The Beatles bootlegs
Encyclopedia
The Beatles' bootleg recordings are performances by The Beatles
that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings
, but also includes video
performances. From the earliest Beatles bootlegs in the late 1960s, the group has been one of the most bootlegged rock artists.
Bootleg recording
s arise from a multitude of sources, including broadcast performances, recordings of live shows, test discs, privately distributed copies of demos, and covertly copied studio session tapes. The largest single source of Beatles bootleg material is the set of Nagra
audio tapes from the 1969 filming of the Get Back/Let It Be
rehearsal and recording sessions. Performances for the BBC, stage and concert recordings, and studio outtakes have also been extensive sources for Beatles bootlegs.
, available around September 1969 in a plain white sleeve with no mention of a record company; the vinyl bootleg was based on an acetate
of one of the early rough mixes by Glyn Johns
of the Get Back album (which would later become Let It Be). John Lennon
may have been the unintentional source for one of the Get Back bootlegs; Lennon said: "They say it came from an acetate that I gave to someone who then went and broadcast it as being an advance pressing or something."
Other notable bootlegs to appear in the early 1970s were Yellow Matter Custard, containing 14 BBC Radio
performances from 1963, and Sweet Apple Trax, a double album of songs and jams from the Get Back rehearsal sessions. In 1978, a copy of The Beatles' Decca audition tape was bought by bootleggers, who released the songs over a series of 45 rpm singles. Bootleggers of this era often copied and repackaged each others' releases, so popular titles often appeared from more than one bootleg label. The biggest labels for Beatles material in the 1970s were Kornyfone (TAKRL), ContraBand, Trademark of Quality
, and Wizardo.
EMI
had planned to release an album of alternate takes and previously unreleased songs by The Beatles in 1985 called Sessions
, but The Beatles objected after it had been compiled; by the end of the year, bootleg copies were widely available. During the cataloging and review of the EMI archives in the early 1980s in preparation for the Sessions album and a multimedia show given at Abbey Road Studios
, it is suspected that high quality copies of some of the material were surreptitiously made. This may have been the source for the Ultra Rare Trax CD series from Swingin' Pig that started appearing in 1988, which provided takes never previously bootlegged in clarity that rivaled official releases.
The late 1980s also saw the emergence of Yellow Dog
, a label specializing in Beatles studio outtakes, who released the CD series Unsurpassed Masters in quality similar to Ultra Rare Trax; Yellow Dog, like Swingin' Pig's parent company Perfect Beat, was registered in Luxembourg, which had the most liberal copyright laws among EU countries. Yellow Dog released Unsurpassed Demos in 1991, featuring 22 songs from the 1968 Kinfauns (Esher) demos, only some of which had been previously made public during the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes that debuted in 1988.
In 1993, a nine-CD box set of The Beatles' BBC radio performances was released in Italy by Great Dane. The official Live at the BBC
and Anthology
releases in 1994–1996 covered much of the highlights of previously bootlegged material, in sound quality that most bootlegs could not match. However, new bootlegs continued to appear, with bootleggers including the word "anthology" in the title of many of their collections. Starting in 1999, Silent Sea issued a series of CD-R
s, featuring recompiled studio outtakes with commercial-quality packaging and liner notes. In 2000, the Vigotone label followed up their earlier eight-CD package of Get Back session recordings with a seventeen-CD collection called Thirty Days. In the early 2000s, the DVD
format enhanced the availability of Beatles bootleg videos, covering filmed concerts, TV appearances, promotional films, and even rare clips and outtakes.
The availability of high-speed Internet
has transformed the bootlegging industry. The Purple Chick label has assembled and digitally fine-tuned many comprehensive themed packages, including individual studio album sessions, the Get Back sessions, and the BBC performances, all distributed free through various fan trading sites online. Author Richie Unterberger
noted that it is "now theoretically possible to assemble a complete collection of the circulating unreleased Beatles recordings without ever buying a bootleg."
issued on In the Beginning (Circa 1960)
, only three recordings made by the group prior to 1962 have become public.
on 1 January 1962 (three Lennon/McCartney
compositions and twelve cover version
s). Five of the songs were included on Anthology 1.
Fourteen of the fifteen tracks appeared on a series of coloured vinyl singles with picture sleeves, released in 1978 on the Deccagone label through Strawberry Fields Forever, Joe Pope's fanzine
. The following year, all fifteen tracks appeared on the Circuit Records bootleg album The Decca Tapes.
Due to the questionable copyright status of these performances (recorded prior to the group's EMI contract), the Decca audition was commercially distributed in various configurations starting in 1981; some of these "grey market
" albums omitted the three Lennon/McCartney songs. By the late 1980s, legal action by The Beatles had halted commercial availability of the albums. In addition to continued inclusion on bootlegs, a small U.S. record label issued the songs on CD through mail order in 2007 as The Lost Decca Sessions, which it described as legal and licensed.
, performing "I Saw Her Standing There
", "One After 909
" (two versions), and "Catswalk" (two versions).
engagement in late December 1962, portions of their performances were taped by Star-Club
stage manager Adrian Barber; the tapes ended up with Ted "Kingsize" Taylor, the leader of another band playing at the club. Eventually Taylor sold the tapes, which formed the basis of the double album Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962, released in 1977 by Lingasong Records
.
The liner notes for the initial release falsely implied that the recordings had been made in the spring of 1962, prior to The Beatles' EMI contract, on a night when Ringo Starr
happened to be sitting in for Pete Best
. In commentary for a lawsuit to block the album's release, John Lennon
wrote, "the sleeve note, apart from being inaccurate, seems to have been written with a court case in mind." The Beatles lost their case, so the album was viewed as a legitimate release. The thirty songs contained on the initial releases were re-licensed over the following two decades to multiple record labels, most notably Sony Music
, which packaged the songs in CD form in 1991 (although the product was withdrawn the following year as legal action was pending from The Beatles). After another lawsuit by The Beatles, Lingasong agreed in 1998 to hand over the original tapes and stop all sales.
The sound quality of the tape is poor, with the vocals in particular sounding "muffled and distant" at best. The Beatles display a rawness that matches the raucous Hamburg atmosphere. While The Beatles would later record many of the thirty songs in the studio or perform them for the BBC, nine of the songs would never be officially released in another version.
Additional material from the Star-Club tapes has been bootlegged, including "Road Runner
", "Money (That's What I Want)
" (with Tony Sheridan singing lead), a portion of "Red Hot", and alternate performances of several songs.
programmes, beginning with an appearance on the series Teenager's Turn—Here We Go, recorded on 7 March 1962, and ending with the special The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride, recorded on 26 May 1965; in total, 275 performances of 88 different songs were broadcast. Early bootlegs of some of the performances were based on low-quality home recordings of the broadcasts from the radio. It was not the BBC's practice to archive either the session tapes or the shows' master tapes, but many good quality distribution copies were found in various BBC departments during research for BBC radio specials produced in the 1980s.
Increasingly comprehensive collections of the BBC performances were bootlegged in the 1980s and early 1990s. The most notable of these was The Complete BBC Sessions, a nine-CD box set released in 1993 by Great Dane in Italy, where copyright protection for the broadcasts had expired; The widespread availability of good quality bootlegs prompted Apple's own release of BBC performances in 1994, the two-CD set Live at the BBC. The set included 30 of the 36 songs that The Beatles never performed on their studio albums, plus 26 other songs and dialogue among the group members and the radio hosts.
Bootleggers have continued to package collections of nearly every Beatles BBC performance (a few early shows remain unavailable), along with outtakes from a small number of BBC session tapes that have survived. Secret Trax released a ten-CD set in 2001; in 2004, Purple Chick released a digital set of ten audio CDs plus one multimedia CD.
album—to more fragmentary samplings, or alternate mixes and performances derived from acetates. The first studio outtake to appear on bootleg was the White Album outtake "What's The New Mary Jane
" in 1972, which fell into the hands of bootleggers via an acetate that Lennon had traded to a friend. In 1977, rough mixes from acetates of "I Am The Walrus
" and "The Fool On The Hill
" appeared on bootlegs after being played on a Radio Luxembourg
broadcast.
After The Beatles' EMI contract expired in 1976, the company began assessing the band's unreleased material for a future release. The first batch of songs to leak came from an in-house compilation cassette that contained "Leave My Kitten Alone
", "One After 909
" (from 1963), "If You've Got Trouble
", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
", "That Means a Lot
", "Come and Get It
", "Dig a Pony
" (unedited version), and two medleys from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions: "Rip It Up
/Shake, Rattle and Roll
" and "Not Fade Away
/Bo Diddley
".
In 1981, in-house engineer John Barrett was given the task of cataloguing the complete collection of tapes from the band's seven-year career with EMI. This led to two projects: a public audio-visual presentation at Abbey Road Studios
called The Beatles Live at Abbey Road (which opened on 18 July 1983) and a planned outtakes album which was to be called Sessions
. In addition to some of the songs included on the previously leaked compilation tape, Sessions added "Not Guilty
", "What's the New Mary Jane", "How Do You Do It?
", "Bésame Mucho
", "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps
" (demo), and early takes of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
" and "I'm Looking Through You
". Shortly before the album's scheduled 1985 release, it was vetoed by the surviving members of the band; but both audience recordings of the Abbey Road presentation and the leaked promos of Sessions became available to bootleggers. These songs appeared on bootleg series such as Ultra-Rare Trax and Unsurpassed Masters, along with other material presumably copied while preparing these projects. Most of the aforementioned tracks were officially released on the Anthology albums in 1995 and 1996.
New Beatles studio outtakes continue to occasionally appear; in February 2009, a complete 10:46 recording of Revolution 1 (Take 20) from the White Album was released on the bootleg Revolution: Take... Your Knickers Off!.This version starts with Lennon jokingly counting that way.
. The Beatles Anthology
contained video clips from several concerts, some of which are available in complete form on bootleg video. The following are some of the most notable concerts on bootleg releases.
in 1964 and 1965; after many years circulating on bootlegs, these received official DVD release in 2003 as The Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring The Beatles.
Other notable television performances that have appeared on bootleg video include the Swedish show Drop In from October 1963 (four songs); the April 1964 UK special Around The Beatles
(six songs mimed to new recordings); the June 1964 Australian special The Beatles Sing for Shell (seven songs survived in complete form, plus fragments of two others); and a September 1968 appearance on Frost on Sunday (new vocals for "Hey Jude
" and "Revolution
" over studio backing tracks, plus brief improvisations), for which multiple takes are available.
publishing affiliate Northern Songs
), to later play for the other Beatles, or to give to other artists who would be recording the songs.
Many of Lennon's demos that appeared on bootlegs were first heard on the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes. Some of the Lennon demos available include "Bad To Me
" (1963, given to Billy J. Kramer
), "I'm in Love
" (1963, given to The Fourmost
), "If I Fell
" (1964), and "Everyone Had A Hard Year" (1968, later incorporated into "I've Got a Feeling
"). There are also Lennon demos available of songs that would develop into "She Said She Said
", "Strawberry Fields Forever
", "Good Morning Good Morning
", "Across the Universe
", "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
", "Don't Let Me Down
", and two songs he would later record after The Beatles, "Oh My Love
" and "Cold Turkey
".
McCartney's demos include "One and One Is Two" (1964, eventually an uncharted single for Mike Shannon and the Strangers), "Step Inside Love
" (1968, given to Cilla Black
), "Goodbye
" (1969, given to Mary Hopkin
), "Come and Get it
" (1969, given to Badfinger
), and early versions of "We Can Work It Out
" (partially taped over by Lennon) and "Michelle
". Harrison's 1963 demo for "Don't Bother Me
" has also been bootlegged.
of comedy and music that was sent to members of their fan club
. In 1970, these recordings were compiled onto an LP released via their fan club called From Then to You (U.S. title: The Beatles' Christmas Album). Since this album has had no official general-public release, it has been frequently bootlegged, often with additional outtakes from some of the Christmas recording sessions. A portion of one song recorded for the 1967 Christmas flexi disc, "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", was officially released as an additional track on the 1995 "Free as a Bird
" single. Part of the 1963 track is featured as an unlockable special feature on The Beatles: Rock Band
.
home of George Harrison
, to review and record demos of songs under consideration for their next album; twenty-seven songs, mostly acoustic, have become public from this session. Seven of the songs were released on Anthology 3
, including "Junk
", a song McCartney would later record for his first solo album. Of the twenty demo songs not officially released, fifteen would be recorded and released on the White Album, while "Not Guilty" and "What's the New Mary Jane" would be recorded for the album but not make the final lineup. The recordings included on the anthology are of a significantly higher fidelity than the bootlegged recordings, raising the possibility that there are higher quality versions of all twenty-seven songs. As a number of the songs included on the anthology were included in edited form, it has been suggested that the release of all the Esher demos as a legitimate future Beatles release is likely.
The other three songs would never be recorded in the studio by The Beatles:
to film the rehearsals for the band's first live concert since 1966. The rehearsals and concert would concentrate on new material, and form the basis for a television documentary and a new album. Disagreements within the group led to much of the plan being scrapped. The planned concert was scaled back to a rooftop performance at Apple Records
on 30 January 1969; the footage became a feature film, Let It Be
, released with the album of the same name in May 1970.
The rehearsals and recordings took place at Twickenham Film Studios
(2–14 January) and then at Apple (20–31 January), with more than one hundred hours captured on film and the corresponding Nagra
tape recorders used for the film's audio track. These Nagra tapes are the source for most of the bootlegs from these sessions. In addition to songs that would later be released by the group, The Beatles played hundreds of cover versions and original compositions. However, many of the performances were brief (some lasting less than ten seconds), and many of the original compositions are undeveloped ideas or improvisations that have been described as the audio equivalent of doodling
. A sampling of the rehearsals was officially issued as a bonus disc with Let It Be... Naked.
Among the more complete rehearsed songs that have been featured on bootlegs are "Watching Rainbows
", "Commonwealth
", and "The Palace of the King of the Birds" (later recorded but not released by McCartney as "Castle of the King of the Birds"); "All Things Must Pass
", "Let It Down", "Isn't It A Pity", and "Hear Me Lord'", later released by Harrison; "Gimme Some Truth
" and "Oh My Love
", later released by Lennon; and "Teddy Boy
" and "Hot as Sun", later released by McCartney.
Portions of the rooftop concert were seen in the Let It Be film and the Anthology documentary, and three tracks were used for the Let It Be album, while the complete recording has been bootlegged. The performance consisted of "Get Back
" (first and second versions), "Don't Let Me Down
", "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909", "Dig a Pony", "God Save the Queen
" (a brief version played while the audio tape reel was changed), "I've Got a Feeling" (second version), "Don't Let Me Down" (second version), and "Get Back" (third version).
On 30 January 1969, Glyn Johns
compiled some performances he had been mixing, and made acetate copies for The Beatles. In addition to songs that would eventually appear on Let It Be, this set included "Teddy Boy" and "The Walk" (a song by Jimmy McCracklin
). It was this version that first leaked out, was broadcast on multiple radio stations starting in September 1969, and formed the basis for the bootleg Kum Back
that appeared near the end of 1969. Johns started working in earnest on compiling an album in March 1969, and a test acetate from this period eventually surfaced on a poor quality bootleg.
Johns later made two "official" attempts at compiling the Get Back album, with both versions widely bootlegged. The 28 May 1969 compilation by Johns contained the following lineup: "One After 909", "Rocker", "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Don't Let Me Down", "Dig A Pony", "I've Got a Feeling", "Get Back", "For You Blue", "Teddy Boy", "Two of Us", "Maggie Mae", "Dig It", "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road", and "Get Back (Reprise)". The main changes made for the 5 January 1970 compilation were the removal of "Teddy Boy" and the additions of "I Me Mine
" and "Across the Universe".
One of the myriad Get Back session compilation bootlegs was The Black Album, a five-LP set from the 1980s in a memorable package (although the material has since been bootlegged in superior sound quality). In the early 2000s, Yellow Dog Records created Day by Day, a 38-part CD series comprising the Nagra tape recordings in their entirety, with improved audio quality compared to earlier releases. In January 2003, nearly 500 of the original Nagra tapes were recovered by police in England and the Netherlands, with five people arrested.
Even after the raid, bootlegging of the material continued with the Purple Chick label releasing their own digital A/B Road Nagra tape collection.
, Harry Nilsson
, Jesse Ed Davis
and others, was recorded at Record Plant Studios
in Los Angeles on 28 March 1974. The recording did not surface until 18 years later when a portion of it was released on bootleg as A Toot and a Snore in '74
. The recording is known more for its historical significance than the quality of the performances.
s became increasingly disappointed with the sound quality of the official CDs. Several bootleggers undertook their own remasterings of the entire Beatles catalogue, of both mono and stereo original releases, typically using premium vinyl pressings played and digitised with high-end audio equipment. While these unauthorized copies are not bootlegs as commonly defined, their creation and distribution channels overlap with bootleg products.
Some of the widely distributed collections are the Millennium Remasters series and The Beatles' remasters on "DLH Records", also the series by the bootlegger known as "Dr. Ebbetts". Several other bootleggers have created their own collections of remasters distributed solely by digital download, including Purple Chick, which supplements the remastered albums with related outtakes.
The official remastering of The Beatles' catalogue in stereo
and mono
, released in September 2009, may have made bootleg remasters obsolete: Ebbetts announced that he would no longer make his versions available after he heard advanced samples of the official remasters which he judged to be superior. The Beatles' official catalogue of their original stereo studio albums has since been issued via digital download through iTunes
.
From the group's early years, it has been reported that additional songs exist from the 1960 Quarrymen rehearsal tapes, including a Lennon/McCartney instrumental "Winston's Walk" and early versions of "When I'm Sixty-Four
" and "Ask Me Why
". Another recording of historical interest is a tape of 18 songs from a Beatles show in mid-1962 at the Cavern Club, recorded from the audience. The tape includes several cover versions of songs not available elsewhere by The Beatles, including the Bruce Channel
number one "Hey! Baby
", James Ray's "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", and the Bobby Vee
hit "Sharing You". McCartney bought the tape at a 1985 auction, and since none of it was used for Anthology, it has been assumed to be of poor sound quality.
Many demo recordings are known to have been made by the individual Beatles but have yet to become public. Lennon's uncirculated demos include "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "I Call Your Name
", "No Reply
" (pre-dating the one on Anthology), "In My Life
", and "Good Night
". McCartney's uncirculated demos include "A World Without Love
", "It's for You
", "What Goes On", "Eleanor Rigby
", "Etcetera" (a 1968 song intended for Marianne Faithfull
), and "The Long and Winding Road
".
Between the official Anthology releases and the numerous outtakes that have been bootlegged, many of The Beatles' most interesting studio recordings are available in some form. Nevertheless, there are still recordings known to be in EMI's archives that have generated particular interest in their eventual release. One is "Carnival of Light
", an improvised 14-minute vocal and sound collage that The Beatles created in early 1967 for an art festival; the recording was under consideration for Anthology, and McCartney has been an advocate for its release. Another is take 3 of "Helter Skelter" from 18 July 1968, renowned for its length of twenty-seven minutes. Anthology 3 included only a 4:38 edit of the 12:35 take 2 from that day's work on the song; asked why a longer version wasn't issued, George Martin
explained: "I think it gets boring."
Some recordings may no longer exist, if they ever existed originally. A Quarrymen rehearsal that was recorded at Colin Hanton's
home was taped over. BBC documentation shows that "Sheila
" and two versions of "Three Cool Cats
" were recorded and never broadcast, but the tapes were likely reused or discarded, a fate shared by some of The Beatles' studio session tapes prior to late 1963. Carl Perkins
has said that he joined The Beatles in the studio for a late night jam session on 1 June 1964, but this was probably not taped. Several Lennon/McCartney titles were mentioned in a 1960 letter from McCartney, including "Looking Glass", "Years Roll Along", and "Keep Looking That Way", but there is no evidence that tapes were ever made of those songs during rehearsals from that era.
One final source of uncirculated recordings is the set of sessions held in 1994–1995 for the Anthology project. In addition to the two songs released, two other Lennon demos (which have been bootlegged) became the basis for additional work by the other three Beatles: "Now and Then
" and "Grow Old With Me
". "Now and Then" was close to being the third new song for Anthology, but it needed more work than the two released songs and was left unfinished; McCartney has indicated an interest in completing the song with Starr. A new song composed by McCartney and Harrison, "All for Love", was also reportedly recorded by the three ex-Beatles at the sessions but never finished.
), "Cheese and Onions" (The Rutles
), "Magical Misery Tour" (National Lampoon
featuring Tony Hendra
). Some were by obscure artists whose names were subject to misinterpretation, such as John and Paul ("People Say"/"I'm Walking" and John Lennon and the Bleechers ("Ram You Hard"). Some were by groups with a (sometimes intentional) Beatlesque style, such as The Fourmost
("I Love You Too"), The Gants
("I Wonder"), The End
("Shades of Orange"/"Loving Sacred Loving"), Lavender Circus ("N. Bourbaki's Multicoloured Jam"), and Smyle ("It's Gonna Be Alright"); or with a lead vocalist sounding like one of The Beatles, as on "We Are the Moles" (Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
as The Moles).
A few "outfakes" have been labeled as Beatles tracks many times:
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
that have attained some level of public circulation without being available as a legal release. The term most often refers to audio recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, but also includes video
Video
Video is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion.- History :...
performances. From the earliest Beatles bootlegs in the late 1960s, the group has been one of the most bootlegged rock artists.
Bootleg recording
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
s arise from a multitude of sources, including broadcast performances, recordings of live shows, test discs, privately distributed copies of demos, and covertly copied studio session tapes. The largest single source of Beatles bootleg material is the set of Nagra
Nagra
Nagra is the trademark referring to any of the series of mostly battery-operated portable professional audio recorders produced by Kudelski SA, based in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland....
audio tapes from the 1969 filming of the Get Back/Let It Be
Let It Be (album)
Let It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970 by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group announced their break-up....
rehearsal and recording sessions. Performances for the BBC, stage and concert recordings, and studio outtakes have also been extensive sources for Beatles bootlegs.
Historical overview
The first popular Beatles bootleg was Kum BackKum Back
Kum Back is the first bootleg album by The Beatles, released in September 1969. The album is an early mix of what would become 1970's Let It Be, taken from an acetate prepared by the groups's producer, Glyn Johns...
, available around September 1969 in a plain white sleeve with no mention of a record company; the vinyl bootleg was based on an acetate
Acetate disc
An acetate disc, also known as a test acetate, dubplate , lacquer , transcription disc or instantaneous disc...
of one of the early rough mixes by Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
of the Get Back album (which would later become Let It Be). John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
may have been the unintentional source for one of the Get Back bootlegs; Lennon said: "They say it came from an acetate that I gave to someone who then went and broadcast it as being an advance pressing or something."
Other notable bootlegs to appear in the early 1970s were Yellow Matter Custard, containing 14 BBC Radio
BBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
performances from 1963, and Sweet Apple Trax, a double album of songs and jams from the Get Back rehearsal sessions. In 1978, a copy of The Beatles' Decca audition tape was bought by bootleggers, who released the songs over a series of 45 rpm singles. Bootleggers of this era often copied and repackaged each others' releases, so popular titles often appeared from more than one bootleg label. The biggest labels for Beatles material in the 1970s were Kornyfone (TAKRL), ContraBand, Trademark of Quality
Trademark of Quality
TMQ, TMOQ or TradeMark Of Quality was a bootleg record label that originated in the Los Angeles, California area during the late 1960s and early 1970s. The label was responsible for many underground records of Bob Dylan, Led Zeppelin, Jefferson Airplane, Devo, Grateful Dead, The Beatles, Frank...
, and Wizardo.
EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
had planned to release an album of alternate takes and previously unreleased songs by The Beatles in 1985 called Sessions
Sessions (album)
Sessions was a compilation album by The Beatles planned for release by EMI in 1985, but never issued due to objections by the surviving Beatles. The album consisted of thirteen finished, but unreleased, Beatles songs...
, but The Beatles objected after it had been compiled; by the end of the year, bootleg copies were widely available. During the cataloging and review of the EMI archives in the early 1980s in preparation for the Sessions album and a multimedia show given at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
, it is suspected that high quality copies of some of the material were surreptitiously made. This may have been the source for the Ultra Rare Trax CD series from Swingin' Pig that started appearing in 1988, which provided takes never previously bootlegged in clarity that rivaled official releases.
The late 1980s also saw the emergence of Yellow Dog
Yellow Dog (bootlegger)
Yellow Dog was the prominent publisher of Beatles bootlegs. They were responsible for Unsurpassed Masters, Day by Day aka The Complete Get Back Sessions and many other high-quality CDs. Yellow Dog was rumoured to have been closed down in the late '90s. In the early 00's Yellow Dog began again in...
, a label specializing in Beatles studio outtakes, who released the CD series Unsurpassed Masters in quality similar to Ultra Rare Trax; Yellow Dog, like Swingin' Pig's parent company Perfect Beat, was registered in Luxembourg, which had the most liberal copyright laws among EU countries. Yellow Dog released Unsurpassed Demos in 1991, featuring 22 songs from the 1968 Kinfauns (Esher) demos, only some of which had been previously made public during the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes that debuted in 1988.
In 1993, a nine-CD box set of The Beatles' BBC radio performances was released in Italy by Great Dane. The official Live at the BBC
Live at the BBC (The Beatles album)
Live at the BBC is a 1994 compilation album featuring performances by The Beatles that were originally broadcast on various BBC Light Programme radio shows from 1963 through 1965. The monaural album, available in multiple formats but most commonly as a two-CD set, consists of 56 songs and 13 tracks...
and Anthology
The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology is the name of a documentary series, a set of three double albums and a book focusing on the history of The Beatles. Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr all participated in the making and approval of the works, which are sometimes referred to collectively as the...
releases in 1994–1996 covered much of the highlights of previously bootlegged material, in sound quality that most bootlegs could not match. However, new bootlegs continued to appear, with bootleggers including the word "anthology" in the title of many of their collections. Starting in 1999, Silent Sea issued a series of CD-R
CD-R
A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
s, featuring recompiled studio outtakes with commercial-quality packaging and liner notes. In 2000, the Vigotone label followed up their earlier eight-CD package of Get Back session recordings with a seventeen-CD collection called Thirty Days. In the early 2000s, the DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
format enhanced the availability of Beatles bootleg videos, covering filmed concerts, TV appearances, promotional films, and even rare clips and outtakes.
The availability of high-speed Internet
Broadband Internet access
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just "broadband", is a high data rate, low-latency connection to the Internet— typically contrasted with dial-up access using a 56 kbit/s modem or satellite Internet with inherently high latency....
has transformed the bootlegging industry. The Purple Chick label has assembled and digitally fine-tuned many comprehensive themed packages, including individual studio album sessions, the Get Back sessions, and the BBC performances, all distributed free through various fan trading sites online. Author Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger
Richie Unterberger is a US author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing.-Life and writing:Having worked as a DJ at WXPN in Philadelphia, he started reviewing records for Op magazine in 1983...
noted that it is "now theoretically possible to assemble a complete collection of the circulating unreleased Beatles recordings without ever buying a bootleg."
Commonly bootlegged material
Several books have been devoted to comprehensively documenting Beatles bootlegs; the following is a list of some of the most common or notable bootlegged recordings by The Beatles.The Quarrymen/Silver Beetles era (1957–1960)
Other than the commercially released songs with Tony SheridanTony Sheridan
Tony Sheridan , is an English rock and roll singer-songwriter and guitarist...
issued on In the Beginning (Circa 1960)
In The Beginning (Circa 1960)
In the Beginning is the first consolidated American packaging of the 1962 German album by Tony Sheridan, The Beatles, and The Beat Brothers called My Bonnie. In the Beginning was released by Polydor Records in 1970 It was recorded in Hamburg in 1961...
, only three recordings made by the group prior to 1962 have become public.
- The Quarrymen show, 6 July 1957. The QuarrymenThe QuarrymenThe Quarrymen are a British skiffle and rock and roll group, initially formed in Liverpool in 1956, that eventually evolved into The Beatles in 1960...
played a show for the WooltonWooltonWoolton is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located at the south of the city, bordered by Gateacre, Hunts Cross, Allerton and Halewood. At the 2001 Census the population was recorded as 14,836.-History:...
fêteFêteFête is a French word meaning festival, celebration or party, which has passed into English as a label that may be given to certain events.-Description:It is widely used in England and Australia in the context of a village fête,...
at St Peter's Parish Church, notable as the day that Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
was first introduced to Lennon by a mutual friend, Ivan VaughanIvan VaughanIvan Vaughan was a boyhood friend of John Lennon, and later schoolmate of Paul McCartney at the Liverpool Institute, both commencing school there in Sept. 1953. He was born on the same day as Paul McCartney in Liverpool...
. In 1994, Bob Molyneux, a retired policeman, rediscovered a reel-to-reel tape he had made of the show while experimenting with a GrundigGrundigGrundig AG is a German manufacturer of consumer electronics for home entertainment which transferred to Turkish control in 2004-2007. Established in 1945 in Nuremberg by Max Grundig, the company changed hands several times before becoming part of the Turkish Koç Holding group...
portable tape recorder. The tape contained a poor quality recording of the Quarrymen performances of Lonnie Donegan'sLonnie DoneganAnthony James "Lonnie" Donegan MBE was a skiffle musician, with more than 20 UK Top 30 hits to his name. He is known as the "King of Skiffle" and is often cited as a large influence on the generation of British musicians who became famous in the 1960s...
"Puttin' On the StylePuttin' On the StylePuttin' On the Style was a 1957 hit for skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. It was recorded live at the London Palladium and released as a double A side along with Gamblin' Man and reached #1 in the UK charts in June and July 1957, where it spent two weeks in this position.This was the last record to...
" and Elvis Presley'sElvis PresleyElvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
"Baby, Let's Play House". A thirty-second excerpt of "Putting On the Style" was released to promote the tape's auction at Sotheby'sSotheby'sSotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
later that year; the tape was bought by EMI for £78,500, becoming the most expensive recording ever sold at auction. EMI decided the recording was not of sufficient quality to include in Anthology. After extensive audio restoration, excerpts from both songs were included in the BBC radio documentary The Day John Met Paul, broadcast on 26 June 2007.
- The Quarrymen acetate, 1958. In mid-1958, The Quarrymen paid to record themselves at Phillips' Sound Recording ServicesPhillips' Sound Recording ServicesPhillips' Sound Recording Services was a studio in the house of Percy Francis Phillips and his family at 38 Kensington, Kensington, Liverpool, England...
in Liverpool, performing "That'll Be the DayThat'll Be the Day"That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison and recorded by various artists including The Crickets and Linda Ronstadt. It was also the first song to be recorded by The Quarrymen, the skiffle group that subsequently became The Beatles...
" and "In Spite of All the DangerIn Spite of All the Danger"In Spite of All the Danger" is one of the first songs recorded by The Quarrymen, then composed of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, pianist John Lowe and drummer Colin Hanton....
". These were included on Anthology 1Anthology 1Anthology 1 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in November 1995. It was released as the first part of the Anthology trilogy of albums with Anthology 2 and Anthology 3, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. It contains "Free as a Bird",...
, although the latter song was edited.
- Home rehearsals, 1960. More than one hour of the band's home rehearsals from 1960 have appeared on bootlegs, although the recording's date and location are uncertain. McCartney once said that it was taped at his home in April 1960; the recording may also originate from two separate sessions a few months apart. Three of the songs were included on Anthology 1. The recording also featured early versions of songs that The Beatles would later record in the studio ("MatchboxMatchbox (song)"Matchbox" is a rock and roll and rockabilly song written by Carl Perkins and first recorded by him at Sun Records in December 1956 and released on February 11, 1957 as a 45 single on Sun Records. It has become one of Perkins' best-known recordings...
", "One After 909One After 909"One After 909" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon, with input from Paul McCartney , and originally released in 1970 on the album Let It Be. The album version is the live performance from the rooftop concert which took place on 30 January 1969...
", "I'll Follow the SunI'll Follow the Sun"I'll Follow the Sun" is a song by The Beatles. It is a melancholy ballad written and sung by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released in 1964 on the Beatles for Sale album in the United Kingdom and on Beatles '65 in the United States, but was written long before that year:...
"). Other songs included "Well, Darling", "Hello Little GirlHello Little Girl"Hello Little Girl" is the first song ever written by John Lennon. According to Lennon, he drew on an old "Thirties or Forties song" that his mother sang to him . Written in 1957, it was used as one of the songs at The Beatles unsuccessful Decca audition in 1962...
", "That's When Your Heartaches Begin", "Wild Cat", "I'll Always Be in Love with You", "Some Days", "Hallelujah I Love Her SoHallelujah I Love Her So"Hallelujah I Love Her So" is a rhythm and blues single written by and released by American singer Ray Charles in 1956 on the Atlantic label.The song peaked at number five on the Billboard R&B chart and much like "I Got a Woman" and "This Little Girl of Mine" before it was a song based on a gospel...
", "The World Is Waiting for the SunriseThe World Is Waiting for the Sunrise"The World Is Waiting for the Sunrise" is a popular ballad with lyrics by Gene Lockhart and music by the concert pianist Ernest Seitz, who had conceived the refrain when he was 12. Embarrassed about writing popular music, Seitz used the pseudonym "Raymond Roberts" when the song was first published...
", "You Must Write Every Day", "Movin' and Groovin'", and "Ramrod".
Decca audition (1962)
The Beatles performed fifteen songs that were recorded at their audition for Decca RecordsDecca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
on 1 January 1962 (three Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...
compositions and twelve cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
s). Five of the songs were included on Anthology 1.
Fourteen of the fifteen tracks appeared on a series of coloured vinyl singles with picture sleeves, released in 1978 on the Deccagone label through Strawberry Fields Forever, Joe Pope's fanzine
Fanzine
A fanzine is a nonprofessional and nonofficial publication produced by fans of a particular cultural phenomenon for the pleasure of others who share their interest...
. The following year, all fifteen tracks appeared on the Circuit Records bootleg album The Decca Tapes.
Due to the questionable copyright status of these performances (recorded prior to the group's EMI contract), the Decca audition was commercially distributed in various configurations starting in 1981; some of these "grey market
Grey market
A grey market or gray market also known as parallel market is the trade of a commodity through distribution channels which, while legal, are unofficial, unauthorized, or unintended by the original manufacturer...
" albums omitted the three Lennon/McCartney songs. By the late 1980s, legal action by The Beatles had halted commercial availability of the albums. In addition to continued inclusion on bootlegs, a small U.S. record label issued the songs on CD through mail order in 2007 as The Lost Decca Sessions, which it described as legal and licensed.
Cavern Club rehearsals (1962)
Sometime between August and December 1962, The Beatles recorded themselves rehearsing at The Cavern ClubThe Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a rock and roll club in Liverpool, England. Opened on Wednesday 16 January 1957, the club had their first performance by The Beatles on 9 February 1961, and where Brian Epstein first saw The Beatles performing on 9 November 1961....
, performing "I Saw Her Standing There
I Saw Her Standing There
"I Saw Her Standing There" is a song written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon, and is the opening track on The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, released in the United Kingdom by Parlophone on 22 March 1963....
", "One After 909
One After 909
"One After 909" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon, with input from Paul McCartney , and originally released in 1970 on the album Let It Be. The album version is the live performance from the rooftop concert which took place on 30 January 1969...
" (two versions), and "Catswalk" (two versions).
Star-Club performances (1962)
As The Beatles were concluding their final two-week HamburgHamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
engagement in late December 1962, portions of their performances were taped by Star-Club
Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany that opened Friday 13 April 1962 and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the sixties, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 31 December 1969 and the building it occupied was...
stage manager Adrian Barber; the tapes ended up with Ted "Kingsize" Taylor, the leader of another band playing at the club. Eventually Taylor sold the tapes, which formed the basis of the double album Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962, released in 1977 by Lingasong Records
Lingasong Records
Lingasong Records was a record label formed by Paul Murphy of Buk Records for the sole purpose of producing and marketing The Beatles' live album Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962. The album was released in 1977 after The Beatles lost a court case to block it...
.
The liner notes for the initial release falsely implied that the recordings had been made in the spring of 1962, prior to The Beatles' EMI contract, on a night when Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
happened to be sitting in for Pete Best
Pete Best
Pete Best is a British musician, best known as the original drummer in The Beatles. He was born in the city of Madras, British India...
. In commentary for a lawsuit to block the album's release, John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
wrote, "the sleeve note, apart from being inaccurate, seems to have been written with a court case in mind." The Beatles lost their case, so the album was viewed as a legitimate release. The thirty songs contained on the initial releases were re-licensed over the following two decades to multiple record labels, most notably Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment ' is the second-largest global recorded music company of the "big four" record companies and is controlled by Sony Corporation of America, the United States subsidiary of Japan's Sony Corporation....
, which packaged the songs in CD form in 1991 (although the product was withdrawn the following year as legal action was pending from The Beatles). After another lawsuit by The Beatles, Lingasong agreed in 1998 to hand over the original tapes and stop all sales.
The sound quality of the tape is poor, with the vocals in particular sounding "muffled and distant" at best. The Beatles display a rawness that matches the raucous Hamburg atmosphere. While The Beatles would later record many of the thirty songs in the studio or perform them for the BBC, nine of the songs would never be officially released in another version.
Additional material from the Star-Club tapes has been bootlegged, including "Road Runner
Road Runner (Bo Diddley song)
"Road Runner" is a song written and performed by American rock and roll performer Bo Diddley, originally released as a single by Checker Records in January 1960, and later released on the LP record Bo Diddley in the Spotlight. The song reached #20 on Billboard magazine's Hot R&B Sides chart, and...
", "Money (That's What I Want)
Money (That's What I Want)
"Money " is a 1959 hit single by Barrett Strong for the Tamla label, distributed nationally on Anna Records. The song was written by Tamla founder Berry Gordy and Janie Bradford, and became the first hit record for Gordy's Motown enterprise....
" (with Tony Sheridan singing lead), a portion of "Red Hot", and alternate performances of several songs.
The BBC sessions (1962–1965)
The Beatles performed for fifty-two BBC RadioBBC Radio
BBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
programmes, beginning with an appearance on the series Teenager's Turn—Here We Go, recorded on 7 March 1962, and ending with the special The Beatles Invite You to Take a Ticket to Ride, recorded on 26 May 1965; in total, 275 performances of 88 different songs were broadcast. Early bootlegs of some of the performances were based on low-quality home recordings of the broadcasts from the radio. It was not the BBC's practice to archive either the session tapes or the shows' master tapes, but many good quality distribution copies were found in various BBC departments during research for BBC radio specials produced in the 1980s.
Increasingly comprehensive collections of the BBC performances were bootlegged in the 1980s and early 1990s. The most notable of these was The Complete BBC Sessions, a nine-CD box set released in 1993 by Great Dane in Italy, where copyright protection for the broadcasts had expired; The widespread availability of good quality bootlegs prompted Apple's own release of BBC performances in 1994, the two-CD set Live at the BBC. The set included 30 of the 36 songs that The Beatles never performed on their studio albums, plus 26 other songs and dialogue among the group members and the radio hosts.
Bootleggers have continued to package collections of nearly every Beatles BBC performance (a few early shows remain unavailable), along with outtakes from a small number of BBC session tapes that have survived. Secret Trax released a ten-CD set in 2001; in 2004, Purple Chick released a digital set of ten audio CDs plus one multimedia CD.
Studio outtakes (1962–1970)
A large number of Beatles studio outtakes are available on bootlegs, ranging from complete session tapes—for example, the morning sessions for the Please Please MePlease Please Me
Please Please Me is the debut album by the English rock band The Beatles. Parlophone rush-released the album on 22 March 1963 in the United Kingdom to capitalise on the success of singles "Please Please Me" and "Love Me Do" .Of the album's fourteen songs, eight were written by Lennon–McCartney...
album—to more fragmentary samplings, or alternate mixes and performances derived from acetates. The first studio outtake to appear on bootleg was the White Album outtake "What's The New Mary Jane
What's The New Mary Jane
"What's the New Mary Jane" is a song written by John Lennon and performed by The Beatles. It was recorded in 1968 for the album The Beatles , but was not used.-Recording:...
" in 1972, which fell into the hands of bootleggers via an acetate that Lennon had traded to a friend. In 1977, rough mixes from acetates of "I Am The Walrus
I Am the Walrus
"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Lennon claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips. The song was in the Beatles' 1967 television film and album Magical Mystery Tour, and was the B-side to the #1 hit "Hello,...
" and "The Fool On The Hill
The Fool on the Hill
"The Fool on the Hill" is a song by The Beatles. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and recorded in 1967...
" appeared on bootlegs after being played on a Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
broadcast.
After The Beatles' EMI contract expired in 1976, the company began assessing the band's unreleased material for a future release. The first batch of songs to leak came from an in-house compilation cassette that contained "Leave My Kitten Alone
Leave My Kitten Alone
"Leave My Kitten Alone" is a 1959 R&B hit, written by Little Willie John, James McDougal and Titus Turner, first recorded by Little Willie John, and covered in 1960 by Johnny Preston. The song is also the 22nd song on the second disc to The Beatles' Anthology 1...
", "One After 909
One After 909
"One After 909" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon, with input from Paul McCartney , and originally released in 1970 on the album Let It Be. The album version is the live performance from the rooftop concert which took place on 30 January 1969...
" (from 1963), "If You've Got Trouble
If You've Got Trouble
"If You've Got Trouble" is a song written by Lennon/McCartney and recorded by The Beatles on 18 February 1965 with Ringo Starr singing the lead vocal. The song was intended to be Starr's vocal appearance on the Help! album and the Help! film, but the Beatles were not happy with the recording and...
", "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
"Christmas Time " is a Christmas song recorded by The Beatles for their 1967 fan-club Christmas record....
", "That Means a Lot
That Means a Lot
"That Means a Lot" is a song written by Lennon–McCartney and released in 1965 by P.J. Proby. Proby's version reached #24 on the NME chart. Prior to the release by Proby, The Beatles recorded a version that was intended for the Help! film and soundtrack...
", "Come and Get It
Come and Get It (song)
"Come and Get It" is the name of a song composed by Paul McCartney for the 1969 film The Magic Christian, and made popular by the group Badfinger.-Beatles version:...
", "Dig a Pony
Dig a Pony
"Dig a Pony" is a song by The Beatles, originally released on their 1970 album Let It Be. "Dig a Pony" was the penultimate song played at the concert on the rooftop of Apple Studios in Savile Row, London on 30 January 1969.-Composition:...
" (unedited version), and two medleys from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions: "Rip It Up
Rip It Up (song)
"Rip It Up" is a song written by Robert Blackwell and John Marascalco. It was first released by Bill Haley and his Comets and Little Richard in 1956. The Little Richard version hit number one on the R&B Best Sellers chart for two weeks and peaked at number seventeen on the pop chart.-Cover...
/Shake, Rattle and Roll
Shake, Rattle and Roll
"Shake, Rattle and Roll" is a prototypical twelve bar blues-form rock and roll song, written in 1954 by Jesse Stone under his assumed songwriting name Charles E. Calhoun. It was originally recorded by Big Joe Turner, and most successfully by Bill Haley & His Comets...
" and "Not Fade Away
Not Fade Away (song)
"Not Fade Away" is a song credited to Buddy Holly and Norman Petty and first recorded by Holly's band The Crickets in Clovis, New Mexico, on May 27, 1957...
/Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley (song)
"Bo Diddley" is a rhythm and blues song first recorded and sung by Bo Diddley at the Universal Recording Studio in Chicago and released on the Chess Records subsidiary, Checker Records in 1955. It became an immediate hit single that stayed on the R&B charts for a total of 18 weeks, 2 of those weeks...
".
In 1981, in-house engineer John Barrett was given the task of cataloguing the complete collection of tapes from the band's seven-year career with EMI. This led to two projects: a public audio-visual presentation at Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
called The Beatles Live at Abbey Road (which opened on 18 July 1983) and a planned outtakes album which was to be called Sessions
Sessions (album)
Sessions was a compilation album by The Beatles planned for release by EMI in 1985, but never issued due to objections by the surviving Beatles. The album consisted of thirteen finished, but unreleased, Beatles songs...
. In addition to some of the songs included on the previously leaked compilation tape, Sessions added "Not Guilty
Not Guilty (song)
"Not Guilty" is a song written by George Harrison. It is featured on his 1979 album titled George Harrison and on The Beatles' Anthology 3 album...
", "What's the New Mary Jane", "How Do You Do It?
How Do You Do It?
"How Do You Do It?" was the debut single by Liverpudlian band Gerry & the Pacemakers. The song was number one in the UK Singles Chart on 11 April 1963, where it stayed for three weeks.-History:The song was written by Mitch Murray...
", "Bésame Mucho
Bésame Mucho
"Bésame Mucho" is a Spanish language song written in 1940 by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez.-Inspiration:According to Velázquez herself, she wrote this song even though she had never been kissed yet at the time, and kissing as she heard was considered a sin.She was inspired by the piano...
", "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by George Harrison, first recorded by The Beatles in 1968 for their eponymous double album...
" (demo), and early takes of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a song credited to Lennon–McCartney, but written by Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles on their 1968 album The Beatles...
" and "I'm Looking Through You
I'm Looking Through You
"I'm Looking Through You" is a Lennon–McCartney song, written mainly by Paul McCartney, that first appeared on The Beatles' 1965 album Rubber Soul....
". Shortly before the album's scheduled 1985 release, it was vetoed by the surviving members of the band; but both audience recordings of the Abbey Road presentation and the leaked promos of Sessions became available to bootleggers. These songs appeared on bootleg series such as Ultra-Rare Trax and Unsurpassed Masters, along with other material presumably copied while preparing these projects. Most of the aforementioned tracks were officially released on the Anthology albums in 1995 and 1996.
New Beatles studio outtakes continue to occasionally appear; in February 2009, a complete 10:46 recording of Revolution 1 (Take 20) from the White Album was released on the bootleg Revolution: Take... Your Knickers Off!.This version starts with Lennon jokingly counting that way.
Live concerts (1963–1966)
Many of The Beatles' concert performances have appeared on bootleg albums. The earliest relatively complete concert recording is from the 7 December 1963 show at the Liverpool Empire TheatreLiverpool Empire Theatre
Liverpool Empire Theatre is located on the corner of Lime Street and London Road in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The theatre is the second to be built on the site, and was opened in 1925. It has the largest two-tier auditorium in Britain and can seat 2,350 people...
. The Beatles Anthology
The Beatles Anthology (film)
The Beatles Anthology is a documentary series on the career of The Beatles. It was broadcast on television in six abridged parts between November and December 1995. An eight volume VHS set and an 8 disc Laserdisc set were released on 5 September 1996...
contained video clips from several concerts, some of which are available in complete form on bootleg video. The following are some of the most notable concerts on bootleg releases.
- Washington Coliseum, 1964. The Beatles' first US concert, on 11 February 1964 in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, was captured on black-and-white video for later closed-circuit presentations in movie theatres. Some of the video was included in Anthology and in The Beatles: The First U.S. VisitThe Beatles: The First U.S. VisitThe Beatles: The First U.S. Visit is an archive footage documentary of the Beatles' first visit to America in February of 1964. It was filmed by renowned documentary filmmaking team Albert and David Maysles, using footage from their 1964 16mm documentary What's Happening! The Beatles In The USA,...
, and most of it was included in the 2003 DVD The Beatles in Washington D.C. from Passport Video. The entire video was released on the gray market DVD Beatles Around the World. All video releases suffer from "dark, grainy, and flickery" image quality; a report of a 2005 auction of the original master tape gives the possibility of a better quality release in the future. In 2010 The Beatles at last came to iTunesITunesiTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and along with their back catalogue they brought with them a video of this show. The video was made available with the purchase of the iTunes version of The Beatles Stereo Box SetThe Beatles Stereo Box SetThe Beatles Stereo Box Set is a box set compilation comprising all of the remastered stereo recordings by The Beatles. The set was released on 9 September 2009, the same day both The Beatles: Rock Band and the remastered mono recordings were released...
simply called The Beatles Box Set where all albums were release as iTunes LPITunes LPiTunes LP is a format for interactive album artwork introduced by Apple Inc. on the 9 September 2009. It is similar to the CMX format being developed by the 4 major record labels, and operates within the iTunes 9 software, allowing the user to view multimedia elements alongside the music...
's featuring on-screen album artwork and the Mini Documentaries from the DVD in the physical release.
- Hollywood Bowl, 1964 and 1965. The Beatles at the Hollywood BowlThe Beatles at the Hollywood BowlThe Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl is a live album released in May 1977 featuring songs by The Beatles compiled from two live performances at the Hollywood Bowl during August 1964 and August 1965...
, an official release by EMI in 1977, contained selections from The Beatles' three Hollywood Bowl shows professionally recorded in August 1964 and August 1965. There has never been an official CD release of the album, although bootleg needle dropNeedle drop (audio)A needle drop is a common term used to describe a version of a music album that has been transferred from a vinyl record to digital audio or other formats...
copies are available, as well as bootleg compilations of the three performances in their entirety. One song from these shows has been officially released on CD: "Baby's in BlackBaby's in Black"Baby's in Black" is a song by The Beatles, co-written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and released in the United Kingdom on Beatles for Sale and in North America on Beatles '65.-Composition:...
" (which was not on the 1977 album), as an additional track on the 1996 "Real Love" CD single.
- Palais des Sports, 1965. The Beatles performed two shows on 20 June 1965 at the Palais des SportsPalais des Sports (Paris)Palais de Sports is an indoor sports arena, located at 1, place de la Porte de Versailles in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, France. The closest métro station is Porte de Versailles....
in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
. Both were broadcast over French radio, resulting in bootleg recordings of decent quality; video of the second show also exists.
- Shea Stadium, 1965. The Beatles' concert at Shea StadiumShea StadiumWilliam A. Shea Municipal Stadium, usually shortened to Shea Stadium or just Shea , was a stadium in the New York City borough of Queens, in Flushing Meadows–Corona Park. It was the home baseball park of Major League Baseball's New York Mets from 1964 to 2008...
on 15 August 1965 was filmed for a television special, The Beatles at Shea StadiumThe Beatles at Shea StadiumThe Beatles at Shea Stadium is a fifty-minute-long documentary of the Beatles' August 15, 1965 concert at Shea Stadium in New York, the highlight of the group's 1965 tour. The documentary was produced by Ed Sullivan , NEMS Enterprises Ltd. , and the Beatles company Subafilms Ltd...
. The program and its soundtrack have been bootlegged in various formats. One song, "Everybody's Trying to Be My BabyEverybody's Trying to Be My Baby"Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" is a 1957 song written by Carl Perkins and originally released on the Sun Dance Album of ... Carl Perkins. A song with the same title was written in the mid-1930s by Alabama-born country songwriter Rex Griffin. Griffin recorded the song for Decca Records in 1936...
", was official released on Anthology 2Anthology 2Anthology 2 is a compilation album by The Beatles, released by Apple Records in March 1996. It is the second of the three-volume Anthology collection, all of which tie-in with the televised special The Beatles Anthology. The opening track is "Real Love", the second of the two recordings that...
.
- Budokan, 1966. The Beatles performed for two nights at the Nippon BudokanNippon BudokanThe , often shortened to simply Budokan, is an indoor arena in central Tokyo, Japan.This is the location where many "Live at the Budokan" albums were recorded...
in TokyoTokyo, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
beginning 30 June 1966, with both concerts filmed in color for Japanese television. The first night's concert video was officially released by Apple in Japan only as Beatles Concert at Budokan 1966. Although one of the best concerts in terms of audio and video quality, The Beatles' performances were sluggish and sloppy. Excerpts were included in the The Beatles Anthology.
- Candlestick Park, 1966. Notable as The Beatles' final paid concert performance, the 29 August 1966 show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco was taped by press officer Tony Barrow on a portable recorder at the request of McCartney; the tape ran out before the last couple minutes of the show.
Television performances (1963–1968)
The Beatles performed on various television programmes; excerpts from many of these were shown in the Anthology documentary, and bootleg video exists of many of the shows in their entirety. The most famous of these were the four appearances on The Ed Sullivan ShowThe Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
in 1964 and 1965; after many years circulating on bootlegs, these received official DVD release in 2003 as The Four Complete Historic Ed Sullivan Shows Featuring The Beatles.
Other notable television performances that have appeared on bootleg video include the Swedish show Drop In from October 1963 (four songs); the April 1964 UK special Around The Beatles
Around The Beatles
Around The Beatles was a 1964 television special, featuring The Beatles, produced by Jack Good for ITV/Rediffusion London. It was broadcast internationally, and aired live from IBC Studios in London 19 April 1964...
(six songs mimed to new recordings); the June 1964 Australian special The Beatles Sing for Shell (seven songs survived in complete form, plus fragments of two others); and a September 1968 appearance on Frost on Sunday (new vocals for "Hey Jude
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song widely accepted as being written to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce—although this explanation is not...
" and "Revolution
Revolution (song)
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The Beatles released two distinct arrangements of the song in 1968: a hard rock version as the B-side of the single "Hey Jude", and a slower version titled "Revolution 1" on the eponymous album The Beatles...
" over studio backing tracks, plus brief improvisations), for which multiple takes are available.
Home demos (1963–1969)
The individual Beatles sometimes recorded basic performances at home of their new compositions, either for copyright purposes (to be sent to Dick James MusicDick James
Dick James , born Reginald Leon Isaac Vapnick, was a music publisher and the founder of the DJM record label and recording studios, as well as The Beatles' publisher Northern Songs.-Early life:...
publishing affiliate Northern Songs
Northern Songs
Northern Songs was a company founded in 1963, by music publisher Dick James, Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to publish songs written by Lennon and McCartney , as well as songs written by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who were all members of The Beatles...
), to later play for the other Beatles, or to give to other artists who would be recording the songs.
Many of Lennon's demos that appeared on bootlegs were first heard on the radio series The Lost Lennon Tapes. Some of the Lennon demos available include "Bad To Me
Bad to Me
"Bad to Me" is a song John Lennon wrote for Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas while on holiday in Spain. Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas released their recording of the song in 1963 and it became their first #1 UK hit. Paul McCartney was present during the recording session at Abbey Road Studios...
" (1963, given to Billy J. Kramer
Billy J. Kramer
Billy J. Kramer is a British Invasion/Merseybeat singer. In the 1960s he was managed by Brian Epstein, who also managed The Beatles, and he recorded several original Lennon and McCartney compositions.-Early life and career:He grew up as the youngest of seven siblings and attended the St George of...
), "I'm in Love
I'm in Love (Lennon/McCartney song)
"I'm in Love" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to both Lennon–McCartney. In 1963 the English Merseybeat band The Fourmost made a recording of the song at the EMI Studios, produced by George Martin.Billy J...
" (1963, given to The Fourmost
The Fourmost
The Fourmost were an English Merseybeat band that recorded in the 1960s. Their biggest UK hit single was "A Little Loving" in 1964.-Biography:...
), "If I Fell
If I Fell
"If I Fell" is a song by The Beatles which first appeared in 1964 on the album A Hard Day's Night in the United Kingdom and on the North American album Something New...
" (1964), and "Everyone Had A Hard Year" (1968, later incorporated into "I've Got a Feeling
I've Got a Feeling
"I've Got a Feeling" is a song by The Beatles, from the 1970 album Let It Be. It is one of the songs on the album from the Rooftop Concert...
"). There are also Lennon demos available of songs that would develop into "She Said She Said
She Said She Said
"She Said She Said" is a song written by John Lennon and released by The Beatles on their 1966 album Revolver...
", "Strawberry Fields Forever
Strawberry Fields Forever
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and attributed to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. It was inspired by Lennon's memories of playing in the garden of a Salvation Army house named "Strawberry Field" near his childhood home."Strawberry Fields...
", "Good Morning Good Morning
Good Morning Good Morning
"Good Morning Good Morning" is a song written by John Lennon and recorded by The Beatles, featured on their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.-Lyrical inspiration:...
", "Across the Universe
Across the Universe
"Across the Universe" is a song by the English group The Beatles. It was written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song first appeared on the various artists charity compilation album No One's Gonna Change Our World in December 1969, and later, in different form, on Let It Be,...
", "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
"You Know My Name " is a song by The Beatles originally released as the B-side of the single "Let It Be" on 6 March 1970. Although first issued with their final single , it was recorded in four separate sessions beginning with three in May and June 1967, and one in 1969.-Composition:The song is a...
", "Don't Let Me Down
Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles song)
"Don't Let Me Down" is a song by The Beatles , recorded in 1969 during the Get Back sessions.-Composition:...
", and two songs he would later record after The Beatles, "Oh My Love
Oh My Love
"Oh My Love" is a song written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that appeared on Lennon's Imagine album in 1971. George Harrison contributed guitar on this and several other songs for the album.-Information:...
" and "Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey
Cold Turkey is a song written by John Lennon, released as a single in 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, catalogue Apples 1001 in the United Kingdom, Apple 1813 in the United States. It is the second solo single issued by Lennon, and it peaked at #30 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 on...
".
McCartney's demos include "One and One Is Two" (1964, eventually an uncharted single for Mike Shannon and the Strangers), "Step Inside Love
Step Inside Love
"Step Inside Love" is a song written by Paul McCartney for Cilla Black in 1967 as a theme for her TV series Cilla, which first aired in the beginning of 1968. Her version was released as a single on 8 March 1968. It reached number eight in the British charts...
" (1968, given to Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
), "Goodbye
Goodbye (Mary Hopkin Song)
"Goodbye" is a song written by Paul McCartney and performed by Mary Hopkin. It was released on 28 March 1969, and it reached No. 2 in the UK singles chart, prevented from reaching the top position by the Beatles' single "Get Back". In the U.S., the song reached No...
" (1969, given to Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin
Mary Hopkin , credited on some recordings as Mary Visconti, is a Welsh folk singer best known for her 1968 UK number one single "Those Were The Days". She was one of the first musicians to sign to The Beatles' Apple label....
), "Come and Get it
Come and Get It (song)
"Come and Get It" is the name of a song composed by Paul McCartney for the 1969 film The Magic Christian, and made popular by the group Badfinger.-Beatles version:...
" (1969, given to Badfinger
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
), and early versions of "We Can Work It Out
We Can Work It Out
"We Can Work It Out" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was released as a "double A-sided" single with "Day Tripper", the first time both sides of a single were so designated in an initial release...
" (partially taped over by Lennon) and "Michelle
Michelle (song)
"Michelle" is a love ballad by The Beatles, mainly written by Paul McCartney, with the middle eight co-written with John Lennon. It is featured on their Rubber Soul album. The song departs from most of The Beatles' other recordings in that some of the lyrics are in French...
". Harrison's 1963 demo for "Don't Bother Me
Don't Bother Me
"Don't Bother Me" is the first song written by George Harrison to appear on an album by The Beatles. It originally appeared on the group's With The Beatles album in the United Kingdom, released in 1963, and on their Meet The Beatles! album in the United States, released in 1964.-History:Harrison...
" has also been bootlegged.
Christmas recordings (1963–1969)
Each year from 1963 through 1969, The Beatles recorded a flexi discFlexi disc
The flexi disc is a phonograph record made of a thin, flexible vinyl sheet with a molded-in spiral stylus groove, and is designed to be playable on a normal phonograph turntable...
of comedy and music that was sent to members of their fan club
Fan club
A fan club is a group that is dedicated to a well-known person, group, idea or sometimes even an inanimate object . Most fan clubs are run by fans who devote considerable time and resources to supporting them. There are also "official" fan clubs that are run by someone associated with the person...
. In 1970, these recordings were compiled onto an LP released via their fan club called From Then to You (U.S. title: The Beatles' Christmas Album). Since this album has had no official general-public release, it has been frequently bootlegged, often with additional outtakes from some of the Christmas recording sessions. A portion of one song recorded for the 1967 Christmas flexi disc, "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", was officially released as an additional track on the 1995 "Free as a Bird
Free as a Bird
"Free as a Bird" is a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995 a studio version of the recording incorporating contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr was released as a single by The Beatles.The single was released as part of...
" single. Part of the 1963 track is featured as an unlockable special feature on The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
.
The White Album (Kinfauns) demos (1968)
In May 1968, The Beatles met at Kinfauns, the EsherEsher
Esher is a town in the Surrey borough of Elmbridge in South East England near the River Mole. It is a very prosperous part of the Greater London Urban Area, largely suburban in character, and is situated 14.1 miles south west of Charing Cross....
home of George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
, to review and record demos of songs under consideration for their next album; twenty-seven songs, mostly acoustic, have become public from this session. Seven of the songs were released on Anthology 3
Anthology 3
Anthology 3 is a compilation album by The Beatles released in October 1996 by Apple Records as part of The Beatles Anthology series. The album includes rarities and alternative tracks from the final two years of the band's career, ranging from the initial sessions for The Beatles to the last...
, including "Junk
Junk (song)
"Junk" is a song written by Paul McCartney in 1968 while The Beatles were in India. It was originally under consideration for The Beatles . It was passed over for that LP, as it was for Abbey Road. It was eventually released on McCartney's debut solo album McCartney in 1970...
", a song McCartney would later record for his first solo album. Of the twenty demo songs not officially released, fifteen would be recorded and released on the White Album, while "Not Guilty" and "What's the New Mary Jane" would be recorded for the album but not make the final lineup. The recordings included on the anthology are of a significantly higher fidelity than the bootlegged recordings, raising the possibility that there are higher quality versions of all twenty-seven songs. As a number of the songs included on the anthology were included in edited form, it has been suggested that the release of all the Esher demos as a legitimate future Beatles release is likely.
The other three songs would never be recorded in the studio by The Beatles:
- "(I'm Just a) Child of Nature", later released by Lennon, with different lyrics, as "Jealous GuyJealous Guy"Jealous Guy" is a song written and performed by John Lennon which first appeared on his 1971 album Imagine. It is one of the most commonly covered Lennon songs, with at least ninety-two recorded cover versions, the most notable being Roxy Music's version, which reached number one in several...
". - "Circles", later released by Harrison on his "Gone TroppoGone TroppoGone Troppo is an album by George Harrison recorded and released in 1982. It would prove to be Harrison's last studio album for five years, wherein he would largely take an extended leave of absence from his recording career, with only the occasional soundtrack recording surfacing.By 1980,...
" album. - "Sour Milk SeaSour Milk Sea"Sour Milk Sea" is a song written by George Harrison that surfaced during the sessions for The Beatles . The song was recorded professionally by Jackie Lomax on The Beatles' Apple Records label and released as a single in 1968.-Recording:The Beatles recorded a demo at George Harrison's Esher home...
", a Harrison song later recorded by Jackie LomaxJackie LomaxJohn Richard 'Jackie' Lomax is a British guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his association with George Harrison and Eric Clapton...
as one of the earliest Apple Record singlesApple Records discographyThis article is a discography of releases by Apple Records, a record label formed by The Beatles in 1968. During its early years, the label enjoyed a fair degree of commercial success, most notably with Mary Hopkin and Badfinger, as well as discovering acts such as James Taylor who would go on to...
.
Get Back/Let It Be sessions (1969)
In January 1969, the group got together with director Michael Lindsay-HoggMichael Lindsay-Hogg
Sir Michael Edward Lindsay-Hogg, 5th Baronet is a British television and stage director and an occasional writer and actor.-Background and early work:...
to film the rehearsals for the band's first live concert since 1966. The rehearsals and concert would concentrate on new material, and form the basis for a television documentary and a new album. Disagreements within the group led to much of the plan being scrapped. The planned concert was scaled back to a rooftop performance at Apple Records
Apple Records
Apple Records is a record label founded by The Beatles in 1968, as a division of Apple Corps Ltd. It was initially intended as a creative outlet for the Beatles, both as a group and individually, plus a selection of other artists including Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger, and Billy Preston...
on 30 January 1969; the footage became a feature film, Let It Be
Let It Be (film)
Let It Be is a 1970 documentary film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969. The film features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public...
, released with the album of the same name in May 1970.
The rehearsals and recordings took place at Twickenham Film Studios
Twickenham Film Studios
Twickenham Film Studios is a film studio located in St Margarets, London, England used by many motion picture and television companies. It was established in 1913 by Dr. Ralph Jupp on the site of a former ice-rink. At the time of its original construction, it was the largest film studio in the...
(2–14 January) and then at Apple (20–31 January), with more than one hundred hours captured on film and the corresponding Nagra
Nagra
Nagra is the trademark referring to any of the series of mostly battery-operated portable professional audio recorders produced by Kudelski SA, based in Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Switzerland....
tape recorders used for the film's audio track. These Nagra tapes are the source for most of the bootlegs from these sessions. In addition to songs that would later be released by the group, The Beatles played hundreds of cover versions and original compositions. However, many of the performances were brief (some lasting less than ten seconds), and many of the original compositions are undeveloped ideas or improvisations that have been described as the audio equivalent of doodling
Doodle
A doodle is an unfocused drawing made while a person's attention is otherwise occupied. Doodles are simple drawings that can have concrete representational meaning or may just be abstract shapes....
. A sampling of the rehearsals was officially issued as a bonus disc with Let It Be... Naked.
Among the more complete rehearsed songs that have been featured on bootlegs are "Watching Rainbows
Watching Rainbows
"Watching Rainbows" is an unreleased song by The Beatles recorded on 14 January 1969 during the massive Get Back sessions at Twickenham Studios...
", "Commonwealth
Commonwealth (The Beatles song)
"Commonwealth" is a Beatles song credited to Lennon–McCartney, released only on bootleg. "Commonwealth" is an unpolished recording from January 1969 with Paul McCartney ad-libbing on lead vocals, and John Lennon ad libbing a backing vocal...
", and "The Palace of the King of the Birds" (later recorded but not released by McCartney as "Castle of the King of the Birds"); "All Things Must Pass
All Things Must Pass (song)
"All Things Must Pass" is a song written by George Harrison. It is the title track to his triple album of the same name.During The Beatles' Get Back sessions in January 1969, this was one of many songs the group rehearsed to be part of their new album...
", "Let It Down", "Isn't It A Pity", and "Hear Me Lord'", later released by Harrison; "Gimme Some Truth
Gimme Some Truth
"Gimme Some Truth" is a protest song written and performed by John Lennon from his 1971 album Imagine.Like several songs on the album, such as the title track "Imagine", "Gimme Some Truth" has blatant political references emerging from the time it was written, during the latter years of the Vietnam...
" and "Oh My Love
Oh My Love
"Oh My Love" is a song written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono that appeared on Lennon's Imagine album in 1971. George Harrison contributed guitar on this and several other songs for the album.-Information:...
", later released by Lennon; and "Teddy Boy
Teddy Boy (song)
"Teddy Boy" is a song by Paul McCartney and was first released on his first solo album McCartney, released in April 1970 after The Beatles disbanded. It was written by McCartney and originally recorded during the sessions for what became the Beatles' Let It Be album...
" and "Hot as Sun", later released by McCartney.
Portions of the rooftop concert were seen in the Let It Be film and the Anthology documentary, and three tracks were used for the Let It Be album, while the complete recording has been bootlegged. The performance consisted of "Get Back
Get Back
"Get Back" is a song by The Beatles, composed by Paul McCartney and frequently attributed to Lennon–McCartney. The song was originally released as a single on 11 April 1969, and credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston." A different mix of the song later became the closing track of Let It Be ,...
" (first and second versions), "Don't Let Me Down
Don't Let Me Down (The Beatles song)
"Don't Let Me Down" is a song by The Beatles , recorded in 1969 during the Get Back sessions.-Composition:...
", "I've Got a Feeling", "One After 909", "Dig a Pony", "God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
" (a brief version played while the audio tape reel was changed), "I've Got a Feeling" (second version), "Don't Let Me Down" (second version), and "Get Back" (third version).
On 30 January 1969, Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
compiled some performances he had been mixing, and made acetate copies for The Beatles. In addition to songs that would eventually appear on Let It Be, this set included "Teddy Boy" and "The Walk" (a song by Jimmy McCracklin
Jimmy McCracklin
Jimmy McCracklin is an American pianist, vocalist, and songwriter. His style contains West Coast blues, Jump blues, and R&B. Over a career that has spanned seven decades, he says he has written almost a thousand songs and has recorded hundreds of them...
). It was this version that first leaked out, was broadcast on multiple radio stations starting in September 1969, and formed the basis for the bootleg Kum Back
Kum Back
Kum Back is the first bootleg album by The Beatles, released in September 1969. The album is an early mix of what would become 1970's Let It Be, taken from an acetate prepared by the groups's producer, Glyn Johns...
that appeared near the end of 1969. Johns started working in earnest on compiling an album in March 1969, and a test acetate from this period eventually surfaced on a poor quality bootleg.
Johns later made two "official" attempts at compiling the Get Back album, with both versions widely bootlegged. The 28 May 1969 compilation by Johns contained the following lineup: "One After 909", "Rocker", "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Don't Let Me Down", "Dig A Pony", "I've Got a Feeling", "Get Back", "For You Blue", "Teddy Boy", "Two of Us", "Maggie Mae", "Dig It", "Let It Be", "The Long and Winding Road", and "Get Back (Reprise)". The main changes made for the 5 January 1970 compilation were the removal of "Teddy Boy" and the additions of "I Me Mine
I Me Mine
"I Me Mine" is a song by The Beatles, written and sung by George Harrison. I Me Mine is also the title of Harrison's autobiography. The song traces its origins to the January 1969 Get Back/Let It Be sessions, when it was rehearsed by the band at Twickenham Film Studios.-Origin:The set of pronouns...
" and "Across the Universe".
One of the myriad Get Back session compilation bootlegs was The Black Album, a five-LP set from the 1980s in a memorable package (although the material has since been bootlegged in superior sound quality). In the early 2000s, Yellow Dog Records created Day by Day, a 38-part CD series comprising the Nagra tape recordings in their entirety, with improved audio quality compared to earlier releases. In January 2003, nearly 500 of the original Nagra tapes were recovered by police in England and the Netherlands, with five people arrested.
Even after the raid, bootlegging of the material continued with the Purple Chick label releasing their own digital A/B Road Nagra tape collection.
Post break-up
While there are hundreds of bootlegs based on the solo careers of the members of the band, one is particularly noteworthy as the only known recording of Lennon and McCartney together after The Beatles broke up. A loose jam involving the two, along with Stevie WonderStevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
, Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Ed Davis
Jesse Edwin Davis was an American guitarist. He was well regarded as a session artist. His death in 1988 is attributed to a drug overdose.-Biography:...
and others, was recorded at Record Plant Studios
Record Plant Studios
The Record Plant was a series of three famous recording studios which were founded by Gary Kellgren and Chris Stone, beginning in New York City in 1968. The next year, Kellgren and Stone opened a second studio in Los Angeles. In 1972, the company expanded again with a third location in Sausalito,...
in Los Angeles on 28 March 1974. The recording did not surface until 18 years later when a portion of it was released on bootleg as A Toot and a Snore in '74
A Toot and a Snore in '74
A Toot and a Snore in '74 is a bootleg album of the only known recording session in which John Lennon and Paul McCartney played together after the break-up of The Beatles. Mentioned by Lennon in a 1975 interview, details were brought to light in May Pang's 1983 book, Loving John, and it gained...
. The recording is known more for its historical significance than the quality of the performances.
Studio album remasters
As digital technology progressed since the CD releases of The Beatles' studio albums in 1987, audiophileAudiophile
An audiophile is a person who enjoys listening to recorded music, usually in a home. Some audiophiles are more interested in collecting and listening to music, while others are more interested in collecting and listening to audio components, whose "sound quality" they consider as important as the...
s became increasingly disappointed with the sound quality of the official CDs. Several bootleggers undertook their own remasterings of the entire Beatles catalogue, of both mono and stereo original releases, typically using premium vinyl pressings played and digitised with high-end audio equipment. While these unauthorized copies are not bootlegs as commonly defined, their creation and distribution channels overlap with bootleg products.
Some of the widely distributed collections are the Millennium Remasters series and The Beatles' remasters on "DLH Records", also the series by the bootlegger known as "Dr. Ebbetts". Several other bootleggers have created their own collections of remasters distributed solely by digital download, including Purple Chick, which supplements the remastered albums with related outtakes.
The official remastering of The Beatles' catalogue in stereo
The Beatles Stereo Box Set
The Beatles Stereo Box Set is a box set compilation comprising all of the remastered stereo recordings by The Beatles. The set was released on 9 September 2009, the same day both The Beatles: Rock Band and the remastered mono recordings were released...
and mono
The Beatles in Mono
The Beatles in Mono is a box set compilation comprising the remastered monophonic recordings by The Beatles. The set was released on 9 September 2009, the same day the remastered stereo recordings and companion The Beatles Stereo Box Set were also released, along with The Beatles: Rock Band videogame...
, released in September 2009, may have made bootleg remasters obsolete: Ebbetts announced that he would no longer make his versions available after he heard advanced samples of the official remasters which he judged to be superior. The Beatles' official catalogue of their original stereo studio albums has since been issued via digital download through iTunes
ITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
.
Material not bootlegged
A considerable amount of additional never-circulated Beatles material is believed to exist, either in private possession or studio vaults, as mentioned in documents and recollections.From the group's early years, it has been reported that additional songs exist from the 1960 Quarrymen rehearsal tapes, including a Lennon/McCartney instrumental "Winston's Walk" and early versions of "When I'm Sixty-Four
When I'm Sixty-Four
"When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and released in 1967 on their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.-Composition:...
" and "Ask Me Why
Ask Me Why
"Ask Me Why" is a song by The Beatles originally released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of their hit single "Please Please Me". It was also included on their first UK album, Please Please Me.-Composition:...
". Another recording of historical interest is a tape of 18 songs from a Beatles show in mid-1962 at the Cavern Club, recorded from the audience. The tape includes several cover versions of songs not available elsewhere by The Beatles, including the Bruce Channel
Bruce Channel
Bruce Channel is an American singer, known for his 1962 million selling number one hit, "Hey! Baby".-Career:...
number one "Hey! Baby
Hey! Baby
"Hey! Baby" is a song written by Margaret Cobb and Bruce Channel, who recorded the song in 1961. Channel co-produced the song with Major Bill Smith and released it on Mercury Records' Smash label...
", James Ray's "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", and the Bobby Vee
Bobby Vee
Robert Thomas Velline , known as Bobby Vee, is an American pop music singer. According to Billboard magazine, Vee has had 38 Hot 100 chart hits, 10 of which hit the Top 20.-Career:...
hit "Sharing You". McCartney bought the tape at a 1985 auction, and since none of it was used for Anthology, it has been assumed to be of poor sound quality.
Many demo recordings are known to have been made by the individual Beatles but have yet to become public. Lennon's uncirculated demos include "Do You Want to Know a Secret", "I Call Your Name
I Call Your Name
"I Call Your Name" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.-Overview:Lennon wrote the song prior to the formation of the Beatles. In 1963, he gave the song to Billy J. Kramer of The Dakotas, another Liverpool band who was signed to Parlophone by George Martin...
", "No Reply
No Reply (song)
"No Reply" is a song by The Beatles from the British album Beatles for Sale and the American album Beatles '65. It was written mainly by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.-Lyrics:...
" (pre-dating the one on Anthology), "In My Life
In My Life
"In My Life" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney . The song originated with Lennon, and while Paul McCartney contributed to the final version, the extent of his contribution is in dispute. George Martin contributed the instrumental bridge...
", and "Good Night
Good Night (song)
-External links:*...
". McCartney's uncirculated demos include "A World Without Love
A World Without Love
"A World Without Love" is a song recorded by the English duo Peter and Gordon and released as their first single in February 1964, reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart in April. The song was written by Paul McCartney and attributed to Lennon–McCartney. The B-side was "If I Were You" written...
", "It's for You
It's for You
"It's for You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney of the Beatles for Cilla Black for whom it was a UK Top Ten hit in 1964....
", "What Goes On", "Eleanor Rigby
Eleanor Rigby
"Eleanor Rigby" is a song by The Beatles, simultaneously released on the 1966 album Revolver and on a 45 rpm single. The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney...
", "Etcetera" (a 1968 song intended for Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Faithfull
Marianne Evelyn Faithfull is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career has spanned five decades....
), and "The Long and Winding Road
The Long and Winding Road
"The Long and Winding Road" is a ballad written by Paul McCartney that originally appeared on The Beatles' album Let It Be. It became The Beatles' 20th and last number-one song in the United States on 23 May 1970, and was the last single released by the quartet...
".
Between the official Anthology releases and the numerous outtakes that have been bootlegged, many of The Beatles' most interesting studio recordings are available in some form. Nevertheless, there are still recordings known to be in EMI's archives that have generated particular interest in their eventual release. One is "Carnival of Light
Carnival of Light
"Carnival of Light" is an unreleased experimental piece by The Beatles. It was recorded on 5 January 1967, after the vocal overdubbing sessions for the song "Penny Lane"...
", an improvised 14-minute vocal and sound collage that The Beatles created in early 1967 for an art festival; the recording was under consideration for Anthology, and McCartney has been an advocate for its release. Another is take 3 of "Helter Skelter" from 18 July 1968, renowned for its length of twenty-seven minutes. Anthology 3 included only a 4:38 edit of the 12:35 take 2 from that day's work on the song; asked why a longer version wasn't issued, George Martin
George Martin
Sir George Henry Martin CBE is an English record producer, arranger, composer and musician. He is sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle"— a title that he often describes as "nonsense," but the fact remains that he served as producer on all but one of The Beatles' original albums...
explained: "I think it gets boring."
Some recordings may no longer exist, if they ever existed originally. A Quarrymen rehearsal that was recorded at Colin Hanton's
Colin Hanton
Colin Leo Hanton was a drummer for The Quarrymen—the band which would later evolve into The Beatles....
home was taped over. BBC documentation shows that "Sheila
Sheila (song)
"Sheila" is a song written and recorded by Tommy Roe with the help of Robert Bosch. The single reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 on September 1, 1962, remaining in the top position for two weeks and peaking at number six on the R&B charts ....
" and two versions of "Three Cool Cats
Three Cool Cats
"Three Cool Cats" is a 1958 song written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. It was originally recorded by The Coasters and released as the B-side of their hit single, "Charlie Brown"....
" were recorded and never broadcast, but the tapes were likely reused or discarded, a fate shared by some of The Beatles' studio session tapes prior to late 1963. Carl Perkins
Carl Perkins
Carl Lee Perkins was an American rockabilly musician who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning during 1954...
has said that he joined The Beatles in the studio for a late night jam session on 1 June 1964, but this was probably not taped. Several Lennon/McCartney titles were mentioned in a 1960 letter from McCartney, including "Looking Glass", "Years Roll Along", and "Keep Looking That Way", but there is no evidence that tapes were ever made of those songs during rehearsals from that era.
One final source of uncirculated recordings is the set of sessions held in 1994–1995 for the Anthology project. In addition to the two songs released, two other Lennon demos (which have been bootlegged) became the basis for additional work by the other three Beatles: "Now and Then
Now and Then (song)
"Now and Then" is the name given to an unreleased composition by John Lennon...
" and "Grow Old With Me
Grow Old with Me
"Grow Old With Me" is one of the final songs written by John Lennon. It was recorded by Lennon as a demo at his home in the Dakota Building in 1980, and later appeared on the posthumous album, Milk and Honey in 1984. It was also considered as a possible reunion single by his former bandmates during...
". "Now and Then" was close to being the third new song for Anthology, but it needed more work than the two released songs and was left unfinished; McCartney has indicated an interest in completing the song with Starr. A new song composed by McCartney and Harrison, "All for Love", was also reportedly recorded by the three ex-Beatles at the sessions but never finished.
Fake or disputed bootleg songs
A number of songs have been incorrectly claimed by bootleggers to be unreleased Beatles songs. Some originated as spoofs or parodies: "Bye Bye Bye" (Kenny EverettKenny Everett
Kenny Everett was an English comedian, radio DJ and television entertainer. Born Maurice James Christopher Cole, Everett is best known for his career as a radio DJ and for the Kenny Everett television shows.-Early life:...
), "Cheese and Onions" (The Rutles
The Rutles
The Rutles are a band that are known for their visual and aural pastiches and parodies of The Beatles. Originally created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a fictional band to be featured as part of various 1970s television programming, the group recorded, toured, and released two UK chart hits in...
), "Magical Misery Tour" (National Lampoon
National Lampoon Inc
National Lampoon, Incorporated is a company formed in 2002 in order to use the brand name "National Lampoon" in comedy and entertainment. In the words of its prospectus, the role of the company is to "develop, produce, provide creative services and distribute National Lampoon branded comedic...
featuring Tony Hendra
Tony Hendra
Tony Hendra is an English satirist and writer who has worked mostly in the United States. Educated at St Albans School and Cambridge University, he was a member of the Cambridge University Footlights revue in 1962, alongside John Cleese, Graham Chapman and Tim Brooke-Taylor.-Career:In 1964 Hendra...
). Some were by obscure artists whose names were subject to misinterpretation, such as John and Paul ("People Say"/"I'm Walking" and John Lennon and the Bleechers ("Ram You Hard"). Some were by groups with a (sometimes intentional) Beatlesque style, such as The Fourmost
The Fourmost
The Fourmost were an English Merseybeat band that recorded in the 1960s. Their biggest UK hit single was "A Little Loving" in 1964.-Biography:...
("I Love You Too"), The Gants
The Gants
The Gants were an American garage rock band of the 1960s.- History :One of the few outfits of its kind to emerge from the Deep South, the group was originally known as The Kingsmen when the band got together in 1963 to play R&B covers and the kind of instrumentals popularized by The Ventures...
("I Wonder"), The End
The End (1960s band)
The End were a British rock band formed in 1965 by Dave Brown and Colin Griffin following the demise of The Innocents. Nick Graham and John Horton joined from Dickie Pride's backing group, The Original Topics, and Roger Groom of The Tuxedos completed the line-up...
("Shades of Orange"/"Loving Sacred Loving"), Lavender Circus ("N. Bourbaki's Multicoloured Jam"), and Smyle ("It's Gonna Be Alright"); or with a lead vocalist sounding like one of The Beatles, as on "We Are the Moles" (Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
Simon Dupree and the Big Sound
Simon Dupree and the Big Sound were a British pop band formed by three brothers, Derek Shulman, born 1947 , Phil Shulman, born 1937 , and Ray Shulman, born 1949 .-Career:...
as The Moles).
A few "outfakes" have been labeled as Beatles tracks many times:
- "Have You Heard the Word". This song was credited to The Fut, and it was rumored to include some of The Beatles playing with some of The Bee Gees. The actual participants in the 1969 recording were Maurice GibbMaurice GibbMaurice Ernest Gibb, CBE was a musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He was born on the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers...
, the duo Tin TinTin Tin (band)Tin Tin was a pop/rock band formed in the UK in 1966, by expatriate Australian musicians.-Beginning:The band was formed by Steve Groves and Steve Kipner, who named the band after the popular belgian cartoon The Adventures of Tintin...
, and Billy Laurie. The recording was so plausible as a Lennon song that Yoko OnoYoko Onois a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
tried to copyright its lyrics as a Lennon composition after his death. - "The L.S. Bumble Bee". Peter CookPeter CookPeter Edward Cook was an English satirist, writer and comedian. An extremely influential figure in modern British comedy, he is regarded as the leading light of the British satire boom of the 1960s. He has been described by Stephen Fry as "the funniest man who ever drew breath," although Cook's...
and Dudley MooreDudley MooreDudley Stuart John Moore, CBE was an English actor, comedian, composer and musician.Moore first came to prominence as one of the four writer-performers in the ground-breaking comedy revue Beyond the Fringe in the early 1960s, and then became famous as half of the highly popular television...
combined psychedelic musicPsychedelic musicPsychedelic music covers a range of popular music styles and genres, which are inspired by or influenced by psychedelic culture and which attempt to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues-rock bands in the...
with lyrics spoofing LSD. It was rumored that Lennon was somehow involved, perhaps as a rebuttal to the controversy about possible drug references in songs like "Lucy in the Sky with DiamondsLucy in the Sky with Diamonds"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" is a song written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, for The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band...
", but Moore has denied this; the song actually predates Sgt. PepperSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
, having been released in January 1967. - "Oh, I Need You" (also identified as "Oh, I Want You"). This song was purported to have been recorded during early sessions for Abbey Road. The artist has not been determined with certainty, but it is often attributed to the band Mortimer, who signed with Apple Records in 1968.
- "Peace of Mind/The Candle BurnsPeace of Mind/The Candle Burns"Peace of Mind" is the name given to a song of unknown origin that was attributed to The Beatles on bootleg albums starting in 1973. The recording has the sound quality of a home-produced demo, and was reportedly recovered from a trash container at Apple Corps headquarters in 1970...
". The song was reportedly found in the Apple trash in 1970, and still has an unknown origin. Some claim it to be an actual Beatles home demo from around 1967, though the lack of any corroborating evidence and the voices on the record have left Beatles experts convinced that it too is a fake.
External links
- Kum Back — background on the early bootleg album.
- Doug Sulpy website — a prolific writer concerning Beatles bootlegs.
- beatlesong.info — includes bootleg titles associated with each song.
- A History of Beatles Bootlegs — covering the 1970s.
- Bootleg Zone — a large bootleg database with emphasis on The Beatles.