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Newly released from Misterclaudel , this 1 CD/2 DVD package is one of the most comprehensive sets issued from this label surrounding a Beatles concert, namely the Beatles Washington Coliseum concert from February 11, 1964. It was an exciting time for the Beatles having just finished appearing on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York City. It was a short whirlwind of appearances in the US that included Carnegie Hall and another appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in Miami, Florida. The trip from NY to Miami included a train ride full of press reporters documenting their every waking moment. The best of this of course was the Maysles footage that we’re all so familiar with (First US Visit).

The concert was originally filmed by CBS for use in a closed circuited broadcast to US movie theaters a few months later and is one of the most exciting documents of early Beatlemania recorded. What’s notable is the performances of songs that would be excised from their later summer tour, never to be done again live in the US (“From Me To You”, “This Boy”, “Please Please Me”, “Till There Was You”).

One version of the Kinescope contained here is slightly better than all versions available visually with the audio exhibiting slightly better bottom end. This looks like a remastered version of the Hiwax internet release from a few months back (which exhibited artifacts from the transfer but was the best to date). The 2″ video version is unfortunately incomplete. It is pieced together from a few different sources (Darthdisc DVD bootleg set, Anthology, Anthology EPK, the auction sampler and one short moment from an unknown source I’ve never seen). Only 3 songs are complete (“I Saw Her Standing There”, “Please Please Me” and “Long Tall Sally”) with “From Me To You” close to being complete using two sources. The rest are the snippets from the auctions sampler taken off the Hiwax release and exhibits many visual artifacts giving it the appearance it came from YouTube. Overall the video version of this concert is frustratingly close to being the full thing. It’s mouth watering.

The DVDs come chock full of newsreels, press conferences and two broadcast versions of the “What’s Happening” documentary and the Miami rehearsal commonly available from the Ed Sullivan Show.

The CD offers the slightly upgraded audio from the best Kinescope as well as all other sources including the audio from the 2″ video which is nice to have.

This set comes highly recommend as the best compilation of all known materials related to the concert as well as for the slightly upgraded audio from the Kinescope and for having pieced together all available segments of the 2″ video master.

Misterclaudel – MCCD 151/152/153
Reviewer: Howard Fox (aka Beatle Bob)