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View Full Version : How The Beatles Rocked The Kremlin


johnfowles
04-10-2013, 08:17 PM
Although it was first aired back in 2009,I for one had never heard of this superb analysis of how four young men from Liverpool helped bring down Communism. In this week while the world offers its gratitude to the efforts of Margaret Thatcher ( which is one word not "That Cher" that allegerdly confused some fans of that everlasting singer) and Mikhael Gorbachev it was very timely that New York's PBS television station Channel 13
http://www.thirteen.org/beatles/about/
repeated this documentary. on Saturday evening, ostensibly to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
However by the time we found it the first 20 minutes or so had passed.Afterwards I tried unsuccessfully to find a torrent , but instead I found that there were two uploaded sets of the complete program on YouTube but in multi-part files to suit the maximum allowable upload length of 15 minutes (increased from an earlier 10)
one in 4 parts (each under 10 minutes) the other in 5 (each about 15 minutes)
My immmediate thought was to get the URLs of each of the 4 or 5 parts so that I could one day soon make a YouTube playlist and watch it in its complete form. But the parts were rather haphazardly listed on the YouTube search results page and I could not readily find a complete set. but whilst looking I spotted one video listed that indicated that it was the complete 55 minutes in a single uploaded video file. I have found several lengthy files of other complete programs (one as long as 1:45 and of course including the 1971/1972 GL BBC concert which is viewable in a pair of 30 minute files but have no idea how the uploaders managed to do that.
I have now successfuly used a method for whicht I hope soon to complete a descriptive How To which uses freeware to download the original Flash Video file (117MB) then easily convert it to a nicely compressed file (of only 753MB) with an avi file extension using the XviD CODEC that I can then play on a DVD player that is certified to play DivX and XviD video files through our television set.
Later I will be experimenting on burning that file to a full universally playable DVD
The full 55 minute is in this YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzaYMOc1EWU
It is IMHO required viewing for music lovers and those who lived through the Cold War and contains some interesting details
For example I have just learnt that the youth of the time found a ready means of making bootleg Beatles discs from tape recordings from Western radio stations like the ubiquitous Radio Luxembourg
Apprently they gathered old X-Ray film from hospital waste bins then used the road side recording booths (set up for Soviet troops to record messages to their family) then distributed the "discs" to friends by rolling up "Uncle Ivan's rib X Ray" discretely in their coat "sleeves"
Enjoy!!