The Beatles Releasing ‘Hollywood Bowl’ Live Album on CD for First Time Ever

The Beatles Live at the Hollywood Bowl, a 1977 live album containing material from the Beatles’ Hollywood Bowl concerts in Aug. 1964 and Aug. 1965, is coming back in an expanded release globally on Sept. 9 on CD and digital download for the first time, it was announced early today by the Beatles‘ Apple Corps’ Ltd. and Universal Music Group. A 180-gram vinyl release will follow on Nov. 18.

The new package, a companion release to the new Ron Howard film The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years, includes all the tracks of the 1977 album plus four additional unreleased songs and a 24-page booklet with an essay by music journalist David Fricke. The cover photo for the album, also on the poster for the film, was taken by the group’s U.S. tour manager Bob Bonis on Aug. 22, 1964 as they boarded a chartered flight in Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. for their first concert in Canada.

Today’s announcement said the new release is sourced from the original three track tapes of the concerts, which have been remixed by producer Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios. It was Martin’s father, Sir George Martin, who produced the original album and wrote in the original liner notes, “The chaos, I might almost say panic, that reigned at these concerts was unbelievable unless you were there. Only three-track recording was possible; The Beatles had no ‘fold back’ speakers, so they could not hear what they were singing, and the eternal shriek from 17,000 healthy, young lungs made even a jet plane inaudible,” he wrote, “What did impress me was the electric atmosphere and raw energy that came over.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2SD7teI8vQ

“A few years ago Capitol Studios called saying they’d discovered some Hollywood Bowl three track tapes in their archive,” the elder Martin’s son, Giles Martin, revealed in today’s announcement. “We transferred them and noticed an improvement over the tapes we’ve kept in the London archive. Alongside this, I’d been working for some time with a team headed by technical engineer James Clarke on demix technology, the ability to remove and separate sounds from a single track. With Sam Okell, I started work on remixing the Hollywood Bowl tapes.”

He said the tapes now sound better than ever. “Technology has moved on since my father worked on the material all those years ago. Now there’s improved clarity, and so the immediacy and visceral excitement can be heard like never before. My father’s words still ring true, but what we hear now is the raw energy of four lads playing together to a crowd that loved them. This is the closest you can get to being at the Hollywood Bowl at the height of Beatlemania. We hope you enjoy the show…”

The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years, directed by Howard, concentrates on the group from the years 1962 to 1966 and will include footage of the “Boys” performance featured on the Hollywood Bowl album. It will premiere six days after the album’s release on Sept. 15 in the U.K., France and Germany, Sept. 16 in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand and Sept. 22 in Japan. The film will be available to U.S. subscribers of Hulu starting Sept. 17. 

The original 1977 version of The Beatles At the Hollywood Bowl was assembled from two group shows in 1964 and 1965 and released on album, 8-track and cassette by Capitol Records in the U.S. and Parlophone Records in the UK in May, 1977. It debuted on the U.S. Billboard album charts on May 21, 1977 and peaked at No. 2, and hit No. 1 in the U.K. It was never, however, released on legitimate CD, but it was heavily bootlegged. One such unauthorized release featured all three shows from Aug. 23, 1964 and Aug. 29-30, 1965 in stereo, complete with malfunctioning mikes.

Track listing for “The Beatles: Live At The Hollywood Bowl”

1. Twist and Shout [30 August, 1965]

2. She’s A Woman [30 August, 1965]

3. Dizzy Miss Lizzy [30 August, 1965 / 29 August, 1965 – one edit]

4. Ticket To Ride [29 August, 1965]

5. Can’t Buy Me Love [30 August, 1965]

6. Things We Said Today [23 August, 1964]

7. Roll Over Beethoven [23 August, 1964]

8. Boys [23 August, 1964]

9. A Hard Day’s Night [30 August, 1965]

10. Help! [29 August, 1965]

11. All My Loving [23 August, 1964]

12. She Loves You [23 August, 1964]

13. Long Tall Sally [23 August, 1964]

14. You Can’t Do That [23 August, 1964 – previously unreleased]

15. I Want To Hold Your Hand [23 August, 1964 – previously unreleased]

16. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby [30 August, 1965 – previously unreleased]

17. Baby’s In Black [30 August, 1965 – previously unreleased]

Source: billboard.com