Category: Beatles

Sgt. Pepper 15 Years Ago

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is 40 years old. Fifteen years ago it was only 25 years old! Amazing.

From 1992, here is part 1 of a 45-minute TV special on the making of the album. It’s taken from VHS, and looks it.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/MakingSgtPepper1.flv 400 300]

Note: I’m trying something new, by using the Dog Rat icon to label videos that I have transferred, edited, and converted myself. In this instance it runs for 60 seconds.

And here is part 2.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/AUG07/MakingSgtPepper2.flv 400 300]

Complete “Give Peace A Chance” On DVD

Previously on DogRat.com, I featured a video with a brief glimpse of Petula Clark at the infamous 1969 LennOno “bed-in.” The New Musical Express in England is reporting that a DVD of the complete recording session, Give Peace A Song, is being released at the end of the month. NME says…

‘Give Peace a Song’ also features over 35 minutes of bonus material including television interviews, a John and Yoko press conference and Petula Clark’s visit to the bed-in.

Give Peace a Song DVD

This is confusing, because Amazon.com lists the DVD as having been released in 2006. One of the DVD chapters is “Petula Clark Visits The Bed-In.”

I don’t know if the NME item is something old that was posted in error, nor do I know how much footage there is of Pet on the DVD, but it sounds like a video worth seeing.

It Was 40 Years Ago That Day

Sgt. Pepper's

Back on June 2, before The Bad Thing happened to my database, I had noted the 40th anniversary of the American release of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and compared the audio quality of an American LP on the Apple label, and a pressing from the glory days of British vinyl, using “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.” Hmm. Y’know, I’m not sure myself now, which is which. I’ll have to click back-and-forth to figure it out. Just did it. Oh, it’s obvious, which is better.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUN07/LucyInTheSkyWithDiamonds.mp3]
[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/JUN07/lucyskydiamonds.mp3]

Give Pet A Chance

If you’ve been reading the interviews with Petula Clark I’ve linked to, you may have caught a comment about her being in a certain place at a certain time. Don’t blink, or you’ll miss her in this video clip.

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/APR07/GivePeaceAChance.flv 400 300]

Why was Pet there?

“I’d been staying in French-speaking Canada but was starting to have hits with records in English as well. So when I was booked to perform at the Place des Arts in Montreal, I thought I’d do a bi-lingual show. Wrong. It was open war.

“After the show, I was upset and I went to John’s hotel to ask his advice. I didn’t really know him that well, but I do remember he was very rude about the audience.

“There was a very strange atmosphere in the suite and I remember the cameras being there but I really didn’t realise [sic] they were making Give Peace A Chance at the time.”

Al “Capp” Caplin was a full-time jerk. I never did much like Li’l Abner. But in fairness, John Lennon was a part-time jerk. It would have been much more interesting seeing Pet, instead of Capp, talking to John. Recognize any other faces in the crowd?

Synthetic Sir George

Time BeatWaltz in Orbit

I’ve been trying to find a copy of a 1962 single of partially electronic music, Time Beat b/w Waltz in Time, by Ray Cathode. I’ve placed bids, and lost, for the single on eBay, but fortunately I found these MP3’s on WFMU’s Beware of the Blog. [Link] Here are the tracks.

Ray Cathode – Beat Time
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/time_beat.mp3]

Ray Cathode – Waltz in Orbit
[audio:http://blogfiles.wfmu.org/DG/waltz_in_orbit.mp3]

Ray Cathode was a pseudonym for a collaboration between BBC technician-producer Maddalena Fagandini and George Martin, who would sign the Beatles to Parlophone Records just a couple of months later. The recording was made for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which was set up to create atmospheric music and effects for radio and TV. The 1963 production by Delia Derbyshire of Ron Grainer’s theme for Doctor Who is undoubtedly the workshop’s most familiar work.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Audio/APR07/DoctorWho.mp3]