The Beatles, Live in Hamburg? Well, maybe ...
In the spring of 1962, The Beatles were in their third extended engagement in Hamburg, Germany. They were the first act to play the just-opened Star Club, where the club's DJ happened to record the audio of one of their performances on tape.
Other performances from the Star Club gig have been released over the years, but the promoter who has this particular recording claims it is unique because it contains two songs (both covers, which made up most of the band's repertoire at the time) and because it is the first recording to feature Ringo Starr on drums (original drummer Pete Best having been booted from the band six months earlier.)
The promoter tried to release the recording back in 1996, but ran into a large brick wall known as Apple Corps, the company that owns and licenses rights to all things Beatle. Now, he has hooked up with an independent record label, Fuego Entertainment, and is going to try again.
No release date has been announced, and remember, Apple Corps is the company that goes up against corporate giants like Apple Computers, and wins.
You can read the whole story at billboard.com.
Comments
This already exists in Vinyl format, I purchased a group of Beatles records from someone online recently and seemingly this recording your talking about was revamped by an independent label and already exists. Though the sound quality isn’t great because they used a single microphone on the other side of the room, the back of the vinyl says that they spent over 100,000 dollars putting it back together, and it’s totally listenable especially for die hard beatles fans
If were talking about the same thing, it’s titled “The Beatles first live recording, Hamburg Germany Vol 1.” and I also have volume two. Spc 3661…Pickwick is the record lable
Hey, Erik. The guy who’s promoting this one claims it is different from the Hamburg tapes that have been previously released. Who knows? A lot of questions are being raised about whether it’s even authentic.
Er, Apple Corp. had to compromise with Apple computer or they would have lost. Besides, who apart for die hard fans of the band would care about this album? They had a profound effect on music and it is all available for purchase already. Life moves on …
This album was released in Argentina by Microfon USA (aka MICSA) in the early 70’s. This was the only label that had the right to sub-publish this release back then.