I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

'Tell Me Why'
'I'll Cry Instead'
'You Can't Do That'
'I'll Be Back'
'No Reply'
'I'm a Loser'
'Baby's In Black'
'I Don't Wanna Spoil The Party'
'I Call Your Name'

and after that 'Help!', 'Run For Your Life', 'Norwegian Wood' etc.

Trying to tell us something about yer domestic situaton, John?

Paul also clearly in the wrong relationship circa '65: 'The Night Before', 'Another Girl', 'You Won't See Me', 'I'm Looking Through You' ...

Paul also clearly in the wrong relationship circa '65: 'The Night Before', 'Another Girl', 'You Won't See Me', 'I'm Looking Through You' ...

Paul ended the band with the press release issues in his debut solo album.

In the autobiog Paul says John had already told the band he wanted to split the Beatles before the publication of the PR

xpost:

'I'm Down', too!

told the band

this is different than announcing it to the public behind the other's backs!

oh, totally - but in the biog he puts it in terms of merely publicising something the rest of the band had already agree. Obvs the book is self-serving in purpose so take it with a pinch of salt...

I'm Down is so great. The chaotic live versions are crazy.

xpost to Adam:

John ended the band, Paul told the press and for good reason - telling John to keep quiet was partly an Allen Klein business decision, and McCartney did not want Klein to have anything to do with his post-Beatle affairs or Apple. That's why he sued to dissolve the partnership, and he was right to do so. Christ, this is like, all common knowledge.

I can't help but think that the subject of The Beatles break-up is ground that has been gone over so much that it's now infertile. There's even an entire fucking Wikipedia page devoted to it! Clearly, it's something that caused boomers great trauma.

xpost:

'I'm Down' has grown into a real favourite of mine over the years - I wish they could have swapped out 'Act Naturally' and 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy' for 'I'm Down' and 'Yes It Is' on Help! just to make the album all Lennon/McCartney originals.

xpost One of the maddest things about the shit vibes of Let It Be is that they started working on it on January 2nd. That was a terrible decision.

because of hangovers? i thought they were miserable because Twickenham Studios wasn't heated and they were freezing.

love this interview of John & Yoko smacked out of their minds from those sessions

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYlm7LQGv6c

Turrican, you know that Paul wrote 'for no one' while on holiday w/ Jane A?

well he was getting a lot on the side & Jane had to put up with it

x-post:

Yup, I did. Those batch of songs that were inspired by the McCartney-Asher relationship really destroy the theory that Paul shies away from writing songs about his personal life. Even during his solo career, McCartney was writing quite a fair amount of songs about Linda, but nobody gave a fuck because the McCartney's had a happy marriage and people only seem to be interested in your "relationship" songs if you're suffering, else you're seen as gloating (I remember this being a criticism that someone levelled at McCartney's 'We Got Married', incredibly) ... I don't seem to recall many songs that Paul wrote about the ending of his relationship with Heather, though. A lot of the stuff on Memory Almost Full that people interpreted as being about Heather was written well before the divorce, iirc.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HacWoVzP2uQ

i like Paul's song "Heather. i believe this is from the acoustic jam session they had with Donovan one day.

There's also the 'Heather' that appears on Driving Rain ... there's a lot of stuff that's about Heather Mills on that album ('About You' etc.) but it was very much recorded at the beginning of their relationship. There's a couple of things about Linda on the record too, most notably 'From a Lover to a Friend' ... the vocal on that sounds like McCartney is on the verge of tears.

The "Heather" on Driving Rain is incredible!

It still blows my mind that "I'm Down," "Yesterday" and "I've Just Seen A Face" were all recorded on the same day. In a three-hour session!

Yeah, nowadays people spend three hours fucking around with a kick drum in Pro Tools.

People generally worked that fast back in the '60s... I mean, take The Animals' 'House of the Rising Sun', the record took 15 minutes to make, including the time it took for The Animals' to perform the entire song live in one take.

Part of it was, obviously, far fewer options -- no spending hours deciding which type of compression to use or even, for that matter, which mic.

But in terms of the shifts in approach ("Yesterday" one minute, "I'm Down" the next), in Hamburg they were likely expected to execute even sharper changes in tone, and in less than three hours. "Play a fast one, or we'll kill you!" "Now play a slow one, or we'll kill you!" Being forced to do that for seven hours a night for months on end no doubt sharpened their skills in this area.

An underrated John composition right here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiFESa2LFkc

"'From a Lover to a Friend' ... the vocal on that sounds like McCartney is on the verge of tears"

yeah, that's not a bad song that is ruined by his vocal performance honestly.

I always took John's narrative in the RS interview to be accurate but correct me if this sounds wrong:

Then we were discussing something in the office with Paul, and Paul said something or other about the Beatles doing something, and I kept saying "No, no, no" to everything he said. So it came to a point where I had to say something, of course, and Paul said, "What do you mean?"

I said, "I mean the group is over, I'm leaving."

Allen was there, and he will remember exactly and Yoko will, but this is exactly how I see it. Allen was saying don't tell. He didn't want me to tell Paul even. So I said, "It's out," I couldn't stop it, it came out. Paul and Allen both said that they were glad that I wasn't going to announce it, that I wasn't going to make an event out of it. I don't know whether Paul said "Don't tell anybody," but he was darned pleased that I wasn't going to. He said, "Oh, that means nothing really happened if you're not going to say anything."

So that's what happened. So, like anybody when you say divorce, their face goes all sorts of colors. It's like he knew really that this was the final thing; and six months later he comes out with whatever. I was a fool not to do it, not to do what Paul did, which was use it to sell a record.

You were really angry with Paul?
No, I wasn't angry.

Well, when he came out with this "I'm leaving."
No, I wasn't angry – shit, he's a good P.R. man, that's all. He's about the best in the world, probably. He really does a job. I wasn't angry. We were all hurt that he didn't tell us that was what he was going to do.

I think he claims that he didn't mean that to happen but that's bullshit. He called me in the afternoon of that day and said, "I'm doing what you and Yoko were doing last year." I said good, you know, because that time last year they were all looking at Yoko and me as if we were strange trying to make our life together instead of being fab, fat myths. So he rang me up that day and said I'm doing what you and Yoko are doing, I'm putting out an album, and I'm leaving the group too, he said. I said good. I was feeling a little strange, because he was saying it this time, although it was a year later, and I said "good," because he was the one that wanted the Beatles most, and then the midnight papers came out.

How did you feel then?
I was cursing, because I hadn't done it. I wanted to do it, I should have done it. Ah, damn, shit, what a fool I was. But there were many pressures at that time with the Northern Songs fight going on; it would have upset the whole thing, if I would have said that.

never been sure about that story. a year earlier...that puts the timing when.... middle of recording abbey road? before recording it?

Abbey Road was recorded in Feb ---- on in 69; 'dissolution' of the beatles was in april 70 (around the time McCartney put out that press release). Lennon put out Cold Turkey in the fall of 69 I think. I think his "a year before" thing is just hyperbole or misremembering.

Well, they started working on 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' in February '69, but didn't work on anything else to do with Abbey Road for at least another couple of months. Lennon had been in a car accident, so some of the initial tracking was done without him. I don't think they finished 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' until right before they did the final mixing/compiling the master many months later, although I'd have to consult the Lewisohn Bible to double check.

Re: 'From a Lover to a Friend', the only thing I would change is I would simplify it and get rid of some of the awkward meter shifts, otherwise its perfect.

Lennon is talking about after the Live Peace in Toronto concert, which was September '69.

Abbey Road finished in August according to Wikipedia.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2017/apr/27/beatles-sgt-pepper-anniversary-listen

"Without the horn fanfare in the middle or the audience’s cheers and laughter, this version sounds pretty stripped back – and it features some trippy voices echoing around towards the end (“I feel it, I feel it, oh baby now I feel it … Gotta be free now”). Then there’s a brief conversation between John and Paul about singing technique, and some bits where Paul has run out of breath. It’s safe to say the final version is more of a banger, but this recording offers an intriguing glimpse into the Fabs’ world."

not the most exciting thing in the world, but cool, and goes along with some of the discussion of how the beatles might've played this later stuff onstage -- this sounds pretty much like them doing it live.

yeah, that whole conversation Lennon references happened around the same time Abbey Road was released - presumably for Paul to propose next steps for the Beatles. It's documented in several books.

not the most exciting thing in the world, but cool, and goes along with some of the discussion of how the beatles might've played this later stuff onstage -- this sounds pretty much like them doing it live.

― tylerw, Thursday, April 27, 2017 11:13 AM (twenty-two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah, it's not mindblowing, but definitely interesting to hear -- they're (hopefully) not going to tease the set with the most revelatory stuff. And it seems like they tried to play and sing live in the studio as much as possible.

the box set has Take 1 which i am way more excited for

that 'Take 9' has the same vocal track as the record i think? also the speech at the end is on the mini-docu on the Pepper 2009 stereo remaster.

Yep, take 9 sounds like it's the master, pre-overdubs.

The first session for what became the Abbey Road album was on 22nd February 1969, recording 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)', but the Abbey Road sessions "proper" didn't begin until late April, and the last session for the Abbey Road was on 25th August 1969. They were still working on the album when the cover photo was taken on 8th August 1969 (the sessions that day were for various overdubs on 'The End', 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' and 'Oh! Darling') ... the master tape for the Abbey Road album which the LP was cut from was actually compiled and banded five days before the last session for the album on 20th August 1969. But they actually had a couple of sessions which they did work on the master tape itself. On 21st August 1969 the final attempt at the crossfade for 'You Never Give Me Your Money' into 'Sun King' was completed and actually re-cut into the master tape. The final session on 25th August 1969 was to edit down 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' and 'The End' slightly - these edits were, again, done on the master tape itself. There was some additional recording of sound efffects etc. that weren't used, and then the master tapes were sent off to cut the vinyl.

1967 Wednesday 1 February

Studio Two: 7.00pm-2.30am. Recording: 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (takes 1-9). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush.

Nine takes of the rhythm track ( drums — with heavy echo — bass and two guitars, one by Paul the other by George) were recorded on this night, and only two of those – one and nine – were seen through to completion. Paul's bass was recorded by direct injection of the sound into the recording console, as opposed to being recorded through an amplifier and a microphone. "I think direct injection was probably used on Beatles sessions for the first time anywhere in the world," says Ken Townsend. "We built our own transformer boxes [called DIT boxes] and plugged the guitars straight into the equipment."

Lewisohn, Beatles Recording Sessions, p. 95

the next day they overdubbing the vocals heard here onto Take 9. yet this is missing the "heavy echo" Lewisohn says are on the drums. maybe that's in Take 1 but it seems just as likely he would mix that out.

xpost:

In between the 22nd February 1969 recording of 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' and the sessions picking back up in late April, they were mostly fucking about with coming up with satisfactory mixes for the Get Back project, putting together the 'Get Back'/'Don't Let Me Down' single and the recording of 'The Ballad of John & Yoko' and 'Old Brown Shoe'

Oh yeah, 'Cold Turkey' was recorded the day before Abbey Road was released.

There's the take 2 (instrumental) of "with a little help" on spotify (+ the final deluxe versions of "Sgt Pepper" and "with a little help" and the "Sgt Pepper" take that was already linked upthread). It's surprisingly accomplished (minus the directly plugged bass part, of course).
Also, they DO sound great (it's in stereo, though. I've never heard the mono versions of their albums...).

you could mix the left and right channels (either through software or with a simple adapter) to get a nice mono mix (some amps have a mono button that does this which can be extremely helpful for noise removal on poor stereo reissues)

Actually, I consider getting the mono remaster cd of Pepper since it's supposed to be quite different and much better than the stereo one. On the coming deluxe box, I suppose the mono remaster will be the same as the previously released one, right ? Not a new remix by G. Martin like the stereo ?
I've always preferred the stereo mixes of classic pop tracks as I find they have more punch (although the mono mixes are supposed to be stronger) and I simply enjoy hearing all the instruments and arrangements more clearly(I know the difference between the stereo and mono Beatles mix has been discussed a lot already !)

What's the line-up in that Take 1 and Take 2? Paul on piano and George on the guitar on the left speaker? What's John doing?

Well the drums on the remix certainly sound fabulous.

"The Beatles recorded 10 takes of the song on 29 March 1967, with Paul on piano, John beating a cowbell, George playing lead guitar and Ringo on drums. Following the final take Ringo overdubbed his lead vocals.
The following day - on the morning of which they posed for the Sgt Pepper cover shoot - they added guitar, tambourine, bass and harmony vocals."

Listening to that outtake, I was actually wondering where the cowbell was coming from !
yeah the drums sound great. bass too. it's so HUGE. and I discovered some guitar parts too, thanks to that take !

I've always preferred the stereo mixes of classic pop tracks as I find they have more punch

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/earwax/pages/introduction.aspx?nobeta=true

Eheh. I know in theory the mono should be punchier but for instance I find the 1996 stereo version of Pet Sounds more powerful than the original mono version !

yeah i had the same feeling w/r/t Blonde on Blonde. had no idea that record was mixed primarily in mono and they spent like 5 minutes on the stereo mix, but the stereo versions sound much better. whereas with the Beatles, hearing mono versions for the first time after years of shit stereo mixes is a revelation. i didn't hear the mono Sgt. Pepper until I was 20 and it blew me away, specifically the heavy flanging on chorus vox on Lucy in the Sky.