Alternate Timeline: No Covers Series - There's A Place

This is the first album in this series

Please indulge me with this fictional backstory. I usually don’t include them but I have really enjoyed reading the creative and interesting backstories from other contributors, especially AJray and Jim25y. I thought I’d give it a shot.

In this alternate timeline…

The Beatles were the biggest pop group in England in early 1963…but they still did not have a recording contract. The main reason - John and Paul were adamant about recording only original material, once that day came.

Although The Beatles enjoyed performing covers in live shows - and they would continue to do so - they also felt strongly about recording only original compositions. If they stuck to their guns by refusing to record covers, it could be a while before a British record company would sign them…if ever.

Although Brian tried to talk John and Paul out of this idea, the songwriters stuck by their principles. A dejected Brian began visiting the UK record companies with the results he predicted…he left empty-handed everywhere he went. On his third visit to EMI, producer George Martin was in the room. He listened to some rough demos The Beatles had recorded and shrugged his shoulders. Although he was not overwhelmed, he did recognize the energy of the songs and was impressed that these young songwriters had already written so many songs. And…the four Liverpudlians made him laugh!

When Brian told George Martin that John and Paul had been writing songs for six years already, Martin told the EMI suits that maybe these Northerners had potential - if they had a little help from him and used a professional recording studio. Reluctantly, EMI agreed to have The Beatles record a four-song EP of original.songs for official release with Martin producing.

Two weeks later, Martin showed up with a copy of the EP. After playing the EP for the EMI suits, the execs were floored by what they heard. The next day, Brian Epstein and The Beatles showed up at EMI and The Beatles signed their first recording contract. EMI decided to forget about the EP and committed to a full, 14-song album of originals for The Beatles’ first release.

This series will consist of three albums since The Beatles…for the most part…stopped recording covers after the Beatles For Sale album. John and Paul wrote several songs for other artists in the early years. I have included some of those songs as recorded by the group Apple Jam.

Thanks to u/Mario_Iturralde_009 for the artwork.

There’s A Place - The Beatles

  1. I Saw Her Standing There
  2. From A Window (Apple Jam)
  3. Please Please Me
  4. Ask Me Why
  5. Bad To Me (Apple Jam)
  6. P.S. I Love You
  7. One After 909 (Anthology 1)
  8. Misery
  9. You Know What To Do (Apple Jam)
  10. Hello Little Girl (Anthology 1)
  11. Like Dreamers Do (Apple Jam)
  12. Love Me Do
  13. Do You Want To Know A Secret?
  14. There’s A Place

There’s A Place Spotify Link