Fool On The Hill

The auction description is very detailed , a preliminary review without listening to the disc provide little further information, the Certificate of Authenticity is from a reliable source , so all we can hope is that more information or the audio track becomes available for further study.

Auction Description

This is an extremely different version than the ones released on the "Magical Mystery Tour" and "Anthology" albums, with No piano, No acoustic guitar, No percussion (drums or the triangle you hear on the released version), No bass, a slightly different vocal, and a radically different mix emphasizing primarily Paul's voice, the flutes, John & George's harmonicas and Paul's recorder. It's got a LOT of echo too. According to the definitive reference "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions" by Mark Lewishon, during the October 20, 1967 Beatles session (the date that appears on this acetate) "three flautists- brothers Christopher and Richard Taylor plus Jack Ellory--were recruited to add the final touches to "The Fool On The Hill." The flautists "were booked to play from 8:00 pm to 11pm, but their part of the session overran until 2:30 AM, resulting in double time payments to the musicians." Session viola player Leo Birnbaum, who played on "Hello, Goodbye" that day observed that "Paul McCartney was doodling at the piano and George Martin was sitting next to him writing down what Paul was playing. One of them was sitting on the floor in what looked like a pyjama suit, drawing with crayons on a piece of paper."

This acetate was cut by the 2nd engineer on that session, Phil McDonald, who's initials appear on the right side of the label. In excellent condition (very unusual for a Beatles acetate,) this acetate comes with a certificate of authenticity from Perry Cox, world famous Beatles expert and author of "The Official Price Guide To Beatles Records and Memorabilia." (See this reproduced below--I have blurred Perry's address on the scan only, it appears on the actual COA.) Also included is a CD transfer of this acetate. As with everything we offer it is guaranteed authentic with no time limit. This came from an extremely large and long term European Beatles collection, and is as you might imagine incredibly rare.