TURN ME ON DEAD MAN
(The John Barrett Tapes)

Beatles: Turn Me On Dead Man
The John Barrett Tapes
Turn Me On Dead Man: The John Barrett Tapes is a revelatory expirience for Beatles fans, comprising tracks taken directly from the late Abby Road engineer's cassette dubs of material he found duringg his vault searches in 1982. Included are previously unavailable tracks and mixes, as well as items featuring significant upgrades in sound quality from earlier appearances on other collections.
 

Track Names for Disc 1
01 - From Me To You [1] (Stereo mix of mono 45)
02 - From Me To YOu [2] (1982 stereo demo)
03 - Thank You Girl [1] (Stereo mix of mono 45)
04 - Thank You Girl [2] (Unechoed stereo version)
05 - One After 909 (take 2 - 1982 mono mix)
06 - She Loves You [1] (1966 stereo remix 1)
07 - She Loves You [2] (1966 stereo remix 2)
08 - This Boy (1966 stereo remix 15)
09 - I'm A Loser (1982 stereo remix)
10 - Mr. Moonlight (take 4 - 1982 stereo mix)
11 - What You're Doing (unreleased take 11)
12 - That Means A Lot [1] (take 1 - stereo)
13 - That Means A Lot [2] (stereo edit piece)
14 - That Means A Lot [3] (mono - low reverb mix)
15 - That Means A Lot [4] (take 20 - stereo)
16 - That Means A Lot [5] (take 21 - stereo)
17 - That Means A Lot [6] (take 23 - stereo)
18 - That Means A Lot [7] (take 24 - stereo)
19 - That Means A Lot [8] (test - stereo)
20 - Help! (take 8 - basic tracks - 1982 strereo mix)
21 - Norwegian Wood [1] (take 1 w/slate)
22 - Norwegian Wood [2] (take 2 - stereo - quality upgrade)
23 - 12-Bar Original [1] (take 1 - stereo - quality upgrade)
24 - 12-Bar Original [2] (take 2 - stereo - quality upgrade)
25 - Paperback Writer (1982 stereo remix)
26 - Rain (1982 stereo remix)
27 - Tomorrow Never Knows (mono mix 11)

Track Names for Disc 2
01 - Strawberry Fields Forever [1] (take 7 - mono mix complete)
02 - Strawberry Fields Forever [2] (take 26 - mono mix with new vocal)
03 - Penny Lane [1] (complete oboe version - mono mix)
04 - Penny Lane [2] (mono mix 10)
05 - Penny Lane [3] (1982 stereo remix)
06 - A Day In The Life (1982 stereo remix)
07 - Hello, Goodbye (1982 stereo remix)
08 - Lady Madonna (1982 stereo remix - w/sax overdub)
09 - Hey Jude (1982 stereo remix)
10 - What's The New Mary Jane (1982 strereo mix)
11 - Step Inside Love (unedited 1982 stereo mix)
12 - Los Paranoias (unedited 1982 stereo mix)
13 - The Way You Look Tonight 1982 stereo mix - unreleased song)
14 - Can You Take Me Back? (1982 strereo mix - long version)
15 - Shake, Rattle and Roll (1982 stereo mix)
16 - Medly: Kansas City / Miss Ann / Lawdy Miss Clawdy (1982 stereo mix)
17 - Blue Suede Shoes (1982 stereo mix)
18 - Not Fade Away (1982 stereo mix - unreleased song)
19 - Because (1982 stereo remix)

 

Prior to the early 1980's, it was pure hearsay amongst Beatles aficionados as to what was inside the EMI tape vaults pertaining to the group's residency at Abbey Road and other studios from 1962 until 1970. Also, very little was known about actulal recording dates of their albums and singles. Most of the information that was available to fans came from contemporary reports in UK music magazines such as New Musical Express or Melody Maker, or fan mags many of the earlier Beatles books, such as Roy Carr and Tony Tyler's An Illustrated Record or Harry Castleman and Wally Podrazik's All Together Now.
All of this uncertainty was to change beginning in 1981. That year, an engineer at Abbey Road named John Barrett found he had cancer and was looking for a way to occupy his time while undergoing treatment. Ken Townsend, the managere of the studios at the time, thought that finally going through the vaults and seeing what exactly was and was not there with reguards to the Beatles' many recording sessions would be an excellent task for the ailing engineer.
Barrett ripped into his task with gusto, spending weeks listening through every tape and making up detailed "catalog" of sorts, with multi-colored tabs and dividers for easy access to the various sections, and color codings for the multitudes of mixes and takes which were included. The first fruits of this research was used on the insert for the box of EMI's The Beatles Singles Collection issued in December of 1982, which featured for the first time the recording dates for the tracks enclosed. Also, an informative article in Record Collector by Nick Piercey in October 1983 included EMI mouthpiece Mike Heatley using Barrett's guide when answering Piercey's queries about various Beatless recording issues.
Throughout 1982, Barrett was also compiling audio material for a Beatles multi-media show that would take place in the famed Abbey Road Studio Two while it was being refurbished in the Summer of 1983. While this cataloging and assembiage for The Beatles At Abbey Road (as the show was to be imaginatively titled) was occurring, Barrett was running cassette dubs of some of the more interesting material for his own use. Some of the material was mixed as he was running his tapes, while some tracks were the original mixes done at the time of the recording sessions. Barrett knew what he was doing; he dubbed off legendary tracks such as "Leave My Kitten Alone", which had never been issued, as well as the more interesting alternate takes in the vaults, like "Norwegian Wood" take one. Also, many of the tracks he dubbed were stereo mixes of titles that at the time hadn't seen the light of day in stereo, or had seen limited release, such as "This Boy".
Meanwhile, the late Roger Scott, a well-known UK disc jockey, was enlisted to do the narration for the Abbey Road show, and was given copies of these dubs as well. Scott actually used some of the tracks from these dubs in 1984 (the same year Barrett died, in February) for a 12-hour radio show on the Beatles entitled "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band". This material subsequently appeared (taken directly from the radio show discs) on the NEMS release Not For Sale in early 1985. Copies of some of the tapes made it into other hands on the Continent, who subsequently issued various series such as Ultra Rare Trax on Swingin' Pig, and Yellow Dog's Unsurpassed Masters, based on the Barrett dubs, mixed with other sources.
However, much of the material dubbed off by Barrett were unissued...until now. Taken from the original cassette dubs, here are a bunch o' Bealtes tracks you've never heard in this form. They are all either different mixes, or significant upgrades from previous appearances, or in some cases, completely unissued.
While John Barrett's name may not be as legendary in the Beatles' world as other researchers such as Mark Lewisohn, his initial work was the cornerstone for all that is now finally known about the Beatles' recording sessions. In tribute, we hope you enjoy these tapes....hopefully John Barrett would be happy to know that his efforts were not in vein!
Trevor Osmond Williams
June 1999