One of my requests was to feature a rare version of “Hey Jude” as a BROW and that is what I came up with for this week. I had a hard time choosing the best one to post since I have a lot of out-take versions of this song. This one seemed the most interesting to me though. It is an alternate take with more acoustic guitar bits in the verses and even a little vocals from John Lennon (as you probably know, Paul McCartney normally handles all the lead vocals of “Hey Jude”). The backing vocals, brass and other embellishments heard on the master are not present at this point. This take was recorded on July 30th, 1968. The master was a remake recorded a couple days later on August 1st.

The Beatles, 1968

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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It’s that time of the week again. Happy Friday.

This week’s BROW is not a very good quality recording. In fact, it’s not even complete. The playing is not very good on it either. So what gives it the worthiness to be this week’s BROW? Well, it’s a piece of history, that’s why.

Last week’s BROW went back very early to a Beatles recording from the BBC made even before The Beatles met producer George Martin. This week goes back even earlier, when the name of the band was The Quarry Men.

When this recording was made on July 6, 1957, John Lennon was 16 years old and Paul McCartney was not yet in his band. In fact John and Paul were only to meet later that same day since Paul happened to be in the audience at The Woolton Garden Fete where this song fragment was taped.

The song The Quarry Men are playing was a British number 1 at the time called “Puttin’ On The Style” by skiffle artist Lonnie Donnegan (1931-2002). John Lennon is singing (his vocals are unmistakable) and playing guitar with Pete Shotten (washboard), Eric Griffiths (guitar), Len Garry (bass), Rodney Davis (banjo) and Colin Hanton (drums).

I believe this is the earliest known recording by what was to become The Beatles. Isn’t it great that someone happened to have a tape recorder going?

The Quarry Men

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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This week’s BROW comes from the Beatle’s very first appearance on BBC radio, which precedes the release of “Love Me Do” (their first single) by 7 months. At this point, Pete Best was on drums and the band would not even meet their future producer George Martin for another 3 months. The BBC program, called Teenager’s Turn (Here We Go), aired on March 8, 1962 and The Beatles material used on the show came from a live recording made the previous day at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester. “Dream Baby”, of course, was a Roy Orbison cover. The Beatles also performed two other songs on the show which also happened to be covers: “Please Mr. Postman” (The Marvellettes) and “Memphis, Tennessee” (Chuck Berry).

In 1994, when the Beatles’ Live At The BBC CD set was released, a varied selection of some of their best BBC recordings were put on a two CD set. This track was not included in that set or any other official Beatles release.

The Beatles at The Playhouse Theatre

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.

Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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In honor of John Lennon’s upcoming 67th birthday on Tuesday, and also in recognition of the unveiling of the Imagine Peace Tower on the same day in Reykjavik, Iceland, this week’s Beatles Rarity of the Week is a rehearsal demo take of John’s master-peace “Imagine”. Back in 1988, when the movie Imagine-John Lennon hit the box office, it’s soundtrack CD featured a much edited account of this demo. At under one and a half minutes this was only an account of one verse. Presented here is the complete recording of that demo which will sound familiar in spots by those owners of the soundtrack CD. I’ve included a link below to the Imagine Peace Tower web site and encourage any fans reading to visit and see what it’s all about.

Click image to enter ImaginePeace.com.

Imagine Peace

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? Then let me hear from you. Read about more Beatles rarities and suggest one for me to post. You can begin by searching for different versions of specific tracks right here.
Visit www.thebeatlesrarity.com for a new Beatles rarity each week, plus lots more!

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