The Beatles' First was released in 1964 by German Polydor (catalogue numbers LPHM46432/SPLHM237632) and was available in the UK as an import. On 4 August 1967, Polydor officially released the album in the UK, but with a different sleeve and catalogue number 236-201.
In the US, the album was released under the title In the Beginning (Circa 1960) in 1970 (Polydor 24-4504.)
In New Zealand, the album was released three times: firstly in 1966 (cat. no. 237632, as above), secondly in the early 70's titled The Beatles in Hamburg (cat. no. NZ SP 125), the track "Take Out Some Insurance on Me, Baby" was retitled "If You Love Me, Baby", and in 1977 as a double LP (cat. no. 118).
All subsequent releases of the Tony Sheridan/Beatles/Beat Brothers recordings are repackages of the same tracks.
This title is available in an expanded double CD set subtitled Deluxe Edition, with bonus tracks which was issued by Universal Music on 12 June 2004. The main tracks are in stereo on the first CD and in mono on the second CD. This release also contained a new sleeve. The similar album The Early Tapes of The Beatles (1984) was re-released on CD at a similar time to this deluxe edition release.
There have been a lot of variations of the Hamburg tapes released over the years, starting off with the Lingasong LP's in 1977. One thing in common with all the releases is that they altered the original recordings in one way or another. From removal of the between-the- songs dialogue, or song edits to loop portions of the track, to even fake stereo (as usual). This release is not going to try and re-invent the wheel. It simply presents some raw cassette transfers (speed corrected) that have been traded between collectors for many years.
The first twelve tracks here are from the bootleg Mach Shau! (Savage SC 12620) which contained alternate versions of songs such as I’m Talking About You and Roll Over Beethoven plus unadulterated versions of Till There Was You, A Taste Of Honey and Where Have You Been All My Life, all of them transferred from an original tape to vinyl. Then the next five songs came directly from a raw tape which today belongs to a private collector in Germany. That tape contains a total of 15 songs of which only seven feature the Beatles. Here we have five of them: Hippy Hippy Shake, A Taste of Honey [rec. 30/12/62], Reminiscing, Ask Me Why [rec. 30/12/62] and I Saw Her Standing There [rec. 30/12/62]. The rest of titles included are almost certainly performed by Ted "Kingsize" Taylor and the Dominoes. This tape circulated in the mid 90's and was later brought into the public eye by Fuego Entertainment in 2008 when they announced it to be a future release. Of course Apple put an end to that. The last five songs are from the famous "sampler" tape, copied by Allan Williams in 1978, which contained seven Star Club songs in their unadulterated original form. These are: Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey, Shimmy Like Kate, Falling in Love Again, Roll Over Beethoven [rec. 25/12/62], and Sweet Little Sixteen.
01- A Taste of Honey I 02- Till There Was You 03- Where Have You Been All my Life? 04- Lend Me Your Comb 05- Your Feet’s Too Big 06- Talkin’ ‘Bout You 07- To Know Her is To Love Her 08- Everybody’s Trying to Be my Baby 09- Matchbox 10- Little Queenie 11- Nothin’ Shakin’ 12- Roll Over Beethoven I 13- Hippy Hippy Shake 14- A Taste of Honey II 15- Reminiscing 16- Ask Me Why 17- I Saw Her Standing There 18- Kansas City/Hey, hey, hey, hey! 19- Shimmy Shimmy 20- Falling in Love Again 21- Roll Over Beethoven II 22- Sweet Little Sixteen
From the makers of Unsurpassed Broadcasts comes a new release, based on the recordings from The Beatles' performances at the Star Club in Hamburg in late December, 1962. It's the best version yet of these amateur recordings.
01- Nothin’ Shakin’ [But the Leaves on the Tree] 02- I Saw Her Standing There II 03- To Know Her Is To Love Her 04- Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby 05- Till There Was You 06- Where Have You Been All My Life? 07- Lend Me Your Comb 08- Your Feet’s Too Big 09- I’m Talkin’ Bout You 10- A Taste of Honey II 11- Matchbox 12- Little Queenie 13- Roll Over Beethoven II
Set 4 – Recorded December 31st 1962:
14- Road Runner 15- The Hippy Hippy Shake 16- A Taste of Honey III 17- Money [That’s What I Want]
Bonus Tracks*:
18- Sparkling Brown Eyes 19- Lovesick Blues 20- First Taste of Love 21- Dizzy Miss Lizzy 22- Hully Gully +
*By King Size Taylor & The Dominoes, except + by Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers.
Live! At the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962! was a double album featuring live performances by The Beatles, recorded in late December 1962 at the Star-Club during their final Hamburg residency. The album was released in 1977 in two different versions, comprising a total of 30 songs by The Beatles. Assessments of the album often weigh the poor sound quality against the historic importance and insight provided into The Beatles' early stage act. Rolling Stone reviewer John Swenson called the album "poorly recorded but fascinating" and commented that it showed The Beatles as "raw but extremely powerful." Q Magazine described the recordings as having "certain historical interest" and remarked: "The show seems like a riot but the sound itself is terrible – like one hell of a great party going on next door." George Harrison gave the assessment: "The Star-Club recording was the crummiest recording ever made in our name!" The recording equipment and method resulted in the tapes being unmistakably low fidelity. These performances were recorded on a home tape machine using a single microphone placed over the stage. The vocals, even in the best cases, sound "somewhat muffled and distant", and on a few songs are so indistinct that labeling and liner notes on early releases gave incorrect information about who was singing and the exact song being performed. Much of The Beatles' dialogue between songs is audible, which includes addressing the audience in both English and German, as well as repartee among themselves. The banter is irreverent and coarse at times, an aspect of their stage act that would soon cease under the influence of manager Brian Epstein and playing in theatres instead of night-clubs. Ted "Kingsize" Taylor, the owner of the tapes, began to investigate possible marketing of the tapes in 1973. The tapes were eventually bought by Paul Murphy and subjected to extensive audio processing to improve the sound, leading to the 1977 album. Although the poor sound quality limited its commercial appeal, the album provided historic insight into the group's club act in the period just after Ringo Starr joined but before the emergence of Beatlemania. The Beatles were unsuccessful in legally blocking the initial release of the album; the recordings were reissued in many forms until 1998, when The Beatles were awarded full rights to the performances. The tapes were originally described as having been recorded in May 1962, but that was only an attempt to pre-date The Beatles' June 1962 contract signing with Parlophone. However, song arrangements and dialogue from the tapes pointed to late December 1962, and a recording date of 31 December 1962 (the group's last day in Hamburg) was commonly cited. Later researchers have proposed that the tapes are from multiple days during the last week of December, which is consistent with original Beatles manager Allan Williams' description that a total of about three hours was recorded over three or four sessions between Christmas and New Year's Day. The tapes captured The Beatles performing at least 33 different titles, plus some repeated songs. Of the 30 songs that were commercially released from the tapes, only two were Lennon/McCartney compositions. The others were an assortment of cover versions, seventeen of which would be re-made by The Beatles and appear on their various studio albums or later on Live at the BBC. The arrangements played at the Star-Club are similar to the versions recorded later, albeit less refined, although there are a few cases with distinct differences. Here you have those recordings and also featured as found on the original tapes.
01- Be-Bop-A-Lula 02- I Saw Her Standing There 03- Hallelujah I Love Her So 04- Red Hot (incomplete) 05- Sheila 06- Kansas City / Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! 07- I Wish I Could Shimmy Like My Sister Kate 08- Reminiscing 09- Red Sails in the Sunset 10- Sweet Little Sixteen 11- Roll Over Beethoven 12- A Taste of Honey (incomplete) 13- Ask Me Why 14- Long Tall Sally 15- Bésame Mucho 16- I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry Over You 17- Twist and Shout 18- Mr. Moonlight 19- Falling In Love Again [Can’t Help It] 20- I’m Talkin’ Bout You 21- I Remember You
