Beatles' 1960 Bathroom Tapes: The 5 Best Tracks
Beatles bootleg buffs tend to be pretty particular in what they go for and return to, generally orbiting around a brace of accepted classics. These include the material that first came out on the Ultra Rare Trax and Unsurpassed Masters collections, as well as what may be the finest bootleg trove ever put out, the various editions of the endlessly edifying BBC material. Choice concerts, too, have their day – who doesn't like the full Hollywood Bowl, package? But then there's the stuff that most aficionados hear once and never consider again, despite the revelations that might be gleaned upon future hearings. Fidelity often has something to do with this, ditto a kind of rudimentary quality of musicianship, the twin-killing, of sorts, for the music a post-Quarrymen, pre-Beatles unit cut in the bathroom of Paul McCartney's Liverpool house, in spring 1960.
We're not sure exactly when the recordings were made: likely in either April or June. There is, of course, no Ringo Starr at this point, and these Silver Beetles were comprised of the big three of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, with a musically taxed Stu Sutcliffe wheedling away on bass, and McCartney's brother, Mike, weighing in, too. You will not, doubtless, download this stuff and crank it as you drive around, but it bears closer inspection.
Serendipity had a weird way of following the Beatles around; after all, what are the chances that someone had a portable tape recorder – which was a chunky thing at the time – on hand to capture some of the musical proceedings from the day two ordinary, random school boys first met, as John and Paul did at the Woolton garden fete on July 6, 1957?
The Beatles also had a weird way with gestation. At this early juncture, McCartney is the most assertive presence, and you wonder if that just burned John Lennon's ass. They are fumbly, clumsy, twangy, oft-out-of-tune and would require some years for a collective and individual genius to develop, plus Hamburg, before they were vaguely capable of doing a fraction of what they ultimately did. And still, there is enough there already that future hallmarks, techniques and even songs are in place. Weird and wonderful and at least worthy of a few good, hard listens. As for why they recorded in the bathroom? Same reason you sing yours – you just sound better in a fucking bathroom. Echo and all.
Here are the cuts to focus on.
By:Colin Fleming
Source: Rolling Stone
