Police 'Get Back' Rare Beatles Tapes Fri Jan 10,11:42 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - Rare tapes of The Beatles' most famous recording session were seized on Friday in an anti-piracy swoop more than 30 years after they went missing, police said. Detectives in southeast England and The Netherlands arrested six people and found hundreds of tapes of the Fab Four playing in 1969. Police found 500 reel-to-reel tapes with dozens of songs made at the infamous "Get Back" sessions during which arguments split the band. "The tapes themselves are the only original recordings made and may contain material which has never been previously released," City of London police said in a statement. "This fact renders the tapes to be priceless to the record industry and collectors of Beatles memorabilia." Beatles fans have been able to buy pirate copies of the recordings for years. The tapes cover a key chapter in the band's history and contain songs which later formed part of the "Let it Be" album. Police said two people were arrested on suspicion of theft and handling stolen goods in west London and four in an unnamed town west of Amsterdam in The Netherlands. No more details of the suspects were released. The raids came after an investigation by police and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the London-based body which represents the global recording industry. IFPI chairman Jay Berman praised the police operation and said music piracy had become increasingly sophisticated. EMI Group Plc, the British record company which owns the tapes, said it was unclear what would now happen to the tapes.
These sound like the Nagra Tape Rolls (which, from what I understand, is a device commonly used in recording audio for films) that were the basis for the aborted Let It Be film. These are actually the most revealing Beatles recordings out there, even if they aren't exactly of great quality. There's the usual infighting (in the middle of Paul McCartney's "Teddy Boy", which has a bit of a country feel, Lennon & Harrison break out with a square dance), a whole bunch of 50's covers, the primal forms of many of the songs that would later appear on McCartney, All Things Must Pass, and The Plastic Ono Band. Whomever stole these tapes did a wonderful service to Beatles fans everywhere.
