The Hamburg Beatles in Canada

In December, 1962, live performances of the Beatles at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany, were recorded by fellow performer Kingsize Taylor and the club stage manager Adrian Barber.

Barber recorded a number of acts including the Beatles on Taylor's  Philips RK 14 four track mono tape recorder through a microphone hung above the stage.  At the time the Philips recorder was state of the art technology.

The Philips RK 14 recorder and the original Star-Club tape

In 1963 Taylor offered the tapes to Brian Epstein, but there was little interest as the poor quality of the recording did not meet commercial standards.  The tapes were left on the shelf until 1971, when Alan Williams, the Beatles original manager, heard of the existence of the tapes and attempted to market them to a number of labels.  However, all the labels approached declined to become involved as the legality (ownership) of the tapes was in question, as it was believed the Beatles were under contract to EMI at the time the tape was made.

In 1977 a company called Double H Licensing Corp. acquired the rights to the Hamburg tapes and subsequently released them on the Bellaphon label in Germany (were copyright laws allowed it) and then in the UK on the Lingasong label.  Later the same year Double H licensed the recordings to a number of labels worldwide including WEA in Canada. 

While the original Star-Club releases contained twenty six songs, the original tape contained thirty or more songs. Interestingly, the Canadian and U.S. releases had four different tracks than the European pressings.  All releases were re-channeled (fake) stereo.   

Besides the Canadian release on the WEA label Canadian fans could purchase the imported U.K. release on the Lingasong label and the imported German release on the Bellaphon label.  They were both widely available as imports as they were released a few months ahead of the North American pressings becoming available.  

No singles from the L.P. were released in Canada. However, one single "Twist and Shout/Falling In Love Again" on the Lingasong label was released in the U.K. and imported into Canada. Also, a number of promotional copies of this single have turned up in Canada suggesting a few were sent here to promote the package. 

In the years following the initial release the recordings could be found on vinyl, CD and cassette and on a variety of labels including an interesting 1979 Canadian Pickwick release, "The Beatles 1st Live Recordings Hamburg, Germany, 1962, Volume One".  This Canadian L.P. included the previously unreleased track, "Hully Gully".  However, while this track was on the actual Star-Club tape, it was not performed by the Beatles, but by Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers.

In the years prior to and after the commercial releases many tracks from the tape found their way onto bootlegs which were available to the Canadian fan through independent record stores.

In the U.S. WEA pressed a variety of promotional copies of the L.P. with some sent to Canadian radio stations and reviewers.  Promotional copies with "D.J. Copy Not For Sale" printed on the labels were pressed in red, blue and black vinyl, plus some copies contained one red and one black disc.  

Today tracks from the Star Club tape continue to be released on both vinyl and digital formats and usually falsely promise an improved sound quality.  In addition, unofficial unedited "raw" mono versions of the tape with the correct performance order, that more truly capture the Beatles Star-Club performances, can be found on unofficial C.D.'s and digital downloads. 

Unopened copies of the WEA Canadian release have a value of approximately $35 - $40 and a near mint copy $25 - $30.
Coloured vinyl promotional copies sell for around $100 and the black vinyl promotional copies for $25 to $40. Unofficial releases (bootlegs), both early and later on vinyl or C.D. have a value of around $25 to $35.