The Beatles sue to block release of 1962 live tapes
The Beatles' company Apple Corps filed a federal lawsuit on Friday (March 21st) against the latest company trying release live recordings of the group from December 1962 in Hamburg, Germany alongside other acts on the same bill as the Beatles.
Apple's suit names Fuego Entertainment, Fuego-Echo Music Group LLC, Echo Vista Inc., Fuego CEO Hugo Cancio and Jeffrey Collins as defendants. Apple contends that the primitively recorded reel-to-reel tapes, "dilutes and tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image associated with the Beatles."
In January, Fuego had announced that it had acquired the tapes from Collins and began streaming several of the songs on their website. The tapes featured different versions of some of the songs found on the various semi-legitimate Star Club releases throughout the years.
The legendary "Star Club Tapes," which were recorded over several nights during the Beatles' final week as a nightclub act in Hamburg, have long been a sore spot for the band. Although a seemingly official release was widely available beginning in 1977, in 1991 Apple successfully sued Sony from releasing yet another version of the tapes.
Fuego president Hugo Cancio told the The Associated Press "Don't claim that these were just bootlegged. It's not like today, that you just go in with a phone or a Blackberry and you record... It's unfair to millions of Beatles fans not to allow this recording to be put out. The world deserves to hear these tracks. The fact is that we have it; they don't, and that is what's bothering them."
Apple's suit also claims that Jeffrey Collins had previously tried to sell the recordings in 1996 and was also sentenced to three years probation for "violating New Jersey's sound recording piracy law in connection with non-Beatles recordings."
The Beatles' Star Club tapes were recorded during Christmas week 1962. Although they have been advertised many times as being either a night in which Ringo Starr was sitting in for the band's first drummer Pete Best, or his debut performance with the group, he had in fact been a full member of the Beatles for over four months at the time of the recording. It should be noted that the Beatles were under contract to EMI Records at the time of the recording until today, which legally nullifies any claim of exclusive ownership to their performances.
In 1977, nearly 30 performances from the Beatles final stint in Hamburg were released as The Beatles - Live At The Star-Club In Hamburg, Germany 1962. It was the first ever live release to document the group's pre-fame repertoire.
The group, who had never authorized the album's release, sued and won the rights to the master tapes in 1998. During the trial, George Harrison took the stand representing the Beatles and claimed that they never knew they were being recorded.
The recordings include several dozen songs which were taped by fellow Liverpool musician Ted "Kingsize" Taylor over several nights. The Star-Club tapes feature many songs the Beatles never officially recorded, such as Tommy Roe's "Shelia," Frank Ifield's "I Remember You," Marlene Dietrich's "Falling In Love Again," Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" and "I'm Talkin' 'Bout You," Fats Waller's "You're Feet's Too Big," Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula," Nat "King" Cole's "Red Sails In The Sunset," Arthur Alexander's "Where Have You Been All My Life?," and Buddy Holly's "Reminiscing," among others.
Despite the low fidelity of the Star Club tapes, the variety of its material and energy in which the Beatles performed throughout, has made them a fan favorite over the years.
Over the years John Lennon and George Harrison said that the Beatles were at the top of their game as performers during their Hamburg era, which spanned from 1960 to 1962. Pete Best says that the long hours the band played made them a top attraction: "I mean, we didn't realize how long we were going to be playing. And what we played in Liverpool was an hour, possibly two hours maximum, something like that which was par for the course. But when we got out to Germany we got told we were playing six, seven hours a night -- possibly 15, 20 minutes off, you know on the hour. There's nothing you can do about it. You're there, you're not gonna contest it. It's just like, 'Okay, we've got a job to do, let's just get on with it.'"
Although the Beatles own the rights to the 1962 Star Club tapes, they have never officially released any tracks from them, although a video montage featuring Star Club recordings was used as part of 1995's The Beatles Anthology.
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Apple's suit names Fuego Entertainment, Fuego-Echo Music Group LLC, Echo Vista Inc., Fuego CEO Hugo Cancio and Jeffrey Collins as defendants. Apple contends that the primitively recorded reel-to-reel tapes, "dilutes and tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image associated with the Beatles."
In January, Fuego had announced that it had acquired the tapes from Collins and began streaming several of the songs on their website. The tapes featured different versions of some of the songs found on the various semi-legitimate Star Club releases throughout the years.
The legendary "Star Club Tapes," which were recorded over several nights during the Beatles' final week as a nightclub act in Hamburg, have long been a sore spot for the band. Although a seemingly official release was widely available beginning in 1977, in 1991 Apple successfully sued Sony from releasing yet another version of the tapes.
Fuego president Hugo Cancio told the The Associated Press "Don't claim that these were just bootlegged. It's not like today, that you just go in with a phone or a Blackberry and you record... It's unfair to millions of Beatles fans not to allow this recording to be put out. The world deserves to hear these tracks. The fact is that we have it; they don't, and that is what's bothering them."
Apple's suit also claims that Jeffrey Collins had previously tried to sell the recordings in 1996 and was also sentenced to three years probation for "violating New Jersey's sound recording piracy law in connection with non-Beatles recordings."
The Beatles' Star Club tapes were recorded during Christmas week 1962. Although they have been advertised many times as being either a night in which Ringo Starr was sitting in for the band's first drummer Pete Best, or his debut performance with the group, he had in fact been a full member of the Beatles for over four months at the time of the recording. It should be noted that the Beatles were under contract to EMI Records at the time of the recording until today, which legally nullifies any claim of exclusive ownership to their performances.
In 1977, nearly 30 performances from the Beatles final stint in Hamburg were released as The Beatles - Live At The Star-Club In Hamburg, Germany 1962. It was the first ever live release to document the group's pre-fame repertoire.
The group, who had never authorized the album's release, sued and won the rights to the master tapes in 1998. During the trial, George Harrison took the stand representing the Beatles and claimed that they never knew they were being recorded.
The recordings include several dozen songs which were taped by fellow Liverpool musician Ted "Kingsize" Taylor over several nights. The Star-Club tapes feature many songs the Beatles never officially recorded, such as Tommy Roe's "Shelia," Frank Ifield's "I Remember You," Marlene Dietrich's "Falling In Love Again," Chuck Berry's "Little Queenie" and "I'm Talkin' 'Bout You," Fats Waller's "You're Feet's Too Big," Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula," Nat "King" Cole's "Red Sails In The Sunset," Arthur Alexander's "Where Have You Been All My Life?," and Buddy Holly's "Reminiscing," among others.
Despite the low fidelity of the Star Club tapes, the variety of its material and energy in which the Beatles performed throughout, has made them a fan favorite over the years.
Over the years John Lennon and George Harrison said that the Beatles were at the top of their game as performers during their Hamburg era, which spanned from 1960 to 1962. Pete Best says that the long hours the band played made them a top attraction: "I mean, we didn't realize how long we were going to be playing. And what we played in Liverpool was an hour, possibly two hours maximum, something like that which was par for the course. But when we got out to Germany we got told we were playing six, seven hours a night -- possibly 15, 20 minutes off, you know on the hour. There's nothing you can do about it. You're there, you're not gonna contest it. It's just like, 'Okay, we've got a job to do, let's just get on with it.'"
Although the Beatles own the rights to the 1962 Star Club tapes, they have never officially released any tracks from them, although a video montage featuring Star Club recordings was used as part of 1995's The Beatles Anthology.
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