Sold! The incomplete 1982 Decca Tapes needledrop
Bootleg LP from Circuit Records
The Telegraph reports today that the legal mumbo jumbo between Apple/EMI and The Fame Bureau regarding the sale of a tape containing ten of the 15 tracks The Beatles recorded at their Decca Audition on New Year’s Day 1962 has been resolved, and the tape sold to the highest bidder. The newspaper reports that EMI withdrew their legal challenge and the tape was sold to a Japanese collector at the weekend for £35,000
Our guess is that EMI realised that this tape was just a dub off an old vinyl bootleg from the seventies, and not a copy of the historic tape from 1962. This may be the highest price anyone has ever paid for a needledrop of a bootleg.
The tape has been called “a safety master” by the auction house, but documentation included with the tape shows that the tape is just the origin of a 1982 “grey market” release from Back Stage Records
The tape box is marked with BSR 1111 A and BSR 1111 B. Back Stage Records released a record with catalogue number BSR 1111 in 1982 with these songs in the same order and with the same timing as this tape has. Their source is likely to have been a tape made from the original Decca Tapes bootleg on Circuit Records depicted above.
The buyer got royally duped and I think Fame Bureau & Ted Owen lost what little credibility he had.
When confronted by NPR radio regarding the provenience of the tape, he couldn't give a clear answer.
I have my own safety master of the Beatles Decca session. Its on 7 1/2 IPS tape, sourced from my Dr. Ebbetts CD bootleg and recorded with my Sony reel-to-reel. I could put it for sale and make a shitwad of money, hahhahahaha!!!
I just something called "Never Mind The Tremeloes . . . Here's The Beatles," and I don't think I'll ever hear a cleaner, longer version of the entire session. Look for it!