Lost Beatles recordings full of surprises up for auction, expecting to fetch up to $500k

Beatles fans are going to have to shell out a hefty sum if they want an important piece of the band's history. 

Six of the Fab Four's lost tapes titled The Beatles Derek Taylor Never-Before-Heard Collection of Lost Beatles Recordings are currently up for auction on Gotta Have Rock and Roll and they contain tons of songs, rehearsals and more.

According to TMZ, the tapes were obtained by a memorabilia collector named Phil from Charlotte, and are expected to grab anywhere from $300,000 to $500,000.

Phil received the recordings five years ago from a man in India, who says he first secured them from Derek Taylor, The Beatles' friend and press officer.

Phil has only listened through all of them once, ensuring he wouldn't damage the tapes.

They offer a rare insight into how the famous band experimented, working as a group, and show Lennon's creativity in the privacy of his attic recording studio at his Kenwood home.

According to Forbes, the first tape includes unheard rehearsals for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, recorded at Kenwood in late 1966 and early 1967, and also features other odd recordings, including animal sounds the band used for the hit record.

The second tape features work from the band's guitarist George Harrison, who performed with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band alongside Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.

Some of the tracks have never been heard, but others, including While My Guitar Gently Weeps, on which Page features, went on to become some of The Beatles' most famous tunes.

Tape three is another album from Harrison and his Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, containing another 16 songs.

The fourth tape offers something even more extraordinary than the demos and rehearsals, giving fans a rare glimpse into Lennon's early relationship with second wife Yoko Ono. 

It's a 1969 45-minute in-depth interview with Lennon, where he openly questions Ono's intentions for being with him. The pair married later that year.

In the lengthy never-before-heard interview, Lennon also shares other intimate and revealing details about his life.

Tape number five is dedicated to Ono, who has a nearly two-hour-long scream session called Primal Scream Therapy.

During the session, she also talks about Lennon, music, and intimate matters, including Lennon’s friendship with Harrison.

The sixth and final tape is the most intriguing and will likely help raise the final selling price.

It's an unreleased album from Lennon and Ono called One From The Nursery that features Lennon on mostly acoustic guitar, playing tunes like I Wish You Were My Father.

Derek Taylor confirmed that the content on the six tapes was edited, organized and mixed for commercial release on Zapple Records in December 1969.

These recordings were ultimately shelved, so the public never got to hear them, at least not in full or as they are on these tapes.

According to a 2010 Facebook post, some of The Beatles' lost tapes, also recorded at Kenwood, were on sale for $60k.

The user wrote that Lennon's home studio was where he experimented on songs that ended up on finished Beatles recordings, most notably an early Strawberry Fields Forever home demo and some of the incidental music heard in the Magical Mystery Tour film.

The 2010 tapes, which are like an "audio diary", were recorded in 1966 and in early 1969 Lennon gave the one and only master to Taylor, who has stated Lennon considered editing them together for possible release in conjunction with Sgt. Pepper.

However, plans were quickly scrapped and the tapes, along with the ones Phil is selling, were left forgotten for decades.

In the early 1980’s Taylor quietly passed on several items from his mountain of precious Beatles memorabilia to friends.

Geoffrey Giuliano purchased "the Kenwood Tapes" from Taylor in Henley–On-Thames, Oxfordshire for an undisclosed hefty sum.

The former press officer made this individual promise to never reveal their sale or release them until well after his death.

The auction that will sell the six lost tapes will also feature hand-drawn self-caricatures of the band, Lennon's suits, handwritten lyrics to Hello, Goodbye, tape recording consoles, an autographed section of the wall from the band’s appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, signed contracts, tickets, portraits, a controversial greeting card signed by Harrison, and 16mm concert films.

The entire collection is reportedly worth around $8 million.

The online auction will conclude with two sessions on September 22 and 23.