BEEHIVE CANDY

Reloaded 29/May/2015 - another Beehive Candy favourite for so many reasons. The historical aspect speaks for itself, however musically it just makes me wonder what would have happened if Decca had signed them that day. Would the musical styling have altered and would Pete Best have remained on drums for example. All hypothetical I know however perhaps Decca's loss was everyone else's gain as things turned out. It all seems a long time ago now. The Decca audition is the name given to the now-famous audition by The Beatles for Decca Records at their Decca Studios in West Hampstead, London, England, before they reached international stardom. Decca's decision to reject the group is considered to be one of the biggest mistakes in music history. Manager Brian Epstein made numerous trips to London to visit record companies with the hope of securing a record contract, but was rejected by many, including Columbia, Pye, Philips, and Oriole. The Beatles were driven down to Lon...

This is the second of two releases that surfaced on CD as a series 'The Complete Beatles' and captures some of the transistion period from The Quarrymen through to The Beatles. Material includes some longer home taped improvised instrumentals that are quite listenable however in reality more of a historical collectors item than one for your mp3 player. The studio material is very good quality and marks another milestone on the road to The Beatles. Credit and respect should be given to Tony Sheridan who was also clearly part of this era of the bands development, it remains ironic that Polydor Records viewed him as the talent and artist to go with and tended to 'bury' members of The Beatles involvement. Source: Studio and home (reel tapes). Sound Quality: Listenable home recording to studio quality mp3@variable bit rates. Genre: Skiffle, Rock & Roll. Set: Various home & studio recordings. Recording List: April - May 1960: The Beatles - ...

This is another selection of material from The Quarrymen dating back to 1957. Some of this material is a duplication on the first Quarryman bootleg featured on Beehive Candy, however this is from an alternative CD source and the sound quality is much cleaner. With the amount of interest generated by John Lennon's first band (joined by Paul McCartney & George Harrison along the way) it is not surprising that many versions of the same material have surfaced down the years. The obvious historical nature of the recordings continues to fascinate fans over four decades on. This is the first of three features and inevitably the sound quality is average (but quite listenable) and their will be some more duplication of material. Art work from the CD boots is included in the download files. Source: Live, studio and home (reel tapes). Sound Quality: Very Listenable mono mp3@variable bit rates. Genre: Skiffle, Rock & Roll. Set: Various home & live recordings. ...

The Beatles - The Alternate Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and A Little More, was released by Dolphin Productions (CDP 790103 - 2 CD set) in 1997. Like a lot of bootleg CD releases, the packaging attempted to make the album look official, however the back cover failed to list the track contents accurately, and the front shown here was a little predictable. However the music is the key factor, and on this occasion the album is something of a gem to put it mildly. For nearly every track there's the mono mix at some stage in production, and a few stereo versions along the way. There are a lot of fragments from 'The Making Of Sgt. Pepper's' with George Martin playing back the individual tracks and explaining things. There's Anthology stuff, snippets from interviews, songs previously released on the Unsurpassed Masters series by Yellow Dog, tracks from 'The Lost Pepperland Reel' (like the Good Morning Good Morning animal noises) and more. ...

This is a tidy little Beatles bootleg, that comes under the name 'And In The End'. It finds the band at their rather difficult 1969 and early 1970 period. Despite all the strains and tensions of that time, musically they were still producing adventurous and excellent material. Worthy of note are 'The Long Medley' (both parts) which are from EMI master tapes in their original form, with 'Her Majesty' in it's original position. The Trident Studios Acetate of 'I Want You', sees Paul handling the lead vocals on the Lennon song. Intriguingly 'I Me Mine' and 'Let It Be'. are both being recorded with only Paul, George and Ringo, together in the studio. Johns absence is noted by George when he mentions, "Dave Dee is no longer with us". The full track listing is: 1. Come Together (Take 1) (John's Acetate) (7-21-1969). 2. I Want You (Trident Acetate) (2-22-1969). 3. I Need You (Trident Acetate) (2-22-1969). 4. Oh Darling (Early V...

Ultra Rare Trax Volumes One and Two may well have been the first two Beatles boot CD's released in Europe. They had previously been on vinyl and allegedly originates from master tapes "borrowed" from Abbey Road, which obviously upset some EMI exec's. Released by prolific bootleggers Swinging Pig records on CD and made in Luxembourg, they were certainly in circulation by 1988. These are a selection of studio outtakes, and similar to material released on the official Anthology series. They are another piece of Beatles history, and make fascinating listening. Volume One track list is: 1. I Saw Her Standing There (take two) 2. One After 909 (take two) 3. She's A Women (take two) 4. I'm Looking Through You (take one) 5. If You've Got Trouble (take one) 6. How Do I Do It (take two) 7. Penny Lane (take nine) 8. Strawberry Fields Forever (take 26) 9. From Me To You (take two) 10. Besame Mucho (1962 Pete Best on drums) 11. The Fool On The Hill (demo take one) 12. P...

If you are not familiar with The Quarrymen , John Lennon's 'skiffle' group, that eventually became The Silver Beatles, and then of course The Beatles, the Wikipedia article HERE is really interesting. I thought of just providing some selected parts within this posting, but the whole article provides excellent background to this recording. This rehearsal recording was made just four weeks before they changed name to The Silver Beetles, and John Lennon's friend Stuart Sutcliffe made up the quartet. This recording was made at Paul McCartney's home early in 1960, prior to Pete Best joining as drummer, and of course the Hamburg, Germany era. This is obviously a wonderful piece of musical history, and the audio quality reflects the historical aspect, home taping circa 1960, likely on one microphone, and with a muffled sound and hiss, that an old tape would retain however much you try to clean it up. That said I find it fascinating, and a must have for any Beatl...

Also known as Acoustic Masterpieces , I am very pleased to be able to share the Esher demos from 1968. These were recorded in late May 1968, at the home of George Harrison, and how is this for detail, his home was Kinfauns, a bungalow-style house, located at 16 Claremont Drive, Esher, Surrey, England, KT10 9LU, on the Claremont Estate, and only a short drive from the homes of John Lennon (Kenwood) and Ringo Starr (Sunny Heights). Hmmm - I need to get out more... These demo recordings would eventually develop, with a few exceptions, into 'The White Album'. (Seven of the actual demos also appear on The Beatles Anthology, Vol. 3). They were made on George Harrison's Ampex four-track reel-to-reel tape recorder. The songs are performed by John, George and Paul, recording some of the material, they had written during their time in India, along with other recent numbers. Track listing as follows: 1. Back In The USSR 2. Blackbird 3. Child Of Nature (eventually Jealous Guy on Imag...

In my own humble opinion the following live Beatles recordings are incredible. Boots from the early 1960's are often disappointing, and for obvious reasons. They are not official, they are copies of copies of copies... you get the point! The equipment used (even if professional) had limitations, often the crowd noise is more dominant and... OK this is over kill - point made !!! However very recently some new tape sources of The Beatles have emerged, which are close to pristine for their time. You may note the odd speed fluctuation or adjustment as some very tender remastering has been undertaken. However this is very much The Beatles as they sounded live in 1963 and 1964. It is a must for any Beatles fan, or fan of early guitar rock bands. This is the track order: STOCKHOLM, SWEDEN - OCTOBER 24, 1963 (From best known source to date). 1. Intro 0'46'' 2. I Saw Her Standing There 2'46'' 3. From Me To You 2'01'' 4. Money (That's What I Want) 2...

Back in March I featured a couple of tracks from the 'Lord of Madness' boot. I have kind of got my act together since then, and am now pleased to share the whole album. To recap - In 1968 The Beatles were both at Trident and EMI studios in London. Some excellent (performance and recording quality) material was created, final versions of which are found on The White Album. Lord of Madness are versions in production, another piece of The Beatles history, for collectors. The album comprises of: 01 - Hey Jude 02 - Revolution 03 - I'm So Tired 04 - Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey 05 - Sour Milk Sea 06 - Circles 07 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps 08 - Julia 09 - Not Guilty 10 - What's The New Mary Jane 11 - Yer Blues 12 - Helter Skelter 13 - Cry Baby Cry 14 - Revolution No. 9 15 - Good Night This is studio quality material - enjoy. FULL REPLACEMENT LINK NOW IN COMMENTS BELOW (18th APRIL 2009). More Beatles material to follow, so check back soon....

It's been some time since part three of 'a trip with the Beatles', for which I apologise, and no, I have not yet edited the 'Get Back sessions' to share, I feel another apology coming on. So this is part four, and I make no apologies for this! A twenty three track album, the copy I have obtained goes under the name of 'Magical Mystery Tour Outtakes', it is however far more than that. Lets go interactive for a moment. If you have the time, read the Wikipedia entry for the Magical Mystery Tour (click HERE ). It's easy to forget the 'TV' film version bombed originally outside the UK. and was panned by the critics of that time. It's a reflection on my personality I guess, that I loved it, it is however the music that in typical Beatles style has demonstrated longevity. I think it reasonable to say that against the Wikipedia background, this series of recordings are an absolute must for all Beatles fans, and curious parties. The album is as follo...

The 'Get Back' or ' Twickenham sessions', took place in 1969. Paul McCartney, wanted to get The Beatles playing together again as opposed to just recording. It was an opportunity to help the band gel together again, have some fun, and maybe lead to some new live performances. It was also a chance for band members to share new material, some of which would surface later on solo albums. In the end the now legendary roof top performance, was all that was to happen, as public performance's go. The actual sessions were filmed, and each film reel was accompanied by a mono soundtrack. The soundtrack has surfaced in different forms down the years. Recently I acquired the full soundtrack set, from a generation of copies quite close to the originals (so the sound quality is very good). These copies are not broken down into individual songs, rather they are inclusive of what was included on the film reel in use. I will when time permits try and edit these down to songs, to...

In part one of this series, I used the first CD from the mythology boot series. Mythology is such a large collection, that it would be easy just to source from that. It seems rather pointless to just keep dipping into this, especially as you can purchase the official Anthology series, especially if various outtakes, or work in progress versions are your bag. So I will try and expand out on The Beatles rarities trail. The Beatles took a conscious decision to stop performing live, and most live recordings from the USA tours that I have heard feature the screaming audience rather than the band. As a consequence the rehearsals for albums in the studio, have thrown up some real gems, as often the band would play 'live' without the audience. One of the best set of sessions are the ' Twickenham ' or 'Get Back' sessions. This is a story in it's own right, and will be featured another time, it deserves the attention. In 1968 The Beatles were both at Trident and EMI...

My first recollection of The Beatles, was watching them perform on the BBC probably in October 1963 at the London Palladium (no I do not have a fantastic memory, its a calculated guess, they were on the bill, and it was the sort of programme my parents would have had on). Yes I was very young !!! Keeping it simple, I have always liked the Beatles, if ever there was an example of popular music that stands the test of time, its them. In this occasional series, I hope to share some of their rarities, and in doing so probably only just scratch the surface. There are so many Beatles boots around it's a job to know where to start. In recent years however digital technology has allowed the ardent fan, not only to circulate the material more easily, but to clean up the sound quality, and in some cases, do such a fantastic job, it can rival 'officially' released material. I am going to ignore any chronological order, to support the fact my collection is growing as I type. However l...