a little fast and different than that of the Ed Sullivan Show earlier that year ....
ReplyDeleteall the best .... Murrays15
Hey...thanks so much for that tip. You're right! ... I didn't realize they did the song in two different keys. It definitely does sound a lot more like the Ed Sullivan recording than it does the Toronto '64 show. Crazy! Thanks again!!
ReplyDeleteHere's a little information from the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Daily Star. It's not conclusive, but it is worth sharing. The daily TV listing in the Star for Saturday, September 12th at 6:00pm identified a half-hour program entitled, "The Beatles." An entry in the Globe and Mail TV weekly list of highlights noted, "A special half-hour documentary on the Beatles is being prepared by Channel 9 for telecast this Saturday [the 12th] at 6 p.m."
ReplyDeleteThat day's six o'clock entry in the G&M TV listing at 6:00pm was, "Half hour report on the Beatles."
So this untitled report *could* be the documentary that you shared. I'm convinced that it's a TV report, as the narrator says at 1:11 into the first clip, "What you are SEEING now is that symptom known as Beatlemania, the outbreak that occurred in Toronto last weekend."
This broadcast occurred the weekend after the two concerts in Toronto, so the timing is right.
Thanks for the info! This is great. There's a good chance Channel 9 in Toronto was CFTO-TV (also called CTV). My mom said her dad knew some people that worked there. So there's a good chance it came from that TV Report. She doesn't remember him directly recording it from TV -- so perhaps it was recorded from the Master. The quality of the recording would suggest that as well. Thanks again for the info!
ReplyDelete