Beatles Fight to Stop Historic Bootleg

The Beatles are fighting to stop the release of recordings made at a German club just before they became the world's most famous band, the Miami Herald reports. The 1962 gig is historic for music buffs because it's the first time Ringo Starr played live with the band. A Miami company and a British promoter hope to sell the "lost" recordings, including eight songs never released as a single or an album, but the group's lawyers are digging in.

"Whatever it is they claim to have, it's a bootleg tape and there was no permission from the Beatles to record it," said one. And the tape's poor quality "tarnishes the extraordinarily valuable image" of the band. The British promoter says he got the recordings fair and square, though he declined to provide details. The tape includes McCartney and Lennon singing "Ask Me Why." (More Beatles stories.)