BEATLEGGED LIVE!
Company: Crabapple records
Matrix number: ARC 700518 A / ARC 700518 B (scratched); peace symbol (side A) CRABAPPLE 001 (side B)
Release date: May, 1970
Country: USA
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Side A
1. SHE LOVES YOU (edited) 2:50
2. FROM ME TO YOU (edited) Paul outro 2:35
3. TWIST AND SHOUT (edited) 3:36
4. THIS BOY (edited) Paul outro 3:06
5. I SAW HER STANDING THERE 2:32
Side B
6. Paul intro I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND (edited) 3:02
7. PLEASE PLEASE ME (edited) 3:11
8. Paul intro ALL MY LOVING (edited) 2:51
9. SHE LOVES YOU 2:34
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Sound quality: G to VG, mono
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Sources:
1, 2, 4, 6, 8: CBS TV "Ed Sullivan Show", Feb. 16, 1964
3, 7: CBS TV "Ed Sullivan Show", Feb. 23, 1964
5, 9: CBS TV "Ed Sullivan Show", Feb. 9, 1964
COMMENTS
This was the first bootleg to feature the "Ed Sullivan Show" recordings. All of the tracks, except 5 and 9, have been artificially lengthened, with verses repeated. Moreover, the intros and outros were also edited - sometimes even moved to different places. The intro to track 1, for example, duplicates the outro of track 4. This heavy editing was meant to produce very different versions from the officially released studio tracks; it was very professionally done, with the edit points being nearly imperceptible. Regardless of the editing, this is one of the most interesting of all the early Beatles bootlegs. The same lengthened tracks also appear on a later, much more common album, RENAISSANCE MINSTRELS VOLUME 1.
ISSUES
There is only one pressing, on blank labels, with a rubber-stamped title in red ink and an insert featuring some notes by the bootleggers, double-sided printed on green paper, and a fingerprint, probably of the bootlegger. The stampers had the master matrix numbers deeply scratched and almost unreadable, replaced by the "peace" symbol on side A and CRABAPPLE 001 on side B (very shallowly written, so either on the mothers or the stampers). However, a small hand-written sticker on the back cover reports the original matrix numbers, ARC 700518. The numbers might refer to the date when the masters were cut, thus May 18, 1970.
After the upload of the analysis. we received a comment by the original producer. We add it here, so that it is more easily readable, and also because the comments are excluded from the printable pdf.
"I purposely put my thumbprint on the insert so that when, years and years in the future (and here we are!), when I told people that I was one of the people responsible and they responded 'yeah...right!' I could prove it. The edits were done in the production studio of a local college (M.I.T.) radio station. In a couple of cases the lengthened versions are from 2 different performances (i.e., when The Beatles did the same song on 2 different Ed Sullivan Shows); also, handclaps were overdubbed to mask tape dropouts and stitches (edit points).
I wrote the liner notes, and a girlfriend of mine did the calligraphy and drew the Crabapple logo. The 2nd drawing (of eaten apple and crafty worm) were her idea. She was (is) a genius. The inserts were offset on green paper to look crabapple-y. There were only c. 200 copies made. We wanted to get more (I think the first price break from the pressing plant was 1000), but when they figured out what the material was, they had a conniption and refused to make any more. In fact, it took some pretty fast talking (over the 'phone) to get them to send us the ones they had already done (rather than destroy them). I don't think we got a refund for the remaining 800 either.
The pressing plant was nervous that they would get raided by the FBI for bootlegging --- that's why the original matrix #s are scratched out (with an exacto blade).
We had a few 'deluxe collector's item' copies pressed on red & black splatter vinyl."
INTEREST. This is an extremely rare item, which was never mentioned in any discography, and is also highly interesting from the historical point of view. *****