Episode 419 - The Man Who Found The Master Tape Of The First Beatles Recording Session

On New Year’s Day in 1962, a four-man band from Liverpool arrived at Decca Records in London to record a demo tape. The band’s 15-song audition was apparently underwhelming: The Beatles were rejected from the label in favour of a group called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. 

The audition tapes, too, were soon forgotten, aside from some incomplete bootlegs that circulated among die-hard fans and five songs released on the 1995 compilation album Anthology 1. So when Rob Frith, the owner of Neptoon Records in Vancouver, and the man we interview today, brought a tape labeled “Beatles ’60s demos” to his friend’s studio on a whim, he didn’t know the value of what he possessed. 

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Thanks again Rob for this interview.