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Decca Session
16 October 2011
10.29pm
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meanmistermustard
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Does anyone know who owns the rights to the Decca Audition in '62? I presumed that it was Decca but they were never signed so did the rights go to Brian, who took the tape all over london in the search for a recording contract, and thereafter to the Beatles and Apple after he died.

Am wondering as its never been officially released but the beatles signed their contract with EMI mid-1962 so unless Brian included the songs in the agreement it wouldnt be EMI – would it?

The Hamburg tapes are freely out there and have been issued numerous times so why not the Decca ones?

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

17 October 2011
4.13pm
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Joe
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Excellent question, and not one I'd considered before.

I presume that Apple owns the rights nowadays, as some of it was released on Anthology 1 . I don't have a copy to hand so can't see whether Decca get any kind of copyright credit.

Decca could have made a killing by releasing the tapes at any point during the 1960s, but I presume they never had the rights to do so, or lost them around the time The Beatles signed to EMI. I know Brian hawked a copy of the audition around various London record labels, but I would have thought Decca would have held on to the original tapes.

Perhaps the audition was arranged on the understanding that they'd keep the tapes if they signed The Beatles, but would hand them over if they passed. I'm guessing here, I really don't know. Maybe formal contracts were never signed, but NEMS bought the rights in retrospect once The Beatles were on the way up.

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17 October 2011
8.17pm
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meanmistermustard
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On your suggestion Joe i had a look at the publishers credits on Anthology 1 (why i didnt think of that is a mystery) and it says “Apple Corps Ltd under license to EMI Records Ltd”. No idea how they ended up with Apple tho, probably after the rejection from Decca the rights remained with Brian and eventually went into Apple.

If Decca owned the rights even if only during the early 60’s they would have issued the songs when the beatles hit the big time as they would have sold, especially in the U.S.. If My Bonnie can get into the American charts using the Beatles name then im sure any of the 15 decca songs stood a good chance.

 

Thanks Joe for the reply/help-album.

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3 May 2012
4.45pm
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meanmistermustard
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After the 1960 Liverpool demos were made available for download from itunes, amazon etc, the decca session is now on itunes and amazon entitled ‘The Capricorn Tapes’ on the Universe label. Strangely on amazon the album is cheaper than itunes but the individual songs more expensive.

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4 May 2012
7.29pm
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Joe
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Looks like it might only be on amazon.co.uk – I couldn’t see it on .com (and didn’t try any others). I’m also not convinced it’s a legit release. Save your money and download it.

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4 May 2012
8.11pm
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meanmistermustard
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Joe, these are downloads. The release is in a number of places online like spotify. I highly doubt the release is legit and if anyone is looking for the audition to listen to then search online for a free download and save your money – it shouldnt take you too long to find one.

Im more surprised that Apple is letting these releases go as nowadays they are usually quick to halt anything that smells a wee bit fishy, maybe they’ve went back to the 70’s when they took an age to do anything.

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4 March 2018
12.44pm
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Father McKenzie
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Just found this online,but there are a few comments underneath questioning whether this is actually the Fabs at all. What do you think?

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?t=…..TMlZxHk938

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4 March 2018
1.01pm
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meanmistermustard
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Yip, that’s the Beatles in their pre-Ringo days failing their Decca audition.

 

I’ve merged your thread with an earlier Decca thread, Father McKenzie, hope that’s ok.

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4 March 2018
1.49pm
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sir walter raleigh
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One of my Pet Peeves is when inspirational videos saying “Einstein’s teacher told him he was stupid” and Michael Jordan got cut from the basketball team Freshman year in Highschool” when both are exaggerated/untrue. MJ was placed on JV Freshman year by his coah, and still averaged 40 points a game. The Einstien bit is notoriously exaggerated. Yet  I never see “The Beatles were rejected in their first record audition.”  That’s 100% legit, and very inspirational.

I consider it to be one of the primary factors for replacing Best. Had Decca been into The Beatles, Ringo may have never been added to the band. 

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4 March 2018
1.50pm
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Father McKenzie
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@meanmistermustard: thanks. I wasn’t sure whether it had been posted before paul-mccartney-thumb_gif

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4 March 2018
3.23pm
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meanmistermustard
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sir walter raleigh said
One of my Pet Peeves is when inspirational videos saying “Einstein’s teacher told him he was stupid” and Michael Jordan got cut from the basketball team Freshman year in Highschool” when both are exaggerated/untrue. MJ was placed on JV Freshman year by his coah, and still averaged 40 points a game. The Einstien bit is notoriously exaggerated. Yet  I never see “The Beatles were rejected in their first record audition.”  That’s 100% legit, and very inspirational.

I consider it to be one of the primary factors for replacing Best. Had Decca been into The Beatles, Ringo may have never been added to the band.   

Going by the audition I firmly believe Decca were right to turn them down. It’s all well and good seeing what happened years later and saying it was a huge oversight but the audition is lousy and not even George Martin signed them for their sparkling songwriting.

Even if Decca had taken a punt I think Pete would have eventually been sacked, or quit after the others got beyond fed up. Write up all the individual reasons for each side if you please but quite simply he wasn’t a ‘Beatle’. Whether Ringo would have joined is another matter entirely.

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4 March 2018
4.53pm
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sir walter raleigh
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Definitely a huge oversight on Dick Rowe’s part to say “Guitar Groups are on their way out Mr. Epstein.”

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4 March 2018
5.38pm
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meanmistermustard
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sir walter raleigh said
Definitely a huge oversight on Dick Rowe’s part to say “Guitar Groups are on their way out Mr. Epstein.”  

Considering Decca signed Brian Poole & The Tremeloes who auditioned after The Beatles it may have been said to loosen the blow a little, still a daft thing to say however.

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5 March 2018
10.54am
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Father McKenzie
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I agree with @meanmistermustard. The audition wasn’t very good in my view, and going by that, I can see why Decca turned them down. The audition was on January 1st though,so maybe they’d had one too many beers the night before a-hard-days-night-george-10

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5 March 2018
11.31am
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sir walter raleigh
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I’m a fan of their performance at Decca. Their covers of Memphis, Tennessee, Besame Mucho  and Crying, Waiting, Hoping are fantastic

Money and Till There Was You aren’t far off from the album versions either, also both great covers. 

"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"

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"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"

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5 March 2018
1.58pm
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meanmistermustard
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I’d far rather listen to the Star Club performance of ‘To Know Her Is To Love Her’ over the Decca one. 

One of the problems I have with the audition is Paul is trying so hard to impress it becomes very tiring listening to him. Sometimes you can try so hard you end up just being annoying and Paul’s vocals at times are annoying – ‘Till There Was You ‘ being one example.

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14 February 2021
11.02am
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Listened to a few of the audition tracks again recently and they range from alright to poor. Obviously they are incredibly nervous but their sound throughout is very thin and weedy whilst Pete Best’s drumming is some of the most boring you’ll ever hear so there is nothing to get you going. Easily summed up in that it’s all very safe, bland and, well, early 1960’s pop music which in general was dull, something the Beatles never were from when they first released ‘Love Me Do ‘ (even if looking back it may not seem that way).

Whilst trying to remain attentive my mind wandered to June 1962 audition, which wasn’t going very well until they started talking to George Martin, and I wonder if the same issues applied. Of the two tracks out there ‘Besame Mucho ‘ is probably the better of the two due to the once again awful drumming by Pete Best on ‘Love Me Do ‘ but there isn’t much to get excited about. Certainly the 17 songs here and the tracks from Sheridan sessions highlight how much better a drummer Ringo was for the group than Pete Best. His shuffling drum part is something I never want to hear again.

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15 February 2021
12.40pm
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sir walter raleigh
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John and Paul’s vocals on Money and Besame Mucho are worth the price of admission. Crying Waiting Hoping is also a nice selection. They had the good sense not to play Three Cool Cats

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16 February 2021
7.55pm
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Von Bontee
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George’s solo on “Crying…” is quite impressive, even if it’s just basically copied from the Buddy Holly original 

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