The Beatles – Where Are We Going, Boys? (The Definitive Decca Tapes) @ 320

 

The Decca tape is usually among the first unreleased Beatles recordings that fans are likely to hear or acquire. They are a cornerstone of a gap-free Beatles collection, and any reasonably comprehensive understanding of where this band was at during a crucial period of their ascent.

That recording is the famed—or infamous—audition tape that the band made for Decca Records on the very first day of 1962, The Beatles’ final pre-fame year. In reading of their story, one is led to believe that these four men endured much  of dues before the breakthrough moment.

The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, met with record companies in London to secure a record contract for the Beatles and was rejected by many, including Columbia, His Master's Voice, Pye, Philips, and Oriole. After Epstein had meetings with both EMI and Decca at the start of December 1961, a Decca A&R executive, Mike Smith, travelled to Liverpool to see the Beatles perform at The Cavern Club, 

The Liverpool music paper Mersey Beat was the first to report on the Mike Smith visit, saying that the producer had made a tape of the performance (this amounted to the first "test").

Mike Smith was impressed enough to ask Epstein to bring the band down to London for a test in Decca's recording studios.

On January 1, 1962, Paul McCartney had been the bass player of the Beatles for half a year, taking over after Stuart Sutcliffe stayed behind in Germany after the band’s latest Reeperbahn residency. Pete Best is the drummer. 

They arrived at the audition, formally known as a "commercial test", to be headed by Mike Smith with Decca staff, on 1 January 1962 at 10 a.m. However, Smith was late, suffering from a New Year's party hangover as well as cuts and bruises from a car crash three days before Christmas, slightly delaying the start of the audition. At the audition, the Beatles performed songs chosen by Epstein.

At the time, the standard procedure for a test of this type was to record two to five songs and then quickly usher the artists out of the studio. The Beatles, however, ended up recording fifteen songs, and the recording session was extended into the afternoon, broken by a lunch break. This may suggest that, if they had been offered a deal, their first single and perhaps others would have been taken from the resulting tape.

About a month later, Decca rejected the Beatles. The executives' opinion was "guitar groups are on the way out" and "the Beatles have no future in show business".Some music historians have suggested, however, that the Beatles' work that day did not yet reflect their potential, and the "guitar" comment may have been intended as a polite letdown. In his 1964 autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise, Epstein ascribed the "guitar" comment to Dick Rowe; but Rowe denied it as long as he lived. Decca instead chose Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, who auditioned the same day as the Beatles, because they were local and would require lower travel expenses. Many have speculated about who made the decision to reject the Beatles. While various accounts of the audition have been published, most agree that it was either Dick Rowe or Mike Smith.Rowe did, however, offer to arrange for Tony Meehan to produce a Beatles single if Epstein would agree to pay about £100 for the expenses; but a meeting between Epstein and Meehan on 7 February went badly, and the recording never took place.

While Epstein was negotiating with Decca, he also approached an EMI marketing executive, Ron White. White was not a record producer, but he contacted three EMI producers, Norrie Paramor, Walter Ridley, and Norman Newell, all of whom declined to record the Beatles. They eventually signed with an EMI subsidiary, Parlophone, after producer George Martin heard the Decca demos and decided to meet the band and this was the beginning of a great story...

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Where Are We Going, Boys? (The Definitive Decca Tapes)

Label: The Godfatherecords – G.R. 675 (2011)

"Where Are We Going, Boys?" is not a Beatles song, but rather a rallying cry used by John Lennon during the band's early years to boost morale. When Lennon would ask the question, the band members would defiantly reply, "To the toppermost of the poppermost!". 

01 Money 2:24

02 The Sheik Of Araby 1:43

03 Memphis Tennessee 2:21

04 Three Cool Cats 2:27

05 Sure To Fall 2:04

06 September In The Rain 1:56

07 Take Good Care Of My Baby 2:27

08 Till There Was You 3:00

09 Crying, Waiting, Hoping 2:04

10 To Know Her Is To Love Her 2:36

11 Besame Mucho 2:41

12 Searchin' 3:05

13 Like Dreamers Do 2:37

14 Hello Little Girl 1:41

15 Love Of The Loved 1:50

Bass – Paul McCartney

Drums – Pete Best

Guitar – George Harrison, John Lennon

Vocals – George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney

Decca Studios, West Hampstead, North London, England, January 1st, 1961 

Note: The Godfather got the date wrong. It is January 1st, 1962.

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