TWELVE DAYS AT TWICKENHAM

(18CD SET 2011 UNICORN UC125-142)

An 18CD set from Unicorn, compiling all Twickenham Camera B Nagra Rolls from
January 3-14 1969. The quality of the materail here Is as good as to the other
Unicorn "Get Back" session releases, and presents all the available B Rolls from
these sessions.

The set Includes a 12 page booklet with an updated review of the "History Of 'Get
Back' Bootleg" as released In the accompanying booklet Included In Vigotone's
"Get Back Journals II" 8CD box set. This also Includes pictures from the original
"Get Back" book, plus tracklistings with cover pictures of the CD set.

The CD cases are housed In an attractive looking slipcase card cover,
with each set as a limited edition pressing with numbered sticker.

Text from Booklet:

History of "Get Back" Bootleg (Revised)

For over 20 years, the collecting public has been fed a continuing stream
of bootlegs drawn from the Twickenham sessions. These have usually been
chopped up, placed out of sequence, and presented in inferior sound quality.
Of course, bootleggers can only work from material at their disposal, and
in the beginning the only material available was the film "Let It Be".
The first Twickenham material to appear, then, came from the soundtrack of
the film on a double album called "Cinelogue: Let It Be", which was released
in February, 1974 by Contra Band Music. Of course, this was back in the days
before home video, so fans were more delighted to be able to enjoy the "Let
It Be" soundtrack on record!

The release of the "Let It Be" videotape in 1982 provided a new audio source,
and bootlegs produced after that date were mastered from the video soundtrack
rather than film. The first of these was "In a Play Anyway", a 2 LP set on
Circuit Records (matrix number TWK 2262). A further reissue by Beeb Transcri-
ption Records (on a new plate TR-2170) was titled "The Last Blast". It was
released in 1988 and it's sound quality is slightly inferior. Of course, most
of the film soundtrack from Twickenham is completely useless because longer
source tapes have surfaced.





In late 1974 the first completely unreleased Twickenham outtakes surfaced on
the legendary "Sweet Apple Trax" LPs. These were originally released as two
two-LP sets by CBM using the Instant Analysis label (matrix numbers 4185 -
REV-2000 and 4181 - STD-2002). This phenomenal series was among the most
enjoyable vinyl bootlegs of its era, and many of us listened to it for hours
on end, leading to a lifelong addiction to this stuff! By the way, these LPs
were originally announced under the title "The Apple Treasure Chest Masters,
Vol. 1 & 2". When they finally appeared, they had "deluxe" printed sepia-
toned jackets. A late ´70´s repress from the original plates came with blank
white labels and black and white covers which were copies of the originals.

The "Sweet Apple Trax" LPs were copied almost immediately by Kornyphone,
which combined the material onto a single double set called "Hahst Az Sun"
(TAKRL-2950). This prompted CBM to remaster their own release as a double
album in order to compete. It was distributed under the title "Hot As Sun"
(matrix number 4216 REV 2000 / 4217 BLD 2002) on the Instant Analysis label.
In 1980 single LP repressings of "Hot As Sun" were distributed as "Sweet
Apple Tracks Crate 1" and "Sweet Apple Tracks Crate 2". It might be noted
that the Kornyphone issue "Hahst Az Sun" rearranged the songs and omitted a
few seconds here and there. This set was copied many times and reissued as a
variety of single LP bootlegs, and with a full color cover as "Sweet Apple
Trax" on the Newsound Records label (matrix NR 909-1). The Newsound plates
were also used for picture disc which came out under the titles "Sweet Apple
Trax Vol. 1" and "Sweet Apple Trax Vol. 2". The original source tapes were
remastered by Audifon records for the first 2 records of the 3 LP set "The
Beatles" (commonly known as "The Black Album" released in May, 1981). These
plates were subsequently used for the first three albums of the original
"Get Back Journals" vinyl boxed set. More recently, an hour of the original
tapes were released on CD in "Songs From The Past Vol. 3". All of the mater-
ial was included on the first "Get Back Journals" CD set.



The next batch of Twickenham outtakes to appear were on the EPs "Twickenham
Jams", which popped up in February 1977 (matrix VC-4591) and "Watching
Rainbows" (which appeared in May 1977). This material soon appeared on
bootleg albums of the same names. "Watching Rainbows" (which had more mate-
rial than the EP of the same name) came from Audifon in March of 1978.
Twickenham Jams was a straight knock-off on the label Smilin' Ears (filling
out the LP with non - "Get Back" sessions material). Most of the "Watching
Rainbows" performances showed up on "The Black Album" in better quality, and
the few moments that didn't are included on "Get Back Journals 2". It might
be noted that a second edition of "Watching Rainbows" came out in July of
1978. This upgraded the sound quality of the "Watching Rainbows" / "Madman"
/ "Mean Mr. Mustard" tape, cutting off some of the "Watching Rainbows" jam
in the process (but don't worry, it was restored back on "Get Back Journals
"). Copies of the "Watching Rainbows" LP appeared on the 2 LP set "Behind
Closed Doors" and the boxed set "So Much Younger Then".

Collectors had to wait a couple of years for the next batch of Twickenham
outtakes to surface. Oddly enough, the first taste of a new tape came in
the form of a sampler tape, reproduced at the end of a one-sided record
from Tobe Milo called "Man of The Decade" which came out in early 1980.
This rather useless bootleg reproduced bits and pieces of various January
3rd performances which were unbootlegged up to that time. Later in the year
the entire tape appeared on an album called Vegemite. This record was quite
difficult for American collectors to find, and was the first product from a
bootlegger who later went on to fame for his CD product under the "Goblin"
label. The 2 LPs of "Vegemite" (BT-6896) gave us our first exposure to the
January 2nd / 3rd material, a lbeit in lousy sound quality. The set was
copied in 1981 by JPM Records as 2 single LPs and retitled The Dream is Over
Vol. 1 (JPM1081) and "The Dream is Over Vol. 2" (JPM 280102) in slightly
lesser sound quality. These, in turn, were quickly copied by Sweet Sound
Records as "Sweet Apple Trax Vol. III" (W-909) in even worse sound quality,
and the Sweet Sound masters (which was not even complete) was copied onto
picture disc by another bootlegger (matrix SA-3909). Great Live Concerts
copied it as a double album called "Apple Trax Vol.2" (15802) and Strawberry
Records later copied this issue as part of its 6 LP compilation "Apple Trax"
and single LP series "Applemania".





Knockoffs aside, all of the material here appears on the "Get Back Journals"
CDs, as well as "Songs From The Past Vol.4" and "Songs From The Past Vol.5"
CDs - usually in much improved sound quality. In May 1981 one of the classic
bootlegs appeared on the Ruthless Rhymes label - The Beatles ("Black Album")
A parody of the legitimate "White Album" which could only have appeared
duing the late, lamented vinyl age. This bootleg included a wonderful
"alternate" poster which neatly complimented the original. The first two LPs
here were simply repressings of the TAKRL "Hahzt As Sun" plates, but the
third album offered a significant upgrade in quality to the Watching Rainbows
material, as well as adding 5 numbers which hadn't appeared up to this point.
This set was subsequently repressed by Box Top, and the stampers were used
for the first 3 LPs of the vinyl Get Back Journals set. A copy of the "Black
Album" (from a different bootlegger) was issued on the EVA label on plate LP
A/B/C/D/E/F. This omitted on of the versions of "One After 909".

At the end of ´81 a new "Get Back" session bootleg began to filter out of
Europe (with both a black and white and full color cover). T his was called
"Her Majesty" and featured a few new songs from Twickenham, plus a whole bunch
of Apple stuff whcih hadn't been heard before. It was almost as awful in sound
quality as "Vegemite", and is completely useless at this point, since all of
its material has appeared in better quality on CD. An American bootleg called
"Wonderful Picture of You" copied the "Get Back material on it from "Her Maje-
sty". This title has also been copied as part of the boxed set called "Apple
Trax", and by Great Live Concerts as "Sweet Apple Trax Vol.3" (15803). Finally,
someone had the bright idea of copying the entire LP onto CD direct from vinyl.



In September 1983, "King Records" put out "I Had a Dream", a new bootleg of
"Get Back" sessions which was entirely Apple. This was followed the next month
by "Almost Grown" (MLK-002), an enjoyable hodge-podge of material from both
Twickenham and Apple. Many of the performances here were later included in the
original "Get Back Journals" and "Songs From The Past Vol.5" (CD) and by this
time the entire LP is quite useless. Almost a year later, in Septembet 1984,
King Records issued the last in their series of "Get Back" bootlegs, this one
called Singing The Blues (MLK-003) Only a couple of songs came from Twickenham
and these, too, are now found elsewhere in better sound quality.

In September of 1986 the most ambitious "Get Back" bootleg to date surfaced,
called "The Get Back Journals". This came two ways, in a deluxe film box, and
in regular small boxes held together by a simple color wrap-around. While the
set had eleven discs, it was flawed by poor sound quality and even worse pres-
sing quality. It was reissued in 1993 on CD with a couple of hours of new
material added, and a significant upgrade in the sound quality. Needless to
say, it contained much material unavailable to collectors up to that time
(much of it from Apple). The entire vinyl set was copied by SUMA records under
a variety of names and having even worse sound quality.



In January 1988 Core Ltd. released "Code Name Russia" (BL 888-2), an excellent
quality bootleg comprised entirely of Twickenham outtakes. Most of the perfor-
mances here were entirely new, and quite enjoyable - and most of them were
copied onto CD in September 1988 from the tape source as part of the "Songs
From The Past" series (Volume 2 and a small part of Volume 1, to be precise).
"Songs From The Past" Vol.1 and 2 have, in turn, been rendered obsolete by the
two "Get Back Journals" CD sets (at least as far as Twickenham material is
concerned).

At the end of ´88 another Get Back session bootleg appeared on the Tiger Beat
label (a subsidiary of the legendary Starlight Records company). The LP, "Bye
Bye Love", was a knock-off of (mos of) the soundtrack from a videotape of "Let
It Be" outtakes which was in common circulation among collectors (more of the
video soundtrack appears on Tiger Beat's "Classified Documents Vol. 3" LP).
It's extraordinarily difficult to listen to, both because the performances are
poor and choppy and the sound quality sucks. Needless to say, the "Get Back
Journals" set will try to see to it that you never need go out of your way to
find this hunk of vinyl.

In '89 "Songs From The Past" Vol. 3-5 appeared. While Vol.3 offered us an hour
of the Sweet Apple Trax master tape, Vol.4 and 5 gave us a significant upgrade
of much of the material which had previously appeared on "Vegemite" (with some
0bits omitted here and there, and some bits added). It's all academic at this
point, since if you have both "Journals" CD boxes you don't need the "Songs
From The Past Vo. 3-5" CDs at all.



1990 saw the rise of Yellow Dog Records throughout this decade they have issued
a number of important released featuring "Get Back" material. The first two of
these ("Unsurpassed Masters Vol.5" and "Celluloid Rock") featured only material
from Apple. The next two ("Get Back and 22 Other Songs" and "Complete Rooftop
Concert") both centered on Apple also, but featured some new and / or upgraded
Twickenham performances as part of their "bonus" tracks. These were followed by
the outstanding release "All Things Must Pass, Part I", which contained "Get
Back" session performances featuring George on lead vocal. This disc was split
almost evenly between Apple and Twickenham, with many of the performances being
previously unheard. Needless to say, all the Twickenham material conatained on
the discs mentioned about can be found on the two "Get Back Journals" boxes.

Yellow Dogs next "Get Back" release was "WBCN Get Back Reference Acetate" which
contained Apple material coupled with a 33+ minute "bonus" track of January
14th material (primarily dialogue, and painfully boring dialogue at that). This
material, drawn from the identical source tape, later appeared (along with more
dull January 14th dialogue), on "Rockin' Movie Stars, Volume 3". This was the
last Yellow Dog "Get Back" release for some time, and the void was filled by a
company calling itself "Blue Kangaroo", which released three discs full of
(mostly) new material. The first of the volumes of "'69 Rehearsals" contained
only Apple material. The latter two (Vol. 2, Vol. 3) featured much new Twicken-
ham material (which is gathered on this set and returned to its original
context). Also released during this period was "Hail Hail Rock'n'Roll", which
featured a number of new Apple performances, but only four Twickenham performa-
nces, and "Corn of the Apple", which is equally short on Twickenham.


Yellow Dog returned to the "Get Back" sessions with the 1994 release of "All
Things Must Pass, Part2", another excellent quality set of performances featur-
ing George on vocal. This was followed immediately by "The Auction Tapes,
Volume 1" which was a hodgepodge of Twickenham and Apple material, some of it
previously unheard and all of it in great quality. The Twickenham material from
these two discs is of course found on the Journals boxes, and expect the Apple
material to be found on a future release. Yellow Dog followed these with "Rock
and Roll", an exceptional disc which featured more than 50 oldies performances
from the sessions, a virtual encyclopedia of the group's roots. This disc is a
necessary compliment to the Journal boxes because it upgrades the sound quality
on some material on "The Get Back Journals". Because you'll need it anyway for
the "Journals 1" upgrade, we elected not to include the new Twickenham material
on it here on "Journals 2".

1994 also saw the advent of Orange Records, a subsidiary of Yellow Dog, which
released an eight volume set of "Get Back" material entitled "Rockin' Movie
Stars". Which much of this material was previously unheard, the discs were hap-
hazardly arranged, often duplicating each other and sometimes containing
incomplete of inferior versions of things already issued. With the exception
of the third volume (which contains a chronologically correct presentation of
much of the horrid January 14th session) none of these discs feature Twickenham
material not found on the "Journals" boxes.



Late in 1994, Yellow Dog issued the first of three boxed sets entitled "The
Ultimate Collection". Each of these four CD sets feature one full disc of Twic-
kenham material (the rest being non-"Get Back" session material). Taken together
the three discs present ALL existant January 2nd tapes, as well as the first
half hour of January 3rd.

Towards the end of 1995, Vigotone released another amazing 8CD package,"The Get
Back Journals II" to complement their first 8CD box almost two years earlier.
The box set contained 4 double CD’s Inside a white cardbox, with a heavy colour
cardbox slipcase. This also Included a 28 page book with many colour and black &
white pictures. Of the nine hours presented In this set, almost two hours of It
was previously unheard by collectors at the time of release.
In 1996, after a short while away, Yellow Dog were back with a great new release
called "Leaning On A Lamppost",This disc contained previously unavailable camera
rolls from the Twickenham sessions on January, 6th 1969. The label was yet again
on the top of collectors lists with an 8CD box set released In December 1999,
entitled "The Twickenham Sessions" which contained a wealth of previously unear-
thed "Let It Be" movie rolls In excellent quality.



How could things get any better? Well, In the millennium year, Yellow Dog began
to Issue a series of CDs entitled "Day By Day-The Complete "Get Back" Sessions"
these began from January the 2nd, and chronicled all the available Camera A
rolls from the complete canon of Nagra tape rolls. In the same year Vigotone
packaged an elaborate 17CD box set entitled "Thirty Days" which was a "Best Of"
collection of both camera A and B Rolls, this set also Included as disc 17,
Glyn Johns first Get Back compilation. Again, at the time of release, this set
contained a mass of previously unheard material.

In June, 2002, those nice guys from Unicorn released a 24CD box set called "Get
Back Camera B Rolls", this compiled all available rolls from January 25th - 31st
1969. A lot of unavailable sessions were presented on this new set, taken from
the complete canon of Nagra tapes, with the sound quality comparable with the
Yellow Dog series. Five months later, "Get Back Camera B Rolls Vol.2" a 10CD box
set was released by Unicorn, this time working backwards, and presenting the se-
ssions from January 22nd-25th 1969, again unearthing more unheard and previously
unbootlegged Nagra tapes.



Finally, If you are fortunate enough to have acquired this fine box set, you
will by now have gathered that It contains the complete Camera B Roll sessions
at Twickenham film studios from January 3rd - 14th 1969. This together with the
first 17 Volumes of Yellow Dogs "Day By Day" series, compiles the complete canon
of available Nagra A and B rolls from the Twickenham period.

This 18CD box set, "Twelve Days At Twickenham", comprises nine volumes of double
CD sets, collecting together more unearthed Nagra tapes for the first time on
compact disc, and Is the last In the series of Camera B rolls released by Unic-
orn Records.

So there we have It, a revised account of A History Of The "Get Back" Bootleg,
what more can Beatles collectors look for In unreleased "Get Back" sessions?
It's taken over 33 years for the complete canon of camera rolls to emerge, so
one must ask themselves, what about the multi-track recordings? Well, compared
to what has been released from the Nagra tapes, not that much has appeared.
Obviously we have the "Let It Be" album, and the small amount of new material
Apple released from their Anthology sets a few years back, plus various master
mixes by Glyn Johns, with an alternate line-up of tracks opposed to the finished
album, and finally, some alternate John Barrett mixes taken from private tape
dubs of his master mixes. In this new age of bootleg releases, I guess It's
just a matter of time before we see more of this stuff appearing.

Hopefully, Unicorn Records will release similar packages to this one, with yet
more unearthed gems from The Beatles unreleased archives. Their back catalogue
has contributed greatly to the Beatleg world In all respects, up there In the
same league as Yellow Dog, and the recently demised Vigotone Records. So let's
put the first disc of this amazing nine volume set In the CD player, and travel
through the fascinating journey of the "Twelve Days At Twickenham".

Michael Philips - January 2003
(Editor "Time Trip" Magazine)