One-of-a-kind 1950s LES PAUL homemade DEMO (Listen)

$

250

Hello. Up for sale is a ¼” reel-to-reel tape that plays at 7 ½ speed. The running time is about 20 minutes. There is no information on the reel and there is no box.

This recording was recovered from the estate of William Schwartz of Sheboygan, Wisconsin. The majority of Bill’s film and audio collection suffered water damage due to a flood in his basement. However, some of the tapes were spared – though the boxes they came in were tossed out because they had gotten a bit wet.

Bill’s wife, Dorothy (Dottie), was an original member of the Chordettes. During WWII both William Schwartz and Les Paul served in the Armed Forces Radio Network. Bill booked bands and Les played in bands. Bill was also the "Voice of America" in Norway during the war. After the war ended, Bill continued to book bands – including the Chordettes on the Arthur Godfrey TV show. Bill was also a manager, and he started his own publishing company and released several 45rpm recordings on his own label. This DEMO tape had been sent to him as a possible candidate for publishing. All of the tapes in Bill’s collection that I was able to date were from the 1950s. I will assume the same is true for this tape.

I don’t know what band this is, but the names heard on the tape are the two songwriters, Tommy and (probably) Pete; Pete’s wife, Loretta (who speaks very little English); and someone who may or may not be in the band – Freddie Plotkin.

I’m calling this a lost Les Paul recording, because that's the first name that came to mind when hearing the chops. Who else in the 1950s played like this using effects like these. At one point the guitar effect sounds like a phase shifter. On another song, the chords come in a fraction late like a delay of some kind was being used. Les Paul famously recorded tracks at twice the speed so they would play an octave higher when dubbed into a recording. If one (or more) of these songs had been multi-tracked, a great example of this would be the final minute from the sample reel - a blistering guitar solo.

As to why? Why would Les Paul, if it is him, add guitar to these tracks? My guess is that he knew the band, perhaps from Wisconsin, and did it as a favor - knowing it was for demo purposes only and not a commercial release.

Here are portions of the recording.  I made this recording by holding a cheap camcorder in front of the speaker as the tape played on the deck seen in the photo. It came out pretty good, considering. When this auction ends, the video will be deleted from YouTube and all audio clips on my end will be erased. The winning bidder will truly own a one-of-a-kind recording.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtrEwE-fSRE

Here's a rundown. Keep in mind this is a homemade tape made “on hands and knees in Pete’s Bungalow.” With the exception of #6, all songs have a wild electric guitar solo. All songs are complete with typical pop song arrangements: verse/chorus/verse/chorus/solo/verse/chorus/end (or thereabouts):

1. (I Love My) Little Miss. That’s my guess. This first take is sung with non-English lyrics (German? Polish?).
2. The same song with lyrics in English.
3. The same song with completely different lyrics in English. (strange, I know)
4. Pete (if that’s the bandleader’s name) talks to William Schwartz. Pete has a thick accent (perhaps Polish)
5. Gotta Go Fishin’. That’s my guess. This appears to be Take One and it’s just a bit rough.
   
6. Gotta Go Fishin’, Take Two. This is an acoustic version. It sounds to me like the electric guitarist switched to acoustic. The acoustic solo is crazy wild.
7. Tommy speaks. He has a very “American” accent. You’ll hear him on the YouTube recording.
8. Pete reads the lyrics to Little Miss.
9. Pete talks to Bill Schwartz – mentions that there is a place that wants to book the band for the winter, but he hasn’t seen the contract. Asks Bill to call them as Bill is their manager.
10. Instrumental. The solo heard at the end of the YouTube video is from this tune.
    

NOTE: I could find no information on the web concerning the songs I Love My Little Miss or Gotta Go Fishin’. If you have any information on this recording, or any opinions, be sure to message me and I’ll update this auction page (no names or eBay IDs will be included). I had this tape up for sale last week but ended the auction early because I wanted to follow-up on various comments. Every message verified my opinion that it is Les Paul. Comments from informed sources included: "It's him." "No doubt it sounds like Les Paul." "No one else played electric guitar like that in the 1950s." "Wow."

The winning USA bidder to pay $5 for Priority shipping with tracking and full insurance. Sorry, no Canada or Overseas on this auction. Thanks and good luck!