Request: Newbie, how to get most of the beatlegs material?

[rameh]

Hello!
I just joined the forum and I feel a bit... overwhelmed. Lots and lots of materials, super exciting! But how do I know what to get, being a newbie and all? Is there a list of the must haves? I figure out some (I think): the BBC collection from Lord Reith (really nice btw!), the Ultimate Live (?) but I would appreciate if anyone could put me in the right direction to get a list that would get me 99% of the material without too much overlap.
Thank you and glad to be here!
Rameh

[alphabeatles]

Welcome, and where to start!

"get me 99% of the material" > This is doable

"without too much overlap" > This is not doable, ha!

First, what are your areas of interest? Best to narrow it down:

CV releases (this includes all forms of media from all countries from several decades)

Live

Demos

Studio sessions and outtakes

BBC

Remixes

Remasters

Mashups

Then there's the videos-!

All of this is out there from all sorts of people! Rehashed, repackaged, rejiggered continuously.

Lord Reith fits into the remaster/remix category for the early live, BBC and early album categories. Get this stuff first, as you seem to be doing.

Others have attempted to create the ultimate collections such as coltturkey (a project currently being re-released by MasterJedi – get these as a priority).

You may come across Misterclaudel; these collections are quite handy but quality (either source material or presentation) is a concern.

Anyway, good luck with this! The good news is you can find anything you need rather quickly, easily and for free.

[RalseiDeltarune]

Hi.

I've been collecting bootlegs for about 3-4 years now. Here's some links that you can use to get a head start. To download/view these, simply copy the link into the search bar and replace the Xs with Ts.

Misterclaudel Collection
hXXps://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AMPHCl7WO5mh1us&id=89BB398C5E05B5CB%219574&cid=89BB398C5E05B5CB

The Paul McCartney Ultimate Archive Collection from Voodoo Records
hXXps://mega.nz/folder/nhlTyIjY#CrhsnWbnEohbr5ue99iW4A

Adambound Production's A White Year
hXXps://mega.nz/folder/km5WwRJC#45Og5GkS4ntnAKKWQbF7SQ

Sgt. Pepper's Massed Alberts Edition
hXXps://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1Wu9nSP4E9XyRscmz_GTR9ARbF0mE80JG

The Complete Abbey Road by DerianTheImp
hXXps://mega.nz/folder/szQxWa4B#ncU5mhYhFjKQ2245Pxnh2Q

You can also join us at the Beatleg Discord Server, where you can download and suggest other bootlegs.
https://discord.gg/cXWzDn5Rf9

[Lord Reith]

Aside from my remixes I have done a few projects that cover a fair swathe of the available material:

The BBC Archives 2021
Kicks, Kudos And Cash (Lord Reith Approved Version) [everything up till the start of their EMI career]
You Become Naked [demos compendium]
Magnetophon Band [star club tapes]

Aside from that you'd need the live stuff, the get back stuff and the studio outtakes. Our members g-force and csnyfan have compiled most of the studio stuff in their sets. The live stuff I'm not so sure about since 90% of the live stuff I have is video and that is more complicated. I don't collect Get Back stuff but I think either New Blue Soap or A/B Road are the ones to get.

[beatlesondvd]

I don't collect Get Back stuff but I think either New Blue Soap or A/B Road are the ones to get.

New Blue Soap is more complete than A/B Road (where some bits were also presented out-of-sequence) but it's in spectral stereo, whereas A/B Road is a dub of the original mono Nagra tapes.

[Byrdman]

This is all excellent advise.

Just to supplement this, I kept a copy of a really informative post from BLZ [this is not my post, however I sincerely thank the author for the assistance it gave me in understanding the world of Beatlegs. Many of those (or their subsequent reincarnations) have already mentioned in previous posts to this thread.

"Here is what I, and I think many others, would consider most of the core collection at this point. This doesn't include any solo bootlegs, or any video bootlegs, or any outfake-only bootlegs. It also doesn't include interviews, except incidentally. In other words, this includes all the music essentials, that are authentically from the Beatles vault.

There are bits and pieces that lie outside these releases, but if you have all these, you probably have about 98% of what's currently available. If I've forgotten something important, someone please add to it.

It should also be said that I did not list every single "best" source for all of these. Particularly, Remasters Workshop (RMW), MasterJedi (MJ), and HelterSkelter Records (HSR) all did remastering jobs of much of the same material, and it's a matter of preference whose remastering job you prefer--but the differences are generally pretty slight. So if I listed one instead of another, it's not meant as a slight against the other remastering job. Just that these were generally what became "core" first, and there haven't been any source upgrades since, just different remastering jobs.

Likewise, Misterclaudel isn't necessarily the originator for a lot of this material, but has done a good job compiling much of it together (particularly the live stuff) from the best sources.

The essentials (record label in parentheses):

STUDIO AND DEMO RECORDINGS:

• Kicks, Kudos, and Cash (Lord Reith).
All Beatle recordings from 1960-62, including the Decca Audition, but minus Star Club tapes (see "Live Performances" section below) and official EMI/Parlophone releases like Love Me Do.
• BBC Archives (Lord Reith).
All the BBC sessions in the most complete and best quality.
• The Ultimate Home Demo Collection (No label? / Coltturkey).
Seven volume set collecting all the home tapes and demos, put together by BZ user Coltturkey. One of the discs is the Esher Demos, which are now found in pristine quality on the official White Album: Super Deluxe box set, but it does have the other take of "Sour Milk Sea" and some other, more slight variations, though From Kinfauns With Love (see below) may still be the standard for this. Another disc is mostly the "Strawberry Fields Forever" demos which are remastered, and collected with a little bit more material on Sgt. Pepper: The Massed Alberts Edition (see below). For everything else, this is the easiest place to collect them, including the most recently-surfaced demos like "World Without Love", "I'll Follow The Sun", "It's For You", and "What Goes On". An earlier compilation called You Become Naked (No label originally) offers a different(?) remastering job that might be preferable, but the Coltturkey set is more complete. Also alternately, the 1963 and early 1964 material can be found on Caught On Tape Vol.1 on the Remasters Workshop (RMW) label (a series that was never completed - only the first volume was ever released). The first part of Volume 1 of The Ultimate Home Demo Collection might just be a clone of this RMW disc, otherwise, it's a different remastering job.
• From Kinfauns With Love (Masterjedi).
Another, slightly better, release of the Esher Demos. Again, this isn't really essential anymore, being usurped by the official White Album: Super Deluxe release, but it does have the alternate "Sour Milk Sea" and a few other variations.
• The Barrett Tapes (Remasters Workshop, a.k.a. RMW), or else Bare It All (Masterjedi).
They're pretty much identical, just a slightly different remastering job, but they both sound excellent. These both contain all the John Barrett tapes in best quality. These tapes are mostly outtakes from various EMI recording sessions 1962-70, and what the official Anthology 1, 2, and 3 CD releases were based on. Also includes the Glyn Johns' "final compilation" of the Get Back/Let It Be album (see Get Back bootlegs below).
• Great Scott! (Masterjedi).
This set compiles all the "Roger Scott tapes" which (I believe) overlap with the John Barrett tapes, but there are further additions. These were tapes given to radio personality Roger Scott, for use in putting together the "Abbey Road Video Show" in 1983. If I remember the story right, he was first given material compiled by John Barrett, but then Barrett died, and Scott was given more material, and it leaked. Anyway, this is EMI studio outtakes, some of the best that are out there, all in the best available quality.
• Sgt. Pepper: The Massed Alberts Edition (no label).
This bootleg collects every scrap of audio and video material related to the album in the best available quality.
• Magical Mystery Tour Songtrack (Maxwell Edison Records, a.k.a. MER).
All the remixes on the 2012 Magical Mystery Tour Blu-Ray made by Giles Martin, but without any of the dialogue or voice-over present in the film. It also includes all or most of the incidental music heard in the film that wasn't actually performed by the Beatles.
• Orphans of the Revolution (MasterJedi).
Remastering job of the material found on the older bootleg Secret Songs In Pepperland that collects all the alternate mixes and effects tapes given to the producers of the Yellow Submarine movie, notably the long version of "It's All Too Much". It also includes remastering jobs of the alternate White Album mixes heard on the bootleg Gone Tomorrow, Here Today, and other odds and ends from late 1967 through 1968. RMW also has a remastering job of Secret Songs In Pepperland, but it doesn't have any of the bonuses.
• Revolution: Take Your Knickers Off! (RMW).
Contains Take 20 RM1 of the song "Revolution 1", which is a different mix from the mix on the official White Album: Super Deluxe release. It also contains some sessions for other artists (Cilla Black and Badfinger) that Paul McCartney played on/produced but aren't technically the Beatles. This title was originally released on the HMC (His Master's Choice) label, but the RMW version pitch-corrects and speed-corrects everything.
• What A Shame Mary Jane Had A Pain At The Party (RMW).
A remastering job of an old bootleg that includes all the official remixes made of the song "What's The New Mary Jane".
• The Peter Sellers Tape: Remastered (Helter Skelter Records, a.k.a. HSR), or The Peter Sellers Tape: 2016 Edition(MasterJedi).
Early mixes from the White Album, this title has been released on several different labels, but the remastering job on HSR is probably the closest to the source tape. MasterJedi also has a version of it, which is a different remastering job that's just as good, but marginally different. The material is essential, and either will do.
• A/B Road (Purple Chick).
Complete Get Back/Let It Be sessions from January 1969 in best quality, sourced from the "Nagra Reels", i.e. the tape recorders assigned to each of the film cameras that filmed the sessions. This collection is the "A-camera" and "B-camera" rolls edited together chronologically, so they don't repeat the material heard on both sets of reels, and so you can hear the sessions as completely as possible in the order it was all performed.
• Day-By Day Series Vols. 1-38 (Yellow Dog, plus fake Yellow Dog).
If you want to be a real "completist," then you'll want the raw "Nagra Reels" from the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. This 38-volume bootleg series, containing two discs per volume, includes all of the "A-camera" reels. For most collectors, A/B Road is more than enough, though. You're not going to hear much of anything you won't already have on A/B Road.
• Kum Back Vols. 1-9 (no label), Get Back Camera B Rolls Vols. 1-12 (Unicorn), Complete Get Back Sessions Camera B Vols. 1-12 (Strawberry), and The Lost B-Rolls (Smiling Sphinx).
These are the "B-camera" reels for the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Kum Back (not to be confused with the older one-LP vinyl disc) covers the earlier part of the sessions, the Unicorn set covers the middle part of the sessions when they moved from Twickenham to Apple, and the Strawberry set covers the end of the sessions. The Smiling Sphinx volume fills in a handful of reels that were missing from the previous sets. Like Day-By-Day, these are really for "completists" only, since the A- and B-rolls have all been edited together on PurpleChick's A/B Road, and that set is easier to find, and also easier to listen to (though still not easy!). There's almost nothing here that's not included on the A/B Road set. Most collectors don't really need to bother with this or Day-Bay-Day. They're more "nice to have" than anything else.
• Get Back: The Elektra Acetate (HSR).
Glyn Johns' first compilation for the Get Back/Let It Be album.
• Get Back & 9 Other Songs (RMW).
This is a remaster of a 1987 bootleg CD, and is still probably the best source for Glyn Johns' 2nd/3rd compilation for the Get Back/Let It Be album. This one isn't very exciting if you already have The Barrett Tapes or Bare It All (see above), since it's basically identical to Glyn Johns' final compilation, but with a different track order.
• Let It Be - The Movie (HMC).
This contains the complete Ron Furmanek mix of the Let It Be movie audio. The audio for the film was remixed in the late 80s or early 90s by Ron Furmanek for a home video release that never happened. This is essential because it includes some of the Apple Studio material in stereo not available elsewhere, particularly, parts of the Rooftop concert and parts of the Rip It Up/Shake, Rattle, and Roll oldies jam.
• No. 3 Abbey Road NW8 (RMW).
Early rough mixes from the Abbey Road album, this title has been released on several different labels, but the remastering job on RMW is probably the best. It also includes a tape of Paul and Donovan jamming on acoustic guitars during sessions that Paul produced for Mary Hopkin's Postcard album.
• Last Lacquers (MasterJedi).
A complete, or near complete, collection of all the bootlegged acetate discs--random unreleased mixes pressed to acetate to be taken home by the Beatles or studio staff. You'll find things here like "Your Mother Should Know Take 8" (an early piano version without backing vocals), "Flying (RM4)" (with a jazz ending), and "12-Bar Original (RM1)" (the long version).
• One Bird A Humming (RMW/HSR).
Complete Christmas recordings in best quality, including outtakes not heard on the recent official Christmas release.
• Unforgettable: Remastered Edition (RMW).
Paul created a homespun vinyl record as a Christmas gift in 1965 for some of his friends, including the other Beatles. The record contained Paul doing an impression of an American radio deejay introducing a bunch of 1965-era songs by other artists that he thought his friends would enjoy (the Beach Boys, the Stones, Martha & The Vandellas, etc.). So there's no real Beatles music here, just intros by Paul of songs by other artists.
• The Beatles Anthology Revisited (No label).
A lengthy podcast series of the Beatles in their own words telling their own story from beginning to end, with much more detail than the official Anthology documentary (though this one is audio only, not a video documentary).
• Back To Basics series on the Helter Skelter Records (HSR) label. (Back To Basics: Please Please Me, Back To Basics: With The Beatles, etc.).
These are album-specific collections, that collect all the outtakes and mixing variations recorded during the sessions associated with the individual albums. But as far as I know, the series was never finished, and stopped either at Back To Basics: Sgt. Pepper or Back To Basics: Magical Mystery Tour, and I don't know if I've ever actually seen any of them past Back To Basics: Revolver. These ones are pretty hard to track down.
• Deluxe editions on the Purple Chick label. (Please Please Me: Deluxe Edition, With The Beatles: Deluxe Edition, etc.).
These are pretty old bootlegs by now, and most of the best stuff is covered on one or more of the bootlegs above, but they're still some of the most readily available bootlegs that compile album-specific outtakes. At least the first half of the albums was usurped by the Back To Basics series, but this Purple Chick series is still easier to find.
• Yellow Chatter Custard (HSR).
All the sound bites from the Rock Band video game, mostly just between-take recording session chatter. Some of these are kind of inauthentic, mixed together from various sessions, since some of the clips can be heard in (presumably) their true setting, in the official Sgt. Pepper: Super Deluxe and White Album: Super Deluxe box sets.
• The Rock Band MOGGs (No label).
Extractions from the Rock Band video game of the songs used in the game, but split into eight channels instead of the standard one-channel mono or two-channel stereo. In some instances, these can be re-edited into a truer representation of the original four-track or eight-track tape (as heard on HelterSkelter's Back To Basics series), but the main attraction here is that there are unique isolations of instruments on the various tracks, and through digital manipulation, further isolations and extractions can be produced, which can be used to make new remixes.
• Some people also like to collect high-quality rips of the original 1960s vinyl albums, including the U.K., U.S., and other international releases. There are many different attempts at these, but there's nothing really truly "unreleased" on them.


LIVE PERFORMANCES (in somewhat chronological order by performance date):
• Zu Laut! (Lord Reith).
Complete live Star Club tapes in best available quality.
• Complete Royal Variety Performance (Misterclaudel a.k.a. MCCD).
Just as the name says, the full (very short) Royal Variety concert from 1963 in best quality. Misterclaudel usually takes their stuff from other sources, but sometimes they're original (I think), but in any case, they're often easier to track down and are good at collecting eras all in one place.
• In Sweden 1963-1964 (Misterclaudel).
Complete concerts in Stockholm from 1963, and partial concert (all that's available) from Stockholm in 1964, all in best available quality. Though the '63 radio concert is short, it's probably the best soundboard Beatles live performance, second only to the lo-fi Star-Club tapes.
• Concert At Washington Coliseum (Misterclaudel).
Complete Washington DC concert from 1964, this concert is on a few different labels, sourced from a bonus download on an official iTunes release that was later taken down, iirc. The Misterclaudel is version is probably the easiest to track down. Nearly as good, if not better, than the '63 Sweden performance.
• Complete Ed Sullivan Shows (Misterclaudel).
Just as the title says, in best quality. Alternately, you can seek out The Ultimate Ed Sullivan Shows on the HMC label, which is the original source for this, but I think the Misterclaudel release has some extra material.
• NME Poll Winners Concert (Misterclaudel).
Easiest place to find both the 1964 and 1965 NME Pollwinners Concert performances by the Beatles, plus the short live performance for the U.S. TV show Shindig!.
• 300,000 Beatles Fans Can't Be Wrong (Misterclaudel).
Complete 1964 concert from Adelaide, Australia, and the few surviving extracts from Sydney. A few different titles exist under this name, all of them containing the Adelaide concert, but the Misterclaudel version is the most recent with the best available sound quality. Featuring Jimmie Nicol on drums!
• Melbourne Meltdown (Lord Reith).
1964 Melbourne concert in pristine quality. The best (surviving) concert of the Australia tour. Another great concert.
• Beatles Big Night Out 1963, 1964, and 1965 (Misterclaudel).
This collects both the 1964 and 1965 "Blackpool Night Out" TV performances of the Beatles, from various sources, including the best source from each. This is one of those DVD+CD releases by Misterclaudel, and the 1963 show is included on the DVD, but not on the CD because the 1963 performance was mimed and wasn't truly live music.
• Seattle Down (Purple Chick), or Northwest Nights (DarthDisc).
These both include the Vancouver 1964 show from radio broadcast, as well as the atrocious sounding Seattle audience tape, so these are only worth getting for Vancouver. There is actually a bit of dialogue from this Vancouver show heard in pristine quality in the Eight Days A Week: The Touring Years film, so maybe an upgrade will eventually surface, but these are still the best quality for this show as far as I know. I do believe Seattle Down is just a clone of the same material on Northwest Nights, but the Purple Chick release is easier to find at this point.
• Why Don't We Do It In The Bowl (Lord Reith).
Complete, unedited Hollywood Bowl concerts in the best available quality.
• Philadelphia 1964 Off Reel (Idol Mind Production, a.k.a. IMP).
Philadelphia concert from 1964 in the best available quality.
• Les Beatles C'Etait A Cause Du Soleil (Misterclaudel, a.k.a. MCCD).
Complete concerts in Paris in 1964-65, in the best available quality. The '65 concerts are among the Beatles' best.
• The Great Concert At Shea! (HMC).
Complete Shea concert sourced from the public address system at Shea, exactly as it was played that night. Iconic, and one of the best live Beatles performances.
• Shea! (HMC).
Complete Shea concert with most of the songs sourced from the soundboard stereo feed, but this contains overdubs recorded in 1966 for the TV broadcast, and the in-between song dialogue and stuff is the same as The Great Concert At Shea!.
• Live From The Sam Houston Coliseum 1965 (Misterclaudel).
Two shows from Houston, both soundboard, in most recent best quality.
• Gone To Atlanta 1965 (Misterclaudel).
Another soundboard show, in most recent best quality. Also includes the poor sounding audience tape from Minneapolis 1965.
• Tokyo 1966 (HMC).
The two concerts in Tokyo recorded for television in best quality. The best of the 1966 tour, which isn't saying a whole lot.
• Bravo Beatles Blitztournee Germany 1966 (Misterclaudel).
Aside from Tokyo, the only other soundboard show from the 1966 tour was the show in Munich, recorded for TV broadcast--but didn't include the whole show. This is the most recent source for it, and it includes all the supporting acts as also seen on the German TV broadcast, including Peter & Gordon.
• Live Chronicle Extra (Misterclaudel).
This one barely qualifies as "essential." It includes some excerpts from two audience tapes of live shows on the Beatles' 1963 tour of Great Britain. The tapes were put up at auction, and some clips from them were put online to promote the auction. One is from May 1963 from a show in Walthamstow, and another is from August 1963 in Bournemouth. Both sound better than most audience tapes, but they still sound awful, and they're not complete songs, just excerpts, probably five minutes in total between the two concerts. The collection also has some minor upgrades of other songs from other concerts, often not complete, sourced from audience tapes or newsreel footage. Very much a "for completists only" release.
• Live series on the Lazy Tortoise label. Alternately, The Ultimate Live Collection put together by BZ user colturkey.
The Lazy Tortoise series contains pretty much all the Beatles' live recordings, though it's rather old by now, and better-sounding sources have surfaced on many of the live bootlegs mentioned above. Still, for the rest, the Lazy Tortoise series is the easiest place to collect them all. But the "rest" is atrocious sounding audience tapes, like Montreal and Toronto, and some excerpts caught by newsreel cameras. Not much can be heard due to all the screaming fans. The Ultimate Live Collection attempts to upgrade the Lazy Tortoise releases, so either one of these collections will do, and each has their advantages. The Lazy Tortoise series also includes a bunch of interview tapes, while The Ultimate Live Collection doesn't. But the Ultimate Live Collection has some better quality sources for some of the concerts. I would still collect the concerts direct from all the bootleg sources listed above, though, because those are mostly the "raw" version, whereas I think The Ultimate Live Collection sometimes did some remastering. But if you want to make it easiest on yourself, you probably would just want to get The Ultimate Live Collection and skip over collecting all the live bootlegs, and be done with it.


OFFICIAL RELEASES (NOT INCLUDING THE CORE CATALOG):
• Beatles Bootleg Recordings 1963
• Live At The BBC, On Air: Live At The BBC Vol. 2, and the Baby It's You CD single (for completeness--The BBC Archives bootleg set usurps all three of these)
• Anthology 1
• Anthology 2
• Anthology 3
• Free As A Bird CD single
• Real Love CD single
• Live At The Hollywood Bowl
• Let It Be Naked
• LOVE
• 1+ (because it includes new modern remixes of the songs)
• Sgt. Pepper: Super Deluxe box set
• The Beatles Christmas Records (though this one is kind of unnecessary if you have One Bird A Humming since the difference in audio quality is marginal, and One Bird A Humming has all the outtakes and extra material as well)
• White Album: Super Deluxe box set

If you have all these, you'll have probably 98% of the stuff that's out there. There are are a ton of alternate remastering jobs and alternate ways of collecting this material, and you can spend a lifetime collecting it, but these are the essentials."


I hope this will be useful to someone else, thanks again to the original author. I have very much enjoyed chasing down the recordings I missed, so if nothing else a great checklist.

[yymca6]

I just found out I did not have these

Kum Back Vols. 1-9 (no label)
Complete Get Back Sessions Camera B Vols. 1-12 (Strawberry),
and The Lost B-Rolls (Smiling Sphinx).

Also missing in my collection One Bird A Humming (RMW/HSR)...

Anyone for any of these? (Or all of them LOL

[Suzy Parlourphone]

Thank you, Byrdman, for that very helpful post!

Also missing in my collection One Bird A Humming (RMW/HSR)...

Anyone for any of these? (Or all of them LOL

RMW/HSR 01-02 One Bird A Humming:
hxxps://we.tl/t-yJRqWoFtEu

[mitchellmichael]

I just found out I did not have these

Kum Back Vols. 1-9 (no label)
Complete Get Back Sessions Camera B Vols. 1-12 (Strawberry),
and The Lost B-Rolls (Smiling Sphinx).

Also missing in my collection One Bird A Humming (RMW/HSR)...

Anyone for any of these? (Or all of them LOL

I’m pretty sure I have the Lost B-rolls. If so, I’ll upload in the morning.

[aslak]

Thank you byrdman for the info. EXACTLY what I've been looking for. Really, really helpful. I think I've got most of it, need to check, maybe missing a couple.
I'm better placed than I thought.
Great stuff. Great overview.
Cheers
A