Righteous Brothers — Unchained Melody (Live, 1965) (Picture and Sound Restored)

Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers performs his classic hit, “Unchained Melody.” This is a live performance on NBC-TV’s The Andy Williams Show in 1965 when the song was hot on the top 40 charts.

The Righteous Brothers were a duo comprised of Bill Medley (the tall, dark-haired guy with the bass-baritone voice) and Bobby Hatfield (seen as a solo performer in this video). When the two performed together on such hits as “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” and “(You’re My) Soul and Inspiration,” magic happened. Their two very different voices created amazing harmonies that helped to define the sound that came to be known as “Blue-Eyed Soul.”

But when Bobby Hatfield soloed, as he did here, his incredible range was on full display.

Sadly, Bobby died in 2003, but not until after he and Bill Medley were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. RIP, Bobby.

I consider this one of the two or three best live vocal performances ever captured on television, and I’m so glad I was able to restore it. Obviously, there are limitations to what can be done to restore footage this old, but with a few digital tricks to color correct and reduce some noise in the footage, I was able to improve it a bit. Other versions of this performance are on YouTube, but some of them have the picture and sound out of sync, and I have fixed that here. Plus, I have augmented the sound to make it really pop.

I hope you enjoy this performance as much as I have.

(Sources : YouTube / rbvo)