BEATLES - Live At The Star-Club in Hamburg 1962 - 12" Vinyl LP Album

Collector's information:

Gatefold (FOC) cover design with detailed informationon the inside cover pages, liner notes by Chris White, March 1977  

Transcript of the Liner Notes:

What can be said about the Beatles that has not already been said or written many times before? The truth is - very little. The history of the Liverpudlian group has been chronicled many times during the last 15 years and inevitably will be repeated in the years to come. More than any pop group before them, and any who have followed since, the 'Fab Four' from Liverpool created a whole new wave of music which long ago installed them safely in the world of pop history. Now though, for the very first time, Beatles' fans can hear the embryo music which paved the way for what was to erupt on an unsuspecting world in the mid and late Sixties. Any pop fan could tell you about how the group's early performing days at the Hamburg Star Club in West Germany first showed their potential to an audience outside of Liverpool - until now however that music has been lost to all except those relative few who were priveleged to hear it first-hand.

What you are now holding in your hands is effectively a large slice of pop history these two albums contain some two dozen songs given the inimitable Beatles treatment, blemishes and all Many of the songs were to appear later on the group's first studio albums for Parlophone, EMI, and became essential conclusions in their stage performances during the ensuing months after they swept to success with Love Me Do and Please Please Me, others had seemingly been lost for all time, at least until the production of these albums which now enable everyone to hear the Beatles as they were during those long-ago but still raw and exciting years when every beat group from Liverpool worth its salt was attempting to become part of the Hamburg Scene. The appearance on record of this unique Beatles recording has in itself being a major saga worthy of inclusion in a Cecil B. DeMille-type movie. During the Sixties Ted Xingsize• Taylor and the Dominoes were an integral part of this Hamburg Scene - as well as claiming to be the first beat group to come out of Liverpool - and it was during one such visit to the Star Club that Taylor recorded some three hours of performance with his domestic tape recorder and using a single microphone. Amongst the groups whose music was caught on tape were Taylor and the Dominoes, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, and - the Beatles.

When the Beatles returned to Liverpool, the tape was for a time forgotten. Kingsize Taylor later offered the material to Brian Epstein who turned it down on the grounds that it would not be commercially viable - although he did offer 1'20 all the same. The tape was eventually rediscovered. These Hamburg recordings include pre-EMI versions of Twist and Shout, A Taste of Honey, Kansas City, I Saw Her Standing There, Roll Over Beethoven, Long Tall Sally and Ask Me Why. It has been said that the Beatles' best years as a performing group was between 1962 and 1963 but these recordings firmly illustrate that even before the group signed with EMI, their potential was dynamite. A lot of time and considerable financial investment has been spent on each of the 20-plus tracks, transferring the original mono takes to 16-track form and improving their sound quality. It should be emphasised however that no way has the actual music been interfered with - nothing has been added or detracted from the Beatles' original performance, all that has been is that the tape has been cleaned and what were originally very raw recordings have now become extremely listenable product.

Of course the music isn't what you would expect to hear from a studio in 1977 but despite that these recordings were made before the Beatles became 'name' artists, their music even then had that undeniable drive which took them to the top. The music has immense appeal, both as a collector's item and as a general item. What you will be listening to is a piece of musical history, and two albums which must become treasured additions to any Beatle fan's record collection. To recap on those Hamburg days, the Beatles first visited West Germany in late 1960 when the group's line-up was still John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe (who was to die tragically young( and drummer Pete Best. Playing in Hamburg either made or broke every Liverpudlian beat group that worked there but it was soon obvious to everyone that this was one group which would be going places. After returning to Liverpool in early 1961 to do a residency at the now-legendary Cavern Club, the Beatles made a second trip to Hamburg in April 1961 during which visit they recorded several titles with Tony Sheridan for a German Record Company.

It was during one visit to Hamburg that these tapes originated and, as luck would have it, although Ringo Starr did not officially join the group until August 1962, which was just about the time the Beatles were having their first recording sessions for EMI, he happened to be 'sitting in' for Pete Best on the very night that Ted Taylor decided to make some amateur recordings with his portable machine. And so to the actual recordings. After a rather garbled German introduction we go straight into / Saw Her Standing There which features an identical arrangement to that which appeared on the Please Please Me LP. Roll Over Beethoven has George giving a full-throated vocal; Hippy Hippy Shake was a number two hit for Swinging Blue Jeans in early 1964 but even two years before that the Beatles were featuring it as a standard inclusion in their live performances. John Lennon comes to the fore on Sweet Little Sixteen.

The album throws up a few surprises - for instance a complete rip-off of Frank Ifield's best-seller of that period, / Remember You, featuring Lennon on the harmonica. Paul McCartney does a surprisingly straight version of the old Marlene Dietrich classic, Falling In Love Again, while George Harrison features on the Phil Spector classic, To Know Her Is To Love Her. No matter how many thousands of words were written about the Beatles, the only way for anyone to appreciate their full appeal is to listen to the music. It explains everything. The Beatles" music has managed to span every generation and as ambassadors of pop, no one is likely to beat them. The Star Club recordings tell all. The music is raw, vital and exciting and goes a long way to demonstrating why John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr became such musical legends. The humor, the sheer talent and the audience excitement almost hits you in the eyes.... .......

Until now these tapes have been heard by no more than a handful of people but it is right that these Hamburg moments should be shared with the millions of Beatles fans worldwide. Four years ago the respected British pop music magazine Melody Maker reviewed the Hamburg tapes as they were in their original state and declared that the music neither injured the reputations of the artists or insulted the intelligence of the listeners. The writer declared that the recordings were a "unique and important document" of the most musical unit of the last decade More than that they are history and provide the best insight into the early life of the Beatles which most people had thought lost for good
CHRIS WHITE London, March 1977

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The Beatles are:

Beatles Band-members, Musicians and Performers
• John Lennon
• Paul McCartney
• Ringo Starr
• George Harrison

Track Listing of: Beatles Live At The Star-Club in Hamburg 1962

The Song/tracks on "Beatles Live At The Star-Club in Hamburg 1962" are

• Introduction/I Saw Her Standing There (Lennon/McCartney) 3:01
• Roll Over Beethoven (Chuck Berry) 2:15
• Hippy Hippy Shake (Chan Romero) 1:52
• Sweet Little Sixteen (Chuck Berry) 3:20
• Lend Me Your Comb (Wise/Weisman) 2:00
• Your Feets too Big (Benson/Fisher) 2:24
• Twist and Shout (Medley/Russell) 2:20
• Mr. Moonlight (Johnson) 2:23
• A Taste of Honey (Scott/Marlow) 2:10
• Bésame Mucho (Velázquez/Skylar) 2:46
• Reminiscing (King Curtis) 2:05
• Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey (Leiber/Stoller) 2:56
• Nothin' Shakin' (But the Leaves on a Tree) Colocrai/Fontaine/Gluck/Lampert 1:24
• To Know Her Is to Love Her (Phil Spector) 3:23
• Little Queenie (Chuck Berry) 3:57
• Falling in Love Again (Hollander/Lerner) 2:14
• Ask Me Why (Lennon/McCartney) 2:33
• Be-Bop-A-Lula (Vincent/Davis) 2:29 - Featuring Fred Fascher on lead vocal.
• Hallelujah, I Love Her So (Ray Charles) 2:08 - Featuring Horst Fascher on lead vocal.
• Red Sails in the Sunset (Kennedy/Williams) 2:11
• Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby (Carl Perkins) 3:04
• Matchbox (Carl Perkins) 2:37
• I'm Talking about You (Chuck Berry) 2:06
• Shimmy Shimmy (Massey/Schubert) 2:20
• Long Tall Sally (Johnson/Penniman/Blackwell) 1:47
• I Remember You (Schertzinger/Metter) 1:56
• Where Have You Been All My Life? (Weill/Mann) 2:09
• Till There Was You (Meredith Willson) 2:02
• Sheila (Tommy Roe) 2:00
• I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry (Over You) (Thomas/Biggs) 2:43