Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Beatle Bits #313
We're having a heatwave, a damn tropical heatwave here on the east coast, and 5 straight days have hit 90F.
Sort of reminds me of the hot, hot, summmer of 1973, and George Harrison's long awaited follow up to All Things Must Pass, Living In The Material World.
First up was the single Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) which went straight to the top of the charts, and had the wonderfully quirky Miss O'Dell on the flip.
Given the success of GML, it was thought a slam dunk that LITMW would also be a smash, number 1 album, knocking former Beatle mate Paul McCartney from the charts, who was flying high with two top 10 singles, and a million selling album.
When LITMW arrived, I recall most of my friends first commenting on the elaborate gatefold cover with beautiful color reproductions of Krishna religious material.
As for the music, side one was obviously a winner with the single, the album title track, and Sue Me Sue You Blues, a great rocker about George's Beatle break up problems.
But side two was more problematic.
Denounced by some critcs as overbearing and preachy, side 2 was decidedly down, almost maudlin, and only Try Some Buy Some seemed to stand out from the dirge.
Rolling Stone magazine trashed the LP with a headline that read, "Give Him Hope, Give Him Dope."
I understand that George was rather devastated with the reviews, as the album had been over 2 years in the making, and featured an all star cast of backing musicians.
As for my impression, I liked the album in '73, and I still like it now, and can't wait until it is finally given a long overdue remastering with bonus tracks.
In fact, don't be surpised if when we get a new edition of LITMW, it is not accompanied with some version of the boot Living In The Alternate World, which has circulated for some time now, and provides alt versions of most of the legit LPs tracks. Some of the alt tracks are very tasty, and any true blue Harrison fan needs to hear them.
LITMW is often given short shrift by music critcs, even though George had the impossible task of trying to even equal All Things Must Pass, let alone top it.
But compared to what would follow for GH, in my opinion, LITMW was the last great Harrison LP.
Sort of reminds me of the hot, hot, summmer of 1973, and George Harrison's long awaited follow up to All Things Must Pass, Living In The Material World.
First up was the single Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth) which went straight to the top of the charts, and had the wonderfully quirky Miss O'Dell on the flip.
Given the success of GML, it was thought a slam dunk that LITMW would also be a smash, number 1 album, knocking former Beatle mate Paul McCartney from the charts, who was flying high with two top 10 singles, and a million selling album.
When LITMW arrived, I recall most of my friends first commenting on the elaborate gatefold cover with beautiful color reproductions of Krishna religious material.
As for the music, side one was obviously a winner with the single, the album title track, and Sue Me Sue You Blues, a great rocker about George's Beatle break up problems.
But side two was more problematic.
Denounced by some critcs as overbearing and preachy, side 2 was decidedly down, almost maudlin, and only Try Some Buy Some seemed to stand out from the dirge.
Rolling Stone magazine trashed the LP with a headline that read, "Give Him Hope, Give Him Dope."
I understand that George was rather devastated with the reviews, as the album had been over 2 years in the making, and featured an all star cast of backing musicians.
As for my impression, I liked the album in '73, and I still like it now, and can't wait until it is finally given a long overdue remastering with bonus tracks.
In fact, don't be surpised if when we get a new edition of LITMW, it is not accompanied with some version of the boot Living In The Alternate World, which has circulated for some time now, and provides alt versions of most of the legit LPs tracks. Some of the alt tracks are very tasty, and any true blue Harrison fan needs to hear them.
LITMW is often given short shrift by music critcs, even though George had the impossible task of trying to even equal All Things Must Pass, let alone top it.
But compared to what would follow for GH, in my opinion, LITMW was the last great Harrison LP.
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Beatle Bits #312
Got a very interesting e-mail from reader Paul Soper, regarding the Beatles back CD catalogue, which is now almost 20 years old.
Paul provided a link to remaster engineer Steve Hoffman, who said that he had been "very close," to doing the whole Fabs lot for the DCC Gold CD line.
Although Hoffman does not actually say what exactly killed the project, I'd guess that knowing Apple, it may have been a pea under the mattress.
Or, to be fair, perhaps the rocket scientists at the A Corp decided that the high list price of the DCC CDs would be too much for the market to bear, and/or, if a batch of DCC editions were sold, and then quickly knocked off by bootleggers or burned by regular fans, then the promise of a remaster job on the catalgue would become less of a bright shining marketing star.
But then again, what could be worse than the situation at hand right now?
Most of the Beatles CD catalogue sounds so dated-and some downright lousy- that MFSL and Japanese vinyl transers to CD sound way better than most of the legit CDs, and I very rarely listen to the EMI issues, save for Yellow Sub Songtrack and 1.
Yet does new 24 bit remastering and other sonic solutions really matter to the average Beatles fan?
A friend of mine who runs a record shop has always told me that no more that 25% of the record buying public actually gives a hoot about "better sound." The average fan, he said, only cares about track selection and hits, and could care less if a CD has been tweaked for better fidelity.
Although I'm not sure that I totally agree with my friend, he does have a valid point.
I'm told that Capitol was slighly miffed that the Vol 1 set from last fall-with new, modern remastering-failed to really capture the record buying public's imagination-and dollars-in the way that it was originally hoped for and believed.
But still, EMI should feel ashamed that perhaps the most listened to records in all of history sound so crummy.
Paul provided a link to remaster engineer Steve Hoffman, who said that he had been "very close," to doing the whole Fabs lot for the DCC Gold CD line.
Although Hoffman does not actually say what exactly killed the project, I'd guess that knowing Apple, it may have been a pea under the mattress.
Or, to be fair, perhaps the rocket scientists at the A Corp decided that the high list price of the DCC CDs would be too much for the market to bear, and/or, if a batch of DCC editions were sold, and then quickly knocked off by bootleggers or burned by regular fans, then the promise of a remaster job on the catalgue would become less of a bright shining marketing star.
But then again, what could be worse than the situation at hand right now?
Most of the Beatles CD catalogue sounds so dated-and some downright lousy- that MFSL and Japanese vinyl transers to CD sound way better than most of the legit CDs, and I very rarely listen to the EMI issues, save for Yellow Sub Songtrack and 1.
Yet does new 24 bit remastering and other sonic solutions really matter to the average Beatles fan?
A friend of mine who runs a record shop has always told me that no more that 25% of the record buying public actually gives a hoot about "better sound." The average fan, he said, only cares about track selection and hits, and could care less if a CD has been tweaked for better fidelity.
Although I'm not sure that I totally agree with my friend, he does have a valid point.
I'm told that Capitol was slighly miffed that the Vol 1 set from last fall-with new, modern remastering-failed to really capture the record buying public's imagination-and dollars-in the way that it was originally hoped for and believed.
But still, EMI should feel ashamed that perhaps the most listened to records in all of history sound so crummy.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Beatle Bits #311
Last night, I got all creeped out watching an obscure doumentary entitled, "Charlie Manson, Superstar."
The reason I bring the strange doc up in this BB, is that Manson, in an 1987 interview conducted by a journalist in the jailhouse that houses Charlie and other high profile convicts, Manson talks albeit briefly in the film about the Beatles influence on his life.
Now it is well know that the district attorney who successfully prosecuted Manson and 4 other Manson Family members for the so-called Tate-Labianca murders in August, 1969, based much of his case on the motive of "Helter Skelter," a Beatles song from the White Album.
The DA claimed that Manson thought the Fabs were speaking to him through their music, and that HS was code for Manson to await a race war.(The DA was also wrong in many other interpretations of songs from the WA. For instance, in Revolution 9, John Lennon can be heard crying "Righhhhhhtttttttt," which the DA decided was "Rise," which Manson was supposed to have urged his followers on with.)
Nuts then, and nuts now, but Manson talks about the Beatles in this doc in a way I'd not heard about before.
Charlie says that to him, the Beatles were "punk rockers," because he came from the Bing Crosby generation!
Man, can you believe it? Charles Manson may have actually been interpreting the Bingster, rather than the Fabs.
Maybe Helter Skelter could have been replaced by Just A Gigolo!
If Bing had only known.
The reason I bring the strange doc up in this BB, is that Manson, in an 1987 interview conducted by a journalist in the jailhouse that houses Charlie and other high profile convicts, Manson talks albeit briefly in the film about the Beatles influence on his life.
Now it is well know that the district attorney who successfully prosecuted Manson and 4 other Manson Family members for the so-called Tate-Labianca murders in August, 1969, based much of his case on the motive of "Helter Skelter," a Beatles song from the White Album.
The DA claimed that Manson thought the Fabs were speaking to him through their music, and that HS was code for Manson to await a race war.(The DA was also wrong in many other interpretations of songs from the WA. For instance, in Revolution 9, John Lennon can be heard crying "Righhhhhhtttttttt," which the DA decided was "Rise," which Manson was supposed to have urged his followers on with.)
Nuts then, and nuts now, but Manson talks about the Beatles in this doc in a way I'd not heard about before.
Charlie says that to him, the Beatles were "punk rockers," because he came from the Bing Crosby generation!
Man, can you believe it? Charles Manson may have actually been interpreting the Bingster, rather than the Fabs.
Maybe Helter Skelter could have been replaced by Just A Gigolo!
If Bing had only known.
Tuesday, June 14, 2005
Beatle Bits #310
Not Guilty.
Ironic, isn't it, that a Beatles song that Michael Jackson owns the rights to would say it all in two simple words.
As the whole world knows by now, the so-called King of Pop walked on all 10 counts against him in a senstional 18 month media circus of an arrest and trial.
And get ready for this, a bizarre notion already floated briefly by the Jackson camp last winter: MJ was targeted because he refused to sell his share of the Beatles Sony/ATV song catalogue.
In fact, the Rev.Al Sharpton made a comment on CNN right after the verdicts about MJ complaining to him in 2002 that he was being "targeted," because he (MJ) would not part with his share of the Fabs' back catalogue.
Now, as boxing promoter Don King is fond of saying, "only in America," but I find the conspiracy angle for the reason MJ was charged with multiple counts of child molestation to be a stretch, even "in America."
But for Beatles fans, the bigger picture is that Jackson will have to try to pick up the pieces of his shattered life and on life support music career, and in fact, may be forced to part with his Beatles treasure.
Many observers think that until the issue of the song catalgue is sorted out, we may never see the complete back catalogue CD remaster that is about at least 10 years overdue.
I'm not going to speculate on what may happen with the songs, because even though I provided commentary on the MJ trial for CHML radio for the past 4 months, I was completely wrong in my hunch that MJ would be found guilty of at least one felony count, which would have surely resulted in the almost immediate loss of the Beatles songs.
Perhaps you have some thoughts, also.
Ironic, isn't it, that a Beatles song that Michael Jackson owns the rights to would say it all in two simple words.
As the whole world knows by now, the so-called King of Pop walked on all 10 counts against him in a senstional 18 month media circus of an arrest and trial.
And get ready for this, a bizarre notion already floated briefly by the Jackson camp last winter: MJ was targeted because he refused to sell his share of the Beatles Sony/ATV song catalogue.
In fact, the Rev.Al Sharpton made a comment on CNN right after the verdicts about MJ complaining to him in 2002 that he was being "targeted," because he (MJ) would not part with his share of the Fabs' back catalogue.
Now, as boxing promoter Don King is fond of saying, "only in America," but I find the conspiracy angle for the reason MJ was charged with multiple counts of child molestation to be a stretch, even "in America."
But for Beatles fans, the bigger picture is that Jackson will have to try to pick up the pieces of his shattered life and on life support music career, and in fact, may be forced to part with his Beatles treasure.
Many observers think that until the issue of the song catalgue is sorted out, we may never see the complete back catalogue CD remaster that is about at least 10 years overdue.
I'm not going to speculate on what may happen with the songs, because even though I provided commentary on the MJ trial for CHML radio for the past 4 months, I was completely wrong in my hunch that MJ would be found guilty of at least one felony count, which would have surely resulted in the almost immediate loss of the Beatles songs.
Perhaps you have some thoughts, also.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Beatle Bits #309
It has been sunny, hot and humid up here in the Great White North, so, in my never ending crusade to bring truth, justice and the Fab way to the readers of Beatle Bits on AbbeyRd, I have retired to the local park with a fistfull of Yellow Dog Get Back session discs, and here is my report.
As I have not had the opportunity previously to listen to say, any more than 10 hours or so of the sessions, I am now closing in on about 50 hours, and it is clear to me that although the Beatles offically broke up in May 1970, they were most likely effectively kaput even before they got to Twickenham Studios, the day after New Years, 1969.
And I guess Paul McCartney guts this feeling out-I Got A Feeling?-and therefore overcompensates, and comes off as the biggest of 4 superstar twits, who don't seem to have a musical direction,or burning desire to make a new record, perhaps for the first time in about 10 years.
Although Macca is not so bossy at Twickenham, by the time the Lads decampe to Apple HQ to record near the end of January, 1969, the end for the group is that light visible at the end of the tunnel.
One of my fave YD GB discs, is the one from Apple-I think the day before the rooftop concert-where Paul goes on and on (and on and on) about what the band should or should not be doing, and at one point, the other Fabs just start ignoring him and talking amongst themselves as Macca yaks an ever increasing circle around himself.
Clearly, John Lennon, George Harrison and even Ringo Starr had had enough.
But to show just how talented the Fabs were, even in the midst of a group nervous breakdown, they still manage to come up with enough good material-not their best but pretty damn good given the circumstances-PLUS, write just about all of their next LP, Abbey Road amongst all the chaos.
And after the boys left producer George Martin and Abbey Road studios mid 1969 with AR put to tape, the group was, well, el finito.
But you know what? Even though Macca was acting like a showbiz wanker during the period, he may have been right about what the band should have done, which was to perform live.
After all, the solo Fabs could have still gone off and done their own albums and shows and such, and still kept the Beatles as a very fanstastic enitity, still living and breathing even if it was on life support.
But alas, the hubris that had been building steadily through the 60s and in spite of all their incredible triumphs, eventually took them down, when clearly-albeit in hindsight-there could have been another way.
(Or maybe if Yoko Ono and Linda Eastman had not come around?)
So twit or not, Dirk, er, Paul was probably the Fab with his head on the straightest, and it was a real shame he could just not get through to the other three.
The dream, was (really) over.
As I have not had the opportunity previously to listen to say, any more than 10 hours or so of the sessions, I am now closing in on about 50 hours, and it is clear to me that although the Beatles offically broke up in May 1970, they were most likely effectively kaput even before they got to Twickenham Studios, the day after New Years, 1969.
And I guess Paul McCartney guts this feeling out-I Got A Feeling?-and therefore overcompensates, and comes off as the biggest of 4 superstar twits, who don't seem to have a musical direction,or burning desire to make a new record, perhaps for the first time in about 10 years.
Although Macca is not so bossy at Twickenham, by the time the Lads decampe to Apple HQ to record near the end of January, 1969, the end for the group is that light visible at the end of the tunnel.
One of my fave YD GB discs, is the one from Apple-I think the day before the rooftop concert-where Paul goes on and on (and on and on) about what the band should or should not be doing, and at one point, the other Fabs just start ignoring him and talking amongst themselves as Macca yaks an ever increasing circle around himself.
Clearly, John Lennon, George Harrison and even Ringo Starr had had enough.
But to show just how talented the Fabs were, even in the midst of a group nervous breakdown, they still manage to come up with enough good material-not their best but pretty damn good given the circumstances-PLUS, write just about all of their next LP, Abbey Road amongst all the chaos.
And after the boys left producer George Martin and Abbey Road studios mid 1969 with AR put to tape, the group was, well, el finito.
But you know what? Even though Macca was acting like a showbiz wanker during the period, he may have been right about what the band should have done, which was to perform live.
After all, the solo Fabs could have still gone off and done their own albums and shows and such, and still kept the Beatles as a very fanstastic enitity, still living and breathing even if it was on life support.
But alas, the hubris that had been building steadily through the 60s and in spite of all their incredible triumphs, eventually took them down, when clearly-albeit in hindsight-there could have been another way.
(Or maybe if Yoko Ono and Linda Eastman had not come around?)
So twit or not, Dirk, er, Paul was probably the Fab with his head on the straightest, and it was a real shame he could just not get through to the other three.
The dream, was (really) over.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Beatle Bits #308
My, my, how time flys.
We are shortly coming up on one year since Apple finally broke down, listened to the fans, and released The Capitol Albums Vol 1, in an albeit cheesy CD box set.
I was lucky enough to get a tip from one of my readers, and actually broke the story in the Toronto Sun, for all of Canada.
Although I have heard that Apple may not even release Vol 2 in 2005, I think even the Corpse is not dumb enough to forgo a sure fire fall/Christmas blockbuster.
If I were a betting man, I'd say it is at least even money that V2 arrives later this year.
But in what configuration?
If the format of chronological release is followed-baring A Hard Day's Night, of course-then Vol 2. would have to be 4 of Beatles VI, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yesterday and Today.
Or, if Apple rocket scientists choose to branch off the two original soundtracks into a double disc subset, then V2 would be Beatles VI, Rubber Soul, Revolver and Yesterday and Today, with both stereo and mono mixes, of course.
Either way, the above 6 titles would be great to get in remastered form, although the United Artists A Hard Day's Night was never issued in stereo, despite what the record jacket and label said.
But if any of you dear and faithfull readers have heard anything I have not, well then take the time to E me and let me know what the score is regarding Vol. 2.
Hello Cleveland!
We are shortly coming up on one year since Apple finally broke down, listened to the fans, and released The Capitol Albums Vol 1, in an albeit cheesy CD box set.
I was lucky enough to get a tip from one of my readers, and actually broke the story in the Toronto Sun, for all of Canada.
Although I have heard that Apple may not even release Vol 2 in 2005, I think even the Corpse is not dumb enough to forgo a sure fire fall/Christmas blockbuster.
If I were a betting man, I'd say it is at least even money that V2 arrives later this year.
But in what configuration?
If the format of chronological release is followed-baring A Hard Day's Night, of course-then Vol 2. would have to be 4 of Beatles VI, Help, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yesterday and Today.
Or, if Apple rocket scientists choose to branch off the two original soundtracks into a double disc subset, then V2 would be Beatles VI, Rubber Soul, Revolver and Yesterday and Today, with both stereo and mono mixes, of course.
Either way, the above 6 titles would be great to get in remastered form, although the United Artists A Hard Day's Night was never issued in stereo, despite what the record jacket and label said.
But if any of you dear and faithfull readers have heard anything I have not, well then take the time to E me and let me know what the score is regarding Vol. 2.
Hello Cleveland!
Saturday, June 04, 2005
Beatle Bits #307
One of the nice fringe benefits of writing your Beatle Bits-and yes I know I've mentioned this before-is that nice readers send me mostly great stuff.
My man Ricky from the great state of Idaho, recently sent me the River Rhine Tapes in their original form, and then a tricked up compilation of the RRTs, massaged with a PC sound managemnt program, that not only enhances the 36 year old mono Ngara tapes, but also provides for a passable faux stereo mix.
(Here is a track listing of the original 3 disc set
http://www.myweb.cableone.net/richardbrown/beatlesriverrhine.htm)
I think Ricky has pulled off a TOUP-like feat with this enhanced RRT set, and his selection of tracks for his version of the RRTs is first rate.
In my opinion, this new RRT project is perhaps the "best" of all the Get Back/Let it Be sessions, with almost every song from Abbey Road-in one form or another-appearing on this set.
Plus, Rick has taken the care to edit and fade tracks together nicely, as well as providing a dedicated track number for each song.
And after listening to the RRT set, I am more convinced than ever that Apple could put together a great box set of this material, which would be more than adequate to release.
In fact, the mere exsistence of the RRTs, shows just how lousy the "Fly On The Wall" disc that came with the Let it Be...Naked release was, and is.
Imagine, a whole CD that could have been filled up with 80 minutes of songs from the sessions, and instead we get a few dribbles.
So boo on Apple-yeah, what else is new- and yea on Rick and his River Rhine Tape project.
Where would we be without the fanatic Fabs' fans?
My man Ricky from the great state of Idaho, recently sent me the River Rhine Tapes in their original form, and then a tricked up compilation of the RRTs, massaged with a PC sound managemnt program, that not only enhances the 36 year old mono Ngara tapes, but also provides for a passable faux stereo mix.
(Here is a track listing of the original 3 disc set
http://www.myweb.cableone.net/richardbrown/beatlesriverrhine.htm)
I think Ricky has pulled off a TOUP-like feat with this enhanced RRT set, and his selection of tracks for his version of the RRTs is first rate.
In my opinion, this new RRT project is perhaps the "best" of all the Get Back/Let it Be sessions, with almost every song from Abbey Road-in one form or another-appearing on this set.
Plus, Rick has taken the care to edit and fade tracks together nicely, as well as providing a dedicated track number for each song.
And after listening to the RRT set, I am more convinced than ever that Apple could put together a great box set of this material, which would be more than adequate to release.
In fact, the mere exsistence of the RRTs, shows just how lousy the "Fly On The Wall" disc that came with the Let it Be...Naked release was, and is.
Imagine, a whole CD that could have been filled up with 80 minutes of songs from the sessions, and instead we get a few dribbles.
So boo on Apple-yeah, what else is new- and yea on Rick and his River Rhine Tape project.
Where would we be without the fanatic Fabs' fans?
