Beatles Audition Tape Discovered in Vancouver Record Store

A rare piece of Beatles history has resurfaced in an unexpected place: a small record store in Vancouver.

Rob Frith, owner of Neptoon Records, recently stumbled upon what he believed was a run-of-the-mill bootleg labeled Beatles 60s Demos. But after finally playing the reel-to-reel tape—years after acquiring it—Frith realized he may have uncovered a direct copy of the band’s original 1962 Decca audition tape.

“I just figured it was a tape off a bootleg record,” Frith posted on social media. “After hearing it last night for the first time, it sounds like a master tape. The quality is unreal. How is this even possible to have what sounds like a Beatles 15-song Decca tapes master?”

The tape is believed to be a copy of the infamous Jan. 1, 1962 audition session The Beatles recorded at Decca Studios in London. The label famously passed on signing the group—who would instead join Parlophone under George Martin and release their debut album Please Please Me in 1963.

Frith, speaking to CBC, said the sound quality was so pristine “it seemed like the Beatles were in the room.” The tape, wound in what’s known as “leader tape” (used to separate tracks on master recordings), was identified by music preservationist Larry Hennessey as something far more than just a fan-made compilation.

Further intrigue came when Frith tracked down the man who brought the tape to Canada: Jack Herschorn, a former Vancouver label executive. According to Herschorn, the tape was given to him by a producer in London during the 1970s with the suggestion to sell copies in North America. But he refused, saying, “It didn’t feel like the moral thing to do. These guys are famous and they deserve to have the right royalties on it… it deserves to come out properly.”

Now, more than 60 years after the original session, fans can hear a snippet of the first track—“Money (That’s What I Want)”—via Frith’s Instagram, where it’s quickly gone viral among Beatles devotees.

Frith says he has no intention of selling the tape but would gladly offer a copy to Decca or, as he joked, personally hand it to Sir Paul McCartney if he ever stopped by Neptoon Records.

This article was first published by Billboard U.S.