Sessions (Beatles Album)
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''Sessions'' is a cancelled
compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...
of previously unreleased tracks by English rock band
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
, planned for release by
EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
in 1985 but never issued officially, due to objections by the surviving Beatles. The album consists of 13 finished but unreleased Beatles songs. A planned single containing two of the tracks from ''Sessions'' – " Leave My Kitten Alone", backed with an alternative version of "
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Following t ...
" – was also left unissued. The idea was resurrected in 1995 as the greatly expanded three-volume double CDs ''
The Beatles Anthology ''The Beatles Anthology'' is a multimedia retrospective project consisting of a television documentary, a three-volume set of double albums, and a book describing the history of the Beatles. Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison and R ...
'' with an accompanying six-hour documentary.


Background

When the Beatles' contract with EMI had expired in 1976, the record company began to take stock of the band's back catalogue and look at the hundreds of hours of unreleased recordings stored in the Abbey Road Studio vaults. Over the next couple of years several compilation albums of previously released material would be issued ('' Rock 'n' Roll Music'', ''
Love Songs A love song is a song about love, falling in love, broken heart, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. Love songs can be found in a variety of different music genres. They can come in various formats, from sa ...
'', ''
The Beatles Ballads ''The Beatles Ballads'' is a compilation album featuring a selection of ballad songs by the English rock band the Beatles. The album was not released in the United States, but was in Mexico, the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, Germany, Ital ...
'') and a live album of their Hollywood Bowl performances. An album of unreleased studio recordings was also considered, with a few attempts being abandoned. In the early 1980s, while needing a task to distract him from his cancer treatment, Abbey Road Studios house engineer John Barrett was assigned the task of listening to and logging the studio's collection of multi-tracks and master tapes of the group. This research unearthed more previously unknown recordings. Some of these recordings were remixed for inclusion in the 1983 multi-media tour of Abbey Road Studios, titled '' The Beatles at Abbey Road''. A year after the Abbey Road show, in the summer of 1984, EMI began work on a compilation album of previously unreleased material. Former Beatles engineer
Geoff Emerick Geoffrey Ernest Emerick (5 December 1945 – 2 October 2018) was an English sound engineer and record producer who worked with the Beatles on their albums ''Revolver'' (1966), '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) and ''Abbey Road' ...
was hired to remix and edit the recordings to a commercial standard. At the time, the album went under the in-house code name "Mary Jane" and the working titles ''Boots'' and ''One-Two-Three-Four'' before ''Sessions'' was settled upon. The original release date of ''Sessions'' was to be November 1984, but EMI did not want to clash with
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
's ''
Give My Regards to Broad Street ''Give My Regards to Broad Street'' is the fifth solo studio album by Paul McCartney and the soundtrack to the Give My Regards to Broad Street (film), film of the same name. It features covers of Beatles' songs, Paul McCartney and Wings, Wings ...
'' soundtrack scheduled for release in late October, so the compilation was shelved. According to reports, McCartney later objected to the release of ''Sessions'' in its then current form, while
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
, joined by John Lennon's estate, objected to the album entirely. As a result, ''Sessions'' was cancelled indefinitely and the tracks did not appear on any official Beatles release until the ''Anthology'' project in 1995–96.


Cover art

There were two proposed artworks for the cover, including one colour collage cover and one with a black and white photo of the group in an alley outside of
Abbey Road Studios Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Recording Studios) is a music recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, London, Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of ...
. In 2014, a complete slick set for the black and white cover was auctioned on
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by well-known Beatles collector and dealer Perry Cox; the bidding stopped at US$2,910.00, which failed to meet the reserve. This was the complete artwork, including the front cover, the back cover, and the inner sleeve. This was as far as production ever reached before the entire project was cancelled by EMI Records and no album was pressed for it.


Final proposed track listing

* An early version of the album had "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" edited into two parts and cross-fading at the beginning of the album into "Come and Get It" and at the end of the album from "
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album ''The Beatles'' (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. Following t ...
", the latter of which was cut from the album and planned to be released as a B-side. * Some bootleg
compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. It employs the Compact Disc Digital Audio (CD-DA) standard and was capable of hol ...
editions include "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" as a bonus track.


See also

* Outline of the Beatles * The Beatles timeline


Notes

{{The Beatles compilations Albums produced by George Martin The Beatles compilation albums Unreleased albums