The Beatles - Last Night In Hamburg (1999)

Last Night In Hamburg - a bootleg, German CD released in 1999 - appears to be the exact same performance as Live At The Star Club In Hamburg, Germany, 1962, a double LP initially released in 1977. This 1999, 65-minute disc comes in a digipak from a company named RockCartoon with liner notes and some very cool artwork.

This last ever Beatles show in Hamburg before they became worldwide phenomenons was recorded on a homemade, reel-to-reel tape recorder by English producer Adrian Barber who also produced The Allman Brothers Band's eponymous debut. He also worked with Aretha Franklin, Velvet Underground, Buffalo Springfield, The Rascals and Bee Gees. Barber was there, on New Year's Eve, December 31, 1962 - the night this concert was recorded - to help management improve the club's sound system.

The poor quality of Barber's recording makes it a very substandard listening experience. The disc is only for the most diehard Beatle fans like me and for completists. It's something you should hear once for the historical perspective and to give you an idea of how the quartet sounded in concert before hordes of screaming girls drowned them out. It's worth the $3.99 I recently paid for it at a used record store.

This was The Beatles' fifth excursion to Hamburg, and it's one they didn't want to make. It was their only trip to the German port city with new drummer Ringo Starr who had recently replaced Pete Best a mere four months earlier. Their first single, "Love Me Do," had already been released and they wanted to stay home to promote it, but their manager, Brian Epstein, made a deal with the club owner so the boys reluctantly went.

The CD has twenty-eight songs, eight cover versions that the group recorded later for their official Parlophone albums and only two originals, "I Saw Her Standing There" and "Ask Me Why." It's surprising "Love Me Do" wasn't included considering they were so interested in promoting the record.

Other criticisms listeners have made about Last Night is that previously released versions of it have a different track order and that The Beatles' infamous on-stage banter was edited out.

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