FILE UNDER: BEATLES
Company: Gnat records
Matrix Number: GN 70075-1-A L-16153 / GN 70075-1-B L-16153-X
Release Date: December 1983
Country: USA
SIDE A
1. COME AND GET IT (incomplete) 1:41
2. RIP IT UP/SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL 2:00 (DDSI 26.57)
3. count-in LEAVE MY KITTEN ALONE (false start)
count-in LEAVE MY KITTEN ALONE 2:40
4. I'M SO TIRED 2:16 (DDSI 3.38)
5. CANNONBALL/NOT FADE AWAY/HEY LITTLE GIRL/BO DIDDLEY 2:49 (DDSI 29.49)
6. count-in I ME MINE 1:35
7. THIRD MAN THEME 1:47 (DDSI 3.43) dialogue (DDSI 14.29)
8. BAD TO ME 1:27
9. dialogue CHRISTMAS TIME IS HERE AGAIN 6:37
SIDE B
10. GOODBYE (incomplete) 2:03
11. dialogue BLUE SUEDE SHOES 2:59
12. IF YOU'VE GOT TROUBLE (incomplete) 1:45
13. NEGRO IN RESERVE 0:42 (DDSI 3.46)
dialogue 14. THAT MEANS A LOT (incomplete) 2:03
15. count-in GET BACK 2:35 dialogue & riffs (DDSI 24.97)
16. ONE AFTER 909 2:44
17. DIG A PONY 3:54 (DDSI 22.23) dialogue (DDSI 14.29)
18. dialogue KANSAS CITY/MISS ANN (incomplete) 0:41 (DDSI 26.58)
Sound quality: VG to EX-mono/stereo)
Source:
1: EMI Studios, July 24, 1969, take 1 (Paul demo)
2, 5, 11, 15, 17, 18: Apple Studios, January 1969 (dialogues: Twickenham Studios, Jan. 16.69)
3: EMI Studios, August 14, 1969, takes 4 and 5
4, 7, 13: Twickenham Studios, January 1969 (EX)
6: EMI Studios, January 3, 1970, take 16 (EX-stereo)
8: demo, May 1963 (G)
9: EMI Studios, November 28, 1967; complete version
10: Paul demo, early 1969
12: EMI Studios, February 18, 1965, take 1
14: EMI Studios, February 20, 1965, take 2
16: EMI Studios, March 5, 1963, edit of takes 4 and 5
COMMENTS
This is a classic LP, that marked a true milestone among the Beatles bootlegs, featuring many previously unheard songs from the EMI vaults. Although most of these songs have resurfaced on more recent LPs and CDs, it is still a much sought-after album among collectors. More "Get back'' outakes are also included (references to the numbers in the last edition of Drugs, Divorce and a Slipping Image are given). The sound quality is quite good, but not as excellent as it could be, and there is an unbalanced sound at the beginning of Come and Get It. The metal masters were cut at the famous Greg Lee Processing plant, near Long Beach, California.
RELEASES
1. December 1983 / January 1984 (photos below the title). This record was released in a peculiar package: a file-folder jacket with a sticker on the top saying "THE BEATLES / Pop, Rock, Vocal Group", with the printed title looking like a rubber-stamp, a true Beatles color photo and a 16 mm film strip, both attached by a paper clip; the back cover had a studio master sheet, with the track listing and the rubber-stamps "GN-70075-1" and "FILE COPY"; the disc had cream colored labels with the title and the track listing. Versions in various vinyl color, as well as black wax, exist, and several different photos were used. The file-folder jackets were usually yellow with red stamped title, but light blue jackets with purple title exist as well, or yellow with green title. The stampers were cut on December 16, 1983; a first test run of 50 copies was pressed on December 27, 1983, 1500 copies were pressed in January 1984 and 1340 more in February 1984 (900 on February 14 and 440 on February 20), as indicated on the sleeve of the stampers (names of technicians defocused).
In 1986 1200 copies were pressed, usually with the yellow TMOQ labels and on colored as well as black vinyl. Some copies had the Annuit Coeptis labels (a reproduction of the Great Seal of the United States), these were on black wax. These records were at first distributed in a copy of the original file folder sleeve, either light blue with purple printed title or yellow with red or green stamped title, but the insert on the back did not use the rubber stamps as in the original pressings. The further records had the usual BoxTop sleeve, with a photo and the rubber title FILE UNDER or FILE UNDER 1; some copies were re-titled FILE COPY. Some of these records had the sticker with the track listing on the back, other copies had the usual master sheet insert. A part of these copies were included in 2-LP sets together with a copy of FILE UNDER TWO. These 2-LP sets will be illustrated in the analysis of FILE UNDER: VOLUME TWO.
300 Copies pressed on August 13, 1986 were included in the two boxes FROM THE VAULTS. Other copies were part of the 15 LP box THE TMOQ COLLECTION; in some of the copies of this last release the sleeve was rubber-stamped FILE UNDER THE BEATLES VOL. 1. These boxes will have their own entry.
By late 1986 the stampers were damaged and had to be replaced, but the producers apparently did not have the original masters available anymore, so they cut new masters, on matrix GN-70075-2. These masters have a completely different track listing. Since apparently this second version of FILE UNDER was used only for 2-LP sets, it will be analyzed together with the other 2-LP sets (see analysis of FILE UNDER: VOLUME TWO).
INTEREST. This is a classical bootleg, which was very important when first released. As indicated, quite a large number of copies were pressed, so it is still relatively common in the second-hand market; the various versions retain their collectible value ***/**.
COUNTERFEITS AND COPIES
A counterfeit version, with the same layout for the jacket and the disc labels, was soon released; its matrix is FILE-A-/FILE B. The pressing mark is a ring at 12 mm from the spindle hole. Its sound quality is comparable to the original.
The same matrix was used for a more common version, which was distributed with an insert featuring several photos derived from a film strip. The jacket was a custom jacket for other records, a Buck Owens LP jacket was seen, turned inside out, so that the printed part with the Buck Owens cover was on the inside of the jacket. This version had white blank labels. A further pressing of the FILE-A- / FILE B stampers came with the Verzyl label and was distributed in the second half of the eighties. This last version featured, at least in some copies, a one-sided 7" single with an acoustic version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps, take 1, EMI Studios, July 25, 1968, in a sleeve that reproduced the sleeve of the 2-LP set LIVE AT ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, from which the track was lifted.
INTEREST. There can be some interest in the rare Verzyl version (***), whereas the other copies are only for completists (**/*).
Another counterfeit was released in 2012. This is a deluxe version, with a glossy, green-yellow folder type jacket, reproducing the original, with the photo and the film strip in the right inner page and more photos in the left inner page, including a photo of the cover of the Dutch edition (see below). The disc was pressed in various colors - yellow, light blue, red and green were seen - and has a label copied from the original one. Unfortunately, the pressing quality is by far the worst of all the versions of FILE UNDER, with a kind of unpleasant muffled sound. Matrix Number: GN 70075-A / GN 70075-B.
INTEREST. Despite being musically worthless because of its poorer sound, it is still an aesthetically pleasing release (**).
THE DUTCH COPY
1984. A Dutch copy, realized by the same producers who were active at the time and were later responsible for SESSIONS, was distributed in early 1984. It has a sepia-printed front cover with a photo of the Beatles and a reproduction of the master sheet on the back cover. The disc had white labels with the writing KITTEN and the STEMRA indication; the disc was on black vinyl, with matrix numbers K1000 Ax/K1000 Bx. Its sound quality is slightly inferior to the original.
INTEREST. Scarcely interesting release (*).
THE BRAZILIAN COPY
Late 80's. A copy of FILE UNDER was pressed in Brazil. It had a printed b/w front cover, and the track listing on the back cover. The labels were counterfeits of the original labels.
INTEREST. Scarcely interesting release (*).