Cool FindsRare Early Beatles Demo Tape Found Collecting Dust in Vancouver Record StoreThe 15-song recording dates to the Liverpool bands failed audition for Decca Records in early 1962months before it released its first hit Before Beatlemania, the Liverpool band was rejected from Decca Records in 1962. Public domain via Wikimedia CommonsOn New Years Day in 1962, a four-man band from Liverpool arrived at Decca Records in London to record a demo tape. The bands 15-songaudition was apparently underwhelming:The Beatles were rejected from the label in favor of a group called Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.The rejection was stinging for theyoung band, but it was soon forgotten. By the spring, the Beatles hadsigned with EMIs Parlophone Records. Later that summer, the band solidified its lineup, replacing drummer Pete Best with Ringo Starr. Its debut single, Love Me Do, came out in October, and stardom soon followed.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 ofNeptoon Records in Vancouver, brought a tape labeled Beatles 60s demos to his friends studio on a whim, he didnt know the value of what he possessed.Although the tape had been collecting dust behind his counter for years, he had never given it a listen. I thought it was just a reel-to-reel tape that somebody had put bootleg things on, he tells Tessa Vikander of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).When Friths disc-jockey friend Larry Hennessey played the recording on his vintageStuder A810 tape player last month, however, they knew they had something special. The first thing that struck them was the white leader tape on the record, an extra measure of care to create separation between songswhich would have been atypical for a bootleg. Then, the quality of the recording blew them away.Right away, were all kind of looking at each other, Frith tells theNew York Times Neil Vigdor. It seems like the Beatles are in the room. Thats how clear it is.Doug Schober, another friend and music aficionado in the room at the time, began Googling around to find out what he could about the tape. By the third song, I say, I think this is the Decca demo, he tells the Times.Frith posted ashort clip of the tape on social media, writing, After hearing it last night for the first time, it sounds like a master tape.Indeed, it was a direct copy of the master tape of the infamous Decca audition, with all 15 songs, including three originals, in crystal-clear quality. With the help of social media, Frith and his friends were able to track down the provenance of this rare find.Replying to Friths Facebook post, Tom Lavin, a member of the Powder Blues Band, recalled that the tape used to be at Vancouvers Can-Base Studios after its owner, Jack Herschorn, obtained it in London from someone inside Decca, per theVancouver Suns John Mackie.Herschorn, who now lives in Mexico, confirmed Lavins story. He claims that a well-known record producer gave him the tape in 1968 or 1969 hoping that he would circulate it as a bootleg in North America, according to the Sun.But Herschorn demurred. I wouldnt want somebody doing that to me, he tells the Sun. It was just a moral issue with me. I could have put it out, made a few bucks on it, but then I could get bad PR get sued over. It wasnt my style.The Sheik Of Araby (Anthology 1 Version)Watch on Thats how the tape ended up in storage at Can-Base studios, where musicians like Lavin listened to it for inspiration without ever realizing the tapes true significance.When Herschorn moved and sold the studio, he left the tape behind. I should have [taken] it, but it didnt work out that way, he explains to the CBC.Whoever took the demo tape from the studios may not have realized what they had when they sold it to Frith. I actually cant remember who I bought it from, Frith tells the Sun. He surely didnt know that he was purchasing a piece of music history.The Beatles, for that matter, didnt think much of the audition tape, either.Listening to the tapes, I can understand why we failed the Decca audition,Paul McCartney said inThe Beatles Anthology, an oral history published in 2000. We werent that good; though there were some quite interesting and original things.The three original songs the Beatles tried out for Decca were Like Dreamers Do, Hello Little Girl and Love of the Loved. The band also played standards like Money (Thats What I Want) that showed up on later studio albums.I think Decca expected us to be all polished,John Lennon reflected in an interview reprinted in Anthology. We were just doing a demo. They should have seen our potential.In retrospect,George Harrison found the matter altogether amusing. Years later, he learned of the canny prediction that the head of Decca records had given Brian Epstein, the Beatles manager: Guitar groups are on the way out.Clearly, the Decca tapes signaled anything but the end of guitar groups or the Beatles music career.In 2012, a tape of the Decca auditionsold at auction for 35,000 (more than $56,000), but it only contained ten songs. No full 15-song tape with such high fidelity has ever surfaced before.Frith is planning to keep the one-of-a-kind tape for now, although he tells the Times he would consider giving it to McCartney for an official release or holding a listening event for charity.A month ago, Frith adds, if someone had given me 20 bucks for that tape, I probably would have sold it.Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.