I caught snippets of the T.A.M.I. Show in the ’60s when a short segment would turn up on network television or a smaller local station. I didn’t make it to the theatrical release at one of the locations around the country, which started  just a few weeks after the show was filmed.

So watching the newly released Shout Factory DVD of this rather amazing collection of eclectic talent was an almost entirely new experience. But it certainly brought back memories of how pop and rock music was presented in the early ’60s. This show was filmed in October, 1964, at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in front of a group of mostly high school students over a two-day period, performed twice for a live audience and once without.

What made it into theaters was the second filmed performance. The lineup is truly inspired and included, among others, hosts Jan & Dean, Chuck Berry, Gerry and The Pacemakers, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, Marvin Gaye, Lesley Gore, The Beach Boys, James Brown and the closing act, the still rising Rolling Stones, before The Last Time, before Satisfaction, before worldwide acclaim. You see what I mean about a varied lineup spanning several genres.

It’s all presented in a style you would never see today. All the acts performed live, a big plus, and all acquitted themselves quite well. The camera work is steady, not choppy. There are no quick cuts with nonsensical flashes of scenes that have no relation to the music as we’ve become accustomed with music videos as well as film. The action stays on the entertainers and for that the film is greatly enhanced.

The one novelty that you might object to is the presence of dancers throughout most of each of the artists’ sets, giving performances that can only be described as filled with over-the-top exuberance, literally all over the stage. In back of the artists, sometimes in front, next to, working out in the dance moves of the day or borderline modern dance/entertainment style choreography. These are pros though and it’s remarkable the energy level they keep up.

It’s very reminiscent of the ’60s TV shows of pop music such as Hullabaloo or Shindig!, which had just started airing in September. Whether T.A.M.I. got the idea from TV or the concept was snatched from the creators of this concert is unclear but it’s easy to see the connection.

I would normally not like this added attraction in a concert setting. But given the times, and knowing how rock music was presented in those days, it really doesn’t bother me much. In fact, it definitely adds to the unique atmosphere of the early ’60s music scene. Sort of a Cavalcade of Stars approach, which was a quite common type of concert that we saw in New England fairly regularly.

The one truly, and probably only annoying feature of this entire taping is the crowd noise, which was obviously beefed up after the fact to sound like a Beatles concert. It gets on the nerves after a while. There is no way this is authentic. If you’ve been to a TV taping, particularly back then, you know the crowd is filmed at breaks in the action on stage. The directors and stage managers spin the cameras around and tell the audience to stand up and go wild. OK, nothing wrong with that. But when you can see the audience during a performance from shots taken from in back of the artists, you notice most patrons are in their seats watching sedately and not making noise of any kind, although the soundtrack is exploding.

Pity. That’s the one rub in this whole presentation. Still, the musicians are almost all of the highest caliber.

The opening of Chuck Berry and Gerry and The Pacemakers is fun to watch as they go back and forth, the Pacemakers actually picking up on Maybelline after Berry started it. Berry runs through some of his most familiar hits — Johnny B. Goode, Sweet Little Sixteen, Nadine — although in abbreviated form, as do the Pacemakers with one of their chart makers, Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying.

The showstoppers of the first half of this show though are the Motown acts, Smokey Robinson and The Miracles, contributing three tracks, including the timeless You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me and the uptemp Mickey’s Monkey, and the incredible Marvin Gaye, decked out in a white tux, who ends his set with showstoppers Can I Get A Witness and Hitchhike.

The second half of the show features The Beach Boys, with Brian Wilson — that alone is worth checking out — doing a nice job on a four-song set, with the highlight their radio-friendly closer, Dance, Dance, Dance.

It should be noted there is quite a house band at this concert as well, which at times backs up and at other times adds to the music of the entertainers, which included Leon Russell, Glen Campbell, members of the famous studio collection, The Wrecking Crew, including drummer Hal Blaine, and musical director Jack Nitzsche, who worked with The Stones and Neil Young, among many others.

The Supremes provide a four-song lineup of Motown pop that includes two of their biggest hits, Baby Love and Where Did Our Love Go. But the crowning performance is James Brown in a mini-set that features Out Of Sight, Prisoner Of Love, Please, Please, Please, complete with three trips away from the microphone with his cape routine and Night Train. It’s interesting to note that Brown is in very good voice here. I saw him many times later in the ’60s and ’70s and this clearly shows him at the height of his vocal powers. He was much more prone to screaming and screeching later in his career. Here he is a solid R&B singer as well as a performer with few peers.

The Rolling Stones set is priceless, one of the few on video that includes original second guitarist Brian Jones. They run through Berry’s Around And Around, a song they always covered well, and four others tunes, only one original, Off The Hook, probably a title most are not even familiar with. This was at least six months before Mick Jagger and Keith Richards starting writing in earnest to produce a string of unforgettable singles and album tracks. Also here are Time Is On My Side, one of the first songs by The Stones to make an impact, and their first semi-hit It’s All Over Now along with the closer It’s Alright.

Remember this is a band that just four months earlier canceled much of an American Tour because they couldn’t sell enough tickets. A show in New Haven at the old Arena was one of the ones nixed.

The story of how this show was put together and how it fared financially is included in a nicely put-together 20-page booklet that comes with the DVD. Suffice to say The Teenage International Music Show was a one-of-a-kind event, despite its supposed long-range aspirations. It turned out to be a one-off, but one of the era’s most worthy efforts.

For a mere 12 bucks at some outlets, you can have this show with its nicely repaired digital image and a funky but affective mono soundtrack, always acceptable if not stellar at most times.