Will The Beatles "Esher Tapes" ever be officially released?

and if they are what should the album be called?? I have found myself listening to the copy of these demos floating around on the internet and I like it a lot. I think it would be a much better album listening wise than Let It Be or LIB/Naked ever were. Any thoughts?

 

I have a bootleg of them; if one is a big fan of The White Album they'll make a great listen. If not, and I'm looking at this objectively, I wouldn't say they would make for a better album than Let It be or ...Naked. Again, I'm trying to be objective. LIB is, arguably, a well produced, polished album which even moderate fans can get into repeatedly. The Esher Tapes, while of historical importance, would get a listen or two and then be shelved by most people.

That said, they need to be properly remastered and released. But I don't that happening in terms of an independent release; I can see them (or a good portion of them) released as part of a White Album deluxe set in the future.

 

We know at least one original Esther 4-track exists because of what was on Anthology. "Sour Milk Sea" also exists on 4-track because a brief remixed version was in the George documentary.

The existing mono tape sounds more like an off-line recording to me than a mono mix from 4-track.

 

I got my boot Cd of it in the mid-eighties. You're right, who the hec knows what the source is....surely not an "official' one; the sound quality is okay but really pretty dull.

 

The source of all the bootlegs is a cassette copy that John Lennon traded to a fan in the 70s.

 

That is cool! Wonder what he got in return?

 

The tapes on Anthology 3 are rough but fun and fascinating. If they're all like that, bring 'em on. Newly mixed where possible, complete and unedited.

Will they be released? That's up to Apple Corps and the Harrison estate. I tend to be pessimistic about such things because, for all the accusations of Apple's greed to milk every last dime out of the fans, they have been pretty restrained in what they've put out.

If it comes out, I'd want a fairly simple title. Maybe "Kinfauns," and the cover art could be a picture of the fireplace:

(I know, it's likely many of the tapes weren't recorded there, but let's keep things simple.)

 

When Anthology 3 came out, the story was that the Esher demos on that set were the only ones for which George was able to locate the original tapes. If that is true, then a complete release would not be possible unless they used the crummy-sounding Lennon cassette. Of course, some people speculate that George withheld the rest of the tapes intentionally, because he wanted to have control over what was released and what wasn't. That is just speculation, though, so I don't know that we should put much stock in that theory. And it's also possible I guess that the rest of the tapes have been located in the intervening 20 years.

 

I agree.
I think archival releases of The Beatles "White Album" sessions will come to pass...in due time.

However, there are priorities, more pressing releases, that should come first:

Stereo boxes (done)
Mono boxes (done)
US box (done)
Hollywood Bowl (done)

Sgt Pepper 50th anniversary box - 2017
Let It Be box - 2018
BBC volume 3 - late 2018
Anthology 4 - 2019
Deluxe edition versions of each album (mono, stereo, with a few out takes) - late 2019
Cavern Club - 2020
Other live concerts ("special limited editions") with replica programs - 2020, annually
Archival session releases (a la Dylan Cutting Edge)!!!! - 2021

 

Wishful thinking. Since the anthologies, which were a big step out of he norm for the Beatles camp, nothing from the vaults has seen the light of day. Apple doesn't care to follow trends and isn't going to alter the core catalog in any way. Anyone waiting for deluxe versions of anything better be patient, The remasters and box sets were done to get things in order. Paul, ringo et al do not observe anniversaries so the chances of the Esther demos showing up on some expanded white album box are somewhere less then slim. Does anyone really think that Sir Paul or Ringo hold Sgt Pepper in higher regard than Revolver that they will ok some 50th thingy for it where they didn't for Revolver? Look at all the anticipation for Hollywood Bowl, what it could have been and what it was. It's pretty aggravating knowing what is in the vaults, and what is doled out but it's the reality.

 

I hope they get released eventually! And yeah, it should come along a deluxe version for the white album.

What a lot of people is waiting for (well, me basically) is new remixes, specially for Revolver and Sgt. Peppers.

 

Wasn't there a very similar thread created a few days ago?

 

I can see your point of view.
The pessimist in me agrees with you, but I also believe they realize that if they don't release certain collections according to their desires, someone else will eventually make those decisions later. Even if 25 years from now.
That said, it's obvious they're not on a certain timetable nor in a rush.

Also, like many other bands releasing archival material, they're not In a hurry to empty their vaults in one attempt. It's good business sense to ration out the material, so re-releases with upgrades are dangled in limited portions to an eager customer base.
A rapidly aging customer base.

 

I haven't heard much from these demos, other than the acoustic version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps that was used in Love (I'm pretty sure).

Are these demos basically all acoustic, or are there full band versions of songs as well?

 

There has been stuff since the Anthologies: the second BBC volume, the 1963 iTunes collection, the LIB...N bonus disc, the new Hollywood Bowl tracks. Not as copious as the fans would like though...

 

See also (in fact a merge might be in order):
The Beatles White Album demos questions

 

Bring on all those George Harrison out-takes first!

 

As a Beatles fan I'm kind of open to anything. I respect it that they don't scrape the bottom of the barrell at ay time just to have something "new" to sell but I know I would be curious about it if it was released. "Carnival of Light"...

 

Not recorded for release = not going to be released.

 

That seems like a very reasonable theory. Luckily George was able to find four songs that weren't on the Lennon bootleg which also coincidentally were all songs sung by Lennon and he was also able to find Junk, Honey Pie and Piggies, but nothing else? In a way it makes sense. Most songs that have an Esher demo would eventually appear on Anthology 3 as a studio take and an Esher demo wasn't released for those songs to prevent having two songs on the same disc. The only exception is Glass Onion which featured an unreleased demo. No clue why they wanted to include the original mono mix as well.

 

Yellow Matter Custard (or some other BBC radio material):

 

Esher tapes?? Are these songs that defy logic? (insert rim shot here, a homonym joke)

 

I'm inclined to think George was holding back or genuinely could not find the other tapes.

Since Anthology we got a mono snippet of "Sour Milk Sea" for the George documentary that appears to be remixed because it's very clean and the balance is different than the bootleg.

 

I don't think it's known for sure that those four Lennon demos used on Anthology 3 came from the Esher sessions; they're possibly Lennon's own Kenwood home demos from the same period.

 

When Paul, Ringo, Yoko and Olivia croak.

Still some years to go.