An early Beatles audition tape from 1962, has been found at a record store in Vancouver.
The tape, labelled 'Beatles 60s Demos' was found by the store's owner, Robert Frith, who initially thought it was just a bootleg. However, after he posted a snippet of the tape on social media, he soon discovered that this was a rare, unearthed copy of the Fab Four.
This audition tape as originally recorded at London's Decca Studios on New Year's Day, 1962. The tape was recorded while Pete Best was still serving as drummer for The Beatles. After Decca turned down the chance to sign the Fab Four, the band ultimately signed with Parlophone Records, releasing their single, 'Please Please Me'.
Speaking to CBC, Frist admitted that he “thought it was just a reel-to-reel tape that somebody had put bootleg things on", before quickly realising that it was the real deal, having spoken to a number of fans, and conducted his own research. He added: “It seemed like the Beatles were in the room".
Sharing the tape on social media, Frist wrote: “I picked up this tape years ago that said Beatles Demos on it. I just figured it was a tape off a bootleg record. After hearing it last night for the first time, it sounds like a master tape. The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have, what sounds like a Beatles 15 song Decca tapes master?”.
A snippet of this tape can also be heard in the background of this video. Check that out here.
Robert Frist explained that he brought the tape to his friend's Larry Hennessey's studio to listen to for the first time, as he did not have the right equipment himself. He added that the pair were able to ascertain that this tape was the real McCoy.
Hennessey who has been described as being “experienced in music preservation”, recognised that the recording was on white tape, known as leader tape.
“The way that’s wound on the tape, you can see that it separates the tracks… it’s not a fast copy or a bootleg", Hennessey said.
After the clip went viral, Robert Frirth was put in touch with Jack Herschorn, former owner of Mushroom Records in Vancouver, the man who originally brought the tape to Vancouver.
Herschorn himself had revealed that he had been told to sell copies of this tape in North America. However he refused to do so, saying: “I took it back and I thought about it quite a bit… I didn’t want to put it out because I felt — I didn’t think it was a totally moral thing to do".
He added: “These guys, they’re famous and they deserve to have the right royalties on it… it deserves to come out properly".
As for the tape's future, Robert Frith said that he is willing to give Decca a copy of the tape. He would be keen to hold onto it, unless Beatles legend Paul McCartney visits Neptoon Records personally.
Frith has also shared the first track from this recording, 'Money', which you can check out here.
Last month, the Beatles won their eighth Grammy Award at this year's ceremony, thanks to their final track, 'Now and Then'. More on this from Nova here.
