Chris Curtis

[royclough]

Frank wouldn't know but I doubt they singing live. I'll ask John when I say him in 2 weeks.

[chriscurtisfan]

Thanks, Roy!! I do love that video. I watch it at least once a day. I also play that song over and over in my car on my way to work. And it's loud when I play my Searchers!

[dbailey62]

Hi everybody! For sometime, I've been watching The Searchers singing Needles on YT, and not hearing Chris high harmony. Somebody had tried to edit in the audio, but it was a harsh quality track and hurt my ears to listen. I got my good YT friend, Bob, to add his high quality audio track to the video. We know it's not in perfect sync, and in some parts Chris is busy drumming while he is clearly singing on the audio. However, at least his voice is heard, and Bob did a better version on syncing audio to video than I ever could. All versions I've seen of this video claim to be from the Sullivan show, and Chris is not heard. If you read up on Ed Sullivan on Wikipedia, he pulled some nasty stunts, like turning off Chris mic would have been within the realm. Whether or not they sang live that night, I don't know and in those days I was clueless about lipsyncing, at age 12. To date, somebody has yet to post a video that doesn't sound like a lipsync...they are just too perfect like the studio recording.

Roy, that's another question for you to ask Frank and John, if you aren't certain. Were they singing live on Sullivan? Someone posted a comment on one of these Sullivan vids that the guys looked confused in this video. If it was indeed live, and Chris' mic was turned off, that could account for the confused expressions. Personally, I don't know or care if they were confused, they looked perfect to me -- enough to keep me as a fan all these years later and forever. When Chris looks into the camera with that beautiful smile, I became I'm a lifelong fan of the entire band, all of them. Anyways, here's my just posted video.....I hope everybody enjoys! I know none of us ever gets tired of Needles!

Cheri, I've heard and seen the original performance (on tape obviously) of this appearance on Sullivan and they definitely performed live. To be honest, the recorded audio quality was terrible. Part of the trouble, I read later, was that one of the guitar amps failed so the sound is a bit thin. The drum sound was wide open and spilling into the other mics sounding like it was recorded in an echo chamber.

Any time I've seen this clip on TV, the record has been dubbed in due to the horrible sound on the original television show. It's floating around out there somewhere though.

Most acts performed live on Sullivan. I believe it was The Mamas and The Papas who broke the lip sync barrier on Sullivan a couple of years later.

[chriscurtisfan]

Thanks so much, Dave!! That is a fascinating bit of history about lip syncing. It explains the confused expressions, and further explains why all these vids have various versions of the song dubbed, some of which Chris is totally unheard. Whatever happened that night, it made no difference to my 12 year old brain. I became a life-er for them, thanks to the smile of Chris Curtis.
I appreciate your posting this answer as it has been making me, and my Searchers friends crazy. I have friends who will analyze The Searchers music till the cows come home, which is why they are my friends!

[chriscurtisfan]

Dave,

Do you think this is the video and actual audio from that night? The title claims to be the Official Video.....

[royclough]

Cheri

David was spot on and that's from John McNally he has confirmed they did play live and it was his amp that failed.

[chriscurtisfan]

Thanks so much, Roy, for getting the confirmation from John! I can't even imagine how upsetting that would have been to all the guys! It seems the video I posted can't be embedded, so here's the link to what may be the one with live audio...do you think this is the actual audio with John's failed amp? Obviously it didn't make a bit of difference to their fans! We were just so happy to SEE them on TV on this side of the pond! It explains a lot about that video, today and why so many different audio tracks posted with it. Could this be the actual audio?? I'm not hearing Chris except faintly; and I do hear Tony....and Mike...I guess. Makes sense that Chris could not do all that high harmony during those amazing drum segments.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IZEYCA7Kq8A

Cheri

[dbailey62]

Dave,

Do you think this is the video and actual audio from that night? The title claims to be the Official Video.....

Ya, I think that's it. You found it! I don't know what the poster would have meant by Official Video but perhaps he meant the non-dubbed version.

[chriscurtisfan]

Thanks so much, Dave! It's great to finally understand why all the different audio versions floating around, and their facial expressions. Considering the hugeness of the Sullivan appearance, and the equipment failure, they did a great job. The show must go on! What pressure!

[dbailey62]

Thanks so much, Dave! It's great to finally understand why all the different audio versions floating around, and their facial expressions. Considering the hugeness of the Sullivan appearance, and the equipment failure, they did a great job. The show must go on! What pressure!

It was live. They had no choice. What are the odds of an amp failing at such a crucial moment though. Darned bad luck.

[JeffZ]

In those early days of the British Invasion it was more of a problem than you might think. A lot of American TV directors were unfamiliar with the differences in wattage for American equipment and UK amps, (UK power outlets draw more volts than their American counterparts). Failures did happen with equipment in the early days so I'm not surprised John had an issue there. From the video they did a good job of covering it though...

[dbailey62]

In those early days of the British Invasion it was more of a problem than you might think. A lot of American TV directors were unfamiliar with the differences in wattage for American equipment and UK amps, (UK power outlets draw more volts than their American counterparts). Failures did happen with equipment in the early days so I'm not surprised John had an issue there. From the video they did a good job of covering it though...

Ya you're right Jeff. 220 Volts v 110 Volts. It's really not the directors fault. He just tells the cameramen what to do.

I would say it is the shared fault of the bands and of their tour people not ensuring that they had the equipment suitable for the task.

[JeffZ]

Good point David. These days, the band road managers would take care of that kind of problem. I think things were moving so quickly in early 1964 with all the UK groups coming over to this side of the pond that people simply didn't think about it until it started happening. Roadies pretty much just lugged around the amps and drums in those days. I remember reading The Stones had an equipment failure on one of their first US TV gigs for the same reason.

[chriscurtisfan]

All I can say is -- what a P*$$er for THEM, to have THAT happen on what they must have perceived as a career-altering performance. Having said that -- If this is the actual audio performance, it's not nearly as bad as I was expecting when Dave first described this to me. My ears are untrained; and even back then, I knew it wouldn't sound as perfect as the studio/vinyl version. The young girls like me -- we didn't notice. It was enough to get to see them singing on TV. I never forgot about that beautiful drummer after I saw them all on Sullivan. *Sigh*