A collection of lost Beatles tapes are to sell for £10,000.
The five cassettes are of an interview in which John Lennon discusses religion just months before an infamous controversy erupted
The two-hour interview by American journalist and radio host Jean Shepherd took place in October 1964 after a concert in Exeter, Devon.
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The tapes of the chat include unfiltered moments, such as Paul McCartney swearing about a hostile journalist and 15 minutes of live concert recordings.
There are also anecdotes from Lennon and McCartney about their families as well as playful banter.
And Lennon revealing his religious beliefs in a foreshadowing of the ‘We’re more popular than Jesus’ storm a few months later.
The tapes will be auctioned by Merseyside based Omega Auctions next tueday (15 Oct).
The price-tag is starting at £10,000 as reported by What’s The Jam.
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Beatles expert Patrick Humphries was impressed by the recordings.
He said: “They’re very relaxed in the interview.
“They talk about their success, people they like, Joan Baez for example, people they don’t like – they didn’t like Jayne Mansfield.
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“It’s like being a fly on the wall.
“They were the most famous people on the planet at the time so to hear them relaxed and chatting is a real coup.”
He added” “Interestingly, in the interview John Lennon says he’s more agnostic than atheistic and George Harrison quips that John is their official religious spokesman.
“Of course, 18 months later John made the infamous, ‘we’re more popular than Jesus’ comment that led to Americans burning Beatles records.
“Interviewer Jean Shepherd, who is a man, teased things out of them you normally wouldn’t have got.”
Omega said that while the interview provided the basis of a feature that appeared in Playboy magazine in February 1965 the full tapes had never been published.
The recording begins with a spoken introduction by Shepherd as the band play songs including Can’t Buy Me Love and I Wanna Be Your Man.
The in-depth interview was recorded at a hotel in Torquay, Devon where the band stayed after the concert.
Omega auction manager Dan Muscatelli-Hampson said: “Sixty years on feels like the right time for this.
“Unearthing gems like these is always exciting and why we love what we do.”
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