Getting Started
Welcome to rockyraccoon.co.uk! There is an absolute wealth of resources out there about The Beatles recording sessions, both online and in books. What I aim to do here is to collect everything important to me in one place – accurate, cross-referenced, with sources cited.
This website has two main types of page: songs and dates. On the right you can read more about the type of information available on each and clicking on the Songs A-Z/Dates title or picture will take you to the main index.
Everything is referenced using Wikipedia-style superscript numbers. If you click on one in the main body of the text it will send you to the bottom of the page containing references and footnotes. If you want to return to where you were on the page you can click on the arrow at the end of the footnote. The two halves of the website (songs and dates) are all linked together by clickable hyperlinks to facilitate exploration. For example, you may start at Songs A-Z, click to read about Love Me Do, start reading about the 6 June 1962 session with Pete Best, and then click on the link to take you to the 6 June 1962 page. Once there you may click to read about P.S. I Love You or Ask Me Why which were also recorded on 6 June 1962 and so on!
On a page for a song you can expect to find information about who wrote it1 and when it was written, where and when the recording and mixing sessions took place, who played which instruments, as well as an overview of available releases containing the song and whether or not I recommend a particular release based on its sound quality/listening experience.
On a page for a particular date you can expect to find out about a studio session or a release of a record (single, EP or LP). This information will include the time and location, the studio personnel involved, the songs worked on, and the type of tape machines used. For each session I highlight the tape reels involved and their contents ***INSERT EXPLAINER***. Additionally, there will be a section called “What Still Exists?” where I break down the contents of the tapes used and show whether particular recordings are missing or destroyed (marked with ❌), survive via copies or versions on other reels (marked with 🟡), or if they are known to exist (marked with ✅). I then also show if recordings exist on Spotify, on any physical release, or if they have been bootlegged (i.e. exist via unofficial sources). Lastly, there may also be a tree diagram showing the journey of the session’s work from session tapes to mix tapes to master tapes to final releases.