Rob Frith listens to the Beatles demo tape he found in his store/Courtesy Larry Hennessy Facebook

By Glenn Hicks

historic audio

Copy of ’60s Beatles demo tape found in Vancouver record store

Mar 27, 2025 | 11:46 AM

You just never know what you’ll find at your local record store, even if you’re the owner.

In this case Rob Frith, from Neptoon Records in Vancouver and a longtime supporter of the Canadian music industry, was rummaging around his storage recently for old reel-to reel tapes.

He was looking to digitize them as part of a History of Vancouver Rock project.

Unbeknownst to him and friend Larry Hennessy, who was doing the transfers as part of his reel to reel to digital business, one of the tapes he brought along was extremely special. It was a legitimate copy of a 1962 demo for Decca Records in London featuring none other than The Beatles.

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In those days the band, which can be heard performing 15 cover and original songs on the tape, featured drummer Peter Best. Ringo had yet to join Paul, John and George.

The 1962 Beatles line up featuring from left: John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney and Pete Best (pre Ringo Starr). (K&K Studios/Redferns)

Speaking to the Kelowna10 app, Hennessy said he and Frith posted short video clips on social media of them listening to the reel. It wasn’t long before they heard back from insiders about the origins of the tape.

Former Vancouver-based record executive Jack Herschorn had been given a copy of the demo on a visit to Decca records in the ’60s.

Herschorn never exposed the material in North America and it somehow became one of Frith’s countless purchases over the years.

“Rob said it’s been sitting in safe storage in his store for at least the last 10 years,” Hennessy said. “He thought it was a copy of the record because there are loads of bootlegs of the Decca demo.”

But Hennessy, who is famed for his Larry & Willy radio show that spanned four decades, said they could tell it was a professional grade demo because of the white leader tape used to separate the various tracks.

“You can see that it’s been prepared to be duplicated ,” he explained. They also checked the type of recording tape itself and it’s from the ’60s.

In recent days Frith has been asked if he’ll sell the special piece of history because it could be worth a fair bit of money. Hennessy said in the past, at least one tape claiming to be an original copy fetched the equivalent of $61,000. Frith isn’t interested in selling.

“But, he said he would give it to Paul McCartney if he could hand it to Sir Paul personally,” Hennessy added.

He says word is now out about the tape and he’s been told by contacts in the industry that Sir Paul likely knows all about its exciting reappearance here in B.C.