The Beatles on Decca??
I'm currently listening to the Decca audition tape from 1/1/62. How would the band have turned out if Decca had signed them?? Would they have been as successful, or successful at all?
Immediate answer: NO. There are versions of "Money" and "Till There Was You" on the audition reel (keep in mind, over a year and a half predating the EMI recordings we all know). Both were much improved on with the benefit of more studio time and better arrangements (possibly due to the George Martin influence). The band sounds tired, mechanical and not overly impressive throughout.
But consider this:
The Decca session took place after an all-night drive in bitter cold from Liverpool to London. God bless Neil Aspinall for braving the drive in the craptastic van. The trip took much longer than expected and stress surely set in as they arrived late, hastily rushed into the most important gig of their career. Given the fatigue factor, the performances can't be expected to be perfect.
Some of the other cover versions played (things like "Sure to Fall," "To Know Her is to Love Her," "Memphis," "Crying, Waiting, Hoping") are inferior to versions heard on BBC radio in 1962 and 1963. These BBC recordings were recorded in similar conditions: usually one take allowed and in unfamiliar studio environments. The Decca tape suffers from a lack of Ringo behind the drums and the aforementioned fatigue. Would these have been issues if Decca had signed them, given them proper studio time and canned Pete Best??
Bottom line:
The songs chosen probably illustrated the best the Beatles had to offer at this point. They already had loads of experience onstage in Hamburg and the Cavern, with a diverse repertoire of music. Epstein had only recently become their manager and they had not yet peaked as songwriters (all the originals heard on the audition tape were later given away to other artists!!). The band gained invaluable experience as 1962 progressed, not the least hurt by the addition of Ringo Starr. We can't really evaluate the Beatles as a commercial venture yet, since they were not yet ready for the big time. Had this audition been held in later 1962, perhaps they would have been signed and history would have unfolded much differently!!
Immediate answer: NO. There are versions of "Money" and "Till There Was You" on the audition reel (keep in mind, over a year and a half predating the EMI recordings we all know). Both were much improved on with the benefit of more studio time and better arrangements (possibly due to the George Martin influence). The band sounds tired, mechanical and not overly impressive throughout.
But consider this:
The Decca session took place after an all-night drive in bitter cold from Liverpool to London. God bless Neil Aspinall for braving the drive in the craptastic van. The trip took much longer than expected and stress surely set in as they arrived late, hastily rushed into the most important gig of their career. Given the fatigue factor, the performances can't be expected to be perfect.
Some of the other cover versions played (things like "Sure to Fall," "To Know Her is to Love Her," "Memphis," "Crying, Waiting, Hoping") are inferior to versions heard on BBC radio in 1962 and 1963. These BBC recordings were recorded in similar conditions: usually one take allowed and in unfamiliar studio environments. The Decca tape suffers from a lack of Ringo behind the drums and the aforementioned fatigue. Would these have been issues if Decca had signed them, given them proper studio time and canned Pete Best??
Bottom line:
The songs chosen probably illustrated the best the Beatles had to offer at this point. They already had loads of experience onstage in Hamburg and the Cavern, with a diverse repertoire of music. Epstein had only recently become their manager and they had not yet peaked as songwriters (all the originals heard on the audition tape were later given away to other artists!!). The band gained invaluable experience as 1962 progressed, not the least hurt by the addition of Ringo Starr. We can't really evaluate the Beatles as a commercial venture yet, since they were not yet ready for the big time. Had this audition been held in later 1962, perhaps they would have been signed and history would have unfolded much differently!!
posted by sirbradford117 @ 1:39 AM
4 Comments:
At 4:18 AM ,
Spencer said...
That is interesting to read. Are those the oldest recordings of them, or do they have some early live stuff from The Cavern?
At 8:11 AM ,
dauber said...
Spencer -- no, the Decca tape isn't the earliest stuff out there. There's a tape that pre-dates the Decca audition by over a year that has the guys rehearsing in Paul's basement -- and allegedly Stu Sutcliffe is on it. Some of it ended up on Anthology, but there were enough recordings to fill two CDs worth...look for a Vigotone bootleg called Wildcat! on its Madman subsidiary. The sound quality of the tape isn't that good -- it's about the quality of the Star-Club tapes. And even pre-dating the McCartney basement recordings, of course, is the 1958 recordings of "That'll Be The Day" and "In Spite Of All The Danger," both of which are included on Anthology 1.
Brad -- I agree with your comments about the Decca audition. And put yourself in Dick Rowe's shoes, around that time (if he really was the one responsible for turning them down). Would YOU have signed a band based on those 15 performances?? With Pete Best's tired drumming? And with that weird selection of songs?? You have "Till There Was You" from a Broadway musical. "Three Cool Cats," an obscure Coasters B-side. "September In The Rain," a song Paul's father probably enjoyed. "The Sheik Of Araby," which SPIKE JONES had a hit with, for God's sakes! "Sure To Fall," essentially a country song. And, of course, "Love Of The Loved," a Lennon-[mainly] McCartney original that was awkward not only in performance but also songwriting quality that to this day Paul refuses to authorize either an audio release or a public listening of it.
How the heck would you even have billed the Beatles??? With that selection, probably a novelty act. Novelty acts, unless they were EXTREMELY talented, were a flash in the pan and almost guaranteed to be one-hit wonders. That, combined with the mediocre performances, undoubtedly caused Dick Rowe (or whoever the Decca rejecter was) to issue his famous (and possibly apocryphal) rejection:
"I don't like their sound; and groups with guitars are on their way out. You have a nice record store in Liverpool, Mr. Epstein -- why don't you just stick with that?"
So whom did Decca sign instead? The Tremeloes -- a guitar group! Which just shows that if the Beatles were indeed rejected because guitar groups were "on their way out," Decca was basically telling the Beatles, "Don't let the door hit your tush on the way out."
Thank GOD things happened the way they did. All the stars had to be aligned properly -- Brian Epstein had to have come into the picture, ditto Mal and Neil, the Decca rejection, Ewart Abner gambling away Vee-Jay's money, etc. And to think -- auditioning for George Martin was a last resort -- someone actually suggested that as a joke (he was producing comedy records at the time), and they thought, "Well, what have we got to lose?" If any single thing had been different, we just might have never heard of The Beatles.
As Bruce Spizer often says, Sgt. Pepper's could have been on Vee-Jay Records. Or...had things REALLY been different...it could have been on London Records here in the US -- and possibly virtually unknown here until maybe the last fifteen years!
At 2:11 PM ,
sirbradford117 said...
Spencer, those early live tapes (that I think you're referencing) were recorded in Hamburg but at a much later date than most assume... New Years Eve 1962!!
Sean: I'm really not a fan of the 1960 ('61?) McCartney basement tapes. Too much aimless rambling amidst a few fun moments.
And Sgt. Pepper's on VJ?? Puh-leeze.
At 2:35 PM ,
dauber said...
Hey, Brad -- do you listen to the Fab Fourum podcast?? If you don't, might be something to check out. Really interesting panel discussion. Anyway, their most recent show is a surprisingly in-depth discussion of the Decca audition...
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