“Lost Beatles” recording tapes are being auctioned off and are expected to fetch $500,000 - US Today News Couldn’t find where this has been shared yet. Various Beatles, Lennon and Ono recordings (demos, interviews etc) owned by Derek Taylor.
Interesting! A shame that every article on the auction is so horribly written. I would love to know more about the Bonzo Dog Doo Dah collaboration.
Lot Detail - The Beatles Derek Taylor Never-Before-Heard Collection of Lost Beatles Recordings: Including the 1967 Kenwood Sessions and John Lennon Private Recordings The Beatles Derek Taylor Never-Before-Heard Collection of Lost Beatles Recordings: Including the 1967 Kenwood Sessions and John Lennon Private Recordings The lost collection of Derek Taylor Never Before Heard Beatles Tapes A collection of six tapes of unreleased music/albums and extremely personal interviews. Featuring Sgt Pepper Rehearsals From Kenwood “One From The Nursery” an unreleased John Ono Lennon Album George Harrison Unreleased Album with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band These Tapes Are Not Being Sold with Any Copyright These Tapes Are Being Sold as Collectibles Tape 1: Unheard Beatles Sgt Pepper Rehearsals from Kenwood late 66 early 67 Run time is 56 minutes, songs include: Revolution #9, mainly John in many accents, George can be heard, Paul too, Ringo one time, Terry Doran is also heard being interviewed by John, Terry Doran was ‘The Man From The Motor Trade’ on Sgt Pepper, every identical animal sound effect from Good Morning Good Morning is featured throughout, probably pre-dates Pepper and John has the sound effects saved, cockerel, hens, sheep, horse, pigs, cat, dogs etc, the very ones used on Pepper. Sitar drones almost all the way through by George, Piano backdrop also Track Listing: 1. That much Control 2. Monte Carlo rally sound effects Terry Doran is Jack Brabham Formula 1 racer 3. Cat Feeding Services (Monty Python esque sketch) 4. A million miles away, John Indian accent Beatles far east tours in 66 5. Crazy banjo song, JL bellows 6. I’m aware of the situation monologue 7. Swing your partners 8. Lennon.McCartney complaining about the heat 9. John and George shouting over a very loud backing track 10. John/Paul counting in 123 testing, JL turns it into a poem. 11. Dear Prudence very early demo John wrote it way before 1968 12. British Police are pigs, in an Indian accent Tape 2: George Harrison With the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and Jimmy Page. 15 tracks, 59 minutes George with his Thames Valley muso friends, Jimmy Page, Jon Lord, Joe Brown, Sam Brown, Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah band (Neil Innes, Legs Larry Smith, Vivian Stanshall) Alvin Lee, all songs written by the Bonzos and George, all recorded at FP. Track Listing: 1. George into talk while playing guitar, introducing a new song 2. Brazil take 1 written for the Handmade films project Brazil (never went to production) 3. Brazil take 2 4. Brazil Take 3 5. Sooty Goes to Hawaii 6. Mandalay monologue for handmade films production of the same name 7. Sooty Goes to Hawaii #2 8. Sooty Goes to Hawaii #3 9. Operatic Aria sung by Georges father-in-law and Olivia Harrisons dad Zeke Harrison, I doubt that Olivia has heard this 10. Bullshot theme song for Handmade films completed production. 11. Hare Krishna chant by everyone 12. Chant 2 13. While my Guitar Gently weeps with Jimmy Page on guitar 14. Same with Alvin Lee on guitar 15. if I Needed Someone Tape 3: George with Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band band, all co-written 25.30 mins, 16 tracks Track Listing: 1. Intro Legs Larry Smith 2. Do You Remember 3. Nothing Ever Changes 4. Urban Spaceman 5. Isle of Money (I Love Money) 6. Can you Groove (George) 7. There’s a Bright Golden Boil on my ***** 8. I Like Cesar 9. Misery Farm 10. Julie 11. Danda 12. When You Gotta Poop 13. Now You’re Asleep 14. Telling me The End 15. Viv Has Gone to Heaven 16. Mandalay Monologue #2 Tape 4: John Interviews Yoko 1969 Recorded by John in 1969, 45 minutes, John questions Yoko’s motives for being with him, discusses very personal matters, very revealing. Tape 5: Yoko with Dr. Artur Janov Yoko’s Primal Scream therapy 1 hr 40 mins, of very personal therapy, Yoko discusses John, music and very personal issues including John’s friendship with George. Tape 6: “One From The Nursery” Unreleased John Ono Lennon Album John and Kyoko Cox Tittenhurst Park Run time is 47 minutes 4 tracks Lots of John talking and playing acoustic guitar (sounds like his J60E) recorded at Christmas time, Various songs stand out, all written by John & Kyoko 1. John, I Love You 2. I Wish You Were my Father. According to Derek Taylor, all of the material was edited, banded and mixed for release on Zapple Dec 1969, was shelved. This item is sold as an artifact ONLY, without copyright. Any reproduction is strictly prohibited. Good condition. Authentication: Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity.
Cassette tapes did exist in the 60s, albeit not as widespread as they would become in the 70s /80s/90s: Cassette tape - Wikipedia
The "Chrome Super II" one with official Abbey Road letterhead is definitely from later than the sixties, which leads me to suspect most of these aren't masters but copies
The first article I read about this looked like it was written by AI (it probably was) and had be strongly doubting the authenticity of these tapes. Having looked at the listing for the item, it looks like it could be the real deal but that article was not helping. The contents still seem a bit too good to be true: for instance: when did this Harrison/Bonzo/Page jam session take place considering The Beatles activities in the 60s have been so meticulously documented? EDIT: I see that the Page/Lord/Alvin Lee session mentions Handmade Films in one of the tracks, so that's definitely from the 80s or 90s. I strongly suspect the Bonzo tracks will be too, likely a recorded jam session at Georges where he invited some of the ex members over at some point in that era. One of the tracks being called 'Viv Has Gone To Heaven' suggests it may even post date Viv Stanshall's passing in 1995, despite him being listed as a participant.
I'm 95% sure it's not a hoax, but I do think it's almost certain that the content of the 2 sessions I described are not from the 60s.
Excellently put; I'm thinking the Bonzos collab came much later, too. Of course, a lot of 90's George Harrison jams would probably fetch a much smaller price tag (and fewer clicks) than a "Long Lost Beatles Album."
and based off the tracklist, the “sgt pepper rehearsals” sound a lot more like john and the beatles screwing around with his tape recorder at kenwood. still sounds interesting but it’s being oversold as usual for these kind of things.
As I started reading this bit, I hoped it would match the descriptions of "Carnival of Light"...but it doesn't seem to match up to what we know ab0ut it.
Is there any update on these tapes? Did they sell and if so for how much? Still immensely curious about the Bonzo Dog Band recordings with George!
