Beatles Session Tapes

I got an interesting Cd from a mail order house recently.

Its called "The Beatles One After 909", and basically, its all the session tapes from the first two Lps.

There has been a lot of talk about how EMI deliberately erased session tapes after the mone and stereo mixes were made. I'm starting to think this wasnt the case.

About HALF of the Session tapes from that first session still exist. There are endless takes of "Misery", "Theres a place", etc.

Also about half the songs from the "With The Beatles" sessions exist.


So, It seems to me that EMI didnt deliberately erase Session Reels of The Early Beatles, because then they would have erased ALL of them, not half of them. Rather, I think the missing Session Reels were either not labled, misplaced, or even stolen when The Beatles started to get huge.

The session reels for the She Loves You session are ALL missing, everything. That seems like a theft to me, as The Beatles were pretty big by that time. Erasing masters of your current cash cow doesnt sound like a smart thing, even for EMI.


Its really interesting to hear those session reels. That first Lp was recorded, start to finish in ONE Day. It still sounds pretty great to me!!

 

EMI did not regularly begin to save session tapes until 1964. They were intentionally scrapped to save money and storage costs. That is why so many pre-1964 tapes are missing. After all, in 1960's thinking, EMI had the master - what value was there in the various other session takes? The pre-64 tapes that have survived are mainly attributed to pure luck.

Many record companies disgarded session tapes under this same way of thinking. Look what RCA did in 1959 - they ordered the diposal of nearly every session tape they had. The only reason many survived was that they were recorded elsewhere (re: Elvis' Radio Recorder sessions) or misfiled.

 

That's not necessarily true.

EMI were meticulous at labeling tape boxes (compared to other studios) and they wouldn't just forget to label certain tapes, methinks.

Similar example:

All of the session reels for Pink Floyd's "Piper" album have vanished...except for "Matilda Mother", the first song recorded, and the tape box notes are meticulous. There is a sloppily-marked mutli-track from another studio for "Arnold Layne" (contents unknown) and the rest of the single multis have vanished too. Everything from late 1967 on seems to have been saved.

The Abbey Road engineers insist that the missing reels were erased and re-used.

Others tend to think the tapes were "stolen" as you say, but I don't think it's likely.

I think it's most likely that the tapes were just deliberately erased (as the Abbey Road engineers say) or possibly misfiled (and thus very lost or even destroyed).

 

Re: Re: Beatles Session Tapes

JWB is correct. EMI engineer Peter Bown was interviewed in the Random Precision book about the whereabouts of the Piper multitracks and outtakes. He states that it was common practice to erase and reuse multitrack tape at EMI. While the paperwork and tape boxes are 'meticulous' for the '67 Pink Floyd EMI sessions there is very little info about the single releases. Apparently it was standard practice to make a various artist comp reel for the singles and discard all the paperwork. Hence the lack of recording information for See Emily Play/Scarecrow and Apples and Oranges/Paintbox. Obviously, The Beatles tapes would be an exception.

Back to Mikey's original post (sorry for the off topic PF tangent) AFAIK nearly all of the WTB era session tapes are missing. Some of the Don't Bother Me session and one or two other bits are all that survive. I'm sure somebody here will fill us in with rest of the details.

Chris

 

As George Martin put it, "we didn't keep outtakes then." (before late '63) "We had enough trouble storing the masters." So I'm gonna go along with the assumption that the session tapes were re-used. It would certainly make more sense to do that instead of just scrapping them.

As far as tapes gone missing, haven't the EMI vaults already been scoured for everything?

 

Yes. The only hope left in finding any further pre-1964 Beatles sessions tapes is simply luck (i.e. mislabeled boxes, tapes in wrong boxes, etc.). The chances of this, however, are very slim as Abbey Road has always been meticulous in the way they handle, label and store their tapes. I think we can pretty much assume that the remaining missing tapes for Please Please Me, With The Beatles and the She Loves You/I'll Get You sessions are permanently lost - although we can hope.

 

Guydon.....I do have to agree that if we find the missing session tapes for any of the Early Beatles stuff, it will be from a collector and not EMI. hey have, as you say, pretty much scoured the vaults. However, EMI has thousands of reels that are NOT labeled or catalouged. No one knows whats on them.

I remember about 15 years ago, there was a buzz going around about a guy who supposedly had a cassette of the two track She Loves You.
Dont know what ever became of that.

 

Ditto for the lost Piper session reels. Much time was spent looking for them at EMI with nary a trace. Only real hope for that stuff to surface is for an acetate to turn up

I've read that EMI has hundreds or thousands of unmarked/unlabeled tapes from the 60's that no one knows what is on them. I guess it's possible that some Beatles stuff could be there but it seems that all of their tape boxes would of at least been labeled. I'm guessing the unlabeled tapes consists of failed auditions and the ilk. Anyone have any insight to these tapes?

Chris

 

There was a rumor floating around just six months ago (even discussed on this very board) that EMI had found the two track masters for the SLY/IGY sessions. However, it seems it was just another case of wishful thinking/rumor mongering. I, for one, believe they are gone, but who knows - anything is possible.

 

Yea, or MAYBE EMI kept that under heavy wraps...to sell us a "Beatles Suprise" this Christmas. Theyve done it before.

 

Title is "One Before 911". An interesting glimpse in the recording studio.


1. From Me To You -take 1 1'32''
2. From Me To You -take 2 1'58''
3. From Me To You -take 3 1'57''
4. From Me To You -take 4 1'53''
5. From Me To You -take 5 2'17''
6. From Me To You -take 6 0'08''
7. From Me To You -take 7 2'09''
8. From Me To You -take 8a, Sl onto take 7 2'12''
9. From Me To You -edit piece 1, take 8b(unnumbered take) 0'21''
10. From Me To You -edit piece 2, take 9 0'27''
11. From Me To You -edit piece 3, take 10 0'11''
12. From Me To You -edit piece 4, take 11 0'21''
13. From Me To You -edit piece 5, take 12 0'09''
14. From Me To You -edit piece 6, take 13 0'25''
15. Thank You Girl -take 1 2'11''
16. Thank You Girl -take 2 0'26''
17. Thank You Girl -take 3 0'08''
18. Thank You Girl -take 4 2'01''
19. Thank You Girl -take 5 2'07''
20. Thank You Girl -take 6 2'22''
21. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 7 0'15''
22. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 8 0'28''
23. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 9 0'29''
24. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 10 0'38''
25. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 11 0'46''
26. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 12 0'53''
27. Thank You Girl -edit piece, take 13 0'36''
28. One After 909 -take 1 1'22''
29. One After 909 -take 2 2'57''
30. One After 909 -take 3 1'47''
31. One After 909 -take 4 2'34''
32. One After 909 -edit piece, take 5 1'15''
33. piano/drum instrumental -monitor mix 1'22''
34. It Won't Be Long -take 8(?), monitor mix 2'22''
35. It Won't Be Long -take unknown, monitor mix 2'01''
36. Open Message To Australia -take 1 0'16''
37. Hold Me Tight -take 20 1'06''
38. Hold Me Tight -take 21 (called take 23) 2'38''
39. Hold Me Tight -take 22 1'12''
40. Hold Me Tight -take 23 0'15''
41. Hold Me Tight -take 24 2'41''
42. Hold Me Tight -take 25, Sl onto take 24 0'27''
43. Hold Me Tight -take 26, Sl onto take 24 2'45''
44. Hold Me Tight -take 27, Sl onto take 24 0'17''
45. Hold Me Tight -take 28, Sl onto take 24 1'43''
46. Hold Me Tight -take 29, Sl onto take 24 2'53''
47. Don't Bother Me -take 10 2'54''
48. Don't Bother Me -take 11 0'26''
49. Don't Bother Me -take 12 0'55''
50. Don't Bother Me -take 13 2'41''
51. I Want To Hold Your Hand -take 1, RM95 0'12''
52. I Want To Hold Your Hand -take 2, RM95 0'34''
53. This Boy -take 12, RS95 1'01''
54. This Boy -take 13, RS95 2'16''
DISC TWO
The stereo "With The Beatles" LP
1. It Won't Be Long -edit takes 17 & 21, RS1 2'11''
2. All I've Got To Do -take 15, RS1 2'02''
3. All My Loving -take 14, RS1 2'07''
4. Don't Bother Me -take 15, RS1 2'27''
5. Little Child -take21, RS1 1'46''
6. Till There Was You -take 8, RS1 2'13''
7. Please Mister Postman -take 8, RS1 2'34''
8. Roll Over Beethoven -takes 7&8, RS1 2'43''
9. Hold Me Tight -edit takes, 26 & 29, RS1 2'29''
10. You Really Got A Hold On Me -edit takes 7, 10 & 11, RS1 3'00''
11. I Wanna Be Your Man -take 16, RS1 1'59''
12. (There's A) Devil In Her Heart -take 6, RS1 2'24''
13. Not Second Time take 9, RS1 2'05''
14. Money (That's What I Want) -edit takes 6 & 7, RS2 2'47''
Remixing the singles to stereo
15. From Me To You -edit of unknown takes, RS1 1'56''
16. Thank You Girl -edit takes 6, 13, 17, 20, 21 & 23, RS1 2'04''
17. She Loves You -edit of unknown takes, RS2 2'26''
18. I Want To Hold Your Hand -take 17, RS1 2'24''
19. This Boy -take 15, RS1 2'23''
Other "With The Beatles" era remixes
20. She Loves You -edit of unknown takes, RS1 2'24''
21. All My Loving -take 14, RS1, German/Dutch edit 2'08''
22. I Want To Hold Your Hand -take 17, RM1 2'24''
23. This Boy -take 15, edit RM1 & RM2 2'12''
Later remixes
24. Roll Over Beethoven -edit takes 7 & 8, RS'76 1'57''
25. I Wanna Be Your Man - take 16, RS'76 2'43''
26. One After 909 -edit takes 4 & 5, RM'82 2'55''
27. From Me To You -edit of unknown takes, RS'82(a) 1'57''
28. From Me To You -edit of unknown takes, RS'82(b) 1'58''
29. Thank You Girl -edit takes 6, 13, 17, 20, 21 & 23, RS'82(a) 2'06''
30. Thank You Girl -edit takes 6, 13, 17, 20, 21 & 23, RS'82(b) 2'03''
31. One After 909 - edit takes 4 & 5, RM'84 2'54''
32. All My Loving -take 14, RS'93

 

It sure is.

 

Mikey
How does it sound? Any noticeable noise reduction?

 

Hey SD.

It sounds OK. I didnt really listed with an eye toward NR, because I was just so happy to get this collection, finally.

Whats a bit fustrating to me is how GREAT some of the boots of the Early Beatles sounds. Why cant EMI material sound that good?

 

MIkey- If EMI is so meticulous with their labeling why are there thousands of unlabeled tapes and what is most likely to be on them?

Has anyone heard that new Dr. Ebbett's "centered" versions of the first two albums? I heard he is working on George's Beware of Abkco boot next.

 

Hey Beatle.

I wasnt the one who said EMI was meticulous with their labels, because I dont believe it. You know how much stuff they found for ANTHOLOGY that WASNT labeled? They found "Love Me Do", a very, very early version from the very first time The Beatles were in Abbey Raod (after the recording test)
on a reel of tape with nothing on it, zilch. all kinds of stuff.

It was very typical dring the 70s that the Vault management got out of control. Thats why, and Im sorry to say, Abbey Road erased THOUSANDS of multitrack reels and auctioned off the blank tapes in the mid 1970s. They were literally drowning in tape, they really couldnt find anything, so they evaluated what they had, predicted its future value, and erased a ton of it.
Gerry and the Pacemakers, Freddie and The Dreamers, etc. They kept all the two tracks tho. At least they did that. They werent the only ones either.

I worked for a small indie during the 1980s, and when I would go to the mastering houses to get our stuff cut, (Executive Mastering, Trutone, Romaba, etc) The older guys ALL had stories about how labels would never pick up masters from the. Eventually, most of them just got tosseed because the mastering suites didnt have the space and didnt own the tapes to use them for anything. One guy kept pristine test cuts of everything he has ever cut. He must have quite a collection of stuff.

 

Mikey, Judy Martin (George Martin's wife) found the acetate with the recording test version of Love Me Do on it in her attic. George leased the recording to EMI for the release of Anthology. There is no version of this on tape, nor did Abbey Road have it in their vaults before Mrs. Martin found it.

Absolutely no studio recordings from the years 1962-1970 appear on Anthology that were not documented already in the Abbey Road vaults or the Lewisohn book.

The odds and ends demos and pre-1962 recordings all came from the private collections of JPG & R and the rest (Decca recordings, live performances and Polydor recordings) were licensed, lifted from bootleg sources or taken directly from film soundtracks.

 

Then what was the track they found on a tape thats on Anthology One that says in the liner notes, 'Believed Wiped', this version was found on an unmarked tape?

 

3

The Beatles recorded four songs on June 6, 1962: Love Me Do, P.S. I Love You, Ask Me Why and Besame Mucho. Only Besame Mucho survived on tape. Love Me Do was thought to be wiped but turned up on the attic acetate.

The song you're thinking of is the version of Please Please Me recorded on September 11, 1962 (the liner notes use the "wiped" quote). However, I believe this also turned up on an acetate and not a tape source.

 

>>>>>>Ahh!! Right. but Michael, the liner notes make no reference to an acetate being the source. What makes you think its WASNT from tape?

Also, why would there be an acetate of an early version? They didnt decide to make it a single until after the fast, version we know today was born. thats the only reason they would make an acetate.

 

Mikey, actually the 9/11/62 version is the "fast" version also. The fabled Roy Orbison-esque slow version has never shown up. The Beatles were always asking for acetate copies for personal reference.

As for my assertion regarding tape versus acetate of Please Please Me, I am going from memory so you could very well be right. For some reason I think it is acetate. I will have to go through my old articles to confirm.

 

The Anthology version of Please Please Me is from acetate. EMI purchased it at a Sotheby's auction in September of 1995. This version replaced a live version recorded at their first U.S. Concert (Washington, D.C.) that was originally slated to appear.

 

Youre the man, Guydon!!

 

Right back at you - Thanks for starting an interesting discussion.

 

There is only one misfiled / undocumented Beatles tape ever to turn up at Abbey Road...

It's the tape that contains the demos for "No Reply" and "You Know What To Do".