People and Places recordings leaked on YouTube
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| Adrian Killen |
by Adrian Killen
I have decided to come on to this website to correct some mistruths that exist about the audio recordings made from the Granada People and Places T.V. programme in 1962.
I am the 16 year old Adrian Killen (now74) who made those audio recordings in 1962. On the day of the first recording I was actually at the Cavern lunchtime session when Bob Wooler announced that the boys were heading straight to Granada studios after the lunchtime session.
I was actually on daytime release from work as an apprentice printer and was attending the printing college in Hope Street next to the Liverpool institute college (now Lipa) and that is the reason why I was at the lunchtime session.
The first appearance
We finished college at 4.00pm and I immediately went home and “acquired ” a 3 inch reel of audio tape from my brother’s collection as he had a Phillips reel to reel tape recorder linked directly to the loudspeaker socket of the T.V.
And so, the first two recordings were made- a live performance of «Some other Guy» and «Love me Do» followed by some not too complimentary comments from my Mum and Dad who thought their haircuts were horrendous.
From memory they appeared in their black roll neck sweaters and at the end of the performance of «Some other Guy» put their hands up in front of their faces and slightly above their heads making weird waving and finger gesticulations and shouting gobble-de-gook and words to the effect “I ,or we, love you”.
The second appearance
As I was an avid reader of the Mersey Beat newspaper I was aware of their second appearance which was videotaped and shown while they were over in Hamburg. Although I recorded «Love Me Do» as well as «A Taste of Honey», I immediately scrubbed the recording of «Love Me Do».
It might seem sacrilege now, but at the time none of us in Liverpool could imagine just what a phenomenon that they would become. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Unfortunately it appears that Granada scrubbed the tape and only the transcripts remain, but there are photographs of that second performance taken by Mike McCartney from the T.V.
The third appearance
The third appearance was yet again “live” but unfortunately I didn’t record «Love Me Do» at all as I already had the first live recording and also by this time the record on 45 r.p.m.
The aftermath
I sat on these recordings for over 30 years until I decided to contact E.M.I.and I was invited down to Abbey Road studios where I met Mike Heatley and Mark Lewisohn. The reaction after playing the recordings was not really what I was expecting, and although an offer was made to purchase, I took the decision to decline the offer.
And so I sat on them for a further few years. It was only when Liverpool Football club opened their Museum that things started to progress, As a life long season ticket holder and collector of L.F.C.memoribila, I introduced myself to the new curator who himself was also an ardent Beatle fan. As time progressed I played these recordings to him and as he had an association with Mike McCartney, I allowed Mike to listen to parts of the recordings on cassette tape
These in turn were relayed to Paul and the request was that we should enter negotiations with Apple with a view to sell these recordings.
I never (as it is presently documented) auctioned these tapes. The curator of LFC and myself were invited to Apple’s headquarters in London and sat around the large boardroom table where many a Beatle negotiation had taken place and a deal was made with Neil Aspinall and myself for the purchase of the four tracks plus expenses. These negotiations took place between late 1999 and early 2000.
I still have a copy of the cheque signed by Neil Aspinall for a 5 figure sum. I also signed a non disclosure agreement and have remained silent ever since, although Apple were aware that I had a digital copy of the tracks for my own pleasure.
YouTube
I was quite shocked in December when parts of these recordings appeared on YouTube, along with information about myself and I immediately contacted Mark Lewisohn to make him aware that after signing a non disclosure agreement with Apple that I had no part to play in the uncovering of these recordings, and also the information about my having «auctioned off» these recordings in the past and the sum that I was supposed to have acquired.
I hope that this correct information will now be passed on to the numerous websites that exist about the Beatles as I hate incorrect information, especially concerning myself .
Why have Apple never released these recordings? I don’t really know, but what I would like to know is WHO is behind releasing these recordings on YouTube and the incorrect information that accompanies them.
Hello! I posted the recordings on YouTube! The recordings were in a podcast and those songs were clipped out and put up for download wich is where I got them and then put on YouTube. Contact me at camerasparks[at]gmail.com if you have more questions!
Lots of love Sparks The Griffon
You sound surprised that you sold rare Beatles to Apple and they never released them? They have vaults full of Beatles tapes and film they stubbornly refuse to release. You're better off selling this stuff to a consortium of fans who can freely share it on the internet for all to enjoy.
What was the Podcast where the songs appeared?
I don't remember. It was about The Beatles on TV
It was "The Beatles Naked" Podcast:
podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-21-when-they-was-fab-the-beatles-on-tv-1962-1966/id1306616741?i=1000457228137
Don't know who leaked them but they're heroes in my eyes.
I don't understand Apple's intention to sit on rare, marketable material. Do they intend to wait until Paul and Ringo are no longer around and then cash in on their increased value? We know they have the Woolton Fete recording, the Hong Kong concert and goodness knows what else. They could easily do more Anthology releases should they choose to, but seem to be concentrating on anniversary releases of officially released material instead. I want to hear some of this stuff before I die!
Wait..the anniversary releases also brings rare content.
It's quite simple. Apple want to ensure they have things to release for many years to come.That way the keep the band alive and maintain interest and a revenue stream for many years. Once it's all be released they can't exactly get any more material so hence reluctance to put it all out now
Like it or not, the Beatles' popularity is slowly but surely on the wane as original and even 2nd generation fans die out. There will be an increasingly fewer number of people actively interested in recording like these and I really don't understand the logic of keeping any recordings in the vault to possibly be released at some point in the future to an ever expanding disinterested public.
Apart from box set versions of Rubber Soul, Revolver, etc, what else is Apple sitting on that could effectively be turned into 'product'? Nothing really. It's only stuff that's going to interest the fans. There'd be far more kudos in releasing the whole lot online: from Woolton Village Fete to the Now and Then sessions. Like they did with the 1963 bootleg stuff. Why keep it hidden? The regular albums are still there and still earning.
The truth seems to be that Apple – or some parties very closely associated with Apple – simply hate Beatles fans. Look at the recent Abbey Road deluxe release (presumably just released to milk some quick cash) – none of the CDs was packed anywhere near to capacity yet the accompanying book gleefully described several interesting outtakes that Apple had held back and left in the vaults. That's just deliberately rubbing it in the faces of fans. What a beautiful day it would be if Apple's Beatles archive had been backed up on hard drives and somebody hacked into them and released it all online. They treat Beatles fans with such contempt.
I think Apple are having to weigh up difficult options. Who can say what Beatles fans want?
Personaly i want access to as much as possible of course, but to the casual fan releasing lo quality recordings might have the opposite effect.
I too found the Abbey Road deluxe release a bit underwhealming, especially when the book talked about different versions etc of interest.
My guess is that Apple are gathering all of these recordings because it´s a part of the purpose of Apple. They are creating an archive, unfortunately for us we will not gain access to it.
As for their releases I think they are trying to balance it between us hardcore fans and preserving the "magic" of the Beatles by not being to generous with "details" (outtakes etc).
On the White Album I think they got the balance right. Maybe on Pepper as well. Abbey Road was to conservative. Next up Let it Be, fingers crossed!
I'm no sure if there is so much more good and releaseble material of Abbey Road Sessions..
Apple could easily release, for example, a "Beatles Live" compilation that might go some way to fulfil the promise of the project that was screwed up by Ron Howard.
We all know there are some well recorded, well performed concerts out there and, no doubt, there are others (such as Hong Kong) that Apple have that have not been booted.
They could easily do a deluxe set with 4 or 5 CDs and an accompanying book(let) with lists of concert dates and songs performed, together with photos.
I think that would be snapped up by both hardcore and casual fans.
Apple have always been over-protective of whatever archive material they can find/keep. It's difficult to fully understand why every disc they put out in the "super" deluxe versions is not full to capacity, other than the base "cash cow" theory. Surely another 25-30 minutes of outtakes wouldn't do any harm to the Beatles' reputation. I have always felt that these super-duper deluxe versions of whatever album should be where Beatle-obsessives can get more of what they want. Casual buyers can get the 1/2 disc version. Having a real fan, who has knowledge of what there is released or otherwise, should be involved in the planning phase of a release. That way, the Paul/Ringo/Yoko/Olivia will have somebody representing people like us.
Personally, I loved the Pepper/White Album/Abbey Road releases, albeit with frustration that all the space allowable on a cd was not used. The Esher Demos were a joy to hear in brilliant condition. BTW, did anyone notice that "Sour Milk Sea" was different to the bootlegged version we've had for years?
The thought that the Beatles' light is waning is sad, but natural. They aren't waning in my heart, or all of youselot. I agree with everyone here that the entire library be available online for all to hear. They could do the same with the film footage. Why Shea hasn't been released is beyond me. The Eight Days A Week live project was interesting, but would have been a logical house for Shea.