I say if Peter Jackson can make them sound terrific, and (to borrow a phrase from your Glyn Johns Let It Be comment) make them of "legacy quality", I say it would be a smash with the fans, probably sell nicely. I would think that Apple should capitalize on some non-legacy Beatles work, and make sort of a new sort of Zapple label for all these sorts of things, like Quarrymen, Star Club Tapes, etc. More for the niche Beatles collectors releases, not necessarily for "wide release". They can sell them at a premium (haven't they always?), and likely make a killing (again, haven't they always?). I am shocked to hear the Mono mixes "lost money", to me that's ridiculous, especially if it sold out quickly, and has a huge secondary market price gouge attached.
I've never regretted buying the Bootleg 1963 recordings. Yes, they were expensive, and there are way too many versions of some songs, but the raw studio take of "Money" and the live "Too Much Monkey Business" are among the most electrifying moments in their catalog.
I would have to agree I wanted to buy the Beatles mono box set on vinyl I think Apple should re-released the album there should be a way to do it without them losing any money I gladly pay Apple even if I have to buy the box that myself. I’d love to hear the Beatles mono box set on vinyl I have the CD versions which are good.
Since we are on the subject of “Legacy Recordings”, From March 1962 to the end of the Beatles on the BBC contains more material than George Martin released in Two volumes 19 years apart. More than enough to fill Six volumes. Some alternate takes, some repeated songs (but without dub in material like Hard Day’s Night) with the Beatles singing with another band backing them, (Side by Side) and a few Rarities Dream Baby (cover of a Roy Orbison song Pete Best on Drums), The First live broadcast of Ask Me Why (with Pete Best on Drums) George first BBC solo song on the BBC (Pete Best on Drums). George Martin inferred the Sound quality Wasn’t that good, but no less quality than some of recordings he included in volume I. These and other recordings would make excellent Choices for BBC vol 3 “Rarities” after the Peter Jackson treatment. With all due respect to the late Sir George Martin, having heard all the alternate takes of songs not chosen for volume 1, better versions different from Martin selections, when volume 2 BBC came out I passed. Anthology left off the best cut from the Beatles Decca audition, September Rain. Likewise a variety of alternate versions such as Norwegian Wood exist. As Apple has a policy of rationing releases, (it seems they wait) until an income stream is required by an estate or two, or trying to exploit a new technology a certain amount of myopia is involved. Those who were adults when Beatlemania struck are in their 80s or older, those in their teens in their 70s, and the preteens in their mid 60s. These demographics aren’t go to last forever nor will their buying disposable income. I am not interested in atmos mixes or Dolby “9.1” (joking) or new stereo remixes. The last releases were criticized, rightly so as that certain instruments that were timbre modified to sound other-worldly were reverted back to the unprocessed sound. GIles Martin’s best efforts and intentions not withstanding, after auditioning a friend’s copy it sounded not so much wrong, but different and not how the Beatles intended. I didn’t purchase for that reason. I have no intentions to purchase new equipment anymore than Quadraphonic back in the day. Software drives hardware but if had wanted reflected sound there’s plenty of ambiance in stereo recordings, electrostatic speakers and planar speakers have their adherents, however most of the studio, live performances on TV, and concert recordings were EQ’d with essentially the same speakers then as now and either take into account the inertia of woofers and tweets. What a Peter Jackson edition could bring to the table could be a series called Alternate Takes too include all and sundry sources including bootleg and fan recordings. Sweden TV’s Drop In program has some of the most exciting performances by the Fab Four, but limited by the sound-man’s unfamiliarity of the Beatles taking different solos. There’s other taped off the air performances BBC by fans as well as stunningly absent omissions that were left out of from annual concerts awards for best band to Hamburg 1966 is among the better. One need not go any further than the bootlegs for content. There’s enough material and demand even from the Streamers, more material than to keep Apple in orange squash and make rationing unnecessary. If Apple is only focused on The EMI/Parlophone catalog, Imagine what the AI could do with all the different LP and EP pressings and master tapes.? It’s easy if they try. Market saturation? After all these years? The Fans have always voted with their wallets. You only have to listen and give them what they want and ask for not what some executive thinks he knows best. And what they want is more.
I'm happy to have bought this album in 1977. It was, and still is, exciting to hear The Beatles live before they were repackaged by Brian Epstein. I don't understand The Beatles' reluctance to release these recordings officially. No one expects a polished performance and it doesn't take away from their later recordings. I do hope Peter Jackson can get his hands on them. I'm so glad I discovered your channel. A lifelong Beatles fan, I'm learning lots of new things.
I had two discs (vinyl) that I bought in Florida in 1981. It's a shitty recording but it is historic nevertheless. I was disappointed when I heard it, but later learned to love it.
God what I wouldn't give for a quality recording of this era. The Star Club recordings are the next best thing, and it's a miracle they even exist. The amount of serendipitous moments in the bands history never ceases to amaze me.
I've loved The Star Club tapes ever since I bought a cassette of it back when I was a teen. And IMO if people want to know what put the Beatles miles ahead of other British bands at the time, then listen to Long Tall Sally: George's guitar is greased lightning, Paul is in top-notch screaming mode, John's rhythm never misses, and that unbelievably fast pounding done by Ringo at the end is just...wow. The best way I can describe it is 'punk before punk.'
I would love to hear Peter Jackson's attempt at cleaning up the Hamburg Tapes. I bought a copy of the Lingasong album when I was 13 and listened to it nightly for 3 or 4 months. The raw energy of a hard driving guitar band absolutely prepared me for accepting Punk Rock when I finally heard it in 1979.
"Sweet Little Sixteen" is one of the greatest early rock performances. This is what being true to rock n' roll is all about. Lennon - blessed with one of the greatest if not the greatest rock n' roll voices - shines with that rock n' roll attitude while the band is in top form. I have listened to this record since its original release and it gives a vital soundtrack to the "Punk Rock" Beatles before they transformed to the "Rock" Beatles. Also, McCartney shines on this live record. Incredible that this band had two of the greatest rock n' roll singers in it. To me, if you want to hear a rock and roll band play that will just get you to dance or just mesmerize you with their music, listen to Sweet Little Sixteen. I still get goosebumps to this day hearing this album and this particular track. Keep on rockin'!
My God ! Amazing to hear someone saying this ! This was the first record I ever got and sweet little sixteen inspired me to play guitar. I always have said it is punk rock :)
I was a Freshman in High School in 1977. Thanks to my uncles, I was already a huge Beatles fanatic, so when I saw this at the record store, I quickly ran home, broke into my small piggy bank and bought it. I was fascinated by the music on it and thought the Beatles sounded raw and very rock n` roll. Listening to it today, they were Punk before Punk, and rocked much harder than the Stones.
yep. same with me. and spot on! Punk rock before punk rock, raw live sound. I learned to play guitar from the Star Club tapes, and I learned to love raw live recordings from them as well. So glad Brian Epstein didn't buy that tape in the 1960s when he had a chance. We still would never have been able to hear it yet. And its raw nature has had a crucial influence on diy punk rock recordings ever since it came out!
Listening to the Star Club album is like being outside the venue on the street and hearing this fantastic sound coming from inside. If we can find aliens who can be transported back in time, we can hand them state of the art recording equipment to get this performance down and bring it back in all it's aural glory.
I found this on vinyl in a used record store in the early 90s and snatched it right up no questions, still have it to this day! I mention it to life-long Beatles fans, and it is amazing how many have never heard of it!
With all it's imperfections, the Star Club recording is actually my favorite Beatle album. To get a studio quality version of it would be a dream come true.
Fantastic topic. Always loved these albums for their raw "in your face" quality and the wacky banter. Purple Chick's recent pass at this material sounds great. Well worth a listen.
Lots of great history here I didn't know before. I bought a two-volume set on vinyl back in the mid 80s, but I always found the sound quality to be unlistenable so it's never spent much time on the platter. I'd love to see an official pressing by Apple with cleaned up audio, but knowing how much George disliked it, I can't imagine his family ever allowing it to proceed.
The most recent fan made remasters I've heard were major upgrades to what I've heard before and the brief samples I've heard of the original tapes were pretty impressive. I think if someone can get access to the original tapes then we could finally get something that's very listenable.
I bought a copy on vinyl. I seem to remember an f-bomb getting by from Paul. I loved the version of 'everybody's tryin' to be my baby' .I enjoyed it like any BEATLE record.
I have not tried to listen to this in 40 years. Back then, it was my brother who decided to buy a copy. I can easily state that I enjoyed 20+ minutes of you talking about this record better than I ever liked listening to 20 seconds of the actual tapings.
In the Star Club recordings The Beatles preformence is truly "electrifying" and much better than The Hollywood Bowl, I've played them over and over again, you can see why they were so popular in Hamburg, I hope Peter Jackson can get his hands on them.
Randomly came across some of the star club recordings here on youtube and i instantly fell in love with it. The raw energy radiating from those recordings make up for the poor quality. For me, the Star Club is on par with the Rooftop as the Beatles at their very best. I would instantly buy an official box set of the recordings if it was to ever surface, especially because i was not around to enjoy any of the other star club releases when first released.
"As we know, all judges are Beatles fans." I'm loving the deep sarcasm, Andrew. You did a great job of telling this story. It's understandable that the Beatles and their partners have always portrayed the Star Club tapes as a criminal enterprise, but your explanation gets at the big picture - the recordings are a crucial, if flawed, snapshot of a moment in the great band's evolution, out-of-focus with poor exposure, but a treasure indeed. Had Epstein purchased the tape when he had the chance, all of the legal strife could have been avoided. Instead, the tape languished unwanted, a buried artifact needing to be mounted and properly displayed. Let's all hope that Peter Jackson once again works his magic on the Beatles legacy. He's already turned their troubled last days into gold - let's hope he can do the same for the beginning!
I have taken a long time to put together a comment to this video because this album means so much to me. My buddies and I were 16 the year this album came out. We were big Beatles fans, and we were eagerly anticipating the two live albums coming out, ‘Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl’ and ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club Hamburg Germany 1962’. We were interested in hearing the Hollywood Bowl album because the story that went around for years is that the Beatles didn't play too well live. These were the days long before you could simply Google Beatles concerts online and pull them up on the internet. The Hollywood Bowl album also shut down that rumor permanently. My friends and I had a little band comprised of bass, drums and two guitars (sound familiar?). We mostly played some Beatles covers, some Wings covers (‘Medicine Jar’, ‘Let me Roll It’, ‘Time to Hide’, etc.), and of course different songs that were current hits on the US charts at the time. I was very fortunate that on release day for ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club’, the version that was being sold in our local record store was the German Bellaphon release. Later on I also had the American release, but I have always considered the German version to be far superior for many different reasons. So why was this album so important to us? Like I said, we had a little band. We were kids from middle class families who weren't getting an awful lot of support from our parents, as far as having this band together was concerned. We played cheap instruments, bought from pawn shops or the Montgomery Wards catalog. We did the best we could with the less than optimal instruments and amplifiers that we had. We used to record ourselves when we played too, and the results were pretty crude. The first time we listened to ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club’, one of the first things we said was that the Beatles sounded just like us! I think a lot of it was because their performances were not perfect, and the audio quality of the recordings was only as good as what our recordings sounded like. So, what was so apocalyptic to us about these recordings? Well, as very young musicians, this album gave us hope. We knew that the Beatles were very young and very poor at this time, and they were working there hardest at these gigs in Hamburg - and where did they eventually go? ‘To the toppermost of the poppermost Johnny!’ We figured if this little band from Liverpool who was sweating through these gigs 15 years before we had started ended up doing pretty well, there was hope for us too. We did end up pursuing music as a career, and played professionally in a new wave band in New England in the US up until the mid to late '80s. It was a lot of fun. We all still stay in contact with each other. I know Paul and Ringo and the two surviving widows are not keen on releasing this set legitimately. I really don't know why. Back in the '80s, I thought the Beatles would never release anything more than the 13 songs of the original British canon, and not release any outtakes, or anything they felt would tarnish their shiny legacy. Of course, since then, things such as the two BBC sets in the Anthology sets have been released, not to mention all the outtakes on the additional discs for the different remasters/remixes in the past few years. I believe that ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club’ album is a good representation of who they were in December 1962, and how it all started for them. I really hope someday John and Ringo Olivia and Yoko will come to understand the value of this set not only to Beatles fans, but as inspiration to young musicians around the world.
Thanks for another great video Andrew! I have a copy of the masterpiece OxTango Definitive Remaster Series 2 CD release from 2014. 34 total tracks. It is the best I have heard. I think it was mixed in such a way that makes you feel like you are in the audience.
I'd love to hear what Jackson could do with the recordings. Although I bought the Star Club album when it was released, it would be fantastic to hear what modern technology could accomplish with them
i always LOVED "red sails in the sunset" off this album! it rocks big time! i have, or had, the original "77 american album release. it might have been an import though. i don't know. i owned a lot of imports. i added a few of the songs off the album onto any beatles compliation tapes i made, along with a few songs off the decca tapes, then never listened to it again. i'm surprised the courts didn't allow the release of these tapes purely on the basis of their historical value and significance. damn, you and your team are GREAT! you really delve into all aspects of the history you're covering. even commenting on the disputed placement of the mic. keep up the good work. its appreciated!
I love George but he was invariably the first to put a downer on a Beatles venture. The Starclub Tapes are a document of immense importance; an inflexion point between two Beatle eras (local fame and worldwide fame) literally salvaged from the rubble of history with superb Hamburg style performances that you just don't get after the Beatles were cleaned up and 'sold out' as John put it. The only other comparable document left to posterity is Paul's copy of a Cavern performance with Pete Best but there are songs here you can't find anywhere else and great as the BBC Live tapes are they sound insipid by comparison.
This is precisely the value of the tapes. They shouldn't be cleaned up and made to sound new - would you 'clean up' the Dead Sea Scrolls? Neither the Beatles nor fans should treat these sounds as commercial quality releases. They are what they are - rough live recordings, just as you might make today on your phone in a club. (Actually of course, they were sonically remade a little with 1970s technology, otherwise you wouldn't have heard anything but noise - but the point stands.)
@@jackeppington6488 Point taken! I often find myself listening to Amplitude Modulation radio (AM) just because of the static! 😎 All part of the experience!
Here in Brazil was issued a double cd set, with the original art that you just showed. The track list includes all the songs of the UK and US versions. It's a great item to purchase! Thanks for the vídeo, Andrew! Carry on, please!
I have this record. Yes vinyl LP. Love them. Hearing the back story about their recording & gussied up production still does not diminish their existence & perffoamce.
This should definitely be officially released, even in poor audio format. It's a piece of history. You can hear what the Beatles sounded like before they hit it big, and it demonstrates why they hit it big. They were good right from the beginning. I was amazed by how hard they rocked way back then.
I think that all of those recordings should never be lost they should always be preserved the Hamburg tapes from the star club and also the Beatles home demo recordings especially from 1960 or so.
Thanks for doing a video on this recording Andrew! I first got this in 1983 on an album called the Early Years on the Phoenix label and feeling ripped off thinking it was a studio album. I got away from it from years before rediscovering it and seeing what an exciting record it is. It’s full of energy and shows what a great band the Beatles were on stage. I know it’s not perfect but it’s the only Hamburg recording we have for now. Hopefully Peter Jackson will use his technology to clean up the tapes. The Zu Laut disc sounds terrific. I love the Beatles Mach Shau in Hamburg book, great stuff. Thanks for sharing!
So glad I bought the Lingasong pressing of this in 1977 when it first came out, AND BOTH of the "Pickwick" albums made from the same tapes... "First Live Recordings" black and white albums. A lot of the songs left off the U.S. pressing of the Lingasong double LP are on the two Pickwick albums. The Pickwick white "First Live Recordings Volume 1" album (SPC 3661) also includes The Beatles doing "Where Have You Been All My Life" plus a song performed by Kingsize Taylor's band called "Hully Gully" that was wrongly credited by Pickwick as "The Beatles." That's the only source I am aware of from the 1970s vinyl pressings with a "not the Beatles" recording at the Star Club from Kingsize Taylor's original tape reel.
what gets me is in the 70's we thought we knew everything and had heard everything about the beatles. Yet this channel continues to bring new insight to youtube, every time i come here. Great stuff. keep it up.
The MAL software makes revisiting these tapes so much more valid. I think Apple should let Peter Jackson play with their ‘cheeky’ copy of these recordings and seeing what comes back. Thanks for another amazing programme Andew.
Ironically, with the sleeve notes suggesting the recordings pre-dated the Beatles' EMI contract, that meant that they would therefore have still been under the contract signed with Bert Kaempfert in 1961, who released his recordings through Polydor. Presumably Polydor and its ex-producer Paul Murphy were unaware of this fact!
This is great. It has been many years since I've read about these tapes in length. You've put a lot of the pieces together here, that I've only read in bits and pieces in the past. Thank you for that. Since I first heard the US double album some time in 1978, I thought that the performances were fine, and now when I hear them, on older ears, the sound quality is alright too. I think Peter Jackson's claims are vastly over-stated in order to financially benefit from it. He's putting his name in the ring NOW. Unless there's more re-masterings of the Beatles' catalog for the third or fourth time, there's not much "new" to look forward to down the road. I'm sure that whatever powers-that-be at Apple today, could be very much set aside with a positive nod from Paul McCartney. What does he, Ringo and Beatles' fans have to lose? If it sells, cheers all around - if it doesn't, it's because loyal fans worldwide have already researched it, purchased it and enjoyed it for decades. Everybody wins. And, let's face it, I've found recordings on this platform (the tube of you) that are much more rare. Things recorded in the McCartney's living room and various rehearsal sessions. I do hope these will come out. I imagine that the only roadblock would be somebody coming forth to claim that since they are a living descendant of Ted Taylor or Paul Murphy, they deserve a sizable chunk of the profits. We'll all have to wait and see.
I had a copy of the U.S. release and recall it had something to do with a ghost corporation in San Juan PR get around US copyright law. I gave my copy to my sister who attended the Beatles evening show August 1965 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It’s sound quality was a bit lower in volume but the energy was incredible. George flubbed the opening riff Roll over Beethoven, maybe a reason for his animosity. An unreleased track from the BBC sessions with an announcer’s intro over the first notes has the same vibe, the Beatles before the edges were knocked off. The two volumes CD (my copies said Sony in the US) I gave to my son, but was by comparison the clean up sounded as though there was a blanket over the speakers or headphones as though the sound engineer was attempting to make it sound like the Parlophone LP albums (without the exciting sound). Among the bootleg albums “{VE} Records” The Beatles vs The Third Reich LP and later digital Remastered cd with bonus tracks, longer excerpts of some or parts of missing incomplete versions on Anthology Plus and Anthology More My Baby is Red Hot (these Anthologies contain some alternate takes were one of the Fab Four made a mistake-a blooper reel). If you can find Jimco Inc/ San Juan Music Group CD 38CP-44 version manufactured byTeichiku Record Co, LTD in Japan it has the best Sound Quality the closest to the original lip with 32 tracks. Be Bop A Lula is the Star Club’s owner brother singing backed by the Beatles. Hully Gully isn’t the Beatles. Falling in Love Again and Besame Mucho (as recorded on 6-6-1962 artist test). Missing Road Runner. On a cd bootleg Road Runner (vocals faint after several starts) warm up. Money Beautiful Girl Lovesick Blues, My first taste of love, Dizzy Miss Lizzy (not the Beatles singing with piano ), A-message to you, this claims to be from a different tape copy (a likely story and some unlistenable). I would pay real money for the “Get Back” Treatment For the Star Club, both for the Beatles alone, and for the other groups recorded a complete time capsule of the Hamburg club scene. I notice that the earlier guitar fill found on than the demo recorded at the Cavern Club of 17 aka I saw her standing there is with John sing along still present the guitar solo alone is worth the effort. Do we have to wait for another decade or two for this to happen Too bad there’s no complete version of George singing My Baby is Red Hot, his vocal was so uninhibited not what you’d expect from the Quiet Beatle.
This was a very meaningful video for me. Recording at the Star Club feels the heat of the Beatles. It's a pity that this recording has been reconstructed and will not appear. The 32-track two-disc LP album sold in Japan in 1986 was the one I bought when I was just starting the collection!!
Loved this vignette of history telling! I’ve owned all versions, like so many others in the world. I believe Peter Jackson could do a stellar job with these recordings. And that WOULD be a treat! This album has always remained a treat from Japanese cd versions in the late 80’s to everything in between and before and after. Thanks, Andrew, for spotlighting this diamond in the rough! Brilliant!
Great video! I grabbed the Sony CDs in '91 for their raw historical value despite the quality. At some point in the future, the recordings will be considered more important than we think they are.
Being a teenage punk rocker in 1977. I had an instant affinity with the legendary raw rough sweaty delinquent testosterone bootleg quality of the Young PUNK Beatles at the Star Club. It sounded just like the badly recorded cheap Lo Fi cassettes of our own pub and college gig bands, which we enthusiastically circulated amongst good mates in our local student music underground scene. MIDDLE AGED MIDDLE CLASS RECORD BUSINESS EXECS AND LAWYERS ARE SO CLUELESS regarding what loyal consumers actually want to buy to enjoy.
I think that's another part of its release that was missed in the video: It was a clever way to unofficially market The Beatles to a generation of punks who'd otherwise write them off as "sissy" or weak music.
Gary - it wasn't middle class executives or lawyers, but the testimony of George Harrison himself who testified that persueded a judge to give the verdict he did. Being a musician myself I can undestand why some musicians don't want sub-par performances out in the market. My real complaint as a Producer and label owner that there are those who believe all music should be free discounting any investment made by a label or even a band that paid to have a recording done professionally. It's whatever the individual artist wants. You chose to give away your music. George Harrison chose to defend his right as an artist. Record labels are only in it to make money, not truly caring about the artist regardless of their stature.
@@cguzelli1 By the mid 70s Harrison was a spoilt over pampered corporate celebrity who had disappeared too far up his own spiritual arse hole . Who apparently had lost any relationship with his youthful baser rock roots. [I say this as a fan who to this day considers George one of the 2 most important Beatles. I even continued buying his substandard solo LPs of the pre-punk years]. Like too many over indulged egotistical 'artists', he was not always the best judge of what his fans actually wanted. Many of us had waited years for the Star Club tapes to be officially released. Resorting to lawyers, was a mistake - but he was immensely wealthy, and that's what the rich do to get their own way, no matter how petty and mean spirited.
@@garycrant4511 far from being spoiled. The Beatles including George's songs published under Northern Songs weren't even owned by them. The greatest insult was Michael Jackson outbidding Paul for their works. That anyone believes fame brings happiness, it often brings the exact opposite. We will disagree on many items since I believe the Artist should have a say in what happens to their creative works. Many times the Artist knowingly or unknowlingly sign those rights away. You believe that art belongs to the fans. Over my 47 years in the sphere of the music industry as a musician, producer and label owner, I know musicians who feel the same way you do. We will disagree and let's leave it at that. By the way, I love George more for his spirituality and humanitarian causes more than his guitar playing. Even though to me, he is one of the most underrated guitarists, lead or otherwise of all time. His composition of "Something" has been covered far more times than any Lennon-McCartney song. Hopefully we can agree on that.
@@cguzelli1 @Charles Guzelli I've long maintained that the absolute worst most off putting aspect of The Beatles are their annoyingly sycophantic over defensive 'know-all' zealot super fans'... Now you are starting to give the impression you may be one of these self appointed Beatles history bores.. Yes you have already mentioned your long illustrious history in the music Biz.. Big deal, I also have been in bands since 1973, and set up a record lable in the late 70s.. It was not such a special thing to brag about, when so many bands of that fine era created their own indie labels and print magazines for like minded musicians and related creative artists..... In the spirit of friendship, I have no need to argue with a total stranger with whom I may share so much in common.. But you really do seem to have overreacted with a bee in your bonnet to a simple tongue in cheek throwaway comment about middle class music execs, bringing to it too much baggage from your own personal agenda ??????.. I repeat, it is a perfectly reasonable assertion that the Beatles and /or their legal representatives acted like dicks by suppressing the Star Club tapes for so many years... It seems they were offered ample opportunity to buy and profit from the tapes - many thousands of Music fans were desperate to hear in reasonable cleaned up sound quality, which the likes of EMI/APPLE/ ANY Major Label could have done by state of the art mid 70s audio standards... I remember enjoying a book in the early to mid 70s, an unofficial history of the Beatles and other Mersey Bands in Hamburg, which for the first time made the Beatles sound like real rough and tough, undisciplined, young rockers that I and my teenage contemporaries could relate to. Rather than the famous celebrity tamed teenybop popstars in suits, or stoned arty farty weirdo hairy hippies that mainstream media portrayed them as... The Star Club tapes are an essential historic artifact of their early years which enrich the legacy of The Beatles.
A fun challenge (before UA-cam and online digits music) was collecting original versions of the many cover songs on the Star Club recordings. A collection of all the cover songs the Beatles performed will give you real education on the early years of rock and roll. The Beatles really knew how to select great songs to perform.
I have two different versions of these recordings. The first one is the two individual CDs called "The Beatles Live At The Star Club 1962 Vol.1 and 2" (Sony Music Special Products/Columbia Records 1991) with 11 tracks on each disc. The other version is called "Last Night In Hamburg-The Beatles" (Roc Cartoon RCAR 102 5213 with a release date of 1999) This version is just one disc, but 28 songs, with a different running order than the Star Club CDs.
I tip my hat to you Andrew. A story that needed clarification. I don't know how you make it looks so easy to research this deep history. I dont know where you get your references? The star club album has always been a hidden gem that mere mortals dont know about. I love them! Thanks for all your great work.
Great job, congratulations! Being a teenager and avid Beatles fan in the 80s in Athens, Greece, I stumbled upon one of the later reissues of these recordings: a 3-LP box-set called "The Historic Sessions", by Phoenix Records, UK. I bought it on the spot, even if it was a bit pricey, but it was proved a good value for money. It contains the Decca demo album (record 1) with Pete Best on drums and the "Star-Club" recordings (records 2 and 3), with Ringo giving the beat, as known. The "Star-Club" records are more a hybrid of both the UK and US versions, as the issue contains the four tracks of the US one, plus the three tracks that were replaced from the UK issue. "Reminiscing" is the missing track - all the others are included. The sound is pretty poor, but due to the recording - I don't think that the "original" Lingasong/Bellaphone issues could improve it significantly. Anyway, it was a good add-on for the young Beatles completist I used to be! On the minus side: the material is rather mediocre. I haven't given it a listen for eons, but I wasn't impressed back then. It was full of RnR covers, of poor sound quality, and even the band itself seemed not in top form, to put it mildly. It is a historical artifact, for sure - and that's it (on the other hand, neither the "Holywood Bowl" album is of extreme quality - the music is barely audible, due to the frenzied screams!). If someone can give the material a better treatment and issue it properly, maybe it will become a more vivid part of the Beatles catalog. As it is, it stands only for the completist. And not for repetitive listening, IMO. Info about the issue I am talking about here: www.discogs.com/release/4822766-The-Beatles-The-Historic-Sessions
You're right mr. Williamson. I bought my first Beatles single in 1963. And wouldn't have missed it for the world. I cherish magical moments listening to new Beatles outcome. Listening to them brings back time. I mean Pepper in '67 is a complete different story than Pepper now.
Another great Beatles video, Andrew. I consider you one of the more reliable sources of Beatles' real facts and lore. I used to have the German Bellaphon LPs not long after they were originally released, thanks to my German contact. However, I loaned them out (to a now-former friend) and they were returned in very poor condition. Later I came across the Sony CDs and again they left my hands. I sure would love to have an official release of the Star Club tapes, especially if Peter Jackson were involved.
I was and remember when this first came out in the USA..we were all waiting for a live LP and rumors were everywhere.. I couldn’t wait..and finally the StarClub live LP was out ..I bought it and was quickly disappointed in the sound as it was very amateurish in quality..oh.. it was a fun first listen to the real early stuff..but it was almost like hearing a different Beatles..in a way it was a different Beatles!! Then the Hollywood Live album came out and it was the real deal..all the excitement of the Beatles ..reading Sir Martin’s comments on how hard it was trying to find out ways to produce and mix it down!! I loved it big time!! Your explanation was SPOT ON as per usual!! Thanks so much for all you do.. I will always be so thankful to have been alive during the whole Beatles Experience..I’m 72.. and have quite my own collection.. but nothing like your own!! AWESOMENESS
Jerry Lee Lewis at The Star Club backed by The Nashville Teens is a very good disc as well. But this is excellent info of this disc as always. Thanks Andrew
Hi Andrew, I went to see Ringo in New Hampshire last night and it was such a great show. I’m English (also a US citizen now) and it was wonderful to see the outpouring of love and affection for Ringo from a 9000 crowd. I love all your videos. I think people would be interested in a video about your Beatles journey and Parlogram Auctions. You’re a similar age to me. I got into The Beatles after John died and during my teen years they were everything to me. It seems strange now that in the 80s no one at school was into them and they’d been consigned to history in the larger culture. it wasn’t until the 90s with Oasis, Nirvana and others that they came into prominence again, a position that hasn’t changed since. Norman Maslov, who has a UA-cam channel and co wrote The Beatles England says he was shocked to go to Liverpool in the late 70s and it was as if they’d never existed, very different from today when we have a whole tourist industry (including hotel) based on The Beatles. Sorry to go on but would love to hear your journey. Thanks for what you do.
Thanks for the very interesting story. I now appreciate my copy of the Hamburg tapes double album even more. The idea put forward by Peter Jackson is amazing, and I would love to see it happen.
You just read in my mind Andrew, I just bought a copy of the german pressing only a couple of days before you put out this video! These recordings are a piece of history and deserve to be owned and listened in my opinion. Cheers!
The sound Peter Jackson managed to extract from the Nagra tapes is truly great. It would be amazing to have a box set with every recording sounding like that (the Nagra is much better recorder,of course, but it'd probably sound better that the original record).
Thanks again, Andrew. I've always found these recordings interesting, and a valuable part of Beatles history. You are so correct about Apple being out of touch: there are so many projects they could do, that I'm sure we'll never see. I guess we're going to have to be content with our bootlegs.
A great explanation of the history of these controversial tapes, Andrew! I bought the album on the Lingasong label when it was released in April 1977 and although I knew that the sound quality would be lo-fi, I was sufficiently disappointed to play the records only once! I still have the Melody Maker issue you showed when the Star Club album was released and your video has prompted me to go and read it again!
Hi Andrew. Thanks for all the details behind this prized live recording!! The recordings are rough, but using source separation software it would be possible to isolate the elements, clean them up & make these songs into stereo. In my experience, i think getting good separation of the vocals is going to be the most difficult part though. It could take 120 plus hours to do each song!!
Great job as usual Andrew. There is a bit more to the history of Paul Murphy and The Beatles. Murphy was close friends with Johnny "Guitar" Byrne, guitarist for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (where Ringo was obviously their drummer). Murphy and Johnny Guitar recorded the first RnR record in Liverpool, predating That'll Be The Day by almost a year. This recording is mentioned in Tune In and gave the locals, including Harrison, the knowledge about where to make a record. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips%27_Sound_Recording_Services
What I love the most about this recording is the way that it highlights Ringo’s playing. He is definitely the best musician on the and propels the band in a way that pulled them up to the next level with him rather than Pete on drums.
I'm not a huge Beatles fan but I am a history buff. That's the way I approach your videos. I learn a lot about the time period, recording techniques and the personalities of the Beatles and their inner circle. Thanks for all your hard work and talent.
So cool to hear the full story behind these recordings, at last. Thank you, Andrew! The first I'd heard of the Star Club tapes was when a friend's sister had obtained a copy. She was a newspaper music critic at the time and was given hundreds of new albums every year, keeping only those she liked. Her copy was the Lingasong album with the white lettering and I distinctly recall reading the false Ringo sitting in story. Knowing their history, I did question how accurate that was, but the tracks were definitely the real thing albeit pretty rough recordings. I was finally able to obtain my own copy (actually copies) when a Pickwick sub-release came out in 1979. Sides 1 and 2 comprised Volume One with a white cover and black text. Volume 2, sides 3, and 4 being a black cover with white lettering. Both albums simply repeated the text of the other, most of which was a quote from a 1977 book, The Beatles Forever by NIcholas Schaffner. In it, he claims that Kingsize Taylor had made this recording of The Beatles "for a lark" and that Alan Williams alone had discovered the tape in an abandoned office beneath a pile of rubble. Pickwick makes the claim that they used their own equipment to rebalance the vocals more to the fore than in the Lingasong version. It had also been "rechanneled for stereo". As for an official Apple release of these tapes with Peter Jackson at the helm, I would leap at the opportunity to have such a thing! Listening to what he and his team were able to do with the Let It Be sessions, I can think of no one better qualified for the project. Come on, Apple!
One of the first beatles lps I bought. Though sound was not so great you can feel the excitment on the stage. They are great recordings and we lucky they excist. Like lennon said 'thats the real beatles before they knocked the edges off' Its a great document.Amzing video Andrew!
I've never heard of Johnny and the hurricanes before watching this, thanks for introducing me to them. I put them on my echo dot while I'm watching the video, love those groovy sounds. Great video today Andrew! I love the story behind the music, very interesting. I can't blame George Harrison or anybody else for that matter for not wanting others to make money off of their work. Would any of us want other people getting paid for what we did? We all know the answer, LMAO. Now I have a fun rabbit hole to jump down, i'm going to look around for the best sounding recordings of the Beatles playing at the cavern club I can. I really enjoyed watching today! Keep up the great work! Can't wait to see what you get into next! Keep up the great content n keep it Poppin🍾
Thanks for covering this topic Andrew. Excellent, as always. I purchased all those LPs at the time because I thought hearing them was incredible and the sound quality not being an issue considering the content. The Zu Laut! you mentioned was a revelatiion on how good they could sound (and a big improvement over the Purple Chick version that was previously the best at that time), and can only imagine the improvement Peter Jackson could do with them with the latest technology. I understand the tape itself is pretty well cut up by now, and the track orders could never be properly reassembled, but his work on Get Back was so amazing, I wouldn’t be surprised what he could do with this. Really enjoyed it. Thanks again. :- )
I finally bought a Batktabak release in the early 1990s, and it was around this time that I found out about the true date of the recordings which just happens to be when I was born - 21st of December 1962. So they have a special meaning for me.
Been watching these videos for quite a while now. They're overflowing with detail, history and facts that any discerning Beatles fan like me absolutely love! Keep up the great work.
Another excellent video! My CD copy sounds great (well…relatively speaking) and that’s enough for me. I’d love a follow up video comparing the sound quality of various releases. They’re all over UA-cam already!
If indeed the white mic you showed when talking about Kingsize Taylor was the one he used, it was the Sennheiser MD-421, one of my favorite dynamic microphones, whether for recording or broadcast use. We used one as the announce mic at the #1 FM station on the Central California Coast during the 1980’s. In Sennheiser’s advertising in both Professional Recording and Broadcasting magazines, they pointed out the fact that it was difficult to come up with a sound loud enough to overdrive the MD-421 into distortion, and illustrated this claim in print by showing a .38 caliber pistol being fired less than two inches from its windscreen! This claim was true, although you’d need a mic preamp that could handle a pretty hefty mic signal without distorting. The MD-421 is is no longer made in its original, metal-bodied form. But the company does make what’s called the MD-421 II, which has a plastic body. It’s quite a bit lighter than the metal-bodied original, but it still feels quite substantial in your hand. It is best used on a stand. And it utilizes the same capsule (that’s the part which picks up the sound, in what’s known as a cardioid pattern), and has the same frequency response characteristics as the original. “Cardioid?”, you ask. That means the pickup pattern is rather heart-shaped, so this mic tends to reject sounds coming from the sides or the rear, and it emphasizes sound coming from directly in front of the microphone. However, the lighter plastic body is slightly more susceptible to resonances resulting from loud environments - such as on stage with a rock band. Some recording engineers love them as kick-drum mics, and The Beatles were filmed in concert using them as vocal mics. The 421 has three separate frequency responses, selected by turning a ring around the microphone’s XLR-type plug (the “M” setting has the most bass response, while the “S” setting, all the way in the opposite direction from “M”, has the least. The Sennheiser MD-421 II is sold at Pro Audio dealers, as well as Broadcast Supply houses, for around $350 U.S. dollars.
Thank you for this. The Beatles in Hamburg is possibly my favorite chapter of their history. I remember vividly getting the Star Club album on 8-track tape for Christmas, 1977, when I was 11. Although the quality of the performances is uneven, and even in the best-sounding versions the audio quality is not the too good, I would defend the music overall. To me, the reasons behind the excitement being generated by the Beatles at this stage of their career can be heard loud and clear, in spite of the murky recording. I knew relatively little of the history of the tape that you discuss here. Very interesting stuff. I didn't know Allan Williams was involved in the story. Anyway, thanks again for this. Let's hope they let Peter Jackson restore this piece of history.
I came across this cassette back in the early 90s (black label one) - I loved it, warts & all. I didn’t know much about the bootlegs, but this one was awesome. Thanks for the history behind it!
I bought the Bellaphon copy when it was first released in 1977, and I’m glad I did. The version of ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ is outstanding, even without the guitar solo. Thanks for posting!
Absolutely tremendous presentation as usual, but...I was hoping you would delve into the actual recordings themselves, there's lots of stories to be told about how the tapes have been altered, edited etc, and questions about who plays what etc - probably deserves a separate follow up video.
What an interesting feature, I remember buying the two live albums in 77, but have only listened to the Star club one a couple of times. It would be great if Peter Jackson could bring the recordings to life and the Queen could give him a long overdue knighthood!!
Great vid thank you Andrew. I found a Bellaphon copy of the Star Club recordings at a boot sale in the early 00s. I'd avoided it previously because of the reported quality issues, so it wasn't an urgent play when I got home. Or indeed until 2019, when I was pleasantly surprised, the authentic performance outweighs the technical shortcomings. I'm really looking forward to hearing it again in another 12 years 😉. Cleaned up ringy dingy digital clarity? Mmmm not sure about that one.
This brings back memories, I perchested this album back in the late 70s when it first came out, with alongside a stack hi fi costing a mear 499 pounds. Still expensive today but back in the 1970s it was like taking on a mortgage, with 12 monthly payments. I tried this album on my new hi fi the quality was very poor, not knowing the sniffegens of this beatle album I past it on with some dinky toys to help pay my first month's instalments, I wished I'd kept it. I just love the cover and the old photos inside, l have a cd 1962 recordings cat number c.t.a.b 5oo1 with a black and white photo of the beatles on the front , with mccartney lying down, are these the same recordings as the album, I like to know, by the way I took the hi fi out of moth balls today, and it still works now 46 years old. Thank you keep up the good work.
Andrew, please consider another segment on the Hamburg period! The book you mention at the end looks INCREDIBLE and I wish I could locate a seller. You teased that you could do a whole segment around that book.......I beg you.....MAKE IT HAPPEN. Massive respect mate. You are the topper-most of the popper-most!
I say if Peter Jackson can make them sound terrific, and (to borrow a phrase from your Glyn Johns Let It Be comment) make them of "legacy quality", I say it would be a smash with the fans, probably sell nicely. I would think that Apple should capitalize on some non-legacy Beatles work, and make sort of a new sort of Zapple label for all these sorts of things, like Quarrymen, Star Club Tapes, etc. More for the niche Beatles collectors releases, not necessarily for "wide release". They can sell them at a premium (haven't they always?), and likely make a killing (again, haven't they always?). I am shocked to hear the Mono mixes "lost money", to me that's ridiculous, especially if it sold out quickly, and has a huge secondary market price gouge attached.
I've never regretted buying the Bootleg 1963 recordings. Yes, they were expensive, and there are way too many versions of some songs, but the raw studio take of "Money" and the live "Too Much Monkey Business" are among the most electrifying moments in their catalog.
I would have to agree I wanted to buy the Beatles mono box set on vinyl I think Apple should re-released the album there should be a way to do it without them losing any money I gladly pay Apple even if I have to buy the box that myself.
I’d love to hear the Beatles mono box set on vinyl I have the CD versions which are good.
I don't believe that whole "Apple lost money on the mono LP box" story for a second. Are they losing money now to second-hand price gougers? Yes!
This is a great idea! Hendrix estate does just that, with "Dagger Records" being the "Official Bootleg Label" of sonyusic for Jimi.
Since we are on the subject of “Legacy Recordings”, From March 1962 to the end of the Beatles on the BBC contains more material than George Martin released in Two volumes 19 years apart. More than enough to fill Six volumes. Some alternate takes, some repeated songs (but without dub in material like Hard Day’s Night) with the Beatles singing with another band backing them, (Side by Side) and a few Rarities Dream Baby (cover of a Roy Orbison song Pete Best on Drums), The First live broadcast of Ask Me Why (with Pete Best on Drums) George first BBC solo song on the BBC (Pete Best on Drums). George Martin inferred the Sound quality Wasn’t that good, but no less quality than some of recordings he included in volume I. These and other recordings would make excellent Choices for BBC vol 3 “Rarities” after the Peter Jackson treatment.
With all due respect to the late Sir George Martin, having heard all the alternate takes of songs not chosen for volume 1, better versions different from Martin selections, when volume 2 BBC came out I passed.
Anthology left off the best cut from the Beatles Decca audition, September Rain. Likewise a variety of alternate versions such as Norwegian Wood exist.
As Apple has a policy of rationing releases, (it seems they wait) until an income stream is required by an estate or two, or trying to exploit a new technology a certain amount of myopia is involved. Those who were adults when Beatlemania struck are in their 80s or older, those in their teens in their 70s, and the preteens in their mid 60s. These demographics aren’t go to last forever nor will their buying disposable income.
I am not interested in atmos mixes or Dolby “9.1” (joking) or new stereo remixes. The last releases were criticized, rightly so as that certain instruments that were timbre modified to sound other-worldly were reverted back to the unprocessed sound. GIles Martin’s best efforts and intentions not withstanding, after auditioning a friend’s copy it sounded not so much wrong, but different and not how the Beatles intended. I didn’t purchase for that reason. I have no intentions to purchase new equipment anymore than Quadraphonic back in the day. Software drives hardware but if had wanted reflected sound there’s plenty of ambiance in stereo recordings, electrostatic speakers and planar speakers have their adherents, however most of the studio, live performances on TV, and concert recordings were EQ’d with essentially the same speakers then as now and either take into account the inertia of woofers and tweets.
What a Peter Jackson edition could bring to the table could be a series called Alternate Takes too include all and sundry sources including bootleg and fan recordings. Sweden TV’s Drop In program has some of the most exciting performances by the Fab Four, but limited by the sound-man’s unfamiliarity of the Beatles taking different solos. There’s other taped off the air performances BBC by fans as well as stunningly absent omissions that were left out of from annual concerts awards for best band to Hamburg 1966 is among the better. One need not go any further than the bootlegs for content. There’s enough material and demand even from the Streamers, more material than to keep Apple in orange squash and make rationing unnecessary.
If Apple is only focused on The EMI/Parlophone catalog, Imagine what the AI could do with all the different LP and EP pressings and master tapes.? It’s easy if they try. Market saturation? After all these years? The Fans have always voted with their wallets. You only have to listen and give them what they want and ask for not what some executive thinks he knows best. And what they want is more.
I'm happy to have bought this album in 1977. It was, and still is, exciting to hear The Beatles live before they were repackaged by Brian Epstein. I don't understand The Beatles' reluctance to release these recordings officially. No one expects a polished performance and it doesn't take away from their later recordings. I do hope Peter Jackson can get his hands on them. I'm so glad I discovered your channel. A lifelong Beatles fan, I'm learning lots of new things.
They had already been repackaged by Brian Epstein
I had two discs (vinyl) that I bought in Florida in 1981. It's a shitty recording but it is historic nevertheless. I was disappointed when I heard it, but later learned to love it.
God what I wouldn't give for a quality recording of this era. The Star Club recordings are the next best thing, and it's a miracle they even exist. The amount of serendipitous moments in the bands history never ceases to amaze me.
You got Bbc Radio series of Beatles live in Radio Studio
You are so right about that. They serendipity is unbelievable. They were truly touched by God.
They were playing for drinking adults in a club as opposed teenagers. Different vibe.
I've loved The Star Club tapes ever since I bought a cassette of it back when I was a teen. And IMO if people want to know what put the Beatles miles ahead of other British bands at the time, then listen to Long Tall Sally: George's guitar is greased lightning, Paul is in top-notch screaming mode, John's rhythm never misses, and that unbelievably fast pounding done by Ringo at the end is just...wow. The best way I can describe it is 'punk before punk.'
John in Hamburg really was the first Punk rock musician wasn't he?
I would love to hear Peter Jackson's attempt at cleaning up the Hamburg Tapes. I bought a copy of the Lingasong album when I was 13 and listened to it nightly for 3 or 4 months. The raw energy of a hard driving guitar band absolutely prepared me for accepting Punk Rock when I finally heard it in 1979.
"Sweet Little Sixteen" is one of the greatest early rock performances. This is what being true to rock n' roll is all about. Lennon - blessed with one of the greatest if not the greatest rock n' roll voices - shines with that rock n' roll attitude while the band is in top form. I have listened to this record since its original release and it gives a vital soundtrack to the "Punk Rock" Beatles before they transformed to the "Rock" Beatles. Also, McCartney shines on this live record. Incredible that this band had two of the greatest rock n' roll singers in it. To me, if you want to hear a rock and roll band play that will just get you to dance or just mesmerize you with their music, listen to Sweet Little Sixteen. I still get goosebumps to this day hearing this album and this particular track. Keep on rockin'!
Don't forget Harrison's guitar work on Sweet Little Sixteen.
Agree the rawness makes it great. You even feel you are there
Sweet little 16 is rocking on the live at the BBC
@@billpuckett1065 no it was actually Lennon who played the solo
My God ! Amazing to hear someone saying this ! This was the first record I ever got and sweet little sixteen inspired me to play guitar. I always have said it is punk rock :)
I was a Freshman in High School in 1977. Thanks to my uncles, I was already a huge Beatles fanatic, so when I saw this at the record store, I quickly ran home, broke into my small piggy bank and bought it. I was fascinated by the music on it and thought the Beatles sounded raw and very rock n` roll. Listening to it today, they were Punk before Punk, and rocked much harder than the Stones.
yep. same with me. and spot on! Punk rock before punk rock, raw live sound. I learned to play guitar from the Star Club tapes, and I learned to love raw live recordings from them as well. So glad Brian Epstein didn't buy that tape in the 1960s when he had a chance. We still would never have been able to hear it yet. And its raw nature has had a crucial influence on diy punk rock recordings ever since it came out!
If the Ramones existed in 1962 that's exactly what they'd sound like I think
Listening to the Star Club album is like being outside the venue on the street and hearing this fantastic sound coming from inside. If we can find aliens who can be transported back in time, we can hand them state of the art recording equipment to get this performance down and bring it back in all it's aural glory.
I found this on vinyl in a used record store in the early 90s and snatched it right up no questions, still have it to this day! I mention it to life-long Beatles fans, and it is amazing how many have never heard of it!
With all it's imperfections, the Star Club recording is actually my favorite Beatle album. To get a studio quality version of it would be a dream come true.
Fantastic topic. Always loved these albums for their raw "in your face" quality and the wacky banter. Purple Chick's recent pass at this material sounds great. Well worth a listen.
Wacky banter
Lots of great history here I didn't know before. I bought a two-volume set on vinyl back in the mid 80s, but I always found the sound quality to be unlistenable so it's never spent much time on the platter. I'd love to see an official pressing by Apple with cleaned up audio, but knowing how much George disliked it, I can't imagine his family ever allowing it to proceed.
The most recent fan made remasters I've heard were major upgrades to what I've heard before and the brief samples I've heard of the original tapes were pretty impressive. I think if someone can get access to the original tapes then we could finally get something that's very listenable.
I bought a copy on vinyl. I seem to remember an f-bomb getting by from Paul. I loved the version of 'everybody's tryin' to be my baby' .I enjoyed it like any BEATLE record.
I have not tried to listen to this in 40 years. Back then, it was my brother who decided to buy a copy. I can easily state that I enjoyed 20+ minutes of you talking about this record better than I ever liked listening to 20 seconds of the actual tapings.
Thank you, Sir!
Commenting before I watch just to say, "Where Have You Been All My Life" is an ALL TIME Beatles number and one of the best Lennon vocals
In the Star Club recordings The Beatles preformence is truly "electrifying" and much better than The Hollywood Bowl, I've played them over and over again, you can see why they were so popular in Hamburg, I hope Peter Jackson can get his hands on them.
Randomly came across some of the star club recordings here on youtube and i instantly fell in love with it. The raw energy radiating from those recordings make up for the poor quality. For me, the Star Club is on par with the Rooftop as the Beatles at their very best. I would instantly buy an official box set of the recordings if it was to ever surface, especially because i was not around to enjoy any of the other star club releases when first released.
"As we know, all judges are Beatles fans." I'm loving the deep sarcasm, Andrew.
You did a great job of telling this story. It's understandable that the Beatles and their partners have always portrayed the Star Club tapes as a criminal enterprise, but your explanation gets at the big picture - the recordings are a crucial, if flawed, snapshot of a moment in the great band's evolution, out-of-focus with poor exposure, but a treasure indeed. Had Epstein purchased the tape when he had the chance, all of the legal strife could have been avoided. Instead, the tape languished unwanted, a buried artifact needing to be mounted and properly displayed.
Let's all hope that Peter Jackson once again works his magic on the Beatles legacy. He's already turned their troubled last days into gold - let's hope he can do the same for the beginning!
If Epstein had bought the tape, it might have simply disappeared...
I have taken a long time to put together a comment to this video because this album means so much to me.
My buddies and I were 16 the year this album came out. We were big Beatles fans, and we were eagerly anticipating the two live albums coming out, ‘Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl’ and ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club Hamburg Germany 1962’.
We were interested in hearing the Hollywood Bowl album because the story that went around for years is that the Beatles didn't play too well live. These were the days long before you could simply Google Beatles concerts online and pull them up on the internet. The Hollywood Bowl album also shut down that rumor permanently.
My friends and I had a little band comprised of bass, drums and two guitars (sound familiar?). We mostly played some Beatles covers, some Wings covers (‘Medicine Jar’, ‘Let me Roll It’, ‘Time to Hide’, etc.), and of course different songs that were current hits on the US charts at the time.
I was very fortunate that on release day for ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club’, the version that was being sold in our local record store was the German Bellaphon release. Later on I also had the American release, but I have always considered the German version to be far superior for many different reasons.
So why was this album so important to us? Like I said, we had a little band. We were kids from middle class families who weren't getting an awful lot of support from our parents, as far as having this band together was concerned. We played cheap instruments, bought from pawn shops or the Montgomery Wards catalog. We did the best we could with the less than optimal instruments and amplifiers that we had.
We used to record ourselves when we played too, and the results were pretty crude. The first time we listened to ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club’, one of the first things we said was that the Beatles sounded just like us! I think a lot of it was because their performances were not perfect, and the audio quality of the recordings was only as good as what our recordings sounded like.
So, what was so apocalyptic to us about these recordings? Well, as very young musicians, this album gave us hope. We knew that the Beatles were very young and very poor at this time, and they were working there hardest at these gigs in Hamburg - and where did they eventually go? ‘To the toppermost of the poppermost Johnny!’ We figured if this little band from Liverpool who was sweating through these gigs 15 years before we had started ended up doing pretty well, there was hope for us too.
We did end up pursuing music as a career, and played professionally in a new wave band in New England in the US up until the mid to late '80s. It was a lot of fun. We all still stay in contact with each other.
I know Paul and Ringo and the two surviving widows are not keen on releasing this set legitimately. I really don't know why. Back in the '80s, I thought the Beatles would never release anything more than the 13 songs of the original British canon, and not release any outtakes, or anything they felt would tarnish their shiny legacy. Of course, since then, things such as the two BBC sets in the Anthology sets have been released, not to mention all the outtakes on the additional discs for the different remasters/remixes in the past few years. I believe that ‘The Beatles Live at the Star Club’ album is a good representation of who they were in December 1962, and how it all started for them.
I really hope someday John and Ringo Olivia and Yoko will come to understand the value of this set not only to Beatles fans, but as inspiration to young musicians around the world.
Great times, Dana! Thanks for posting.
Thanks for another great video Andrew! I have a copy of the masterpiece OxTango Definitive Remaster Series 2 CD release from 2014. 34 total tracks. It is the best I have heard. I think it was mixed in such a way that makes you feel like you are in the audience.
I'd love to hear what Jackson could do with the recordings. Although I bought the Star Club album when it was released, it would be fantastic to hear what modern technology could accomplish with them
Would love an official release! All cleaned up and please include everything in a complete boxed set. Yes yes yes!!!
i always LOVED "red sails in the sunset" off this album! it rocks big time!
i have, or had, the original "77 american album release. it might have been an import though. i don't know. i owned a lot of imports. i added a few of the songs off the album onto any beatles compliation tapes i made, along with a few songs off the decca tapes, then never listened to it again. i'm surprised the courts didn't allow the release of these tapes purely on the basis of their historical value and significance.
damn, you and your team are GREAT! you really delve into all aspects of the history you're covering. even commenting on the disputed placement of the mic. keep up the good work. its appreciated!
I love George but he was invariably the first to put a downer on a Beatles venture. The Starclub Tapes are a document of immense importance; an inflexion point between two Beatle eras (local fame and worldwide fame) literally salvaged from the rubble of history with superb Hamburg style performances that you just don't get after the Beatles were cleaned up and 'sold out' as John put it. The only other comparable document left to posterity is Paul's copy of a Cavern performance with Pete Best but there are songs here you can't find anywhere else and great as the BBC Live tapes are they sound insipid by comparison.
This is precisely the value of the tapes. They shouldn't be cleaned up and made to sound new - would you 'clean up' the Dead Sea Scrolls? Neither the Beatles nor fans should treat these sounds as commercial quality releases. They are what they are - rough live recordings, just as you might make today on your phone in a club. (Actually of course, they were sonically remade a little with 1970s technology, otherwise you wouldn't have heard anything but noise - but the point stands.)
@@jackeppington6488 Point taken! I often find myself listening to Amplitude Modulation radio (AM) just because of the static! 😎 All part of the experience!
Here in Brazil was issued a double cd set, with the original art that you just showed. The track list includes all the songs of the UK and US versions. It's a great item to purchase! Thanks for the vídeo, Andrew! Carry on, please!
I'm glad that edward king-size taylor had the forsight to capture history at such a transitional period in the history of the beatles .
Thanks for the information on that album. I bought that album back in 1982 and it never sounded right and now your story makes sense.
I have this record. Yes vinyl LP. Love them. Hearing the back story about their recording & gussied up production still does not diminish their existence & perffoamce.
The story is much more interesting than actually sitting down and listening to the four half-baked sides. Thank you for great reporting Andrew!
Glad you enjoyed it, David.
This should definitely be officially released, even in poor audio format. It's a piece of history. You can hear what the Beatles sounded like before they hit it big, and it demonstrates why they hit it big. They were good right from the beginning. I was amazed by how hard they rocked way back then.
I think that all of those recordings should never be lost they should always be preserved the Hamburg tapes from the star club and also the Beatles home demo recordings especially from 1960 or so.
At one time we had 8 to 10 different issues..the bellaphon are the best!! Great job!! Thanks Andrew
Thanks for doing a video on this recording Andrew! I first got this in 1983 on an album called the Early Years on the Phoenix label and feeling ripped off thinking it was a studio album. I got away from it from years before rediscovering it and seeing what an exciting record it is. It’s full of energy and shows what a great band the Beatles were on stage. I know it’s not perfect but it’s the only Hamburg recording we have for now. Hopefully Peter Jackson will use his technology to clean up the tapes. The Zu Laut disc sounds terrific. I love the Beatles Mach Shau in Hamburg book, great stuff. Thanks for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it, Bill!
Great you like my book!
@@georgefromhenley I loved it…thank you!
So glad I bought the Lingasong pressing of this in 1977 when it first came out, AND BOTH of the "Pickwick" albums made from the same tapes... "First Live Recordings" black and white albums. A lot of the songs left off the U.S. pressing of the Lingasong double LP are on the two Pickwick albums. The Pickwick white "First Live Recordings Volume 1" album (SPC 3661) also includes The Beatles doing "Where Have You Been All My Life" plus a song performed by Kingsize Taylor's band called "Hully Gully" that was wrongly credited by Pickwick as "The Beatles." That's the only source I am aware of from the 1970s vinyl pressings with a "not the Beatles" recording at the Star Club from Kingsize Taylor's original tape reel.
Really hope that Jackson will be allowed to do his magic on the Star Club recordings!
what gets me is in the 70's we thought we knew everything and had heard everything about the beatles. Yet this channel continues to bring new insight to youtube, every time i come here. Great stuff. keep it up.
The MAL software makes revisiting these tapes so much more valid. I think Apple should let Peter Jackson play with their ‘cheeky’ copy of these recordings and seeing what comes back. Thanks for another amazing programme Andew.
Ironically, with the sleeve notes suggesting the recordings pre-dated the Beatles' EMI contract, that meant that they would therefore have still been under the contract signed with Bert Kaempfert in 1961, who released his recordings through Polydor. Presumably Polydor and its ex-producer Paul Murphy were unaware of this fact!
I had always avoided listening to this album but after your video I finally heard it. I think it's great and takes us back in time.
This is great. It has been many years since I've read about these tapes in length. You've put a lot of the pieces together here, that I've only read in bits and pieces in the past. Thank you for that. Since I first heard the US double album some time in 1978, I thought that the performances were fine, and now when I hear them, on older ears, the sound quality is alright too. I think Peter Jackson's claims are vastly over-stated in order to financially benefit from it. He's putting his name in the ring NOW. Unless there's more re-masterings of the Beatles' catalog for the third or fourth time, there's not much "new" to look forward to down the road. I'm sure that whatever powers-that-be at Apple today, could be very much set aside with a positive nod from Paul McCartney. What does he, Ringo and Beatles' fans have to lose? If it sells, cheers all around - if it doesn't, it's because loyal fans worldwide have already researched it, purchased it and enjoyed it for decades. Everybody wins. And, let's face it, I've found recordings on this platform (the tube of you) that are much more rare. Things recorded in the McCartney's living room and various rehearsal sessions. I do hope these will come out. I imagine that the only roadblock would be somebody coming forth to claim that since they are a living descendant of Ted Taylor or Paul Murphy, they deserve a sizable chunk of the profits. We'll all have to wait and see.
I had a copy of the U.S. release and recall it had something to do with a ghost corporation in San Juan PR get around US copyright law. I gave my copy to my sister who attended the Beatles evening show August 1965 at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. It’s sound quality was a bit lower in volume but the energy was incredible. George flubbed the opening riff Roll over Beethoven, maybe a reason for his animosity. An unreleased track from the BBC sessions with an announcer’s intro over the first notes has the same vibe, the Beatles before the edges were knocked off. The two volumes CD (my copies said Sony in the US) I gave to my son, but was by comparison the clean up sounded as though there was a blanket over the speakers or headphones as though the sound engineer was attempting to make it sound like the Parlophone LP albums (without the exciting sound).
Among the bootleg albums “{VE} Records” The Beatles vs The Third Reich LP and later digital Remastered cd with bonus tracks, longer excerpts of some or parts of missing incomplete versions on Anthology Plus and Anthology More My Baby is Red Hot (these Anthologies contain some alternate takes were one of the Fab Four made a mistake-a blooper reel).
If you can find Jimco Inc/ San Juan Music Group CD 38CP-44 version manufactured byTeichiku Record Co, LTD in Japan it has the best Sound Quality the closest to the original lip with 32 tracks.
Be Bop A Lula is the Star Club’s owner brother singing backed by the Beatles. Hully Gully isn’t the Beatles. Falling in Love Again and Besame Mucho (as recorded on 6-6-1962 artist test). Missing Road Runner. On a cd bootleg Road Runner (vocals faint after several starts) warm up. Money Beautiful Girl Lovesick Blues, My first taste of love, Dizzy Miss Lizzy (not the Beatles singing with piano ), A-message to you, this claims to be from a different tape copy (a likely story and some unlistenable).
I would pay real money for the “Get Back” Treatment For the Star Club, both for the Beatles alone, and for the other groups recorded a complete time capsule of the Hamburg club scene. I notice that the earlier guitar fill found on than the demo recorded at the Cavern Club of 17 aka I saw her standing there is with John sing along still present the guitar solo alone is worth the effort. Do we have to wait for another decade or two for this to happen
Too bad there’s no complete version of George singing My Baby is Red Hot, his vocal was so uninhibited not what you’d expect from the Quiet Beatle.
This was a very meaningful video for me. Recording at the Star Club feels the heat of the Beatles. It's a pity that this recording has been reconstructed and will not appear.
The 32-track two-disc LP album sold in Japan in 1986 was the one I bought when I was just starting the collection!!
Loved this vignette of history telling! I’ve owned all versions, like so many others in the world. I believe Peter Jackson could do a stellar job with these recordings. And that WOULD be a treat! This album has always remained a treat from Japanese cd versions in the late 80’s to everything in between and before and after.
Thanks, Andrew, for spotlighting this diamond in the rough! Brilliant!
Many thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Great video! I grabbed the Sony CDs in '91 for their raw historical value despite the quality. At some point in the future, the recordings will be considered more important than we think they are.
Thank you, I was very much looking forward to this one 🤜
Hope you enjoyed it!
I bought this when I was around 12 years old (1980). Listened to it over and over!
Being a teenage punk rocker in 1977. I had an instant affinity with the legendary raw rough sweaty delinquent testosterone bootleg quality of the Young PUNK Beatles at the Star Club. It sounded just like the badly recorded cheap Lo Fi cassettes of our own pub and college gig bands, which we enthusiastically circulated amongst good mates in our local student music underground scene. MIDDLE AGED MIDDLE CLASS RECORD BUSINESS EXECS AND LAWYERS ARE SO CLUELESS regarding what loyal consumers actually want to buy to enjoy.
I think that's another part of its release that was missed in the video: It was a clever way to unofficially market The Beatles to a generation of punks who'd otherwise write them off as "sissy" or weak music.
Gary - it wasn't middle class executives or lawyers, but the testimony of George Harrison himself who testified that persueded a judge to give the verdict he did. Being a musician myself I can undestand why some musicians don't want sub-par performances out in the market. My real complaint as a Producer and label owner that there are those who believe all music should be free discounting any investment made by a label or even a band that paid to have a recording done professionally. It's whatever the individual artist wants. You chose to give away your music. George Harrison chose to defend his right as an artist. Record labels are only in it to make money, not truly caring about the artist regardless of their stature.
@@cguzelli1 By the mid 70s Harrison was a spoilt over pampered corporate celebrity who had disappeared too far up his own spiritual arse hole . Who apparently had lost any relationship with his youthful baser rock roots. [I say this as a fan who to this day considers George one of the 2 most important Beatles. I even continued buying his substandard solo LPs of the pre-punk years]. Like too many over indulged egotistical 'artists', he was not always the best judge of what his fans actually wanted. Many of us had waited years for the Star Club tapes to be officially released. Resorting to lawyers, was a mistake - but he was immensely wealthy, and that's what the rich do to get their own way, no matter how petty and mean spirited.
@@garycrant4511 far from being spoiled. The Beatles including George's songs published under Northern Songs weren't even owned by them. The greatest insult was Michael Jackson outbidding Paul for their works. That anyone believes fame brings happiness, it often brings the exact opposite. We will disagree on many items since I believe the Artist should have a say in what happens to their creative works. Many times the Artist knowingly or unknowlingly sign those rights away. You believe that art belongs to the fans. Over my 47 years in the sphere of the music industry as a musician, producer and label owner, I know musicians who feel the same way you do. We will disagree and let's leave it at that. By the way, I love George more for his spirituality and humanitarian causes more than his guitar playing. Even though to me, he is one of the most underrated guitarists, lead or otherwise of all time. His composition of "Something" has been covered far more times than any Lennon-McCartney song. Hopefully we can agree on that.
@@cguzelli1 @Charles Guzelli I've long maintained that the absolute worst most off putting aspect of The Beatles are their annoyingly sycophantic over defensive 'know-all' zealot super fans'... Now you are starting to give the impression you may be one of these self appointed Beatles history bores.. Yes you have already mentioned your long illustrious history in the music Biz.. Big deal, I also have been in bands since 1973, and set up a record lable in the late 70s.. It was not such a special thing to brag about, when so many bands of that fine era created their own indie labels and print magazines for like minded musicians and related creative artists..... In the spirit of friendship, I have no need to argue with a total stranger with whom I may share so much in common.. But you really do seem to have overreacted with a bee in your bonnet to a simple tongue in cheek throwaway comment about middle class music execs, bringing to it too much baggage from your own personal agenda ??????.. I repeat, it is a perfectly reasonable assertion that the Beatles and /or their legal representatives acted like dicks by suppressing the Star Club tapes for so many years... It seems they were offered ample opportunity to buy and profit from the tapes - many thousands of Music fans were desperate to hear in reasonable cleaned up sound quality, which the likes of EMI/APPLE/ ANY Major Label could have done by state of the art mid 70s audio standards... I remember enjoying a book in the early to mid 70s, an unofficial history of the Beatles and other Mersey Bands in Hamburg, which for the first time made the Beatles sound like real rough and tough, undisciplined, young rockers that I and my teenage contemporaries could relate to. Rather than the famous celebrity tamed teenybop popstars in suits, or stoned arty farty weirdo hairy hippies that mainstream media portrayed them as... The Star Club tapes are an essential historic artifact of their early years which enrich the legacy of The Beatles.
A fun challenge (before UA-cam and online digits music) was collecting original versions of the many cover songs on the Star Club recordings. A collection of all the cover songs the Beatles performed will give you real education on the early years of rock and roll. The Beatles really knew how to select great songs to perform.
Thanks Andrew, good video which filled in a lot of the gaps of what I knew. Cheers
I have two different versions of these recordings. The first one is the two individual CDs called "The Beatles Live At The Star Club 1962 Vol.1 and 2" (Sony Music Special Products/Columbia Records 1991) with 11 tracks on each disc. The other version is called "Last Night In Hamburg-The Beatles" (Roc Cartoon RCAR 102 5213 with a release date of 1999) This version is just one disc, but 28 songs, with a different running order than the Star Club CDs.
Still have this album in my collection also live at the Hollywood Bowl.
Thanks, Andrew. Another fascinating and comprehensive report. Perhaps someone should start an online petition.
I tip my hat to you Andrew.
A story that needed clarification. I don't know how you make it looks so easy to research this deep history. I dont know where you get your references?
The star club album has always been a hidden gem that mere mortals dont know about. I love them!
Thanks for all your great work.
Thank you, Sir!
Great job, congratulations! Being a teenager and avid Beatles fan in the 80s in Athens, Greece, I stumbled upon one of the later reissues of these recordings: a 3-LP box-set called "The Historic Sessions", by Phoenix Records, UK. I bought it on the spot, even if it was a bit pricey, but it was proved a good value for money. It contains the Decca demo album (record 1) with Pete Best on drums and the "Star-Club" recordings (records 2 and 3), with Ringo giving the beat, as known. The "Star-Club" records are more a hybrid of both the UK and US versions, as the issue contains the four tracks of the US one, plus the three tracks that were replaced from the UK issue. "Reminiscing" is the missing track - all the others are included. The sound is pretty poor, but due to the recording - I don't think that the "original" Lingasong/Bellaphone issues could improve it significantly.
Anyway, it was a good add-on for the young Beatles completist I used to be! On the minus side: the material is rather mediocre. I haven't given it a listen for eons, but I wasn't impressed back then. It was full of RnR covers, of poor sound quality, and even the band itself seemed not in top form, to put it mildly. It is a historical artifact, for sure - and that's it (on the other hand, neither the "Holywood Bowl" album is of extreme quality - the music is barely audible, due to the frenzied screams!).
If someone can give the material a better treatment and issue it properly, maybe it will become a more vivid part of the Beatles catalog. As it is, it stands only for the completist. And not for repetitive listening, IMO.
Info about the issue I am talking about here: www.discogs.com/release/4822766-The-Beatles-The-Historic-Sessions
You're right mr. Williamson. I bought my first Beatles single in 1963. And wouldn't have missed it for the world. I cherish magical moments listening to new Beatles outcome. Listening to them brings back time. I mean Pepper in '67 is a complete different story than Pepper now.
Another great Beatles video, Andrew. I consider you one of the more reliable sources of Beatles' real facts and lore.
I used to have the German Bellaphon LPs not long after they were originally released, thanks to my German contact. However, I loaned them out (to a now-former friend) and they were returned in very poor condition. Later I came across the Sony CDs and again they left my hands.
I sure would love to have an official release of the Star Club tapes, especially if Peter Jackson were involved.
Thank you, Joel.
I was and remember when this first came out in the USA..we were all waiting for a live LP and rumors were everywhere.. I couldn’t wait..and finally the StarClub live LP was out ..I bought it and was quickly disappointed in the sound as it was very amateurish in quality..oh.. it was a fun first listen to the real early stuff..but it was almost like hearing a different Beatles..in a way it was a different Beatles!! Then the Hollywood Live album came out and it was the real deal..all the excitement of the Beatles ..reading Sir Martin’s comments on how hard it was trying to find out ways to produce and mix it down!! I loved it big time!! Your explanation was SPOT ON as per usual!! Thanks so much for all you do.. I will always be so thankful to have been alive during the whole Beatles Experience..I’m 72.. and have quite my own collection.. but nothing like your own!! AWESOMENESS
Jerry Lee Lewis at The Star Club backed by The Nashville Teens is a very good disc as well. But this is excellent info of this disc as always. Thanks Andrew
Jerry Lee's live Starclub is one of the all time great live RnR recordings.
Hi Andrew, I went to see Ringo in New Hampshire last night and it was such a great show. I’m English (also a US citizen now) and it was wonderful to see the outpouring of love and affection for Ringo from a 9000 crowd.
I love all your videos. I think people would be interested in a video about your Beatles journey and Parlogram Auctions. You’re a similar age to me. I got into The Beatles after John died and during my teen years they were everything to me. It seems strange now that in the 80s no one at school was into them and they’d been consigned to history in the larger culture. it wasn’t until the 90s with Oasis, Nirvana and others that they came into prominence again, a position that hasn’t changed since.
Norman Maslov, who has a UA-cam channel and co wrote The Beatles England says he was shocked to go to Liverpool in the late 70s and it was as if they’d never existed, very different from today when we have a whole tourist industry (including hotel) based on The Beatles.
Sorry to go on but would love to hear your journey. Thanks for what you do.
Thanks for your interest, Keith. I'll give it some thought. Nice to hear about the Ringo show.
@@Parlogram Thank You Sir
Thanks for the very interesting story. I now appreciate my copy of the Hamburg tapes double album even more. The idea put forward by Peter Jackson is amazing, and I would love to see it happen.
You just read in my mind Andrew, I just bought a copy of the german pressing only a couple of days before you put out this video!
These recordings are a piece of history and deserve to be owned and listened in my opinion.
Cheers!
this is my favorite Beatles record. its this scratchy sound with a solid beat that i love the most
The sound Peter Jackson managed to extract from the Nagra tapes is truly great. It would be amazing to have a box set with every recording sounding like that (the Nagra is much better recorder,of course, but it'd probably sound better that the original record).
Thanks again, Andrew. I've always found these recordings interesting, and a valuable part of Beatles history. You are so correct about Apple being out of touch: there are so many projects they could do, that I'm sure we'll never see. I guess we're going to have to be content with our bootlegs.
A great explanation of the history of these controversial tapes, Andrew! I bought the album on the Lingasong label when it was released in April 1977 and although I knew that the sound quality would be lo-fi, I was sufficiently disappointed to play the records only once! I still have the Melody Maker issue you showed when the Star Club album was released and your video has prompted me to go and read it again!
Thanks Nick. Have fun listening to it again.
Andrew, fantastic information as always. Thank you for another great video. I agree 100 percent, would love to hear new star club tapes from Apple.
Hi Andrew. Thanks for all the details behind this prized live recording!! The recordings are rough, but using source separation software it would be possible to isolate the elements, clean them up & make these songs into stereo. In my experience, i think getting good separation of the vocals is going to be the most difficult part though. It could take 120 plus hours to do each song!!
Great job as usual Andrew. There is a bit more to the history of Paul Murphy and The Beatles. Murphy was close friends with Johnny "Guitar" Byrne, guitarist for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes (where Ringo was obviously their drummer). Murphy and Johnny Guitar recorded the first RnR record in Liverpool, predating That'll Be The Day by almost a year. This recording is mentioned in Tune In and gave the locals, including Harrison, the knowledge about where to make a record.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips%27_Sound_Recording_Services
What I love the most about this recording is the way that it highlights Ringo’s playing. He is definitely the best musician on the and propels the band in a way that pulled them up to the next level with him rather than Pete on drums.
Do it! Do it! Do it! Recorded at the studio great upload I enjoyed all the information on the greatest band in the world The Beatles ❤thank you
I'm not a huge Beatles fan but I am a history buff. That's the way I approach your videos. I learn a lot about the time period, recording techniques and the personalities of the Beatles and their inner circle. Thanks for all your hard work and talent.
Thank you. I appreciate that.
So cool to hear the full story behind these recordings, at last. Thank you, Andrew!
The first I'd heard of the Star Club tapes was when a friend's sister had obtained a copy. She was a newspaper music critic at the time and was given hundreds of new albums every year, keeping only those she liked. Her copy was the Lingasong album with the white lettering and I distinctly recall reading the false Ringo sitting in story. Knowing their history, I did question how accurate that was, but the tracks were definitely the real thing albeit pretty rough recordings.
I was finally able to obtain my own copy (actually copies) when a Pickwick sub-release came out in 1979. Sides 1 and 2 comprised Volume One with a white cover and black text. Volume 2, sides 3, and 4 being a black cover with white lettering. Both albums simply repeated the text of the other, most of which was a quote from a 1977 book, The Beatles Forever by NIcholas Schaffner. In it, he claims that Kingsize Taylor had made this recording of The Beatles "for a lark" and that Alan Williams alone had discovered the tape in an abandoned office beneath a pile of rubble. Pickwick makes the claim that they used their own equipment to rebalance the vocals more to the fore than in the Lingasong version. It had also been "rechanneled for stereo".
As for an official Apple release of these tapes with Peter Jackson at the helm, I would leap at the opportunity to have such a thing! Listening to what he and his team were able to do with the Let It Be sessions, I can think of no one better qualified for the project. Come on, Apple!
One of the first beatles lps I bought. Though sound was not so great you can feel the excitment on the stage. They are great recordings and we lucky they excist. Like lennon said 'thats the real beatles before they knocked the edges off' Its a great document.Amzing video Andrew!
Thank you, Leo.
I've never heard of Johnny and the hurricanes before watching this, thanks for introducing me to them. I put them on my echo dot while I'm watching the video, love those groovy sounds. Great video today Andrew! I love the story behind the music, very interesting. I can't blame George Harrison or anybody else for that matter for not wanting others to make money off of their work. Would any of us want other people getting paid for what we did? We all know the answer, LMAO. Now I have a fun rabbit hole to jump down, i'm going to look around for the best sounding recordings of the Beatles playing at the cavern club I can. I really enjoyed watching today! Keep up the great work! Can't wait to see what you get into next! Keep up the great content n keep it Poppin🍾
Cheers Patty 🙏
Brilliant Andrew, it is always great to hear the background facts you supply us with. I hope Apple listen. Thank you for another great video.
Thanks for covering this topic Andrew. Excellent, as always. I purchased all those LPs at the time because I thought hearing them was incredible and the sound quality not being an issue considering the content. The Zu Laut! you mentioned was a revelatiion on how good they could sound (and a big improvement over the Purple Chick version that was previously the best at that time), and can only imagine the improvement Peter Jackson could do with them with the latest technology. I understand the tape itself is pretty well cut up by now, and the track orders could never be properly reassembled, but his work on Get Back was so amazing, I wouldn’t be surprised what he could do with this. Really enjoyed it. Thanks again. :- )
Another fantastic and informative piece Andrew! Danke sehr!
I finally bought a Batktabak release in the early 1990s, and it was around this time that I found out about the true date of the recordings which just happens to be when I was born - 21st of December 1962. So they have a special meaning for me.
I have never even heard this, so it is about time I finally got around to it!!
Been watching these videos for quite a while now. They're overflowing with detail, history and facts that any discerning Beatles fan like me absolutely love! Keep up the great work.
Glad you're enjoying them, Mark!
Another excellent video! My CD copy sounds great (well…relatively speaking) and that’s enough for me.
I’d love a follow up video comparing the sound quality of various releases. They’re all over UA-cam already!
It's my favourite live album. Glad I bought that one iso Hollywood Bowl
Thanks for the video. I have the lingasong version which is still a fascinating piece of history and if Peter Jackson got involved who knows.
You're welcome, Edward. Let's hope they can work something out.
If indeed the white mic you showed when talking about Kingsize Taylor was the one he used, it was the Sennheiser MD-421, one of my favorite dynamic microphones, whether for recording or broadcast use. We used one as the announce mic at the #1 FM station on the Central California Coast during the 1980’s. In Sennheiser’s advertising in both Professional Recording and Broadcasting magazines, they pointed out the fact that it was difficult to come up with a sound loud enough to overdrive the MD-421 into distortion, and illustrated this claim in print by showing a .38 caliber pistol being fired less than two inches from its windscreen! This claim was true, although you’d need a mic preamp that could handle a pretty hefty mic signal without distorting. The MD-421 is is no longer made in its original, metal-bodied form. But the company does make what’s called the MD-421 II, which has a plastic body. It’s quite a bit lighter than the metal-bodied original, but it still feels quite substantial in your hand. It is best used on a stand. And it utilizes the same capsule (that’s the part which picks up the sound, in what’s known as a cardioid pattern), and has the same frequency response characteristics as the original. “Cardioid?”, you ask. That means the pickup pattern is rather heart-shaped, so this mic tends to reject sounds coming from the sides or the rear, and it emphasizes sound coming from directly in front of the microphone. However, the lighter plastic body is slightly more susceptible to resonances resulting from loud environments - such as on stage with a rock band. Some recording engineers love them as kick-drum mics, and The Beatles were filmed in concert using them as vocal mics. The 421 has three separate frequency responses, selected by turning a ring around the microphone’s XLR-type plug (the “M” setting has the most bass response, while the “S” setting, all the way in the opposite direction from “M”, has the least. The Sennheiser MD-421 II is sold at Pro Audio dealers, as well as Broadcast Supply houses, for around $350 U.S. dollars.
You never disappoint me, Andrew! Every week is an even bigger surprise than the last! Don't know how you do this, but it's miraculous!
Thanks! 😊
Thank you for this. The Beatles in Hamburg is possibly my favorite chapter of their history. I remember vividly getting the Star Club album on 8-track tape for Christmas, 1977, when I was 11. Although the quality of the performances is uneven, and even in the best-sounding versions the audio quality is not the too good, I would defend the music overall. To me, the reasons behind the excitement being generated by the Beatles at this stage of their career can be heard loud and clear, in spite of the murky recording. I knew relatively little of the history of the tape that you discuss here. Very interesting stuff. I didn't know Allan Williams was involved in the story. Anyway, thanks again for this. Let's hope they let Peter Jackson restore this piece of history.
I came across this cassette back in the early 90s (black label one) - I loved it, warts & all. I didn’t know much about the bootlegs, but this one was awesome. Thanks for the history behind it!
I bought the Bellaphon copy when it was first released in 1977, and I’m glad I did. The version of ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ is outstanding, even without the guitar solo. Thanks for posting!
Love this channel. Always learning something new.
Glad you're enjoying it, Ric.
Another great video! So glad you covered this album
Thanks, glad you enjoyed it!
Amazing! I was really hyped for this!
Absolutely tremendous presentation as usual, but...I was hoping you would delve into the actual recordings themselves, there's lots of stories to be told about how the tapes have been altered, edited etc, and questions about who plays what etc - probably deserves a separate follow up video.
I agree! This should be a two part video!
Excellent analysis and details. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed it!
What an interesting feature, I remember buying the two live albums in 77, but have only listened to the Star club one a couple of times. It would be great if Peter Jackson could bring the recordings to life and the Queen could give him a long overdue knighthood!!
Great vid thank you Andrew. I found a Bellaphon copy of the Star Club recordings at a boot sale in the early 00s. I'd avoided it previously because of the reported quality issues, so it wasn't an urgent play when I got home. Or indeed until 2019, when I was pleasantly surprised, the authentic performance outweighs the technical shortcomings. I'm really looking forward to hearing it again in another 12 years 😉. Cleaned up ringy dingy digital clarity? Mmmm not sure about that one.
This brings back memories, I perchested this album back in the late 70s when it first came out, with alongside a stack hi fi costing a mear 499 pounds. Still expensive today but back in the 1970s it was like taking on a mortgage, with 12 monthly payments. I tried this album on my new hi fi the quality was very poor, not knowing the sniffegens of this beatle album I past it on with some dinky toys to help pay my first month's instalments, I wished I'd kept it. I just love the cover and the old photos inside, l have a cd 1962 recordings cat number c.t.a.b 5oo1 with a black and white photo of the beatles on the front , with mccartney lying down, are these the same recordings as the album, I like to know, by the way I took the hi fi out of moth balls today, and it still works now 46 years old. Thank you keep up the good work.
Wow! What a great storytelling, beautifully made. 👍😎.
I could watch it the whole day. 🍺 Greetings from Germany 👋
Wow, thank you! 🙏
Andrew, please consider another segment on the Hamburg period! The book you mention at the end looks INCREDIBLE and I wish I could locate a seller. You teased that you could do a whole segment around that book.......I beg you.....MAKE IT HAPPEN. Massive respect mate. You are the topper-most of the popper-most!
Thank you, Tommy! The Hamburg book is an incredible resource and I will return to this period in 2023.
Thank you. That was fascinating. I bought the Lingasong edition in 1977. Loved it then, love it now.
I love all of your videos, but that was arguably the best you’ve done so far!