A Beatles Virtual Instrument

[bayswater]

]Isn't that JL playing both in and on á la Jerry Lee Lewis?

Yep but the song was Ticket to Ride, IIRC

Reminds me of two arguments; in one someone told me the movie showed them playing their songs live (including the final solo in Hide Your Love Away); another, an uncle told me they were not actually playing on Ed Sullivan because they were a bunch of louts. Opinions about the Beatles were quite diverse at the time.

[mikehalloran]

Oh yea, I remember that.

The films were lip sync'd to the studio recordings.

We know now, of course. Ed Sullivan, like the BBC, was pre-recorded for the show. The Beatles played to a live recording they'd done a day or two before—there's a published log somewhere with the dates and times. With the BBC, the vocals were also pre-recorded but I'm not positive about Ed Sullivan—those may have been the instrumental tracks only.

[Frodo]

Interesting!

I tried to do a preliminary search for a video I saw years ago of The Beatles rehearsing the Sullivan show and the actual broadcast. The video included BOTH the rehearsal and broadcast and it was uncanny how they played almost in sync when played simultaneously. That said, it wasn't like the tracks were identical-- they were a little off from each other but not by much.

I didn't get the sense that there was any juju going on with pre-records, but I really want to find that video to reassess.

[mikehalloran]

I didn't get the sense that there was any juju going on with pre-records,

My dad was working for AMPEX back in the day — juju wasn't really possible except in the crudest form.