Another Beatles instrumental

[cockroach]

http://www.merseycats.com/Rare-Early-Be ... dings.html

Have a listen to 'Catswalk'- sorry if this is old news...another one apart from Cry For A Shadow- and quite tricky too!

[Paul Childs]

Sounds a bit Nivram influenced and unusual for George to use the whammy.

[Moderne]

Wow...never heard that before, really enjoyed it. A bit of polish in the studio and it would have stood up alongside the classic Instrumental band records from the early 60s. Can't see the Nivram influence myself - sounds more like a Judd Proctor outtake...

[GoldenStreet]

Yes, an interesting item I'd not heard previously. I see from the PRS database that it's a McCartney-Lennon composition, under the registered title, Catcall, alternatively titled Catswalk.

Bill

[Stratpicker]

Is it just me? - how can a group that sounds SO bad improve so much and become Mega Stars?
Dreadful instrumental.
Just my two 'pennorth
Ian

[Fenderman]

The first 3 are from a private rehersal at he Cavern in late 1962 (just after Ringo joined) but i can't find any reference to them playing Some Other Guy at the Playhouse, i'm assuming this was recorded in 1962.
Also is it just me or is George's guitar out of tune in some tracks?

[Uncleboko]

Is it just me? - how can a group that sounds SO bad improve so much and become Mega Stars?
Dreadful instrumental.
Just my two 'pennorth
Ian

I agree, and how can a guitar sound so lacking in sustain - plunk plunk ??

[cockroach]

Yes- perhaps their strings were possibly still on their guitars ever since they were in Hamburg- the Star Club battleground- rusty, smoke, booze, sweat and gunge encrusted, with any old strings they could find being used for replacements

Paul put three piano strings on his old Rosetti Solid 7 guitar to make it a bass before he got the Hofner..

A repair bloke in New York had Lennon's little black Rickenbacker in the late '70's when John brought it in to his shop to do some much needed work- it had a haphazard mixture of string gauges (which were both worn flats and roundwounds!!) etc - probably hadn't changed strings since the last gig John used it for in the mid '60's!

[RayL]

how can a group that sounds SO bad improve so much and become Mega Stars?

It's the difference that a good producer can make. George Martin recognised and refined the talent that was already there. They were 'a diamond in the rough'.

For another dramatic example of the difference that a good producer can make, first listen to Staightjacket recorded by Bill Haley and his Comets for Essex in March 1954, then to Rock Around The Clock, recorded for Decca in April 1954 with producer Milt Gabler in charge of the session. The Essex recording is a disgrace, with sloppy playing and slurred vocals. The second has a tight rhythm sound (driven by the slapped bass) and crisp vocal. It became the world's first No.1 rock'n'roll record around the world.

[JimN]

The first 3 are from a private rehersal at he Cavern in late 1962 (just after Ringo joined) but i can't find any reference to them playing Some Other Guy at the Playhouse, i'm assuming this was recorded in 1962.
Also is it just me or is George's guitar out of tune in some tracks?

The only issued recording of The Beatles playing Some Other Guy is the audio of the 1962 Granada Television film of them performing at The Cavern Club a week after Ringo joined the group.

If they had later played it at the (Manchester) Playhouse for their BBC radio show in 1963, it's pretty certain that the recording would have survived in some form (after all, the rest of it did, including some dross) and would have been issued on "The Beatles At The BBC" or on the Anthology series.

Including Some Other Guy on "The Beatles At The BBC" is a bit of a twist - this recording was, after all, for ITV (albeit only for the North of England).