Are Esher demos the greatest out-of-nowhere gift to fans in rock history?

Nah. That would be the Freeman tapes of the Velvet Underground from Max's Kansas City. Or the End Cole Avenue second set.
Plus the Who San Francisco show mentioned upthread.

 

It's a magical tape.A real treasure.

 

Back in 1996 we were blessed with a CD worth of demos and outtakes from The White Album, I think it is my favourite side of all the Anthologies as it feels like an "Alternative White Album". I never could have dreamed that 22 years later we would get what just dropped on us. I only have the 3cd so far, but am playing disc three and absolutely loving it. Christmas has come early for sure.

 

Sounds fantastic. I agree with OP... quite a gift.

 

I'll concede. "SteveM" (above), the man actually from Esher has convinced me.. I'll get me coat..

 

Pretty sure it is actually 100% the brand new Van Morrison spot release this week. Find it if you can.

 

I totally agree with the OP. The demos on the WA50 box are bloody beautiful. This is from someone who has had tapes, then CDs of the Esher Demos in various quality up to the cleaned up version released onto the net earlier this. I've always loved listening to them and playing the box set versions is more than wonderful.

What the Beatles fanatics/experts/aficionados on here need to remember is that there are millions of huge Beatles fans out there in the real world who are totally unaware of any Beatles bootlegs. They will have all the albums and singles but because they don't have or are aware of the bootlegs dosen't make them a lesser fan than ANYBODY who comes on here.

I saw The Beatles at a very young age at The Plaza in St. Helens on Merseyside in 1963 but I didn't own a bootleg of the band until around 1985. Does that make me a lesser Beatles fan than some of those with their tired remarks on this thread who think they are better than Johnny Average Beatle Fan, I'll argue until Carnival Of Light is officially released that they are not.

Good on you @spice9 for posting this thread, this forum is yours as much as these elitists.

 

Thank you very much for saying that! I'm a huge Beatles fan, but I have absolutely no interest in bootlegs of any kind and it doesn't matter who the band is.

 

They certainly are a musical treasure, but they most definitely aren’t “out of nowhere”.

 

Just finished my first listen on the double lp, really special...

 

No,not really.

 

If it wasn't for this forum I never would have grabbed that in time ! Thank you thank you thank you ! That's what I call "the greatest gift out of nowhere" !

 

George said EEEsher, he lived there and owned the recordings so ill default to that. If one of you can provide better credentials, Ill re-consider

 

The Esher demos were remixed by Giles and the annoying out of sync double tracked vocals have been put in sync or eliminated on some tracks. Strangely, they no longer sound right.

 

I've now listened to the all of the Esher demos on the new set. Nice. But, I'll probably never revisit them.

 

I bought this vinyl box set mainly to hear these Esher demo's, as I'm not a completist I have never heard these before.
I have listened to three of the four sides and totally blown away by the quality of these demos, cannot believe how good they sound.
I will definitely listen to these demos's again, depending on ones mood, these are a real treat compared to the released version, as in a little laid back.

 

The Holy Grail for this Beatle fan. And within the Holy Grail the new version of 'Sour Milk Sea' is the Holiest of Holies.

 

Hyperbole thread titles like this are the biggest, out of nowhere, clickbait irritant in rock history.

 

No. I would say the 2018 White Album remix is the biggest gift ever.

 

No. They are demos, sketches, vague ideas, considered not fit for release by the artists, thrown out decades later by bean counters. Enough with the super deluxe barrel scrapings.

 

I agree, absolutely...

 

And George too!

 

The greatest gift to us progressive rock fans was a little 2 disk cd titled "Nightcap" by Jethro Tull. All profits went to charity which was a nice touch I thought.

 

I usually avoid bootlegs, but these demos were an exception (the other being the Glyn Johns mix of Let it Be). The sound quality of the copy I have had for probably close to 20 years is terrible. Having them now like this is a real treat.

 

I don't know anyone in England that pronounces Esher with a short E, not a long one. It's like not knowing how to pronounce Leicester or Gloucester.