Tuesday, July 07, 2009

Holy Grail Recording #2 - 27-minute Helter Skelter outtake (1968)

In this series, In The Life Of...The Beatles presents the top 10 unreleased recordings of the Beatles.

I realize the legendary 27-minute version of "Helter Skelter" tops the lists of most people in terms of Beatles recordings they would like to hear, but just to mix things up I've decided to place it in the #2 spot. This recording has been written about extensively here and it is still no closer to being released. The last best chance was its consideration for inclusion on The Beatles Anthology 3 at the urging of Mark Lewisohn, who was asked by George Martin, "Why is this important?" For a hint of what it might sound like, here's an excerpt of take 2 from the same session, with a great vocal performance from Paul.

Final installment: July 14

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