I missed the closeness of a live audience. So just as soon as I got out of the movie contracts I started to do live performances again.
~Elvis Presley (NYC press conference – june 9, 1972)
This is an absolutely stunning live album, the best official live album from Elvis (slightly better than “That’s the Way It Is”).
The album was recorded Feb 17-19 in 1970, Elvis was just starting his Las Vegas run (the “Vegas years” – 1969-76) & the Band & backing groups sounded great.
Released
June 1970
Recorded
February 17-19, 1970 International Hotel, Las Vegas, Nevada
Genre
Rock
Length
31:57
Label
RCA
Elvis’ idea of bringing in white gospel singers with black soul singers was really genius on his part because he covered the whole gamut of music
~Joe Moscheo (The Imperials)
Stayin’ up for days in the Chelsea Hotel,
Writin’ “Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” for you.
~”Sara” (Bob Dylan)
That song is an example of a song… it started out as just a little thing, Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands, but I got carried away, somewhere along the line. I just sat down at a table and started writing. At the session itself. And I just got carried away with the whole thing… I just started writing and I couldn’t stop. After a period of time, I forgot what it was all about, and I started trying to get back to the beginning.
~Bob Dylan (to Jann Wenner Nov 1969)
This is the best song I’ve ever written.
~Bob Dylan (to Robert Shelton)
@ #49 on my list of Dylan’s 200 best songs. Recorded @ Columbia Music Row Studios – Nashville, Tennessee – February 16, 4-5.30 am.
The Beatles were such a prolific album act that it’s sometimes hard to abstract their later singles; here, they ride their roots as a bar band in Liverpool and Hamburg to a new kind of glory.
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)
The opening circular riff, played on 12-string guitar by George Harrison, was a signpost for the folk-rock wave that would ride through rock music itself in 1965.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)
Wikipedia:
Released
9 April 1965
Recorded
15 February 1965,
EMI Studios, London
Genre
Rock
Length
3:10
Label
Parlophone
Writer
Lennon–McCartney
Producer
George Martin
“Ticket to Ride” is a song by the Beatles from their 1965 album, Help!. It was recorded 15 February 1965 and released two months later. In 2004, this song was ranked number 394 on Rolling Stone‘s list of “The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time”.
They say this was one of John’s personal favorites, probably because it has his most soulful vocal ever. But “Ticket to Ride” is intricate and interesting all the way through, with Paul playing mean lead guitar and Ringo dispelling all doubt about his prowess as a drummer: The groove comes straight out of his pure backbeat.
~Dave Marsh (The Heart of Rock & Soul)
Original 1965 Promotional Video:
Composition
The song was written primarily by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), with Paul McCartney’s contributions in dispute. Lennon said that McCartney’s contribution was limited to “the way Ringo played the drums”. McCartney said that was an incomplete description, and that “we sat down and wrote it together… give him 60 percent of it… we sat down together and worked on that for a full three-hour songwriting session.” This song was also the first song by the band in which McCartney was featured on lead guitar.
The song features a coda with a different tempo that extends the song’s length past three minutes, the first Beatles single ever to do so. Lennon said this double-time section (with the lyric “My baby don’t care”) was one of his “favourite bits” in the song.
Shea Stadium Live 1965 – HQ:
Critical Response
Music critics Richie Unterberger of Allmusic and Ian MacDonald both describe “Ticket to Ride” as an important milestone in the evolution of the musical style of the Beatles. Unterberger said, “the rhythm parts on ‘Ticket to Ride’ were harder and heavier than they had been on any previous Beatles outing, particularly in Ringo Starr’s stormy stutters and rolls.” MacDonald described it as “psychologically deeper than anything the Beatles had recorded before … extraordinary for its time — massive with chiming electric guitars, weighty rhythm, and rumbling floor tom-toms.” MacDonald also notes that the track uses the Indian basis of drone which might have influenced the Kinks’ “See My Friends”.
Meaning of ‘Ticket To Ride’
While the song lyrics describe a girl “riding out of the life of the narrator”, the inspiration of the title phrase is unclear. McCartney said it was “a British Railways ticket to the town of Ryde on the Isle of Wight”, and Lennon said it described cards indicating a clean bill of health carried by Hamburg prostitutes in the 1960s. The Beatles played in Hamburg early in their musical career, and “ride/riding” was slang for having sex.
So we round off with The Beatles final appearance @ “Ed Sullivan Show” – 14th August 1965
They performed six songs: I Feel Fine, I’m Down, Act Naturally, Ticket To Ride, Yesterday and Help!
Rolling Stone hailed it as the best ever live album, and they may still be right…
~Chris Jones (BBC – 2007)
From youtube: The Who at Leeds for their greatest live in 1970! it’s the ONLY VIDEO of this concert!
Fortune Teller (0:00 to 0:05) – Happy Jack (0:06 to 0:13) – I’m a Boy (0:14 to 0:33) – A Quick One While He’s Away (0:34 to 2:09) – Christmas (2:10 to 3:05) – Pinball Wizard (3:06 to 3:22) – Go to The Mirror (3:22 to 3:26) – Smash The Mirror (3:27 to 3:35)- Tommy’s Holliday Camp (3:36 to 3:45) – We’re Not Gonna Take It (with See Me, Feel Me) (3:46 at the end)
1970 Original LP – Full Album:
Wikipedia:
Released
16 May 1970
Recorded
14 February 1970,
University of Leeds,
Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire,
England, United Kingdom
Genre
Rock
Length
36:24
Label
Decca/MCA
Producer
Jon Astley, Kit Lambert, and The Who
Live at Leeds is The Who’s first live album, and is the only live album that was released while the group were still actively recording and performing with their best known line-up of Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Keith Moon. Initially released in the United States on 16 May 1970, by Decca and MCA and the United Kingdom on 23 May 1970, by Track and Polydor, the album has been reissued on several occasions and in several different formats. As of 2005, the album is ranked number 170 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
The album has been cited as the best live rock recording of all time by The Telegraph, The Independent, The New York Times,the BBC, and Rolling Stone. It is included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die, and in Q magazine’s list of Loudest Albums of All Time. A Rolling Stone readers’ poll in 2012 ranked it the best live album of all time.
Shakin’ All Over:
Release History:
The original LP was released on 16 May 1970 in stereophonic format. The album was reissued on Compact Disc in 1985 by MCA in the US, and in 1987 by Polydor in Germany.
In 1995, the album was reissued as a remixed CD including more songs than the original vinyl edition, as well as song introductions and other banter that had been edited out of the original release. For the remix, new vocal overdubs from Daltrey, Townshend and Entwistle were recorded to address occasional flaws in the original tapes or performances.
In 2001, the album was released again as a part of the Universal Deluxe Edition series. The Deluxe Edition includes more chat between the songs, and the entirety of the band’s Tommy set as performed at Leeds. Again, new overdubs from the vocalists were employed at select points.
In October 2010, Universal Music announced the impending release of a 40th Anniversary edition of the album which would not only contain the full Leeds show from 14 February 1970 but also the band’s complete performance from Hull which was recorded the following evening as well as a heavyweight vinyl reproduction of the original six-track album, memorabilia and a replica 7 Inch Single of ‘Summertime Blues/ Heaven & Hell’. This performance had previously been unavailable because of a problem with the recording of John Entwistle’s bass guitar on the first six songs. To fix this problem his performance at the Leeds show was overdubbed over these tracks of the Hull performance using digital technology.
“When I first started I never meant to make money. My only thought was to make a living singing, but all of a sudden I was getting $1500 a night. And if you take a 19-year-old boy and put him in those circumstances…it was a bad scene, it shouldn’t have happened on that first record. I didn’t know how to handle a hit: I was only a child, a boy.”
~Gene Vincent in 1969
Gene Vincent only had one really big hit, “Be-Bop-a-Lula,” which epitomized rockabilly at its prime in 1956 with its sharp guitar breaks, spare snare drums, fluttering echo, and Vincent’s breathless, sexy vocals. Yet his place as one of the great early rock & roll singers is secure, backed up by a wealth of fine smaller hits and non-hits that rate among the best rockabilly of all time.
~Richie Unterberger (allmusic.com)
Gene Vincent tribute:
Be-Bop-A-Lula:
Wikipedia:
Birth name
Vincent Eugene Craddock
Born
February 11, 1935
Norfolk, Virginia, United States
Died
October 12, 1971 (aged 36)
Genres
Rockabilly, rock and roll
Occupations
Singer, musician
Instruments
Vocals, guitar
Years active
1955–1971
Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935 – October 12, 1971), known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, “Be-Bop-A-Lula”, is considered a significant early example of rockabilly. He is a member of both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.
Legacy
He was the first inductee into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame upon its formation in 1997
The following year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
Vincent has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1749 N. Vine Street
In 2012, his band, the Blue Caps, would be retroactively inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by a special committee, alongside Vincent.
