Category: Music

Re-recording

Recently, I offered some Beatles studio session outtakes of HELP! , and before that an outtake of I Feel Fine, and in the comments I made mention of “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” by Mark Lewisohn. As pointed out by best buddy Denro, Lewisohn admits his 1988 book is now superceded by “Recording the Beatles,” a $100 tome that is essentially self-published by its authors, Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew.

I had no idea of this book’s existence until today. The first printing of 3000 copies is sold out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the second printing is already spoken for. But I’d better get in line, as this is an irresistable item that, despite the expense, I must have.

Click here to read a New York Times article about Recording the Beatles, and other self-published Beatles books. If that link asks for a registration you don’t want to have, click here instead.

Ross Revisited

The Ross Bagdasarian post was fun, so let’s listen to something else from his label, Liberty Records. In 1956 Ross was handed a demo from a musician friend named Mark McIntyre, featuring his daughters Patience, 11, and Prudence, 14, singing an old song called “Tonight You Belong to Me.”

Bagdasarian loved it, passed it up the chain, and the girls were brought into the studio. They harmonized beautifully, and their voices were perfectly suited to the material. The recordings have an adorable and ethereal quality, and although McIntyre is listed as producer I wouldn’t be surprised if Bagdasarian lent a hand in the production.

Merry Crimble

beatlesxmas

Wow, this is great! I was about to go to the trouble of posting all of the Christmas records the Beatles made for their fan club, but I see somebody has already done an excellent job of it. Click here, and be patient with the MP3 downloads.

If you have time for only one of them right now, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND listening to 1967. Wonderful stuff. This is what Magical Mystery Tour should have been.

HELPing In The Studios

[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Movies/Wordpress/DEC06/HELP.flv 400 300]

Previously I offered studio take 6 of the Beatles’ “I Feel Fine.” The audio player has takes 1 through 5 of “HELP!” The vocals weren’t introduced until take 9.

John considered this song to be a personal breakthrough, because it was a sincere cry for help. For all of the Beatles trivia I’ve picked up over the years, I’ve never seen confirmation of my suspicion that the song title HELP! was inspired by a magazine cover, as discussed here.

I’d like to offer a scan of the picture sleeve to the original single, as well as the single itself, but it’s in the possession of Mr. Dennis F. Rogers; so, instead, you can watch the Beatles performing the song on TV. This is from the last Ed Sullivan show ever broadcast in black and white. It’s fitting, I suppose, as this is, I imagine, the very last appearance of the Beatles in their Fab Four incarnation. “Rubber Soul” was released in December, and it was obvious to everybody that the times, they were a changin’.

One other piece of trivia I can pass along is that the man sitting at the control console on Tuesday, April 13, 1965, engineering the recording of HELP! was Norman Smith. He later had a hit single of his own, on the charts in late 1972. Some may consider it silly fluff, but I’ve always loved this song. Perhaps you remember it?

In the Public Domain

On the Media, The NPR show, seemed for a long time to be a bunch of newspaper reporters sitting around talking about the newspaper business, so I’d flip past it. But a while ago I found myself stopping to listen to the show, sometimes intently.

GeneGreene.jpgOne item today that caught my interest is about American music labels pushing to get European copyright laws changed. As my buddy Dennis Rogers recently pointed out, the 50-year limit on copyrighted material in Europe means there’s a flood of CD’s headed our way from overseas from the era of Elvis and beyond. He predicts the laws will change when the Beatles’ material nears the 50-year mark.

America’s copyright laws extend 95 years, and that’s what the U.S. music labels want Europe to also set as their standard. Open the audio player and listen to what was hot 95 years ago. Gene Greene performing “King of the Bungaloos.” Greene does a bit of jazzy scat and for a moment he sounds like the voice of Popeye, as done by Jack Mercer 25 years later.

[audio:http://www.dograt.com/Sounds/Wordpress/DEC06/GeneGreene.mp3]

Puts things into perspective, doesn’t it? Let’s compromise. How about 60 years?

Here’s a link to On the Media’s piece, which I would rate as a must-listen. If you have any problems with it, and you shouldn’t because it’s done the same way I do my embedded audio, let me know and I’ll put it here.