And We Are All Together / The Beatles Thread

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

Ringo was an excellent drummer. He was very tasteful and he didn't like to overplay. When he did, he could wipe the floor with anybody (live versions of "Long Tall Sally" for example).

All you have to do is listen to Pete Best's playing on the Decca audition or Hamburg studio recordings and compare them to Ringo's playing in late 1962 to see the massive difference. It's like when Nirvana found Dave Grohl. A major, major improvement.

The Star Club audience recordings from late 1962 are worth hearing if only because the band is super shit-hot and energetic. The first albums sound very lame and white bread in comparison.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

[liebzz]

Hey liebzz, good work with these. I did the Beatles discography earlier this year and the growth was astounding. Given the roots of the band were so strong, the way they adapted to the studio was what stood out so much for me. Ringo in particular comes in for massive criticism from certain folks but he really was mercurial in the studio. He simplified his playing creating space that the others including George Martin benefited from.

Interesting comment because I think often times drummers in particular are judged only by their technical proficiency and not artistry. I never had a moment, anywhere in those first five albums, where I even really noticed or paid specific attention to Ringo.

You could argue that that is the sign of a decent drummer.

I don’t disagree.

[liebzz]

Rubber Soul - for me, this is the first of their other worldly amazing albums. I think the song craft is astounding, particularly in light of the apparent high wire act happening here where their collective maturity and efforts to experiment with their sound intertwined with their pop sensibilities. They never go over the edge in experimentation and songs like The Word take multiple shifts in coming back to that awesome bass line as an example of it all working, and working extremely well. The entire second half of the album is like coursework in this balancing act and done nearly to perfection. Girl is a perfect example of an infectious song that pushed past what they did before. I will finish just noting I enjoyed every song here but got the biggest jolt from Run For Your Life. Amazing.

On the Ringo portion of our discussion, this is a great example of what was discussed earlier of Ringo giving the room for everyone to shine. Too many fills or complications on his end could have muddled all of this but instead the playing for these songs is perfect.

[evenslow]

Spoiler: show

[Kevin Davis]

Brad Mehldau's stunning version of "And I Love Her":

[liebzz]

Revolver - listening all in a row, you can really experience the phenomenal sonic journey the Beatles took along the way from Help! until the end. This one pushes just a little bit further than Rubber Soul, but I would say the results are equally amazing. When listening to a song like Eleanor Rigby in the context of a string of Beatles hits, you find it to be a good song but in the context of a full listening experience the song comes to life as a moment of progress for them. It’s stunning in that context. Elsewhere, I’ll note that And Your Bird Can Sing stuck out as a favorite, as well as Got to Get You Into My Life. And space has to be utilized to discuss the other level genius of Tomorrow Never Knows, which really takes the Beatles to entirely new territory unimaginable even 3 records before. Again I found everything really great. I find at the close of both, I’d be hard pressed to choose between this and Rubber Soul. Just an amazing time for this band.

[tragabigzanda]

[wease]

Was it better naked or do I just need to wear my clothes?

[tragabigzanda]

[wease]

Well played! Well played, indeed!

[wease]

Man, John's ass is more attractive than Yoko's.

[Wendy Carlos's Twin]

So I listened to Let It Be...Naked

The audio quality is superb, first of all. That they could work with such old material and have everything sound so great is really something else, and kudos for not doing a bunch of unnecessary stuff vis-a-vis mastering and EQ; it still sounds very much like a Beatles album of its time.

They absolutely did do unnecessary stuff.

They noise reduced the shit out of every instrument and Ringo's hi-hat sounds like it is encased in glass.

They also pro-tooled excessively. Some of the songs are hybrid-edits of more than one take, with all kinds of little things flown in and out from other takes.

The recordings sounded fine in the first place. It has nothing to do with what they did to it now.

And removing the little intros and outros (sometimes rather abruptly) was a fucking stupid idea.

It's a phony mess.

[knee tunes]

Man, John's ass is more attractive than Yoko's.

Japanese Beatle

[Birds in Hell]

trag, have you heard the original (scrapped) Get Back LPs?

I prefer those mixes to either Let It Be or the mangled “naked” version.

Some info here: https://www.beatlesource.com/bs/mains/a ... intro.html

[knee tunes]

trag, have you heard the original (scrapped) Get Back LPs?

I prefer those mixes to either Let It Be or the mangled “naked” version.

Some info here: https://www.beatlesource.com/bs/mains/a ... intro.html

OH! Is that what they mean by Get "Back" ?

[evenslow]

this is kind of an aside but i've been reading the 1980 lennon playboy interview and even though he's full of shit half the time, man what an incredible talker this guy was. would absolutely kill to have an artist of his caliber be that much of a fucking live wire. what a loss.

PLAYBOY: What about the people of your generation, the ones who feel a certain kind of music and spirit died when the Beatles broke up?

LENNON: If they didn't understand the Beatles and the Sixties then, what the fuck could we do for them now? Do we have to divide the fish and the loaves for the multitudes again? Do we have to get crucified again? Do we have to do the walking on water again because a whole pile of dummies didn't see it the first time, or didn't believe it when they saw it? You know, that's what they're asking: 'Get off the cross. I didn't understand the first bit yet. Can you do that again?' No way. You can never go home. It doesn't exist.

[evenslow]

how much money would you pay to be in this room?

PLAYBOY: For no reason whatsoever, let's start with 'I Wanna Be Your Man.'

LENNON: Paul and I finished that one off for the Stones. We were taken down by Brian to meet them at the club where they were playing in Richmond. They wanted a song and we went to see what kind of stuff they did. Paul had this bit of a song and we played it roughly for them and they said, 'Yeah, OK, that's our style.' But it was only really a lick, so Paul and I went off in the corner of the room and finished the song off while they were all sitting there, talking. We came back and Mick and Keith said, 'Jesus, look at that. They just went over there and wrote it.' You know, right in front of their eyes. We gave it to them. It was a throwaway. Ringo sang it for us and the Stones did their version. It shows how much importance we put on them. We weren't going to give them anything great, right? That was the Stones' first record. Anyway, Mick and Keith said, 'If they can write a song so easily, we should try it.' They say it inspired them to start writing together.

[liebzz]

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band - let there be no question, at the outset of this discussion, that this album is a sonic masterpiece. I know a lot has been said over the years about this one and many do consider the GOAT of albums, and I am not going to argue the merits of that one way or the other. What I want to focus on here is the absolute genius of the sequencing of this album. That is nearly if not completely perfect. One song moves into the next like classical movements more so than tracks on an album (and this is the first Beatles album in my opinion to do so), even though there’s a tremendous amount of range musically from one song to the next. Each track reinforces the next. The best example to me is the run from She’s Leaving Home to For the Benefit of Mr. Kite to Within You Without You - an incredible progression from one to the next - then juxtaposed against When I’m Sixty-Four and Lovely Rita. The latter two, on their own on any other album, might be toss away tracks but for their place in sequence to lighten the palate going into the home stretch. This is what makes this album the best of the bunch so far despite it not being my favorite collection of Individual songs to date (Rubber Soul probably ekes that one out for me for now).

[tragabigzanda]