The Garage Tapes

THE GARAGE TAPES

(CD 1992 KREMO MUSIC PRODUCTIONS SELCD18)

CD cover

Track Listing;

If I Fell (3:57)
Don't Bother Me (5:48)
McCartney Instrumentals (17:00)
Please Mr.Postman (1 & 2) (5:13)
It Won't Be Long (1 & 2) (4:54)
Love Me Do (1:26)
Tammy Tell Me True (2:09)
The Bible Bit (2:30)
Raga (1:48)

As Legend Goes These Recordings Surfaced In The Early 1990's As A Private Reel To Reel Tape
Owned By Alf Bicknell, The Beatles Chauffeur. They Were Given To Him By John Lennon Along
With Other Items Just Before He Left His Job In 1966. The Tape Was Later Re-discovered And
Sold Off At Sotherbeys Auction, And Then Found It's Way Into The Hands Of Bootleggers.

The Disc Begins With Various Composing Demos Of John's Song 'If I Fell'. These Are In Pretty
Bad Quality, But Are An Interesting And Historical Find. The Same Goes With George's 'Don't Bother Me'.
The McCartney Instrumentals Are A Bit Less Convincing On The Other Hand, Basicly They Could Be
Anyone Playing Guitar. These Are Followed By Various Other Snatches Of Songs, Identified As
'Three Coins In The Fountain' & John & Paul Singing Along To A Song Called 'Rockin' And Rollin'
From A Radio Broadcast, Weather This Is True Or Not Is Anybody's Guess Although The Deep Vocal
Does Sound Similar To John's.

Next We Have 'Please Mister Postman', Two Takes Are Presented Here, Or At Least Two Overdubs Of
The Released Take 9 Which Was Recorded On July 30 1963, Audible Before The Song Is Studio Banter
& Piano Warm Up, Then The Song Begins Which Is Basicly The Same As The CV But The End Is Different,
Being Edited For The Released Version. This Runs Straight Into The Second Take, Which Is Exactly
The Same As The Released Version, Having It's New Edits And Overdubs Added.
Next We Go Onto 'It Won't Be Long', Recorded At The Same Session, Again A Few Seconds Of Studio
Banter Preceeds The Take Which Is Basicly A Dry Version Of The CV Without Guitar Overdubs
In Which Takes 17 & 21 Were Chosen For The Released Take. The Second Take Has Slightly Different
Vocals, If You Listen Right At The End Just Before It Cuts Off. I Believe These Session Tapes
Are Off-Line Recordings Made That Day In The Studio By One Of The Lads.

The Following Track Is Nothing More Than A Bad Recording Of A BBC Performance Of 'Love Me Do',
Probably Recorded On The 23rd July 1963 From 'Pop Goes The Beatles'. After Many Listens To Both
Tracks I Am Pretty Much Convinced. This Is Followed By, What Is Documented As 'The Bible Bit'.
John, George & Gerry Marsden Reading Passages From The Bible. The Sound Quality Is Quite Horrendous,
You Can't Really Tell What They Are Saying, Never Mind Who's Actualy Speaking. The Final Track Is
Part Of An Apple Film From 1968 Called 'Raga'. Quite A Historical Disc If Only We Had A Bit More
Information Behind Some Of The Recordings. 7/10

A Further 30 Minutes From The Original 'Garage Tapes' Open Reels Currently Circulate Amongst Collectors,
This Material Somehow Never Made It To The Kremo Bootleg CD. Rumour Has It That The Original Master
Reels Are Of Much Better Quality Than What Has Been Released. When Up For Auction, These Tapes Were
Dubbed Onto A Conventional Cassette Without A Patch Lead, Via A Microphone. The Missing 30 Minutes
Of Unbooted Material Is As Follows:

DIALOGUE #1 (asking for directions to the golf course at Weston-super-Mare, from inside the car- 8:31)
DIALOGUE #2 (John, Cyn, Julian, George & 1 unk. man with music playing on the hi-fi- 4:58)
DIALOGUE #3 (A comedy bit- 1:31) THE FOURMOST SESSION (Abbey Road, 7/24/63):
HELLO LITTLE GIRL (3:51) IT'S UP TO YOU (3:05) DA DOO RON RON (1:53) SHE SAID YES (2:17)
I KNOW (2:14)