The Beatles – From Kinfauns With Love (Masterjedi MJ1607)

The Beatles, ‘From Kinfauns With Love’ (Masterjedi MJ1607)

Julia / Blackbird / Rocky Raccoon / Back In The U.S.S.R. / Honey Pie / Mother Nature’s Son / Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da / Junk / Dear Prudence – Sexy Sadie – Cry Baby Cry – Child Of Nature – The
Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill / I’m So Tired / Yer Blues / Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey / What’s the New Mary Jane / Revolution / While My Guitar Gently Weeps / Circles / Sour Milk Sea / Not Guilty / Piggies. (69:09)

Possibly the most bootlegged Beatles performance of them all, the approved title, ‘The Kinfauns Tape’, a home rehearsal for all the songs that the Beatles had amassed out on their transcendental holiday out in Rishikesh, is notably, one of the longest set of (Listenable) rehearsals from the Fabs – one set that has fans clamouring for Apple to release officially as they could clean it up a treat using modern technology (If they haven’t already done so) – The desktop bootlegger Masterjedi has used his own technique to brush up these recordings to bring out several nuances. Various parts have been speed corrected to match the speed of the CVs on “Anthology”, painstakingly repaired and smoothed over to present the neatest possible version of these songs.

Vigotone’s version of these tapes, when they were released in 1999 from John’s safety copy, was presented in the ‘best possible sound’, however, was in a different order to how it had been offered before, presenting the bulk of Paul’s songs first which, as this was the tape that came straight from the archives, was assumed to be the way that things were set. Our intrepid bootlegger has retained the selection of tracks how they were bootlegged on that American double set when they showed up in full (Running John-Paul-John-George). It remains the perceived reasoning of how these tapes were recorded and, unless we’re proved otherwise, is the standard

The sound of this disk, taken from the American double no doubt, is warm and pleasant. Taken up and above those shoddy crispy tapes from years ago, this natural sounding tape captures the Beatles in their informal best, eaks and squeaks bookend the tracks as ‘roadie’ (And so much more) Mal Evans is called upon, John gives various instructions and various harmonies, spoken word adlibs and even house sounds are littered throughout.

Compared to the Vigotone disk, it sounds fuller, the voices and noises between the tracks, sound more clear. It is an exemplary task that Masterjedi has undertaken and it does sound better. It is, baring any the leak of a bunch of John’s home rehearsal tapes and, arguably, the late 1969 sessions in the Apple studios, the longest, most accessible run of Beatles rehearsals that you’ll ever hear.

The only thing I’d take to issue with is that trite title but it’s only identification after all. Everyone deserves to have this session in their Beatles collection and, this set being a couple of notches above ‘From Kinfauns To Chaos’, (You can find the full ‘Chaos’ tape on Idol Minds, ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’, if you can find it and if you’re happy to sit through that dialogue!)