Suitcase Yields Possible Beatles Trove

I've been following this story for several days, but have been reluctant to post a link until at least a few reputable news wires picked it up.

Perennial rumors of vast libraries of unreleased Beatles songs languishing in the vaults of Abbey Road Studios were largely deunked in 1988 with the publication of Mark Lewisohn's excellent book The Complete Beatles Recording Session, which pretty much documented every minute of every day The Fab Four spent in studio (including early session with Pete Best). If anybody were holding on to previously unknown recordings, though, Mal Evans would be a likely candidate. Given his history of drug abuse and the chaos surrounding his sad death, it wouldn't surprise me to find out there is a track or two in his collection that has yet to see the light of day.

Now, the question is, with the sort of legal malestrom that surrounds all things Beatles, will any unreleased tracks ever find their way from a battered suitcase to our ears?

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LT, I'd be interested in hearing anything new, at least once, but unless there's something staggering (why wouldn't it have been released?), I'd probably just as soon let sleeping dogs lie. I truly love the Beatles, and if this had happened 30 years ago, it would have piqued my interest more. Nowadays, I guess there are many people more fanatical about the Beatles than I am. Back in the 60s, I'd say no way, I was #1 fanatic. I still would like to see how this plays out.

I'm not so excited as I would have been once upon a time either, mark. The Beatles remain, however, my favorite rock band of all time and, I believe, the greatest rock band of all time (yes, I need to visit your recent Beatles thread). Given their stature and influence, they're worthy of more intense scrutiny and study than many other bands.

In the unlikely event there is a completely unreleased track, I'd be keen to hear it not so much because I think it will be some "great lost track," but because I'm a bit curious as to what they decided to leave on the shelf and why.

In the case of some of their more groundbreaking and influential recordings (i.e. "Strawberry Fields Forever"), outakes or demos are fascinating in terms of illustrating how the song was created and evolved.

The only truly disappointing scenario is as unlikely as there being anything new in the first place and that is digging up something that's been sitting in a trunk for years and "completing" it ala "Free As A Bird" for the Anthology back in '95. That was a solid case for letting sleeping dogs lie.

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Sorry LinnTate,

Just heard the news that the "treasure trove" appears to be a fake.

If I knew how to link the article, I would.

Thanks for the heads-up, asc85. The story had slipped my mind.

Here's ABC News' take on the story. It sounds like a fake, alright, and how.

quote:

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...Pete Nash, a memorabilia expert from the British Beatles Fan Club who examined the contents of the suitcase on behalf of a British television channel, said he saw photocopied ticket stubs, laser-scanned pictures from the 1990s and no rare reel-to-reel recordings.

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Well, I could have done that. I mean, really!

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My gut feeling was that this stuff was fake. How did a siutcase full of Mal Evans' stuff get to a garage sale in Adelaide in the first place.