Sunday, January 20, 2008

New Beatles Recordings Found ?

The New Musical Express, a British Magazine that had something to do with the success of the Beatles way back when, reports that an independent Miami-based record Company is in possession of never-before-heard Beatles tracks. We all know the story of the Beatles German success before conquering Liverpool and then the world. It seems tapes of the band's concert at Hamburg's Star Club (1962) have emerged, among the first with Ringo Starr.

A fifteen track CD is planned, with early covers, including those by Hank Williams and Maurice Williams and some of their own early published songs, including 'I saw her standing there'.

While we are on the subject I must recommend the great book, Can't Buy Me Love by Jonathan Gould, published late last year, just read it and while we know most of the stories it is very strong on providing the social and political background that explains some of the phenomenon that was the Beatles, why the girls screamed so much, why England was ready for Beatlemania, and how St Peppers was a critical product of it's time. He also takes great oains to explicate each album and each song, so it's a great reference book as well if you like to know about what your listening to.

Image: Courtesy Apple




1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Dear Paul and Dave,

Thank you for the kind words about my book "Can't Buy Me Love." It thrills me that you enjoyed reading it.

As for the "new" Beatles recordings, I haven't heard them, or for that matter heard of them, until I read about them on your site. But they sound suspiciously like the recordings that were made at the Star Club in Hamburg during the Beatles last appearances there in December 1962, several months after Ringo joined the band, which were issued on an LP during the 1970s. If so, it's the usual grab bag of mostly non-original material that made up the Beatles Hamburg repertoire, some of it performed well, some of it not. But the good news would seem to be that it's available on CD for the first time.

All best wishes,

Jonathan Gould