Thursday, March 18, 2021

The Beatles - Live in Stockholm, October 1963

I've mentioned multiple times that the Beatles are my favorite band of all time. Yet I've only posted one Beatles album in the first couple of years of this blog. In part, that's because I still would like to organize things a bit more. And in part it's because there's such a huge mountain of Beatles bootlegs out there that I feel I can have more impact highlighting lesser known bands. But today, in response to a concert I posted of the Doors playing at Stockholm, Sweden, a commenter started discussing a concert the Beatles played in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1963. I realized I have that Beatles concert all ready to be posted, including having the cover art for it, so why not post it? Here it is.

It can be tough listening to any live recordings of the Beatles. Before they became popular, for instance when they played in Hamburg, Germany in the early 1960s, the few recordings that survive were made on primitive recording equipment and sound poor. After they became popular in 1963, they suddenly got so popular that their music is almost always drowned out by hordes of screaming fans. 

This is probably the best live Beatles recording that exists. In 2019, Rolling Stone Magazine published an article listing the ten best Beatles concert recordings, and this one was number one:

Beatles' 10 Best Concerts - Rolling Stone

The concert falls in a sweet spot in that the band was popular enough for them to be properly recorded (in this case, by Swedish National Radio). Yet this was their very first concert outside of Britain after they'd started to become stars, so they weren't so popular yet that their music was overwhelmed by all the screaming. This does have some screaming on it, but only briefly, at the ends of songs. It's especially notable that when the band members talk between songs, the audience is totally silent. I'll bet that if this concert had taken place only a month or two later, there would have been steady screaming through the whole thing.

Another lucky factor is that if you look at the album cover, which is a photo of the exact concert featured here, you can see the audience is very small. I don't know how small because I don't have a photo of the entire place, but I would guess less than a hundred people. I'm sure that helped greatly with the sound quality, and also helped keep the "Beatlemania" in check.

The one problem with this concert is that it's so short. The main concert here, held at the Karlaplansstudion on October 24, 1963, is just 19 minutes long. Only seven songs were played. It so happens that the Beatles gave another short concert in Stockholm one week later, for the Swedish TV show "Drop In." I've added that at the end. Unfortunately, that one is even shorter, at just 10 minutes. A mere four songs were played, and three of them were also played in the other concert. But this other concert has the exact same excellent sound quality, without the usual screaming. So I've decided to include all of it, despite the repetition of some songs. Note that five of the seven songs performed at the  Karlaplansstudion were included on the official album "Anthology 1," but none of the "Drop In" songs were.

The full length of this album with the two shows together is only 29 minutes. But, as Rolling Stone Magazine said, in terms of sound quality, this is probably the best live Beatles recording out there.

01 I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles)
02 talk (Beatles)
03 From Me to You (Beatles)
04 talk (Beatles)
05 Money [That's What I Want] (Beatles)
06 Roll Over Beethoven (Beatles)
07 talk (Beatles)
08 You Really Got a Hold on Me (Beatles)
09 talk (Beatles)
10 She Loves You (Beatles)
11 talk (Beatles)
12 Twist and Shout (Beatles)
13 She Loves You (Beatles)
14 talk (Beatles)
15 Twist and Shout (Beatles)
16 talk (Beatles)
17 I Saw Her Standing There (Beatles)
18 Long Tall Sally (Beatles)

https://www.upload.ee/files/16700627/TBEATLS1963e_LivinStockhlmOctobr1963_atse.zip.html

Years ago, I made the cover art for this album. I found an excellent photo of one of two concerts in question (the second, "Drop In" one), and cropped it to focus on the Beatles. The only problem was the photo was in black and white. Today, in preparing to post this, I colorized it.

21 comments:

  1. Very cool ! Nice to have an actual photo from the show. Though I have countless live Beatle boots, I'll be looking forward to more of your Beatle work, Thanks !

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  2. Thanks for this, much appreciated

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  3. This is wonderful thanx!
    Would you consider attempting (if you haven't before) creating an "alternative" version of 'Revolver'?
    By that I mean alternate versions of the songs from the album that are different from the released versions?
    There are lots of alternate versions of the album out there already - but ALL just seem to list list and reproduce the various multiple session tracks, snippets and demos .......what I mean is alternate/different versions of the album tracks that would be able to be released on a "proper" album!!!
    Oh, and if you do take up the challenge - include the 45 sides "Rain" and "Paperback" writer recorded at the asame time.
    Hope you can do this!!
    Thanx

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    1. That's not on my agenda. But if you, or someone else, were able to point to specific takes of each song that are the most different and interesting, I'd be happy to put that together and post it.

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    2. Hi Paul! I really liked the album The Beatles - Live in Stockholm, October 1963. That's great! Please share more Beatles concert compilations ;)

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    3. I really should post more Beatles stuff. They're my favorite!

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  4. Paul... "just some commentator" here, lol... I'll be happy to take a stab at that. Have it to you shortly.

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    1. Cool. I'm looking forward to it.

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    2. That would be awesome Michael!!!
      I can't find the finished alternate tracks - which is why I was asking - it's very confusing out there! LOL Thanx

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    3. Mike, what's your email? Michael would like to send you something.

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    4. Hi - it's mike.brown297@ntlworld.com
      Thanx

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    5. Hi Paul - Has Michael been in contact with you again re: the Revolver discussion above?
      I think you indicated that he wanted to send me something, but I haven't heard anything?
      I did email him but had no reply - and I just wondered if had lost my address?
      Thanx
      Mike

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    6. I just forwarded your comment to him. I hope and assume he'll reply shortly. I know he's been having some computer problems lately.

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  5. I'd agree with No. 3 on that Rolling Stone list, as the Paris concert from 1965 was the best quality live album that I'd heard from the band.

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    1. I'll have to give that a listen. I'm not familiar with that one.

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  6. Thank you I have to give this a listen. I know what you mean about the screaming on their other live stuff. Sad really , as you cannot really assess just how good they may have actually been live.

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  7. Yeah, this is the best early live concert of The Beatles, their versions of You really got a hold.. and Money are real powerful!

    I saw the TV show and listened to the radio concert when they were sent.. and was hooked for life!

    Have to correct you though on the photo... that is taken from the TV show which was not in the Karlaplan studio ( the radio show was ) but at the Narren theatre in Stockholm...


    Stuffy from Sweden

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