Memphis by The Beatles 1962 Decca Records audition

John sings lead vocal on Memphis, a Chuck Berry cover, recorded on Jan 1, 1962 during their Decca Records audition. The group at this time was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Pete Best.

[@relcaldwell]

After listening to these Decca recordings for the last 33 years, I've come to the conclusion that the reason all the instruments sound thin and distant is because the vocals are mixed too much to the front. If there are some masters of these somewhere they might sound better, louder drums and guitars, if remixed. The instruments being pushed so much to the back just kills them.

[@rustybeltway2373]

Maybe that was on purpose. So the Decca brass could hear the singers. In '62 record labels would use studio musicians for the final product. Beach Boys and Byrds didn't always play on their tracks, for example. Just a thought.