The Beatles' Decca Audition

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Beatles' Decca Audition
The Beatles' studio album

Publication
(s)

from April 1981

recording: January 1st, 1962

Label (s)
  • Audiofidelity Enterprises Ltd. until 1988

Format (s)

LP , CD , MC , download

Genre (s)

Pop , rhythm & blues , rock 'n' roll

Title (number)

15th

running time

around 35 min

occupation

production

Mike Smith

Studio (s)

Decca Studios, London, West Hampstead

chronology
The Beatles' First
(Recordings: 1961–1962) 		The Beatles' Decca Audition Live! at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962
(recordings: 1962)

The Decca Audition (also known as Decca Sessions or Decca Tapes ) were test recordings by the Beatles on the Decca Records label . With these recordings, the Beatles applied for a record deal on New Years Day 1962 . However, Decca refused to sign the Beatles. This rejection is considered one of the biggest mistakes in music history.

prehistory

On October 23, 1961 Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers released the single My Bonnie / The Saints produced by Bert Kaempfert on the Polydor label . Behind the name Beat Brothers hid the Beatles in the cast John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Pete Best .

Brian Epstein , 1965

Through this single Brian Epstein became aware of the Beatles and attended one of their concerts in the Cavern Club for the first time on November 9, 1961 . After further meetings, he officially became the manager of the Beatles on January 24, 1962 . The five-year contract, which began on February 1, 1962, provided for an income share of initially ten percent for Epstein; if a threshold of 1500 pounds annually was exceeded  , the participation should increase to 15 percent. The contract also stipulated that Epstein should advise the group “on all matters relating to clothing, appearance, presentation and structure of the performance.” George Harrison later said of Epstein: “Brian put a lot of time into us, he wanted us make big. He believed us from the start. "

At the time, this was the entrance to the Cavern Club

Epstein immediately sought audition dates with various record companies. He received a rejection from EMI . He contacted Tony Barrow, who referred him to Mike Smith, an assistant in the A&R department at Decca. In the early 1960s, Decca was one of the two largest record companies in Great Britain, alongside EMI. Epstein was able to convince Smith to attend a Beatles concert in the Cavern Club on December 13, 1961. Smith was so impressed by the performance that he scheduled test recordings for January 1, 1962 at 11 o'clock; At that time, New Year was not a public holiday in Great Britain. While Epstein was traveling by train, the Beatles and their road manager Neil Aspinall drove from Liverpool to London in a pickup truck that was also loaded with their equipment . The journey took around ten hours.

Emergence

The production management of the Decca Audition was held by Mike Smith, the Beatles played in the following cast:

There was only one take per song , recorded in mono . Overdubs were not produced and a mixdown did not take place. The Beatles played practically live - they recorded 15 songs within an hour:

No. song composition singing length
01 Like Dreamers Thu Lennon / McCartney McCartney 2:34
02 Money (That's What I Want) Gordy / Bradford Lennon 2:22
03 Till There Was You Willson McCartney 2:58
04th The Sheik of Araby Smith / Wheeler / Snyder Harrison 1:40
05 To Know Her Is to Love Her Spector Lennon 2:34
06th Take Good Care of My Baby King / Goffin Harrison 2:26
07th Memphis, Tennessee Berry Lennon 2:20
08th Sure to Fall (In Love with You) Cantrell / Claunch / Perkins McCartney 2:01
09 Hello little girl Lennon / McCartney Lennon 1:38
10 Three cool cats Leiber / Stoller Harrison 2:23
11 Crying, waiting, hoping Holly Harrison 2:00
12 Love of the Loved Lennon / McCartney McCartney 1:50
13 September in the Rain Warren / Dubin McCartney 1:53
14th Bésame Mucho Velázquez McCartney 2:38
15th Searchin ' Leiber / Stoller McCartney 3:02

Only three of the 15 songs are Lennon McCartney compositions : Like Dreamers Do , Hello Little Girl and Love of the Loved - the other twelve are cover versions . All songs were part of the Beatles' live repertoire at the time.

The test recordings ran under unfavorable circumstances for the Beatles, on the one hand they were very nervous because it was the first time that they played in a real recording studio , on the other hand the Beatles were allowed to use their instruments but not their other equipment. As a result, they recorded and recorded the songs with various musical errors: They didn't always keep the pace and didn't always hit the right note . The three original compositions are also of rather average quality - all in all, their professionalism and ingenuity, which was later much praised, could hardly be heard in the test recordings.

John Lennon recalled the session as follows: “We were terribly nervous and insecure, you can hear that. We started very excited and gradually we became safer. "Looking back, George Harrison said," I remember we just went into the studio, set up our amps and played. "

At the end of the session, Mike Smith expressed confidence, leaving Brian Epstein and the Beatles firmly convinced that they would soon get a record deal from Decca.

Rejection

In early February 1962, the Beatles were surprisingly rejected by Decca. Dick Rowe, head of the A&R department at Decca, is considered to be the man who denied the Beatles the record deal. The reason he later stated was that you had to choose between the Beatles and Brian Poole & the Tremeloes . The latter had also made test recordings on the same day. The choice fell on Brian Poole & the Tremeloes because, unlike the Beatles, they did not come from Liverpool, but from London. Due to this geographical proximity, one had hoped for a more problem-free cooperation. Rowe's official justification, however, was different and is now legendary: "Guitar bands are out of fashion, Mr. Epstein."

After the rejection, the Beatles temporarily had the feeling that they had reached the end of their career. John Lennon said: “We went back and waited and waited, then we learned they hadn’t taken us. Back then we thought that's it, that's the end. ”Most of all, he blamed Brian Epstein for not giving them a record deal. Epstein had selected the 15 songs with the intention of highlighting the musical versatility of the Beatles. The combination of genres as diverse as pop , rhythm & blues and rock 'n' roll gave the impression of being arbitrary. Lennon therefore found Epstein's selection unsuitable and then decided that the Beatles would never again allow themselves to be dictated what to play.

Paul McCartney said in retrospect: "If I listen to the tapes, I understand why Decca didn't take us, we just weren't good even if we played some interesting and original things." Lennon saw it a little differently: " I heard the tapes too. I wouldn't put us down like that, I didn't think it was that bad for the time, especially the second half. Back then there weren't many people who could play like us. Decca probably expected us to be perfect, but we only recorded one demo . They just didn't see what we were capable of. "

Decca gave the tapes to Epstein, who presented them to other record companies in early February 1962 - but Pye , Philips and Oriole also canceled.

New beginning

HMV record store in London
Commemorative plaque

The manager of the HMV record business in London suggested to Brian Epstein that the tapes be pressed onto record in order to better present the music. Epstein implemented this suggestion immediately. The sound engineer Jim Foy, who was responsible for the mastering of the record, found that the Beatles sounded good and sent Epstein to Sid Coleman, who exploited music rights for the company Ardmore & Beechwood. Coleman expressed his interest in the three Lennon / McCartney compositions. However, Epstein emphasized that his main goal was to sign a record deal for the Beatles. Coleman then called George Martin , who was responsible for signings at Parlophone , and recommended the Beatles. Martin was not enthusiastic about the recordings of the Decca Audition, he was neither satisfied with the songs nor with the sound. Nevertheless, he invited the Beatles to test recordings for Parlophones. On June 6, 1962, between 7 and 10 p.m., the Beatles auditioned at Abbey Road Studios . Martin was particularly unconvinced by Pete Best's performance on drums. He insisted on using a studio musician while recording. The Beatles had already decided independently to replace Best with Ringo Starr , with whom they had already played in Hamburg. Backdated to June 4, 1962, the Beatles then signed a record deal with Parlophone.

Publications

After the record deal with Parlophone was signed, none of the parties involved were more interested in the Decca recordings. In 1977, Americans acquired the tapes and illegally released them on bootlegs . The most popular bootleg at the time was The Decca Tapes , which contained all 15 songs from the session.

Dawn of The Silver Beatles

On April 16, 1981, ten songs of the Decca Audition under the title Dawn of The Silver Beatles were released on record in the USA via the mail order company PAC Records . The songs were artificially lengthened, but the speed was too high compared to the original recordings. The total circulation of the album was 153,000 copies.

  1. Love of the Loved
  2. Money (That's What I Want)
  3. Sure to Fall (In Love with You)
  4. Take Good Care of My Baby
  5. Three cool cats
  6. Like Dreamers Thu
  7. Crying, waiting, hoping
  8. Searchin '
  9. Till There Was You
  10. Memphis, Tennessee

The Complete Silver Beatles

On September 10, 1982, Audiofidelity Enterprises Ltd. released the record The Complete Silver Beatles . However, it did not contain all the songs, as the title suggests, but only twelve of the fifteen recorded titles; the three Lennon-McCartney compositions are missing. The name The Silver Beatles is also misleading, as the band was already called The Beatles back then. The album was legally available until 1988.

  1. Three cool cats
  2. Crying, waiting, hoping
  3. Bésame Mucho
  4. Searchin '
  5. The Sheik Of Araby
  6. Money (That's What I Want)
  7. To Know Her Is to Love Her
  8. Take Good Care of My Baby
  9. Memphis, Tennessee
  10. Sure to Fall (In Love with You)
  11. Till There Was You
  12. September in the Rain

In 1988, the three ex-Beatles who were still alive sued the recording companies that distributed the Decca recordings, so that any further sale was initially prohibited by a court of law. In later years, however, the entire Decca Audition was re-released under different names.

Anthology 1

Officially, with the permission of the Beatles or their heirs, only five songs from the Decca Audition have been released so far. They are included on the compilation Anthology 1 , published in 1995:

  • Searchin '
  • Three cool cats
  • The Sheik of Araby
  • Like Dreamers Thu
  • Hello little girl

New recordings

With the Beatles

For their second album, With the Beatles from 1963, the Beatles re-recorded the following songs from the Decca Audition:

  • Money (That's What I Want)
  • Till There Was You

Live at the BBC and On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2

The Beatles played these songs for various BBC programs in 1963 and 1964:

  • Sure to Fall (In Love with You)
  • Crying, waiting, hoping
  • To Know Her Is to Love Her
  • Memphis, Tennessee
  • Till There Was You
  • Money (That's What I Want)

They were published on the compilations Live at the BBC and On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2 in 1994 and 2013, respectively .

Cover versions

The Beatles never re-recorded the three Lennon McCartney compositions from the Decca Audition, but the songs were released as singles by other musicians in 1963 :

Hello Little Girl and Love of the Loved were produced by George Martin for Parlophone; Brian Epstein was the manager of both The Fourmost and Cilla Black. Like Dreamers Do was produced by Mike Leander for Decca.

Others

Brian Poole & the Tremeloes were never anywhere near as successful as the Beatles, but they gave Decca a number 1 hit on the UK singles chart in October 1963 with the cover version of Do You Love Me , originally by The Contours .

Paul McCartney said in retrospect of Dick Rowe: "Now he's sure to bite his ass." John Lennon put it even more rudely: "Hopefully he'll bite his ass until he dies!" George Martin's judgment on Rowe was milder : “He became known as the man who rejected the Beatles, and he will carry this cross until his death. But that's unfair, because in reality all of them rejected the Beatles. "

Rowe was able to partially compensate for his historic wrong decision to reject the Beatles in 1963 by signing the Rolling Stones for Decca . The tip came from George Harrison.

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Philip Norman: John Lennon - The Biography . Droemer, Munich, 2008. p. 318 ff.
  2. ^ Single My Bonnie / The Saints
  3. ↑ Bill Harry 225
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 67.
  5. ↑ Anthology 1
  6. ↑ Decca Audition (history of origin)
  7. ↑ Decca Audition (history of origin)
  8. ↑ a b production details
  9. ^ Dawn of The Silver Beatles
  10. ^ The Complete Silver Beatles
  11. ↑ Bootleg The Complete Decca Audition
  12. ↑ The Beatles: With the Beatles (Liner Notes)
  13. ↑ The Beatles: Live at the BBC (Liner Notes)
  14. ↑ The Beatles: On Air - Live at the BBC Volume 2 (Liner Notes)
  15. ↑ Decca Audition (production details)
  16. ↑ Brian Poole & the Tremeloes (chart positions)
  17. ↑ Peter Schuster: Four Ever - The Story of the Beatles . Belser Verlag, Stuttgart and Zurich, 1991. p. 20.