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[peterbell1]

I personally think Epstein's choice of material plus the fact that George sang a few too many lead vocals were the main contributors to the rejection.
The Star Club set list has a much higher proportion of rock n roll songs than the Decca tape - the Decca tape is weighted heavily towards the cabaret/show tunes. Even the one Chuck Berry song done for Decca - Memphis - isn't an all-out rocker in the same vein as the other Berry songs in the Beatles early repertoire, like Roll Over Beethoven or Sweet Little Sixteen.
And as much as I like George's voice he wasn't a strong lead vocalist at that point.
The fact that they had driven through a snow storm from Liverpool to London on New Years Eve can't have helped either!

Mike Smith of Decca had gone to Liverpool a few weeks before the studio audition and seen the Beatles play live - that would surely have been a more representative view of the band, and Smith was impressed enough to write that he was certain that Decca could put the Beatles to good use.

Though McCartney now insists they weren't very good at that time, they must have been an incredibly tight live band - to have recorded that audition under difficult circumstances, in a very short space of time, with all songs done in a single take, it's incredible that it's not full of mistakes. How many young bands today would put up with such treatment and manage to record something that was still worth listening to almost 50 years later?

[Kevin]

How many young bands today would put up with such treatment and manage to record something that was still worth listening to almost 50 years later?

Gee. If I gave you an answer it would only be a guess. Go on, put me out of my misery. How many?   

[An Apple Beatle]

On trying to learn Beatle tunes for  quite a few years now I would say that they were a majorly tight band in their early years, maybe the songwriting matured but it's harder to learn earlier than later Beatle songs as a general rule. Far more quicker chord changes for one and the sheer energy...Sometimes it was like they were taking the mick out of any style they cared to emulate. I mean they had to be pretty special to arise above an already busy Mersey scene.

[Kevin]

I was just reading how Decca treated The Stones.
Quite a few innovations - their contract gave them complete artistic control and ownership of their own masters. Their manager was allowed to be their producer. Their first album cover was one of the first to have no name or title on the front.
As someone said earlier this burst of generosity by Decca may have been inspired partly by their mortification at having passed over The Beatles cash cow.

[Mairi]

I was just reading how Decca treated The Stones.
Quite a few innovations - their contract gave them complete artistic control and ownership of their own masters. Their manager was allowed to be their producer.

That would be great if they didn't get screwed over by Allen Klein. Poor guys.

[BlueMeanie]

I accept I'm way out of my comfort zone with this pre-Martin stuff. But I just had a quick run through of the Live At The Star Club (62) set list and doesn't your description sum up quite nicely The Beatles sound at the time?

I think the Star club sets were more varied due to the quantity of time they had to perform - 8 hours a night usually. I believe the Liverpool sets were more rock 'n' roll. Bill could probably shed more light.

[tkitna]

Was just browsing through this thread and it reminded me of how bad I hat 'Three Cool Cats'. I know this has nothing to do with anything but I had to say it to make me feel better.

Carry on

[BlueMeanie]

The reason George sang so many songs is that John had a bad head cold that day, and couldn't sing much. So I guess the set was altered acordingly. Agree on 3 Cool Cats. Terrible.

[VBMCollector]

Good evening!

I’m happy to share an article about the Decca Audition, posted for the first time in 2010 on my blog and on which I have been working for twelve years. Regularly, I update as new information comes to our attention:

> https://1drv.ms/b/s!AgGaAlX0q0tEggqpxovlAqCZkkx8?e=5HKG0i

I hope you will find it as much fun as I had developing it.

Have a good week!

[Moogmodule]

Good evening!

I’m happy to share an article about the Decca Audition, posted for the first time in 2010 on my blog and on which I have been working for twelve years. Regularly, I update as new information comes to our attention:

> https://1drv.ms/b/s!AgGaAlX0q0tEggLO-gA20rc-eFum?e=xY8Wpo

I hope you will find it as much fun as I had developing it.

Have a good week!

That was an interesting read. Thanks for that.

[VBMCollector]

Thanks!

I made a small correction, so I changed the link in my post.

[zipp]

Thanks!

I made a small correction, so I changed the link in my post.

Thanks for the blog. I haven't read it all yet but there's something strange near the beginning.

I think you say that Epstein arranged a meeeting in London with Tony Barrow for Friday 01.01.1962.

This is obviously the wrong date. And in any case 01.01.1962 wasn't a Friday, it was a Monday.

[VBMCollector]

Thanks for the blog. I haven't read it all yet but there's something strange near the beginning.

I think you say that Epstein arranged a meeeting in London with Tony Barrow for Friday 01.01.1962.

This is obviously the wrong date. And in any case 01.01.1962 wasn't a Friday, it was a Monday.

You're right, sorry! I corrected that mistake. The relevant sentence, with the correct date is now: "So he phoned him to arrange a meeting, which would be scheduled for Friday, 01.12.1961."

It’s about the meeting between Brian Epstein and Tony Barrow.

Thanks!

[zipp]

You're right, sorry! I corrected that mistake. The relevant sentence, with the correct date is now: "So he phoned him to arrange a meeting, which would be scheduled for Friday, 01.12.1961."

It’s about the meeting between Brian Epstein and Tony Barrow.

Thanks!

Good. I'm pleased you've corrected it.

And while we're talking about dates ... The Beatles first photo session was Sunday 17.12.1961 (not 12.17.1961 - that's the American date system).

Actually I'd never realised before that Brian had paid for a photo shoot of them in their leather jackets. Rather ironic !

[VBMCollector]

That's right !

About the photo session in Albert Marrion's studio, a picture can be seen in an article written by Steve Bradley :

> http://webgrafikk.com/blog/beatles-records/the-decca-audition/

[zipp]

Your analysis of why the Decca audition wasn't too good makes perfect sense.

Concerning that first photo session, beatlesbible has quite a few photos from it, some with the black curtain and some without.

https://www.beatlesbible.com/1961/12/17/beatles-first-photo-session/#jp-carousel-8831