In article <3o89aj$28g@cabell.vcu.edu> csc2imd@cabell.vcu.edu (Ian M. Derby) 
writes:
>
>The way you really played as a unit could only be documented on
>the stage.  It's much easier to "cheat" in the studio.  This
>isn't a knock on anyone, because I know the Beatles were a
>competent live band.  However dismissing live albums is wrong.

Well, it depends what you're trying to prove here. If you want to
demonstrate how great the Fabs were as a live band, you really do
have to examine them as a performing unit---but the question is:
when? What stage in their career?

They were legendarily supposed to be terrific on-stage during their
early years, one Hamburg had knocked some sense into them; but prime-
quality live tapes of those years (let's say 1960-62) don't exist.
We *do* have the Star Club performance from 31 December 1962, but
not only do they sound dreadful (though historically interesting),
this was not representative of their live-performance height.

Too bad no one was taping the night of their famed Litherland Town
Hall performance in December 1960. This was alleged to be a fairly
heart-stopping evening. Only eyewitness accounts remain, no actual
audio tapes.

An interesting bit of footage is the clip from the Cavern Club,
filmed by Granada TV. The Fabs play "Some Other Guy" and even from
the scratchy images you can sense a tangible musical hysteria in
the works. But analyze the Beatles' performance and it's not really
sterling---not musically so. There's something else at work beyond
the music.

The Boys did a lot of live in-studio recording for the BBC, and
these songs were broadcast over radio from 1962-65. Some of these
performances are pretty good, arguably a bit better in a technical
sense than surviving on-stage performances. You might want to assess
these as well to build your case, but even some of the Beeb radio
performances were sweetened or altered with edits.

Some of their concert tours from the prime era of Beatlemania are
good representations of the Boys' prowess---Paris, Hollywood Bowl,
Shea Stadium---but even these could be subject to post-performance
augmentation (the Shea concert was heavily improved by overdubs and
edits before being broadcast on television).

It remains a fact that the Beatles' own sense was that they were best
live. I've no doubt that their impression of themselves would tend to
support the era for which they felt most nostalgic---before the suits,
the schedules, the unbearable hordes of screaming fans. But even their
friend Bill Harry, who published the local Merseyside pop newspaper,
admits that the Beatles were neither the most popular nor the best
Liverpool live band in the early sixties.

The one thing that seems to escape analysis here is the intangible
personal charisma the Boys displayed...whatever electricity it was
that they generated during live performances. It didn't blind the
audience, exactly, but it lent a fabric of cohesiveness and unity
where one might not exist if only the music were taken into account.

And when the Fabs gave up their focus on live performing, after realizing
they could explore new realms in-studio, it was a new game entirely. One
might well argue that the legend of the Beatles' golden days as live
musicians is just that...the product of extra-musical determiners
(interchange between audience and performers, ad-libs, etc.) which
when mixed with the songs gave an impressionistic gloss of perfection.

Surprisingly, the Fabs really blossomed far beyond even this golden
era of their past, once they embraced the intricacies of the recording
studio. If one wants to be entirely truthful, we should feel a sense
of unutterable gratitude that the Beatles turned to a new musical
universe, and harnessed their talents within the confines of an
environment where they could edit, overdub, reverb, reverse, and 
perfect their compositional craft. Far from closing doors, they
opened them wide.

How fortunate for us all!

-- 
"I asked Bobby Dylan, I asked the Beatles, I asked Timothy Leary, but
he couldn't help me either."
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