Sessions (album)

Sessions was a compilation album by The Beatles planned for release by EMI in 1985, but never issued due to objections by the surviving Beatles.^[1] The album consisted of thirteen finished, but unreleased, Beatles songs. A single—"Leave My Kitten Alone", with an alternative version of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", which was not to appear on the album, as its B-side—was also planned, but it too was left unissued.

"Come and Get It" was a demo recording performed by Paul McCartney solo and eventually handed over to and recorded by the group Badfinger. George Harrison would re-record "Not Guilty" on his album George Harrison in 1979. "How Do You Do It?" had been recorded for a possible early single at the request of George Martin, but scrapped in favour of "Please Please Me".^[2] The album also was to include an edit of "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", from the group's 1967 fan club Christmas single.

Versions of all the songs planned for Sessions would eventually see official release as part of The Beatles Anthology series in 1995–96, with the exception of "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)", which was concurrently released on the "Free as a Bird" single. Bootlegs of various versions of the Sessions album made their way to the public in the late 1980s and early 1990s, some from leaks of internal EMI copies.

Several of the tracks (both here and on the Anthology releases) are altered from their original states. For example, "Not Guilty" is completely re-edited, removing around a minute of the song. "What's the New Mary Jane" was drastically remixed to make the song more musical and less of a discordant "Revolution 9"-type track.

Track listing

All tracks by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, except where noted.

1. "Come and Get It" (McCartney)
2. "Leave My Kitten Alone" (John/Turner/McDougal) – An outtake from the Beatles for Sale sessions.
3. "Not Guilty" (Harrison) – An outtake from The Beatles ("The White Album"), heavily edited.
4. "I'm Looking Through You" – Alternative version, with hand claps
5. "What's the New Mary Jane" – An outtake from The Beatles ("The White Album"), heavily remixed.
6. "How Do You Do It?" (Murray)
7. "Besame Mucho" (Velázquez/Skylar) – From the Beatles' first EMI session.
8. "One After 909" – Earlier version recorded 5 March 1963
9. "If You've Got Trouble" – A Help! outtake, with verses edited into a different order than they were originally recorded.
10. "That Means a Lot" – A Help! outtake.
11. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (Harrison) – Take 1, with an artificially looped ending.
12. "Mailman, Bring Me No More Blues" (Roberts/Katz/Clayton) – An outtake from the "Get Back"/"Let It Be" sessions, heavily edited.
13. "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starr) – Edited from the 1967 fan club Christmas single.

Notes