Beatles Beatlegs

Sorry For The Delay

2005-09-23T11:03:00.000-05:00

Hey all...sorry for not getting another beatleg up recently..

I have been working on our first podcast and I'll give you a hint on its content.

We will be focusing on the last 30 days of the beatles, also known as the 'Get Back' Sessions which began on Jan 2, 1969 and culminating to the final day of Jan 31, 1969.

We will be tracing the daily and even at times hourly sessions notes for that particlar day.

Thanks again for stopping in, we will be uploading our first chapter soon..

Beatles Beatleg September 3, 2005

2005-09-03T23:11:00.000-05:00

Todays Beatleg comes to us from Vigotone's 'Turn Me On Dead Man - The John Barrett Tapes'. Norwegian Wood is one of the more interesting Beatles outtakes. Take one as heard here was recorded on October 12, 1965 (EMI tape E57714) - the same day as 'Run For Your Life' and 'Drive My Car'.

Now for a little background on the John Barrett Project :

Turn Me On Dead Man: The John Barrett Tapes" is a revelatory experience for Beatles fans, comprising tracks taken directly from the late Abbey Road engineer's cassette dubs of material he found during the vaults searches in 1982. Included are previously unavailable tracks and mixes as well as items featuring significant upgrades in sound quality from earlier appearances on other collections. The package also includes a booklet with informative liner-notes and rare photos.

Prior to the early 1980's, it was pure hearsay amongst Beatles aficionados as to what was inside the EMI vaults pertaining to the group's residency at Abbey Road and other studios from 1962 until 1970. Also, very little was known about actual recording dates of their album and singles. Most of the information that was available to fans came from contemporary reports in UK music magazines such as "New Musical Express" or "Melody Maker", or fan mags like "Beatles Monthly". This info, some correct, some not, was then regurgitated in many of the earlier Beatles books, such as Roy Carr and Tony Tyler's "An Illustrated Record" or Harry Castleman and Wally Podrazik's "All Together Now".

All of this uncertainty was to change beginning in 1981. That year, an engineer at Abbey Road named John Barrett found he had cancer, and was looking for a way to occupy his time while undergoing treatment. Ken Townsend, the manager of the studios at the time, thought that finally going through the vaults and seeing exactly was and was not there with regards to the Beatles' many recording sessions would be an excellent task for the ailing engineer.

Barrett ripped into his task with gusto, spending weeks listening through every tape and making up a detailed "catalog" of sorts, with multi-colored tabs and dividers for easy access to the various sections, and color codings for the multitudes of mixes and takes which were included. The first fruits of this research was used on the insert for the box of EMI's "The Beatles Singles Collection" issued in December of 1982, which featured for the first time the recording dates for the tracks enclosed. Also, an informative article in "Record Collector" by Nick Piercey in october 1983 included EMI mouthpiece Mike Heatley using Barrett's guide when answering Piercey's queries about various Beatles recording issues.

Throughout 1982, Barrett was also compiling audio material for a Beatles multi-media show that would take place in the famed Abbey Road Studio 2 while it was being refurbished in the summer of 1983. While this cataloging and assemblage for "The Beatles At Abbey Road" (as the show was to be imaginatively titled) was occurring, Barrett was running cassette dubs of some of the more interesting material for his own use. Some of the material was mixed as he was running his tapes, while some tracks where the original mixes done at the time of the recording sessions. Barrett knew what he was doing; he dubbed off lengendary tracks such as "Leave My Kitten Alone", which had never been issued, as well as the more interesting alternate takes in the vaults like "Norwegian Wood" take one. Also, many of the tracks he dubbed where stereo mixes of titles that at the time hadn't seen the light of day in stereo, or had seen limited release, such as "This Boy".

Meanwhile, the late Roger Scott, a well-known UK disc jockey, was enlisted to do the narration for the "Abbey Road" show, and was given copies of these dubs as well. Scott actually used some of the tracks from these dubs in 1984 (the same year Barrett died, in February) for a 12-hour radio show on the Beatles entitled "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". This material subsequently appeared (taken directly from the radio show discs) on the NEMS release "Not For Sale" in early 1985. Copies of some of the tapes made it into other hands one the Continent, who subsequently issued various series such as "Ultra Rare Trax" on Swingin' Pig, and Yellow Dog's "Unsurpassed Masters", based on the Barrett dubs, mixed with other sources.

However, much of the material dubbed off by Barrett went unissued... until now. Taken from the original cassette dubs, here are a bunch o' Beatles tracks you've never heard in this forum. They are all either different mixes, or significant upgrades from previous appearances, or in some cases, completely unissued.

While John Barrett's name may not be as lengendary in the Beatles' world as other researchers such as Mark Lewisohn, his initial work was the cornerstone for all that is now finally known about the Beatles' recording sessions. In tribute, we hope you enjoy these tapes ... hopefully John Barrett would be happy to know that his efforts were not in vain !

So for you enjoyment - Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Take 1

New Website Launched

2005-08-22T23:46:00.000-05:00

The NEW Beatles Beatleg website is now up and running. Currently while in its development I have basically copied the content from the blog to the website while a new design is being formed. I will be maintaining both the blog and website. Each will be similar but the website will hold additional goodies for your listening pleasure..

Beatles Beatleg URL - www.beatlesbeatleg.com

As the website's final look isn't in stone any ideas on the content is welcome..

Thanks again for stopping in...

Dave

Beatles Beatleg August 23, 2005

2005-08-22T23:22:00.000-05:00

Todays Beatleg is brought to use courtesy of Vigotone's 'Revolution'. The Beatles laid down 2 takes of 'We Can Work It Out' on October 20, 1965 (EMI tape E57716).

This is the intriguing 'monitor mix' retrieved from John Lennon's tapes. It allows us to hear Paul's lead vocal before additional vocals were superimposed on October 29th.

The number was remixed into both stereo and surround sound for the 'Anthology' DVD.

Beatles Beatleg August 17, 2005

2005-08-17T10:45:00.000-05:00

'A Hard Day's Night' was recorded in nine takes on April 16, 1964 (EMI tape E52399). Most of the 'A Hard Day's Night' outtakes can be heard on Yellow Dogs Ultimate Collection Vol 3 box. Most but not all since 2 errant false starts and some presong chatter reside on Strawberry's 'Abbey Road Video Show' cd.

This is the complete unedited take one from Sweet Zapple's 'Another Tracks of A Hard Day's Night'

Bonus Beatleg August 10, 2005

2005-08-10T19:12:00.000-05:00

Order Up!! Todays serving comes to us from Yellow Dog Records.
'Because' was recorded on August 1, 1969 in 25 takes (EMI tape E93142) with take 16 being considered the best. The vocal parts were finished on August 4th.

This version is just the isolated vocal track.

The harmony is incredible when hearing this track..if you listen closely you can hear the breathing and lip smacks throughout the track...

Beatles Beatleg August 5, 2005

2005-08-05T16:06:00.000-05:00

Todays serving of Beatles Beatleg comes to us courtesy of Condor Records entitled 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. I am the walrus was started on Sept 5, 1967, with 16 takes (EMI tape E65817 and E65818). Takes 17 and 18 were mixdowns, made the next day (E65833).

Four offline takes are available on bootleg. This version is remix 4 of take 17 done on Sept 6, 1967.

It is comprised solely of a basic track and vocals, no overdubs have been done at this point and will not be included until takes 18-24 which were recorded on
Sept 27, 1967. Take 20 was considered the best and was subsequently mixed down and overdubbed onto take 25.

Bonus Bonus Beatles Beatleg

2005-07-30T12:14:00.000-05:00

Our next entry comes to us courtesy of the infamous Dr. Ebbetts - The Beatles - First U.S. Concert (Unreleased US Mono LP - Capitol)

This performance was recorded live at the Washington Coliseum on 11 February 1964. It is the Beatles' very first concert appearance in the United States. Due to the age and condition of the source material, some background noise, tape hiss and tape flaws are evident at various points in the program. This compact disc has been prepared with the sole intention of maintaining the integrity of the original performance. No noise reducing techniques have been used [notes taken from CD tray insert].

This is a historic recording capturing the pure raw energy of Beatlemania in the U.S. and how the Beatles were treated with flying jellybeans by the screaming audience. Now thats love!!!

**Note jellybeans on stage floor in the photo**

Bonus Beatleg July 28, 2005

2005-07-28T00:47:00.000-05:00

Todays extra helping of Beatles Beatlegs comes to us courtesy of Vigotone's 'Another Sessions - Plus'.

Paul McCartney's demo for Badfinger's first hit was originally mixed down to stereo the day it was recorded. When Geoff Emerick assembled "Sessions", he remixed it, but this is a Barrett mix that predates the Emerick redo.

Voice is much more in the foreground than on usual versions. Vocals are double-tracked.

This demo was recorded in one take (with overdubs) on July 24th, 1969 (EMI tape E94227). Available for years on the bootleg 'Sessions', this fine performance was finally issued on 'Anthology 3' (once again, simply using the stereoized 'Sessions' tape, rather than remixing the track into true stereo). A true stereo finally appeared in 1999 on the 'Barrett Tapes' and was bootlegged on Strawberry's 'Mythology Vol 3', as well as this release as posted.

Beatles Beatleg Of The Week July 25, 2005

2005-07-24T21:42:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay in the weeks post, but I was attending Country Thunder 2005 in Wisconsin since Wednesday. So here we are new week and a new beatleg.

"Octopus's Garden" was begun on April 26 with 32 takes on EMI tapes E91351-53.

The rough mix as heard here comes from the April 29th, 1969 session during which Ringo recorded his lead vocal onto take 32. Starting on the second verse, you can hear many differnees in instrumentation. There's a guitar part on the bootleg for instance that's missing in the released mix. Conversely, the bootlegged bversion is missing some instrumentation that can be heard on the released version, as well as the backing vocals and sound effects.

Beatles Beatleg Of The Week July 16, 2005

2005-07-16T03:41:00.000-05:00

Todays Beatles Beatleg is brought to us courtesy of the album "Another Sessions Plus".

Take 1 of "I'm Looking Through You" was recorded on October 24th, 1965 (EMI tape E57717).It was released on the "Anthology 2" CD remixed into near mono - a true stereo mix (with engineer's take announcement) and no fade out is on "More Masters", this same performance (with fade-out, but in far better quality) is on "Ultra Rare Trax Vol 1".

Take 2 and 3 (marked "remake") and take 4 (marked as "second remake") was recorded on November 6th, and 10th (E57720). Take 4 was the releasded take - an unedited tape which (including the engineers announcement, and lacking the fade heard on the record) appeared on the "Barrett Tapes", and subsequently on a number of bootlegs, including Vigotone's "Another Sessions Plus"disc.

One of the more well known oddities exsists for this number, as the stereo U.S. issue features two false starts absent from all other official releases.

The mono release (identical in the U.K. and U.S. issues) runs slightly longer at the end.

On the stereo remixed CD, the vocals (and background vocals) have been spread between the channels rather than off to one side, In addition, the handclaps have been panned to center.

Bonus Beatleg July 12, 2005

2005-07-12T19:21:00.000-05:00

A bonus Beatleg for your Tuesday.

5 takes of "Run For Your Life" were recorded on October 12, 1965 (EMI tape E57714).

The outtake begins with a false start, and then you hear producer
George Martin announce "5" from the control room. The incomplete outtake (only 1:58) heard on "Arrive Without Aging" is take 5, which is the same as the released version. However, the outtake features a different lead vocal from John, and does not have the vocals from the other Beatles as heard on the released version.

Beatles Beatleg Of The Week July 8, 2005

2005-07-08T19:32:00.000-05:00

Todays installment of Beatles Beatleg is the title track from the Magical Mystery Tour.

This is based on take 9 which was recorded on April 26, 1967

Recorded in EMI Abbey Road Studio 3

RM7(Reduction Mix #7), done on 4 may 1967

Pitch correction: -0.6%

Similar to the released version but lacks more overdubs.

RM7 is based on Take 9 + overdubs recorded on 3 May 1967 + overdubs recorded on 27 Apr 1967.

A tape copy of this mix was made for the Magical Mystery Tour film producer.

Magical Mystery Tour was first recorded in three takes (on EMI Tape E61433) on April 25, 1967 (mixdown into takes 4-8 on E64134 the same day), Take 9 (also on E 64133) was a reduction mix of take 8 (dating from the 28th). Trumpets were overdubbed om May 3rd (E64224).

The earliest mix of the song available is RM4, which initially appeared on the japanese "Another Tracks of Magical Mystery Tour" CD, and was subsequently copied on "As it Happened, Baby!" This has been taken from a worn acetate but is quite interesting to hear because it does not include horn overdubs, and features a very different mix than the one we're used to (as well as having a slightly longer end.)

Next up is another acetate, this time including the May 3rd horn overdubs, but before the sound effects have been added in. This is now presented to you from Yellow Dog's "Acetates" CD and is identical on both the orignal and 2002 revamped version of that set.

Cross Town Road Trip

2005-07-08T09:12:00.000-05:00

Todays installment of weekly Beatleg posting will be up later this afternoon. This morning I am taking a road trip to help my good friends over at the Unemployment Line with their weekly podcast. Stop by and check out the banter between 3 guys after a night of drinking and singing...it should be a doozy...now time to go to Krispy Kreme for some hot glazed and a large coffee for Frankie V..

Beatles Beatleg Of The Week July 1, 2005

2005-07-01T10:20:00.000-05:00

Our 2nd Beatleg of the week comes to us from Yellow Dog Records. The song is Rain and it appears on Unsurpassed Masters Vol 3 (1966-1967).

This is Take 7, Reduction Mix done on April 14, 1966.

Left channel: Bass, drums w/high hat.

When panned left, it's purely instrumental except for backup vocal phrases and Lennon's harmony at the refrain.

Right channel: Lennon's lead vocal, guitar, drums without high hat.

The stereo separation allows listeners to focus on Lennon's stunning vocals.
Especially riveting are his double-tracked harmonies at the refrains.
Fully separated in this mix, the listener can pan left or right to hear each Lennon vocal separately. Droning on the word "Rain," he achieves the vocal timbre of a Tibetan monk high in the mountains.

Rain was recorded in 5 takes on April 14, 1966 (EMI tape E59736) with overdubs on the 16th (E59738 marked takes 7 and 8). The song wasn't mixed into stereo (RSI-2)until December 2, 1969, when mixes were made for the American "Hey Jude" LP.

All of the bootlegged "outtakes" of this song are identical to (or derived from) the released version (including "The Abbey Road Show"). There's also no significant difference between the stereo and mono mixes except that the mono fades a bit more gradually.

The track was however, given both stereo and surround sound remixes for the "Anthology" DVD. This stereo mix is far more intelligent, as someone realized that John's vocal might sound a little better coming from the center rather than off in a corner somewhere.

Beatles Beatleg Bonus Track

2005-06-30T09:49:00.000-05:00

Today is the anniversary of the Beatles first concert at the famous Budakon Hall in Tokyo Japan. This performance shows why the greatest studio band should have never taken up live performing.

In the years that they were touring, the BIG equipment they had was an Audivox cabinet with a small head attatched, about 100- 150 watts. To play to 100,000+ people (let alone screaming female with raging hormones)
you need to have a 700- 800 watt high power cabinet, mic or direct-lined inta a P.A. system of a minimum of 2500 watts, wuth the proper tower designed speakers capable of sustaining 117 Db for an extended period of time.
The equipment they used is not considered valid for today's local-yocal "bar band" with an audience of 75, let alone 100,00+. The biggest mistake the Beatles ever made was being talked into doing concerts in stadium arena. It was apparent from the very first one, & it never ever got better, evidenced by George's lack-luster rendition of If I Needed Someone. They themselves knew it was awful, but they continued to do the shows until they just plain burned out.

So I have added that track #5 from Walrus Records release of Ultimate Live in Japan

Origins of Beatles Bootlegs

2005-06-26T21:07:00.000-05:00

So just how did these bootleggers get their hands on all those wonderful tapes? They must have incredible contacts! Well, yes and no. As we'll see, there has only been one major leak of material directly from EMI/Abbey Road itself; the rest of the hundreds of hours of booted material comes from sources available to most members of the public - provided they were in the right place at the right time, occasionally armed with a tape recorder or enough cash.

Beatles Bootlegs expressed the origins of the Beatles music and the creativity and eventual destruction of one of the most influential music groups in music history.

The first recordings of non-official Beatles music appeared on the record market around 1970 in the form of live recordings, outtakes, BBC radio performances, and Christmas messages- slowly these became available on vinyl. This music filled a gap and gained in popularity.

About 2000 titles of Beatles Bootlegs have been released on vinyl and latterly, from the mid 1980's, on CD. Although some titles have sold in huge numbers, most were produced in limited quantity.

Many of the first vinyl releases were of very poor quality. Often result of poor pressing, sleeves were mostly poor too. Released for example in only a plain stamped sleeve - it was a wonder these records sold at all. However, they did and I was one of those collectors who searched for those elusive recordings.

After its introduction in the mid 80s, the CD had its bootleg equivalent also. The bootleg CD format is not dissimilar to that of the official Beatles release. With digitalization, the sound quality was much improved compared to the vinyl version.

Bootlegs are a reality, even though record companies used to ignore their existence, the sheer popularity with the fans has urged EMI to release their own answer to the bootlegs.
"Beatles at the BBC" was released in 1994, even though several CD bootleg versions had been released some years before. Despite this release, bootlegs remained popular.
Newly discovered tracks resulted in the release of many more bootlegs.

In 1995 EMI and the remaining Beatle members released, what was meant to be a final answer to Bootlegs, the "Anthology" project. With 3 sets of "Anthology" double CD's, EMI tried to capture the entire Beatles period. Nevertheless, nothing can scare the illegal entrepreneurs, or are they just Beatles enthusiasts? The old vinyl bootleg may have disappeared and replaced by the CD; and as new technology is becoming more and more available, even to the amateur, DVD bootlegs are already a reality.

Beatles Beatleg Of The Week June 24, 2005

2005-06-24T19:42:00.000-05:00

I Saw Her Standing There

Recorded - 11 Feb 1963

SS.PPM.01.02

(Studio Session-Please Please Me-Sequential Track #1 - Take 2)
A complete take Fom "Please Please Me" session

Continued from warming up, they start a great live performance in the studio. John makes a mistake with some lyrics and Paul makes a mistake with some bass lines.

Taken from original master stereo

Pitch correction: +0.8%

Update

2005-06-24T18:37:00.000-05:00

I have added a few new sections to the blog so far, one being "This Day in Beatles History" which I will try to update daily and also a weekly Beatleg Post, which I will post outtakes or alternate recordings along with a description of the session.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all......

2005-06-23T10:07:00.000-05:00

Welcome to my humble abode. This is one mans view and review of one of the greatest and most influential musical groups in history, the four lads from Liverpool, aka the Fab Four, aka the Beatles.

I was introduced to the music of the Beatles while growing up in Chicago and was mezmorized with their experimentation with sounds and music loops in thier music. As I grew up I scoured the local music shops in search of elusive Beatles Bootlegs, which are now know as Beatlegs. I have amassed a large library thru the years of alternate recordings of Beatles songs, some of which in my opinion were better than the ones released by Apple Corp and EMI.

So here we are. With the explosion of podcasts, I figured what the heck, I'll put out a podcast show along with some hsitory facts that would allow the casual listener/visitor to experience some of these outtakes and alternate versions, along with some history of where these versions came from and how these beatlegs tapes escaped from the "secure" vaults at Apple and EMI.

In the coming weeks I will upload my first installment for your listening pleasure, I encourage comments and questions to make future podcasts more enjoyable. Just drop me a line at Beatlesbeatleg@yahoo.com

Thanks for stopping in....