Two 1963 demos have surfaced
Two newly surfaced Beatles demos have been circulating on various forums in recent days, and now someone has uploaded cleaned up versions of them to YouTube for a wider audience. They are Paul McCartney’s demo of “Love of the Loved” and a band version of “Misery”, most likely recorded during a rehearsal at the Cavern Club in January 1963. Mike McCartney took a photo of the Beatles on that occasion, and we can see a tape recorder in that photo:
The Beatles playing and recording in an empty Cavern Club
Later, an acetate record of “Misery” was made, which is the source of the recording that is now out. The acetate was probably made for Helen Shapiro, although her manager rejected the song, deeming the lyrics unsuitable, and it was picked up by another artist on the Shapiro Tour, Kenny Lynch. He recorded his version in February 1963 and it was released as a single on March 15.
The demo of “Love of the Loved” is mostly recorded by Paul on vocals and guitar, with some muted percussion in the background. It fades down, and has no real ending like it had on the recordings for Decca Records. It may have been faded out just for this release, though. The demo may have been made available to Cilla Black, in order for her and her musicians to learn the melody and the song, she released it as a single on September 27, 1963. The acetate was considered for release on “Anthology 1” in 1995, but was pulled just prior to finalisation of the track list.
Both tracks first appeared on disc 1 on the the recent beatleg “Anthology 4 Ultimate Edition” from Voo-Doo Records.
After these demos were released to a wider audience, and in these AI times, a lot of people have been skeptical about the authenticity of these demos or whether they are concocted by computer programs using artificial intelligence.
However, these recordings were already known to Beatles connoisseurs, for example, this version of “Love of the Loved” may have been what was on a demo record which was sold at auction at Christies in 1991, see the entry over at Beatlesource..
Mark Lewisohn treated his audience to an excerpt of this version of “Misery” during his lecture series “Evolver 63” in 2023.
The bootleg from Voo-Doo Records.
The first four discs of the 6CD bootleg release.
Disc 5 and 6 of the CD bootleg.
Can you tell me where I can buy this 6 cd anthology set. Thanks.
A link is in the blog post, click on the title of the bootleg.
It’s a four-disc set – the pictures you posted show the track listing for discs three and four twice, being the rear cover and the inside rear cover respectively.