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Category Archives: BROW

The Beatles Rarity Of The Week

Sep 06 12 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – If I Fell, Live In Philadelphia, 1964

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. It’s no secret that The Beatles summer 1964 tour of the U.S. was a tremendous success and the shows at Philadelphia’s Convention Hall were no exception. Apparently it was simulcast by radio station WIBG giving us one of the few decent soundboard recordings of The Beatles touring days and thankfully, it has survived. John’s guitar might be mixed a bit too loud but the vocals are up front and the music isn’t completely drowned out by the screaming. This was one of the first concerts to be bootlegged, appearing on the Live At Whiskey Flats LP in fairly good quality. As a follow-up to last week’s BROW, where I posted the original composing tape of John Lennon’s If I Fell, I’ve opted to feature a live account of the song where John and Paul have somewhat of a giggling fit while singing it. A special thanks goes out to Facebook subscriber Ric Serrano, for mentioning this recording to me and giving me the idea to include it this week.

The Beatles - If I Fell (Live in Philadelphia)
A press conference with The Beatles backstage at Convention Hall Philadelphia, Sep. 2, 1964

A press conference with The Beatles backstage at Convention Hall Philadelphia, Sep. 2, 1964

A Happy Note from Happy Nat: As of this month, the BROW is 3 years old! Can you believe it! I know most of you haven’t been around that long to read and hear them but they are still here in case you still need to (and want to) catch up. It’s been beyond fun so far, and I’ve got to know a lot more fans too – and that alone makes it worth it. So thanks everyone for sticking around and there is a lot more good stuff to come. Stay tuned…

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8000 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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Aug 30 6 comments
BROW, Films

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – If I Fell (composing tape, Jan. 1964)

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. John Lennon got a head start on writing new material for the yet untitled first Beatles movie, in early January 1964, when he wrote and recorded the initial home demos for If I Fell in his London flat. Legend has it that the recordings were taped over an audio message sent to John by a fan who had seen The Beatles November 17, 1963 show in Coventry. Her message had been recorded on New Year’s Eve, 1963. If I Fell would go on to be one of the 7 new songs completed specifically for A Hard Day’s Night (film and album) as well as the B-side of a July 1964 single paired with And I Love Her as the A-side. The other new songs for the film would be written during the upcoming tour of France and America.

This historical recording is divided into five separate demo/fragments:

1) The tape starts with a take already in progress, but this is cut off for a complete attempt (0:00-0:13).
2) John plays through the complete song with the structure and lyrics nearly finalized. The melody line he sings would eventually be given to Paul McCartney, with John taking a lower harmony. Here John is obviously straining to reach the notes. Note that the ending riff would be removed from use on this song and used instead on I Should Have Known Better (another song for the film yet to be written) (0:14-2:40).
3) John sings the final verse an octave lower which is much more suited for his vocal range (2:41-3:08).
4) John tries singing falsetto again, but only the first verse (3:09-3:45).
5) John tries just a couple lines of the first verse, singing falsetto again and snaps off the tape (3:46-4:00).

The Beatles - If I Fell
John Lennon, 1964

John Lennon, 1964

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8000 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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Aug 23 2 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I’m Only Sleeping (US stereo reissue mix)

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. This week’s post is a follow up to an earlier BROW I posted way back in October of 2008, that you can check out here if you like.

The previously referenced post points out that there have been five mixes in the standard Beatles catalog of I’m Only Sleeping. Actually, I should have said there are four, since the mix on the stereo US Yesterday…And Today LP is a fake stereo mix identical to the one on the mono Y&T album.

1. Yesterday…And Today (mono) + Yesterday…And Today (stereo) which had a fake stereo mix – this mix was featured on the Oct. 2008 BROW and never released officially to CD.

2. UK Revolver mono mix – available again recently on the mono remasters box set issued last September.

3. UK Revolver stereo mix – this has been the standard mix since the CD was issued in 1987.

4. Yesterday…And Today (stereo reissue) – around 1973 the stereo Y&T album was upgraded with a newly created stereo mix of I’m Only Sleeping since early issues had ‘fake’ stereo mixes. This version has not been officially released to CD.

All four of these mixes have subtle differences to do with where the backwards guitar overdubs are faded up and down in the mix. Also, the lead guitar is mixed differently throughout the guitar solo and at the end. My earlier post included the mono US Y&T mix (#1 above). Since #2 above was recently issued and #3 above is the standard mix, I have chosen the US stereo 1973 reissued mix (#4) as this week’s BROW. In case you’re interested in comparing, I have charted specifically how these mixes differ below the photo, but, of course, you don’t have to sweat the details just to enjoy the song.

The Beatles - I'm Only Sleeping
The Beatles, 1966

The Beatles, 1966

Note: #4 below is the characteristics for the mix featured in this post. To compare with mono Y&T version (#1), check out the earlier post. To compare with UK stereo Revolver mix (#3), play your Revolver CD. With the mono box set you can compare with your mono Revolver CD (#2).

Verse 1: no backwards guitar on any mix

Verse 2:
#1-no backwards guitar
#3-backwards guitar on “everywhere at such a speed” and “find there’s no need”
#4-backwards guitar on “running everywhere at such a speed” and “till they find there’s no need”
#2-backwards guitar on “where at such a speed” and “there’s no need”

Verse 3:
#1-backwards guitar on “time” and “ceiling”
#3, #4-no backwards guitar
#2-backwards guitar on “staring at the ceiling”

Solo:
#1-guitar continues into words “please don’t” at end of solo
#3, #2-guitar ends at end of solo
#4-guitar fades in 2 bars later, continues into “please”

Verse 4:
no backwards guitar on any mix

End:
#1-guitar starts 4 beats after the last word “sleeping”
all others- guitar starts immediately after last word “sleeping”

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Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8100 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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Aug 16 4 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – Press (original mix)

This week’s Beatles Rarity of the Week ties up another loose end from one of those stray Paul McCartney releases. By 1985, Paul was ready to give his music a more contemporary sound and teamed up with producer Hugh Padgham for that very reason. Hugh had worked with Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel of Genesis, along with other big names like The Police and XTC. Having written a few songs with former 10cc member Eric Stewart, as well as a few on his own, Paul was now pumped to get an album out. The result was the August 1986 release Press To Play, which ended up with a few other guest musicians you may have heard of before. Along with Eric Stewart, there was Pete Townshend (of The Who…in case you didn’t know that) and Eddie Rayner (from Split Enz). One of the tracks, an up-tempo pop tune slated for single release, called Press, was mixed by a DJ named Bert Bevans and his partner Steve Forward. In the UK only, after the first batch of pressings were out (about 45,000 copies or so), the album was altered, replacing this mix of Press with the original mix by producer Hugh Padgham. The original vinyl UK single also contained the Padgham mix of Press, but the rest of the world never saw a release of this version. The international standard as well as what is on the CD releases is the Bevans/Forward mix and now the earlier mix (that was released second) is no longer anywhere on the market. Since this original mix sounds quite different to my ears (better, as a matter of fact, as it sounds more “souped up” and has an alternate ending), I thought I’d give it a spin on BROW for old times sake.

Paul McCartney - Press
Paul McCartney, 1986

Paul McCartney, 1986

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8000 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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Aug 09 11 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – One Of The Boys (John Lennon Dakota demo)

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. This is “take 2″ of One Of The Boys, an acoustic demo of John Lennon’s recorded in his Dakota apartment sometime in either December 1977 or January 1978. Like Free As A Bird or Real Love, it is a song he apparently never had a chance to complete. With no more than the chords and lyrics for a verse and a middle eight section that he was apparently still trying to work out, John did as he often did at home, and just turned on the cassette recorder and began playing and singing to work it out as he went. After repeating the first verse, he moves into just using vocalizations instead of singing actual words, just to get the pattern down. He alternates between the line It doesn’t matter how old you are, as young as you feel right now and It doesn’t matter how old you are, as dumb as you feel right now. He repeats lines when he messes up and at one point considers brass instrumentation and vocalizes that too. Although you may conclude that it needs some work at this point, it’s good to hear some of the ideas he was trying to get out, as these ideas often prove to be the nucleus of something special by the time they mature. In the case of this one, we’ll never know.

John Lennon - One Of The Boys
John Lennon, circa 1977

John Lennon, circa 1977

Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8000 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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Aug 02 9 comments
BROW

Beatles Rarity Of The Week – I’ve Had Enough (Wings, Live in ’79)

Welcome to the Beatles Rarity of the Week. This week’s BROW hails from late in Paul McCartney’s Wings era. I’ve Had Enough was released as the second single from 1978′s London Town LP and although it did not enjoy the same commercial success as the album’s first single, With A Little Luck, it is still a great little rock and roll tune. In fact, I like this live version better than the London Town studio account. This recording is sourced from a concert in Glasgow, Scotland on December 17, 1979 during the last Wings tour. Along with Paul, Linda and Denny Laine, the Wings line-up included Steve Holley (formerly with the Elton John Band) and lead guitarist Laurence Juber who along with Denny will be in attendance at this year’s 34th Annual Beatles Celebration in Chicago IL, later this month on August 13-15. I hope to say hello to some of you there, so look for me if you decide to go. More info on this event is available here.

Wings - I've Had Enough (Live, in '79)
Wings, from 1979 magazine spread

Wings, from 1979 magazine spread

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Want to make a suggestion for a future Beatles Rarity of the Week? If so, I will do my best to deliver, so let me hear from you. To browse for ideas, check out this search-able listing of over 8000 Beatle-related recordings to choose from. Then let me hear from you here.

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