John Duff Lowe RIP

[JosRem]

John Duff Lowe, former pianist of the Quarrymen died today.
Known to his friends as "Duff", Lowe had known Paul McCartney since 1953, and was invited to play piano with the Quarrymen by McCartney in February 1958. He was in the Quarrymen for two years, and was there when the band recorded a couple of songs for a vanity disc at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool. The two tracks cut that day were "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger". Lowe maintained possession of the tracks and, in 1981, sold the recordings to Paul McCartney. Their estimated value was around £12,000. McCartney had the record remastered and the songs appeared on the Anthology 1 album.

[Lord Reith]

Imagine what that record would be worth today.

Farewell John, thanks for keeping it safe all those years.

[JosRem]

Imagine what that record would be worth today.

The recording was made at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool (back in 1958), and costed 17 shillings and six pence (87.5p).

Not to mention the other 1960 acetate (78 rpm) from Hamburg (Akustik Studio): Summertime. Lost forever, not kept safe.

[Lord Reith]

Imagine what that record would be worth today.

The recording was made at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool (back in 1958), and costed 17 shillings and six pence (87.5p).

Not to mention the other 1960 acetate (78 rpm) from Hamburg (Akustik Studio): Summertime. Lost forever, not kept safe.

You know, I am 50-50 of the opinion that the version of Hallelujah on the 1960 tapes is actually a Percy Philips acetate. It has a loud scratch at one point, and also has a very claustrophobic sound similar to the TBTD acetate. And it sounds completely different to everything else on that tape. Was there another Percy session, and Stu or someone dubbed the disc onto that tape?

[Spaniard in da Works]

You know, I am 50-50 of the opinion that the version of Hallelujah on the 1960 tapes is actually a Percy Philips acetate. It has a loud scratch at one point, and also has a very claustrophobic sound similar to the TBTD acetate. And it sounds completely different to everything else on that tape. Was there another Percy session, and Stu or someone dubbed the disc onto that tape?

Speaking of 1960 tapes, Lewisohn seems to be the only one claiming that the April 1960 tape does not come from Paul's house but from Stu and John's flat in Gambler Terrace or from the Art College. Does he have anything to substantiate that claim?

[Albert Grove]

Imagine what that record would be worth today.

The recording was made at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool (back in 1958), and costed 17 shillings and six pence (87.5p).

Not to mention the other 1960 acetate (78 rpm) from Hamburg (Akustik Studio): Summertime. Lost forever, not kept safe.

You know, I am 50-50 of the opinion that the version of Hallelujah on the 1960 tapes is actually a Percy Philips acetate. It has a loud scratch at one point, and also has a very claustrophobic sound similar to the TBTD acetate. And it sounds completely different to everything else on that tape. Was there another Percy session, and Stu or someone dubbed the disc onto that tape?

Percy Phillips kept a logbook; Mark Lewisohn refers to it in Tune In.

[MP3J]

Imagine what that record would be worth today.

The recording was made at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool (back in 1958), and costed 17 shillings and six pence (87.5p).

Not to mention the other 1960 acetate (78 rpm) from Hamburg (Akustik Studio): Summertime. Lost forever, not kept safe.

You know, I am 50-50 of the opinion that the version of Hallelujah on the 1960 tapes is actually a Percy Philips acetate. It has a loud scratch at one point, and also has a very claustrophobic sound similar to the TBTD acetate. And it sounds completely different to everything else on that tape. Was there another Percy session, and Stu or someone dubbed the disc onto that tape?

They did record there again in 1960 to cut One After 909, but that record has long since been lost and has appeared nowhere not even on the Percy Phillips double 10" collection

[noirbar]

Not to mention the other 1960 acetate (78 rpm) from Hamburg (Akustik Studio): Summertime. Lost forever, not kept safe.

The lost holy grail. Very first time the 4 Beatles recorded together (mit Wally).

Maybe would have sounded a bit like this:

[kontroller]

My gut feeling (based on absolutely nothing concrete) is that Wally, like Tony Sheridan, probably had a 'pub singer' voice, meaning it would probably be a tough listen if it ever turned up.

[Lord Reith]

Percy Phillips kept a logbook; Mark Lewisohn refers to it in Tune In.

This is where my claim falls to the ground!

(one for the Monty Python fans there)

Speaking of 1960 tapes, Lewisohn seems to be the only one claiming that the April 1960 tape does not come from Paul's house but from Stu and John's flat in Gambler Terrace or from the Art College. Does he have anything to substantiate that claim?

I've been saying that for 20 years. They're not from Paul's house, the room is way too large. It is a very large room, maybe 15 metres across. In Hunter Davies' bio Astrid relates that Stu gave her one of the tapes and told her they were recorded at the art college. That would have been an ideal gathering place since Paul's school was literally next door. June Furlong a model says that they used to practice in the "life room" and they showed the room which is the exact right dimensions for the ambience heard on the tape. There's also a Bill Harry interview where he points to an upstairs window and says that's where they used to rehearse.

One of John's art college friends said they used to rehearse in his flat which is not unlikely but did they have a tape recorder? I always thought the tape recorder used was the one John persuaded the Art College to buy according to Bill Harry (in the collected publication of Mersey Beat articles). But the flat was quite large so it is possible. My money is on the art college though.