The Beatles

[Guest worth_the_wait]

This TV studio "performance" cracked me up.   I don't really know why.    I just found the chaos of it all rather amusing, and the worse it gets, the funnier it is!

 

 

 

Edited 27 March 2024 by worth_the_wait

[ozleicester]

10 hours ago, worth_the_wait said:

This TV studio "performance" cracked me up.   I don't really know why.    I just found the chaos of it all rather amusing, and the worse it gets, the funnier it is!

 

 

 

Not Beatles related.. but if you enjoy choas in music studio's... this wonderful performance from TISM (This Is Serious Mum) might be a pleasant few minutes   (from around 1.40)

 

Edited 28 March 2024 by ozleicester

[SpacedX]

11 hours ago, worth_the_wait said:

This TV studio "performance" cracked me up.   I don't really know why.    I just found the chaos of it all rather amusing, and the worse it gets, the funnier it is!

 

 

 

Jimmie Nicol on drums - (for a few weeks). 

[Dr Marco]

 

[Dr Marco]

[Izzy]

How cute 

 

James McCartney and Sean Ono Lennon release joint single

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68825172

[davieG]

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For today’s “Beatle Song for the Day” we offer “A World Without Love.” (Lennon--McCartney)

Written by Paul, the song was recorded by British duo Peter and Gordon and released as their first single in February 1964 and went to Number One in the US, UK, Ireland, New Zealand and Australia.

Paul wrote the song when he was 16. When he moved into Jane Asher’s home in 1963, sharing a room with her brother Peter Asher, Asher asked him if he could use the song after Asher and Gordon Waller had signed a recording contract as Peter and Gordon.

“The funny first line always used to please John,” said Paul.

‘“Please lock me away –' 'Yes, okay.' End of song."

“I think that was resurrected from the past,” said John.

“I think he had that whole song before the Beatles. ... That has the line 'Please lock me away' that we always used to crack up at."

Paul did not think the song was good enough for The Beatles and was never released by the band. The only known recording of the song by any member of the Beatles is the original demo of the song performed by Paul which is now in the possession of Peter Asher. In 2013, Paul’s demo was posted to YouTube.

Paul previously offered the song to Billy J Kramer, who declined.

It is one of two songs credited to Lennon–McCartney to reach number one in the US by an artist other than the Beatles. The other is "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" covered by Elton John in 1974.

Thanks to Boris for this image.

[The Bear]

Just when you thought there was no other angle to write about them.....

 

 

 

[Fox92]

 

[davieG]

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The Amazing Recording History of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”

“Here Comes The Sun” is the most streamed Beatles song with 1.4 billion Spotify streams.

Though it comes off as a simple song, the recording was a technically complex and unconventional process.

Starting with a melody crafted while playing an acoustic guitar in Eric Clapton’s garden (having recused himself from yet another business meeting), George enriched it with such techniques as running his guitar through a revolving Leslie speaker meant for an organ and having his Moog synthesizer transported to Abbey Road so he could add a layer of electronic sublimity.

George first recorded a simple acoustic guitar instrumental demo at his Kinfauns home. He hadn't quite perfected all of the intricate parts yet, which were played high up on the neck with a capo up on the seventh fret, but he was close.

Before recording commenced, much instruction needed to be given to George's bandmates because of the tricky timing contained in the song.

“He said, 'Oh, I've got this song. It's like seven-and-a-half time,’” said Ringo.

“‘Yeah, so?' You know, he might as well have talked to me in Arabic, you know what I mean?...I had to find some way that I could physically do it and do it every time so it came off on the time. That's one of those Indian tricks. I had no way of going, 'one, two, three, four, five, six, seven...' It's not in my brain. So as long as I go (demonstrates), 'OK, that's seven. Got it!'”

Once that was worked out, thirteen takes of the rhythm track were recorded onto an eight-track machine, with Paul on bass, Ringo on drums, George on acoustic guitar and George's guide vocals. John was not present as he was recovering from injuries suffered in an auto accident.

A harmonium and handclaps were added and George overdubbed an electric guitar run through a Leslie speaker.

The orchestral parts (George Martin's score for four violas, four cellos, double bass, two piccolos, two flutes, two alto flutes and two clarinets) were added. George also added further acoustic guitar.

The master tapes reveal that George recorded a guitar solo in the bridge which was not included in the final mix.

"Here Comes the Sun" was completed with the addition of a Moog synthesiser part. After George had used the Moog on his recent experimental album, Electronic Sound, the instrument had been installed at EMI Studios and became an important addition to the sound of the Beatles' final recording project.

“Here Comes the Sun” has made such a cultural impact that Carl Sagan lobbied for its inclusion on the Voyager “Golden Records,” which were launched into outer space with the intent to give other forms of intelligent life a glimpse of human civilization.

The Beatles also liked the idea, but they didn’t own the necessary rights; those belonged to the label EMI, who demanded a prohibitive fee for the song’s use.

Had it been included, perhaps it could’ve ended up the first intergalactic hit song — one enjoyed in the orbit of another sun entirely.

 

 

[davieG]

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60 years ago today, backstage at Leicester's De Montfort Hall.

[Dr Marco]

 

[davieG]

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Here, There And Everywhere: Black America Sings John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison will be released on CD, 2LP Vinyl and Rough Trade Exclusive Red & Blue Vinyl on 29.11.2024

Known for their shared love of black American music, the Beatles’ versions of songs by the likes of the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Arthur Alexander, Barrett Strong, the Isley Brothers and more provided an entry point into soul for many young Brits in the early 1960s.

As their fame spread across the Atlantic ocean. It was inevitable that their music would start to impact on the musical worlds of soul and jazz in the shape of multiple covers of their hit singles and album tracks.

Ace has issued two previous highly acclaimed and strong selling collections featuring ‘Black America Singing The Beatles’, and “Here, There And Everywhere” is Ace’s third compilation of Soul and Jazz reinterpretations of classic Lennon, McCartney and Harrison copyrights – and the first to be issued on double vinyl, as well as CD.

This time we have extended the series’ remit to also include post-Beatles songs by John, Paul and George among our strong selection of goodies from the Fab Four’s golden decade.

All of the featured songs are exclusive to this volume, as are most of the featured artists. There’s an extended Motown contingent – appropriately enough, given the ‘Loveable Moptops’ early appreciation and promotion of Motown before the label had enjoyed even one UK hit - and the repertoire here spans almost a quarter of a century of Beatle and post-Beatle covers, from 1964 to 1988.

Ace Imagine’s that anyone who has purchased the previous two volumes will need no persuasion to add a third one to their collection! It’s also ideal as a stocking filler for Beatles fans arounds the world.

1. CAN'T BUY ME LOVE - Sam Fletcher

2. YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY – Sarah Vaughan

3. LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS - Natalie Cole

4. MICHELLE - Four Tops

5. TAXMAN - Junior Parker

6. STEP INSIDE LOVE - Madeline Bell

7. YOU CAN'T DO THAT - The Supremes

8. HERE THERE AND EVERYWHERE - Carmen McRae

9. GIVE PEACE A CHANCE - Randy Crawford

10. SHE'S LEAVING HOME - Syreeta

11. HE LOVES YOU - Mary Wells

12. LET ‘EM IN - Billy Paul

13. EVERY NIGHT - The Drifters

14. MAYBE I'M AMAZED - Carleen Anderson

15. MY LOVE - Margie Joseph

16. ISN'T IT A PITY - The Three Degrees

17. MY SWEET LORD - The Chiffons

18. IMAGINE - Keb' Mo'

19. JEALOUS GUY - Donny Hathaway

20. WE CAN WORK IT OUT - Stevie Wonder

21. YESTERDAY - Marvin Gaye

22. AND I LOVE HIM - Esther Phillips

[davieG]

[davieG]

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Best Beatle Productions By George Martin

Today is ‘Yesterday.’

The track was recorded on June 14, 1965, immediately following the taping of "I'm Down" and four days before Paul’s 23rd birthday.

There are conflicting accounts of how the song was recorded. Some sources state that Paul and the other Beatles tried a variety of instruments, including drums and an organ, and that George Martin persuaded them to allow Paul to play his Epiphone Texan steel-string acoustic guitar, later overdubbing a string quartet for backup.

Regardless, none of the other band members were included in the final recording.

“Paul played his guitar and sang it live, a mic on the guitar and mic on the voice,” Martin said in 2006.

“But, of course, the voice comes on to the guitar mic and the guitar comes on to the voice mic. So there's leakage there. Then I said I'd do a string quartet. The musicians objected to playing with headphones, so I gave them Paul's voice and guitar on two speakers either side of their microphones. So there's leakage of Paul's guitar and voice on the string tracks.”

The Beatles had already experimented with dropping the electric guitars and going acoustic on ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away’, but this song went further.

It was clear to George Martin from the start that Yesterday wouldn’t need the other three Beatles on backing. Martin scored a simple but beautiful string quartet accompaniment to complete his vision for the song.

Thanks to Boris for this image.

[Dr Marco]

 

[davieG]

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How a Teenage Geoff Emerick Helped Define The Beatles’ Studio Sound

On September 3, 1962, at the age of 16, Geoff walked into EMI looking for work and walked out with a job as a recording engineer with The Beatles. Emerick was rebellious and willing to break the rigid production rules EMI enforced to meet The Beatles’ creative expectations with creative recording effects.

Whether piping John through an organ or recording Ringo ‘wrongly’, the innovative engineer translated the band’s wildest ideas into timeless sounds.

He created new microphone techniques for recording bass and drums, pioneered novel vocal effects, and used reverse tape effects like those heard on the guitar solo of “I’m Only Sleeping.”

Emerick’s fingerprints are layered deeply throughout The Beatles’ catalog—his techniques improved on many times over in modern studio recording.

To better translate Ringo’s drumming to tape, Emerick placed microphones closer than allowed at EMI to capture the often imitated propulsion of Ringo’s drumming—like on the song “Rain.”

Once, to create a randomized rush of vocals, he cut up the recorded tape, threw the pieces in the air like confetti, and stitched them back together at random.

He was caught by an EMI executive dunking a microphone in a bucket of water to “see how it sounded.”

His boundary-pushing, rule-breaking philosophy to recording studio engineering didn’t stop there.

At 19 and chief engineer on Revolver, Emerick was still fielding requests for the impossible. On “Tomorrow Never Knows,” John wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama and a thousand Tibetan monks chanting on a mountaintop. His answer was to dismantle the studio’s Hammond organ and use its rotating amp as a mic of sorts to give Lennon’s vocals an air of the organ’s iconic tremolo sound.

Ignoring the industry rulebook is why we hear the power in Ringo’s drums and clarity in Paul’s bass lines.

In his later years, Geoff was fond of claiming that he had merely been in the right place at the right time.

Geoff died at age 72 in 2018.

Thank you to Boris for this image.

[SpacedX]

56 minutes ago, davieG said:

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How a Teenage Geoff Emerick Helped Define The Beatles’ Studio Sound

On September 3, 1962, at the age of 16, Geoff walked into EMI looking for work and walked out with a job as a recording engineer with The Beatles. Emerick was rebellious and willing to break the rigid production rules EMI enforced to meet The Beatles’ creative expectations with creative recording effects.

Whether piping John through an organ or recording Ringo ‘wrongly’, the innovative engineer translated the band’s wildest ideas into timeless sounds.

He created new microphone techniques for recording bass and drums, pioneered novel vocal effects, and used reverse tape effects like those heard on the guitar solo of “I’m Only Sleeping.”

Emerick’s fingerprints are layered deeply throughout The Beatles’ catalog—his techniques improved on many times over in modern studio recording.

To better translate Ringo’s drumming to tape, Emerick placed microphones closer than allowed at EMI to capture the often imitated propulsion of Ringo’s drumming—like on the song “Rain.”

Once, to create a randomized rush of vocals, he cut up the recorded tape, threw the pieces in the air like confetti, and stitched them back together at random.

He was caught by an EMI executive dunking a microphone in a bucket of water to “see how it sounded.”

His boundary-pushing, rule-breaking philosophy to recording studio engineering didn’t stop there.

At 19 and chief engineer on Revolver, Emerick was still fielding requests for the impossible. On “Tomorrow Never Knows,” John wanted to sound like the Dalai Lama and a thousand Tibetan monks chanting on a mountaintop. His answer was to dismantle the studio’s Hammond organ and use its rotating amp as a mic of sorts to give Lennon’s vocals an air of the organ’s iconic tremolo sound.

Ignoring the industry rulebook is why we hear the power in Ringo’s drums and clarity in Paul’s bass lines.

In his later years, Geoff was fond of claiming that he had merely been in the right place at the right time.

Geoff died at age 72 in 2018.

Thank you to Boris for this image.

And he walked out on them in July 16th, 1968 unable to endure the toxic 'White Album' sessions any longer. He did return though for the recording of 'Abbey Road' the following summer and 'The Ballad of John and Yoko'.

 

I highly recommend his book, 'Here There and Everywhere'. 

[Fox92]

On 18/11/2024 at 06:32, Dr Marco said:

 

Such a shame they were Lennon's band and he's not around to input into these documentaries. 

[davieG]

The Beach Boys And Beatles 101 : The Bands The Music The History  · 

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The Conversation Between Decca Records A&R Man Dick Rowe, And Beatles’ Manager Brian Epstein A Few Weeks After The Beatles Auditioned For Decca Records On January 1, 1962 :

Dick Rowe : "We want to thank you for having your boys audition for us Mr. Epstein. To start with, we consider you and your Record shop in Liverpool a valued customer to our label, especially with the records you sell. As far as The Beatles are concerned though, not to mince words we don't like your boys sound. Guitar groups, are on their way out. They have no future in show business. For one, it's a proven fact that artists should not write their own music, a songwriter should, and the artist should record the song. We have also just spent twelve days in America. Not one song on charts is from a guitar group. Plus we have decided a local group instead who play guitars when we need them called "Brian Poole and the Tremeloes" will be under contract. They live close by here in London, not over 200 miles away like your boys. So there is no reason to have a second guitar band under contract."

Brian Epstein : "I brought along a copy of Mersey Beat Magazine. It shows how popular The Beatles have become in Liverpool. All due respect, you must be out of your mind ! The Beatles are going to explode. You mark my words, one day they will be bigger than Elvis Presley."

Dick Rowe : I believe we are the experts here Mr. Epstein. You have a nice record business in Liverpool. Don't invest anymore money in this losing battle. Stick to running your record shop.

Brian Epstein : You'll live to regret this decision. Thank you for allowing my group to audition for your label. Have a good day."

Impressed with Brian Epstein, especially his enthusiasm about his group, also most likely finding a way to get Brian off his back, Dick Rowe did give Brian the option of having former Shadows drummer Tony Meehan produce the Beatles at Decca if the Beatles manager agreed to cover the expenses of about £100, worth about $1500-$2000 in 2023 .

On February 7, 1962 Brian Epstein met Meehan who came across as a young, cocky producer. Meehan expressed condescending comments about the Beatles’ audition with the meeting not going very well and Epstein not impressed with Meehan. Brian Epstein rejected the Decca offer, because of Meehan, and the fact that he felt it was an insult to have to pay that sum of money to record.

If Decca had no faith in The Beatles, Brian wanted nothing to do with them. So yes, Decca Records did reject The Beatles. But Brian Epstein also rejected Decca.

 

[Free Falling Foxes]

8 hours ago, davieG said:

The Beach Boys And Beatles 101 : The Bands The Music The History  · 

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The Conversation Between Decca Records A&R Man Dick Rowe, And Beatles’ Manager Brian Epstein A Few Weeks After The Beatles Auditioned For Decca Records On January 1, 1962 :

Dick Rowe : "We want to thank you for having your boys audition for us Mr. Epstein. To start with, we consider you and your Record shop in Liverpool a valued customer to our label, especially with the records you sell. As far as The Beatles are concerned though, not to mince words we don't like your boys sound. Guitar groups, are on their way out. They have no future in show business. For one, it's a proven fact that artists should not write their own music, a songwriter should, and the artist should record the song. We have also just spent twelve days in America. Not one song on charts is from a guitar group. Plus we have decided a local group instead who play guitars when we need them called "Brian Poole and the Tremeloes" will be under contract. They live close by here in London, not over 200 miles away like your boys. So there is no reason to have a second guitar band under contract."

Brian Epstein : "I brought along a copy of Mersey Beat Magazine. It shows how popular The Beatles have become in Liverpool. All due respect, you must be out of your mind ! The Beatles are going to explode. You mark my words, one day they will be bigger than Elvis Presley."

Dick Rowe : I believe we are the experts here Mr. Epstein. You have a nice record business in Liverpool. Don't invest anymore money in this losing battle. Stick to running your record shop.

Brian Epstein : You'll live to regret this decision. Thank you for allowing my group to audition for your label. Have a good day."

Impressed with Brian Epstein, especially his enthusiasm about his group, also most likely finding a way to get Brian off his back, Dick Rowe did give Brian the option of having former Shadows drummer Tony Meehan produce the Beatles at Decca if the Beatles manager agreed to cover the expenses of about £100, worth about $1500-$2000 in 2023 .

On February 7, 1962 Brian Epstein met Meehan who came across as a young, cocky producer. Meehan expressed condescending comments about the Beatles’ audition with the meeting not going very well and Epstein not impressed with Meehan. Brian Epstein rejected the Decca offer, because of Meehan, and the fact that he felt it was an insult to have to pay that sum of money to record.

If Decca had no faith in The Beatles, Brian wanted nothing to do with them. So yes, Decca Records did reject The Beatles. But Brian Epstein also rejected Decca.

 

Is it noted anywhere if Dick Rowe was asked for his thoughts on rejecting the Beatles, after they became a global phenomenon?

In his defence I guess, Decca did sign the Rolling Stones, so they quickly learned a lesson.

[davieG]

[Free Falling Foxes]

Watching the Beatles 64 doc and, as a consequence,  the original Maysles film of the Beatles first US tour, it was interesting to note the 4 individual members and how they were on that tour.

Paul was largely as you expect and how he remained throughout the 60s, and now even. Level headed and so on.

John, who was later the clown and the outspoken one, was quite subdued in comparison. Also, he featured far less in the non concert footage. Possibly as he would have had his then wife Cynthia present.

George, clowning around and thoroughly enjoying himself. Interestingly however,  he became the first to really tire of touring/being mobbed/screaming that they received every where.

Ringo, like George, really enjoying it and having a good laugh.

Edited 24 January 2025 by Free Falling Foxes

[Fox92]

45 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

Watching the Beatles 64 doc and, as a consequence,  the original Maysles film of the Beatles first US tour, it was interesting to note the 4 individual members and how they were on that tour.

Paul was largely as you expect and how he remained throughout the 60s, and now even. Level headed and so on.

John, who was later the clown and the outspoken one, was quite subdued in comparison. Also, he featured far less in the non concert footage. Possibly as he would have had his then wife Cynthia present.

George, clowning around and thoroughly enjoying himself. Interestingly however,  he became the first to really tire of touring/being mobbed/screaming that they received every where.

Ringo, like George, really enjoying it and having a good laugh.

I think if Paul had his way they would have continued to tour. He was a strong head eventually but at that point I think John's influence was big on them.

[Free Falling Foxes]

Available online, complete editions Beatles Book magazine.