It's funny how you make such a time difference between the Kirchherr and Braun tapes.
That is based primarily on info presented by John Winn and examined with my own ears. There is difference in ambience and the guitars are louder which is like the result of Paul's ne Rosetti 7 guitar purchased on June 30. While researching the "Savage" era it seemed evident that this fita the timeframe.
The quality of what you call the Kirchherr [tape]...
The
"Astrid Kirchherr tape" was a tape given by Stu to Astrid and, obviously, was at least a second generation compilation copy. Astrid returned the tape to George in 1994.
At some point (probably 1960-61), another second generation compilation tape copy containing more polished tracks was given to The Beatles' German friend,
Hans-Walter "Icke" Braun.
Sometime in the 1960s, German musician Frank Dostal obtained probably third generation copies of both the Kirchherr and Braun tapes. He played an unadulterated excerpt of the Braun tape on German TV in 1967. In the 1970s, he had a studio combine both tapes onto a single, fourth generation reel.
At that point, the recordings were processed with EQ and the reverb which is probably what we hear on the recordings today.
Frank Dostal has confirmed to me that it is indeed his compilation which circulates but expressly stated that it was NOT him who circulated it.
There appears to be two copies of the Dostal which are circulating. One copy (commonly found on "Wildcat") is slightly better quality than the other (selections of which are found on "The Braun-Kirchherr Tapes"). Both seem to have slight differences in the intro and outro edits. And the second copy features a complete "Well Darling".
Strangely, four songs found on the Braun tape also circulate from what appears to be a different lower generation lineage then the Dostal tape. This copy is better quality with less reverb.
The original recorder used to make these recordings belonged to Charles Hodgson. In 1994, his brother Reginold found a reel given to Charles by Paul in 1960 when the recorder was returned. This reel features a compilation from both the Kirchherr and Braun tapes as well as additional (and currently unavailable) songs including "When I'm 64", "Ask Me Why" and "Winston's Walk". This was probably a second generation copy taken from the master tapes and not copied from the Kirchherr-Braun tapes. Hodgson returned the tape to Paul in 1994. Perhaps the four songs noted above source back to the Hodgson tape.
Also, according to reports, in 1969, John gave a copy of these recordings to a German friend to have an acetate made. The acetate, containing three songs, never made it back to John. Perhaps the four songs can be traced to this event.
It would seem that the tracks found on "Anthology 1" would be sourced from the Kirchherr and Hodgson tapes however, the "Anthology" versions also feature the reverb found on the bootlegs.
...is indeed that bad that it made me wondering how they could improve so much within a year. Dating the tapes earlier than April 1960 would make it a bit more understandable, for then there's more time available. Stu really sounds like he's looking for the right notes to play, so yeah, it could in fact be a very early recording, when Stu had just joined the band.
I'm VERY inclined to think it's earlier than April. But it's no earlier than January, when Stu joined
Oh, by the way Chazz, did you get my picture of the Johnny Gentle Tour through Scotland, with someone else other than a Beatle in the background?
Yep, I sure did but I jsut looked and I'll be darned if I can find it. I thought I archived it but it's not where I thought it was. And I didn't get to examine it closely. Sometimes I stick things in odd places. Hopefully, I'll come across it at sometime. I have contact with Johnny Gentle's son and wanted to ask him about it.
Chazz