“Let It Be” reels sold
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| Some of the reels |
GBP 287.00 was the winning bid for a recent ebay auction of 3 reels of 16mm Audio Tape plus film frames from Let It Be. The total running time of the tapes is approximately 55 Minutes and included recordings of the following tracks :
- Get Back
- Don’t Let Me Down
- I Get A Feeling
- One After 909
- Dig A Pony
- Let It Be
- Long and Winding Road (3 Versions)
- Get Back (#2)
- Don’t Let Me Down (#2)
- Two of Us
- One After 909 (#2)
- Let It Be (#2)
- Sure To Fall (Snippet)
The seller described all tracks as different versions to the ones we’ve previously heard some very much so and seem to be more like rehearsals, some tracks cut in late or finish early. Throughout the recording there is lots of talking, technical cues and general messing about. Also included in this auction was a strip of 16mm Film that features John Lennon at the piano as Paul McCartney looks on.
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| Part of the film strip |
The seller claimed to have purchased these items from a woman in London, who used to work in the film industry as a sound recordist. One of the films she had worked on was “Let It Be”. She explained that in those days sound and film were recorded on separate tapes and then synced together later at the editing stage, she left the project to start work on another film before the sessions ended because she said she was “bored and cold”! she took these tapes home and forgot about them until the mid 1990’s when she had them transferred to CD out of curiosity to see what was on them. The CD she had made was included in this auction.
Source: ebay
that's a cheap price
Or, to put it another way, a very expensive price for what looks to simply be a copy of some Let It Be bootlegs.
Hmmmm…if the seller's story is to be believed, then she just got away with 'selling stolen goods' which might be only a temporary getaway.
As of Apple's mid-90's Anthology-period 'recall' of all promotional and production materials distributed in the 60's and 70's ('Record Collector' noted that many possessors and dealers had acquiesced), there's no doubt as to the legal status of such items.