The Beatles - Bootleg Recordings 1963, NEW iTunes release 17. December 2013

There are more, but DBM is right at the start of this one...

 

I'll never tire of hearing the flub outtakes for 'This Boy'.

 

Don't Bother Me is one of the songs "out there." This Boy was released on the Free As A Bird EP and the excerpts of I Want To Hold Your Hand are from Rock Band. The entire session reel E50527 (Don't Bother Me takes 10-13 and Hold Me Tight takes 20-23) is "out there" in pristine quality. Ron

 

Assuming that this is in fact an iTunes release for the USA, will it be available as early as late Monday night Eastern time?

 

I've got Takes 21-29 (announced "take 2x track 2") (21,22-24,25-26,27-28,29). All of them sound pretty good (like the YouTube clip).

No sign of 20.

Wonder where 24-29 came from. I'm confused.

 

IIRC, those are the overdub takes (extra vocals and handclaps) onto the basic master.

 

Take 20 starts out with Paul explaining an intro idea (soon dropped) to Ringo. Norm Smith says "Hold Me Tight" this is a remake, we'll call it take 20. They attempt the intro and Paul says, it's a bit much, sounds like "Running Bear". They briefly try it again and stop. Norm then announces the next take as take 20, instead of 21. Ron

 

Oops, I made a mistake. The session reel (and b00t) contains takes 20-29 of Hold Me Tight. Here's the box...

 

A few questions mostly about the law.

1. If anything by The Beatles, or any other artist, that is discovered in the future but recorded pre-1963, but never commercially released, does that immediately enter the public domain and anyone can release it and make money off it?
2. What if a promo-only record was released in 1962 by an artist, but a commercial release was never issued - is that now in the public domain, too?
3. Where's the Rolling Stones bootleg release news?

Jeff

 

1. Yes
2. No (I think)
3. Don't know, although that will probably start next year, I imagine.

 

1. Yes, anything recorded pre-1963 is now in the public domain (UK/EU)... whether it was previously released or not.
2. Not sure.
3. The Stones don't have much unreleased material from 1963. And what there is is owned by ABKCO, not the Stones themselves. I believe there's one BBC broadcast (Saturday Club) a few demos and a few songs from IBC Studios. Next year will be a different matter altogether. Ron

 

This time you beat me!

 

Some of the Saturday Club songs were actually released on a various artist compilation that was released in 1964. So those songs are protected through 2014. Ron

 

What a bunch of hacks........amazing they got any good takes

 

Wow, did they bring Pete Best back to play drums on this session?

 

A few comments -

1) Even if they're available for 1 day, you'll easily be able to get them from torrent sites. (If you don't want people to download stuff illegally then make it widely available.)
2) If they do this for 1964-1970, we're in for an annual Beatle treat!
3) Sound quality is astounding.

 

Not quite, Ron; there was a 1964 compilation LP called 'Saturday Club', but the Stones tracks (and, I'm guessing, the other acts' too) were from their regular Decca studio recordings, not BBC broadcasts:
http://www.stonesondecca.com/4D1 Compilations/4D3_Saturday_club.html

 

The law doesn't appear to stipulate that something has to be commercially released, or that it has to have been mass-produced. It just says that if "a fixation of the performance in a phonogram is lawfully published or lawfully communicated to the public" then copyright expires after 70 years. I would think that releasing a recording as a promo would still constitute communicating it to the public. In which case such a recording would not become public domain at the 50-year mark.

Another interesting point about the new law though is that if a recording is out of print, a performer may reclaim the copyright from the record company after 50 years. So a promo release would be owned by the performer, not the record company. And so too would any 50+ year old releases that are not currently in print.

 

Can't wait for the '66/67 stuff. Would be great to have an official release of all the Strawberry Field sessions.

I'm loving this new copyright law.

 

Ahh, see that's what I get from going on fading memories!! Thanks for the correction. Ron

 

Correct me if am wrong, but didn't Lewisohn state in the Recording Sessions book that there was a policy that took place once the Beatles got popular to save EVERYTHING they did, including 4 tracks and not just the completed masters? Of course, they did not save rehearsals, but it was put forth that all the studios takes were to be saved. I will have to look it up in the book to note on which page he said this.

 

The artists aren't!

 

Interesting comment on WogBlog today:

"...the 1963 recordings we listed yesterday is not complete. It only includes some of the material that is already available on bootlegs or which the company believes are circulating among collectors.

So what if there are more tapes circulating than Universal Music/Apple Corps Ltd knows about? Will private collectors who have so far kept this material for themselves and their friends be able to contact independent record labels in the new year and release their (now under public domain) recordings legally? If so, this release misses it's mark. And what about other 1963 recordings that are already bootlegged but hasn't been released officially - neither on previous releases nor on this new compilation?

Only if they release another set prior to December 31st will they retain copyright to vault leaks, acetate takes, concert recordings etc that may be lurking in the chambers of private collectors."

http://wogew.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/beatles-bootleg-recordings-1963.html

This story ain't finished by a long way yet.

 

Why contact record label? Set up your own digital downloading system once they are PD. Go with an indie like Amoeba dies. They are already set up and have been doing this for the past year or so. I'm sure bye would do a split.

 

Amoeba has a legal bootleg series as their own in-print? Link please! Very curious.

Thanks,

Jeff