Hollywood Bowl Albums: Introduction

This information page covers both of The Beatles’ Hollywood Bowl albums. Firstly, there is “The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl,” which is a release from 1977. Then there is “Live At The Hollywood Bowl,” which is a 2017 release.

The latter is a cleaned-up version, but with 4 bonus tracks. Furthermore, they are the only official “live” recording releases by The Beatles.

The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl

This Beatles album is a live recording with the name “The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl” (1977). The audio quality of the tracks recorded from two live gigs in 1964 and 1965 is not that good, of course.

However, in 2016, to coincide with the release of the documentary film “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years,” a similar album came out retitled “Live at the Hollywood Bowl.” So, rather than have two similar pages, we shall combine the information on one page here.

Obviously, with new demix technology and effective filtering, they were able to give us a little better quality in 2016. In short, to hear clips of all the live songs on the 2016 album, click the play button in the jukebox below.

In Detail

• Release Date: May 6, 1977
• Recorded: August 23 & 28, 1964; August 30, 1965, at the Hollywood Bowl
• Album Duration: 33:15
• Record Label: Parlophone
• Genre: Rock and roll
• Producers: George Martin and Voyle Gilmore (original recording)
• Engineers: Hugh Davies, Geoff Emerick and Pete Abbott

Performers And Instruments

• John Lennon: vocals, electric guitar and acoustic guitar
• Paul McCartney: vocals and bass guitar
• George Harrison: vocals, electric guitar and acoustic guitar
• Ringo Starr: vocals and drums

The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl tracks

Live At The Hollywood Bowl

In Detail

• Date of Release: September 9, 2016
• Recorded: August 23, 1964 and August 29 & 30, 1965, at the Hollywood Bowl
• Record Label: Universal, Apple
• Genre: Rock and roll
• Producers: Voyle Gilmore (original recordings); also Giles Martin (son of George Martin)

In 2016, the release of the documentary film “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years,” gave the producers a chance to re-examine the original footage and recordings, of course. Moreover, Capitol Studios, the American arm of EMI, found some three-track tapes in their archives.

Furthermore, these recordings were slightly better quality than those in the London archives. Also, after transferring to higher-quality machines, they were able to use demix technology, filter, and equalise the sounds to clean things up a little more.

All in all, the newer sound is a little cleaner and sharper than the original release. But that is a matter of taste, as some prefer the original. Of course, with over 17,000 screaming youngsters in the audience, The Beatles could hardly hear themselves singing.

Indeed, it’s doubtful that the audience could even hear the band. But, with the newer technology, they were able to tone down the crowd a little, ensuring that the band was more prominent.

Nowadays, it is all digital technology, of course. With this in mind, the “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” album is now available on CD. The track order is exactly as above but with the addition of 4 more songs below.

Bonus Tracks (2016 Reissue)

14) You Can’t Do That
15) I Want to Hold Your Hand
16) Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby
17) Baby’s in Black

Hollywood Bowl Albums: The Covers

The original LP “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl” from 1977 shows an image of the stage at the Hollywood Bowl together with a couple of tickets on the front cover. It’s a pretty bland cover but very effective to get the message across. The tickets also show the price of admission as $4 and $5.

In contrast, on the “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” album, we see The Fab Four in smart attire with sunglasses against a blue background. In their interview upon returning to the UK, they fondly remembered the sunshine in America, so it’s a fitting cover. Of course, this cover is similar to the theatrical poster advertising the documentary film.

Recording

The original intention was to record live concerts at Carnegie Hall in New York, while The Beatles first toured America on February 12, 1964. However, the American Federation of Musicians didn’t agree with this request.

In brief, all the recordings are from three gigs at the Hollywood Bowl. Some tracks come from a gig on August 23, 1964. Then some came from the gigs on August 29th and 30th, 1965.

The live recordings in 1964 were not high quality enough to release so they had another go in 1965. However, all concerts gave fairly poor-quality recordings in the end. Therefore, the tapes remained in the vaults until 1971, when Phil Spector took a look at them. But his work resulted in nothing to speak of.

The 1977 Release

In January 1977, George Martin then took a look at the tapes with the view of releasing The Beatles’ first “live” album. In the first place, he had to work with the original three-track recordings, which was quite difficult. This was because he first had to find a suitable machine.

However, he did manage to get hold of one that was subject to overheating and destroy some of the tapes. So after improvising and using a vacuum cleaner to cool it down, they were able to transfer the sound to a 16-track machine.

One of the reasons why the live album came out in 1977 was because a German company, Bellaphon, released a live Beatles album, which EMI could not prevent. That album has the name “The Beatles! Live at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany: 1962.” So, basically, EMI acted to divert the buying public from the Bellaphon release.

Once that happened, EMI quickly put the album on their bargain bucket label, “Music for Pleasure,” and its deletion from their Beatles catalogue shortly after was noticeable. In fact, when they reissued The Beatles’ back catalogue on CD, they deliberately left the 1977 recording off the list!

The 2016 Release

In 2016, there was a need to issue better-quality Hollywood Bowl recordings on CD. The result is a testament to the producers, who eventually cleaned up the tapes using the newer technologies available.

So, finally, we have a great “live” recording of a Beatles’ concert to add to our collections. Of course, by doing this, it prevents more unofficial releases of “live” Beatles releases. With this album comes a small booklet, which contains a little information about the concerts and some images from the events too.

There was no overdubbing of instruments or voices, of course. Indeed, the first release in 1977 came in the original format, complete with a fanatical, screaming audience. However, using the newer techniques in 2016, they were able to tone down the audience, giving us the Fab Four in all their glory. But we still get the feel of a “live” concert.

Chart Success

The actual record issues did very well in the charts with “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl” (1977), peaking at number 1 in the UK charts for one week out of 17, while the reissue, “Live at the Hollywood Bowl,” got to number 3.

In the United States, “The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl” got to number 2 in the Billboard charts, while “Live at the Hollywood Bowl” peaked at number 7.

Take A Listen

So, why not click play, then leave your thoughts below?