MOJO Beatles Uncovered Event Rocks Abbey Road!

1:05 PM GMT 22/11/2012

Abbey Road's legendary Studio 2 was packed to the gunnels last night as MOJO, EMI and Apple marked the launch of The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Remasters. Attendees celebrated the depth and breadth of the Beatles catalogue by debating the best Beatle tracks that didn't make it onto the poptastic "Red" and "Blue" compilation albums.

Present were 50-plus MOJO competition winners, who had volunteered their favourite Beatle nugget online, and an expert panel chaired by Beatle enthusiast and Match Of The Day compère Colin Murray was fleshed out by MOJO Editor-In-Chief Phil Alexander, Guardian/MOJO writer John Harris, broadcaster/hitmaker Tom Robinson, Beatle sleevenote supremo Kevin Howlett and Beatle-mad musicians Ian McNabb and Robyn Hitchcock.

Online feedback revealed a quality list of fan favourites, which we collated into a 14-track "Virtual Album" entitled MOJO Presents... The Beatles Uncovered.

1. Tomorrow Never Knows
2. Hey Bulldog
3. Rain
4. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
5. And Your Bird Can Sing
6. For No One
7. Dear Prudence
8. It's All Too Much
9. Long Long Long
10. I'm Only Sleeping
11. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
12. Helter Skelter
13. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
14. She Said She Said

But a feisty panel plus roomfull of Beatles superfans - including Giles "Son Of George" Martin - protested the post-1966 bias, and put forward persuasive arguments for 1965 Paul blaster I'm Down and overlooked early Beatle fare such as Tom Robinson's favoured There's A Place, and, well, pretty much every Beatles track that wasn't on "Red" or "Blue" got a look in.

The panel and room agreed on a shortlist of "glaring omissions", including It Won't Be Long, This Boy, All I've Got To Do, What You're Doing, No Reply, I'll Get You, You're Going To Lose That Girl and Things We Said Today - but debate ranged far wider, taking in the Revolver Vs Pepper chestnut, and, more metaphysically, whether there could be any such thing as a "Beatles obscurity". Kudos on that score to the MOJO competition winner who proposed Beatle Xmas Fanclub flexi track, Christmas Time (Is Here Again): a Beatles Uncovered super-nugget if ever there was one.

Along the way, former Icicle Worker Ian McNabb wowed the crowd with a live cover of Rain, complete with show-stealing backwards-vocal section and impromptu harmonies from Robyn Hitchcock and Tom Robinson, while Hitchcock later weighed in with a winsome take on Ticket To Ride B-side, Yes It Is, which online votes had placed 16th in the list of top nuggets. And after a concluding blast of Tomorrow Never Knows, delivered in its gloriously remastered vinyl form, guests were encouraged to mill and mingle, have a go on one of the A Day In The Life pianos and generally luxuriate in the magical Studio 2 vibe.

Look out for filmed footage of the event on MOJO shortly, but in the meantime check out the virtual Beatles Uncovered album here...