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The Star Club

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(c) Ian Hammond 1999
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The Star Club (1) 

Late in December of 1962 the Beatles returned to Hamburg for their
final two week season at the Star Club, finishing on New Years Eve
where their act was recorded on or more occasions.

The club boasted five daily acts: Johnny and the Hurricanes (featuring
the brand new dance craze, the Mashed Potato), The Beatles, The
Strangers, King Size Tayor, Tony Sheridan with Star combo and
girl-singer Carol Elvis. The club must have been making money: the
Beatles were pulling 3000 pounds a week alone.

The recordings were made on a mono tape deck with a single mike. Some
tracks suffer substantial cuts, probably where the material was
unusable. Some sections are repeated with splices, I think, and the
tempo may have been altered in places. There have been many different
releases of this material. The original order of the songs is probably
no longer known.

The result comes across amazingly well in places after reprocessing by
Lingasong in the mid seventies. You may need a few listens to blank
out the imperfections. It's a modern miracle that we have this record
of the Beatles before they disappeared into the studio.

Here's my brief rundown on the tracks. I've taken the track info and
standard assignments from Lewisohn's "The Complete Beatles Chronicle".

First, let's look at the setting:

You arrive at the club just as the MC, announces in German: "It's
exactly five to twelve... five to twelve. ...the stars from Liverpool,
the Beatles". The Beatles, with their new drummer Ringo, play on a
raised stage. Behind them is backdrop depicting the skyline of
Manhatten. Curtains frame the stage. 

Horst gives you a table near the bar and tells Bettina you're good
friends of the band. She gives you a happy wink and asks if you want
bourbon and coke too? You're not surprised to see Astrid and Klaus
sitting a few tables away, sitting with Mal and Neil. Members of some
of the other acts are at the bar. Brian hovers in the background. The
audience are dressed in their finest. Many of them seem to know the
Beatles' material intimately. 



1. I Saw Her Standing There (P, J) 2:33
None of the assembled could have had any idea that this song, sung by
four scruffs, would help define the latter part of the century.

Notice the difference accents in the drum part, targeted at the dance
floor. Harrison's "Peter Gunn" guitar fills were dropped in the
recorded version. My CD version has the solo removed by a fairly
obvious splice in the tape.

Great sound. Bass, drums, guitars and vocals are all clear. The parts
are down pat. Gerry Marsden said that the Beatles were unique because
they always sounded just like the record. In this case it's a record
they had yet to make. But they're ready.



2. I'm Going To Sit Right Down And Cry (J) 2:42
Ringo's thundering introduces an 1956 Elvis track which Lennon sang
four years long. Is McCartney singing unison as on Some Other Guy
and helping out on the "ooohs"?

Two verses lead to the bridge/chorus where the band really whack "I'm
going to tell your mama". More choruses and solos follow without a
reappearence of the verse.

Epic rock. Each band hammers the beat with inspired parts. Who says
Starr didn't play solos: he takes three on this track. Put another
way, he solos on every Beatle track.



3. Roll Over Beethoven (G, JP) 2:10
Cheers greet Harrison's standard Chuckleberry rocker which he took
over from Lennon. Probably the song the band performed most often,
which explains the flexibity with which they approached the piece.

Harrison's first solo gets a better sonic than the EMI cut. The second
solo, a low du-rang-du-rang thing, sounds improvised.

They play the last verse in a Hungarian minor mood with Gypsy fills.
The return to the major key for the final chorus is triumphant,
painted in with a street choir.

They could play this song in their sleep. Listen to Starr power that
first solo and hammer his way through the final chorus. The video
version from Sweden sees this attack taken to the limit.



4. Hippy Hippy Shake (P) 1:10
Paul's For goodness sake leads to two verses sustained by low
guitars and drums. Not until the solo does any guitar hit the high
strings, except for a brief Poison Ivy fills at the end of the
verses.

Hark, I think I hear a tambourine!  Did they have friends and lovers
helping? I hear a guest guitarist on Hallelujah, so that's a
possibility. Now, the production team could have "sweetened" the
tracks, but it seems unlikely they would just add a tambourine.



5. Sweet Little Sixteen (J) 2:40
John sniggers as he checks his guitar setting for Rock and Roll
Nirvana, for the thousandth time. The Beatles forgot more than most
bands ever learned about the revered master Chuck Berry. The life and
love, which infuses his songs, jumps out and pushs you on the floor
like a big spaniel. It's the power of the motion rather than meat. Of
both the space and the moment.

Sweet Little Sixteen is a perfect match of black rock and white
country music. Listen to Lennon's joy  on "All over St Louis" or "or
daddy daddy, please may I go".

If Lennon could play a solo on Long Tall Sally, then he could have
played them on his Chuck Berry songs. We know he learned them and
could still demonstrate them in 1973. The rhythm part cuts out just
before the solo, making a solo by him a possibility.

By the time we get to "tight dresses" he's giggling. Probably winking
at friends who've seen him sing it a hundred times. He's a few inchs
taller than when he started singing the song. So am I.

The crowd cheers.



6. Lend Me Your Comb (PG, P) 1:40
Paul and George handle this Perkins cover. A rhumba chord riff frames
the verses.

After pair of verse duets Macca handles the break. Another verse and
the hottest solo on the album sizzles out of Harrison. If it sounds
worked out, it's because they've been playing the song since 1957.
This stuff was the marrow of their bones. 

Extended light applause.



7. Your Feets Too Big (P) 2:17
A rock adaptation of the great Fats Waller tune with Paul showing his
stuff as Trad Jazz Band front man, replete with band choir to close
out the opening body of the song. A cursory solo leads back to Mister
Walking Talking Big Paul Macca.

You Know My Name ain't far away from this baby. Except for the solo,
this is trad jazz. The Beatles could have jumped tracks anytime they
wanted. They didn't imitate jazz, country or evergreens: they were
those things.

Do I hear a little edit at 0:29 where they sanitize Pauls use of the
vernacular? I'm amazed that this quality of sound came out of a tinny
little tape deck. The Fats' version used to be one of my faves many
years ago. 

What would McCartney have sounded like if he had followed dad into a
trad jazz band? Just like he does here folks, deep in the heart of the
Beatle Dixieland.

Cheers and short applause.



8. Where Have You Been All My Life (J, PG) 1:40
It's a real shame this Arthur Alexander track did not survive
complete, because it's a fine example of the rock ballad style that
was responsible for Lennon's approach to songs like Anna and Baby
It's You. The rock ballad. The backing harmony and counterpoint
point the way to later Beatle arrangements.



9. Twist And Shout (J + PG) 2:00
What went through their minds as they played the song for the
millioneth time. This version throws away most of the verses and the
solo, concentrating on the Trini Lopez core of the song. It is a
Twist after all. 

Not a note of the spotless arrangement would need to be changed by
George Martin when they recorded it six weeks later. The performance
is perfect from the cool guitar opening, through the climax, verses
and chorus.

Perhaps only on this song do we see the Beatles configuration that was
to be typical of the early Beatlemania hits: solo voice with duet
antiphony.

Somewhere in the depth of this collective tribal ecstasy the rapture
that would become Beatlemania was born. It grew in the midst of
Hamburg's renowned St Pauli red light district where their art was
succoured and nurtured by small-time entrepeneurs, sailors, hookers
and others who live life without looking at the use-by date. 

A few whistles. Wasn't this the first track that drew you in? Any
decent band can do those held ahs, but who else can scream like that
at the close of the instrumental. Every night, every show, as if it
were the first time.



10. Mister Moonlight (J, JP, ) 2:00
Well, it beats the shit out of the Beatles For Sale version even if
that beautiful opening utterance is missing. The audience clearly know
the track.

Do you hear them sing "here I am on my nose, begging if you please",
in the second verse?

A worked out half-solo with the phraze echoes on the other guitar.
Lennon played either the echoes or the solo. Lennon's own Latino
track. How come it got so dorky when they did at EMI? 

Applause and whistling.



11. A Waste Of Money (P, JP) 1:36
Well, that's what John liked to call it. Paul dedicates it to a
"scottish lady". I'm sure she was reduced to Jello as he gazed at her
throughout the performance. Why do you think he had this kind of
material in his repetoire?

A very tight arrangement that was taken over for the first album. This
performance is more fluid. But it ends with an abrupt cut.

Polite applause as Paul thanks someone.



12. Besame Mucho (P, JP) 2:00
Another of their Latin/Comedy pieces. Beautifully executed rubbish
by Paulisimmo Ramon and his Bangelderos. I guess it was useful for
something: they play it very well. But it sure ain't rock.

What would have happened to us all if their theory about Latin Music
being the next fad had come off? Would we have tangoed through the
late sixties? There are worse things.
 
The songs finishs midstream. Cha cha boom.



13. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby (G) 2:20 [J:R]
A light strum to get the key, then George launchs into another Carl
Perkin standard to appreciative whistles.

Pairs of verses and solos alternate. Harrison's tracks are solid and
this sure is (country) rock. A great groove from start to end and
better than the album cut. The sound he gets on the second solo of the
first pair is seriously erotic. 

Great closing section as puts more energy in the close than he did at
EMI. This is the best cut I have this track and craps all over the
Beatles For Sale. There I skip it, here I push rewind.

Scattered applause as Lennon banters with the audience.



14. Kansas City (P, JG) 2:07
Kansas Stadt has three sections, each adding a bit of power:

1) Kansas City. A pair of verses, with Paul "calling". A solo.
2) Hey, Hey, Hey. Great groove, choir and McCartney scatting.
3) Bye, Bye. Groove moves to guitars and voices. 

Macca goes Troppo and there's not a subtonic or odd bar in sight.

Applause and whistles as the MC inform the audience that the Beatles
have acquiesced and will play an encore.



15. Nothing Shaking (G) 1:11
One of best openings of the session. Strong calling from Harrison
leads effortlessly to... nothing. The track has been cut and skips
straight to the close. Isn't it a pity.

Nothing Shaking is taken so quickly that Lennon's rock riffing
starts to sound like country banjo picking. A country dompe. Harrison
must have loved it when Ringo Starr, another great C&W fan, joined the
band. Just gotta love this hillbilly rock. 


Time for the band to take a break, and me too. I'll deal with the
remaining half of the show in The Star Club (2).