Love album track by track notes
By George and Giles Martin
November 21, 2006BECAUSE
George„An inspired offering from John when we recorded it for the Abbey Road album. He had heard the opening of Beethoven’s „Moonlight Sonata“ and then evolved a pattern of arpeggios on his guitar that laid the foundation for this song. Listening anew to this track, with the harmonies that only John, Paul and George could provide, one realises what great vocalists they were.“
Giles
„Dominic Champagne, the LOVE show director, had been listening to the Anthology albums and loved the a cappella version of „Because“ and asked whether it could be in the show. The vocals are recorded three times with John, Paul and George singing their respective parts at the same time. The sound of their voices around one microphone is magical.“
GET BACK
George
„This track kicks off with a driving rock sound. Great drums, great guitars,?. a great band!“
Giles
„I can’t listen to „Get Back“ without mentally picturing the band performing the song on the roof of the Apple offices in London’s Saville Row. It made sense to open the show with this song and the drum solo from „The End“ works really well as an intro.“
GLASS ONION
George
„One of John’s off-the-wall efforts, he even recorded a mixture of sounds like a window being smashed, a telephone bell and a BBC broadcast effect, all of which were left unused (at the time). Instead I wrote a string arrangement to give the song more colour. A song not often heard, but one of my favourite strange tracks.“
Giles
„Glass Onion has such a great groove. In the show we needed something to get across the chaos of wartime Liverpool so the idea was to combine snippets of instruments from other songs flying through the mix. On the left hand side listen out for the “ Things We Said Today“ guitar that sounds like it’s always been part of the song!“
ELEANOR RIGBY JULIA TRANSITION
George
„By the time we started to record this track, Paul had realised the potential for using orchestral sounds and for the first time he wrote a song that demanded nothing but strings. I booked a double string quartet — four violins, two violas and two cellos, a sparse combination which when recorded with close microphones gave us the stringent sound we needed. The similarity to Bernard Hermann’s score for „Psycho“ is apparent and quite intentional.“
Giles
„Allan Rouse, who’s looked after the Beatles archive for years, had developed a technique in which we could combine the first recording of each four track with the ‚bounce-down‘. This means that we could have more than the original tracks to mix from. This version of „Eleanor Rigby“ has the strings in stereo for the first time.“
I AM THE WALRUS
George
„When John played „I Am The Walrus“ to me for the first time I thought it sounded weird, but we laid down a track with the band the way he wanted it, then he told me he wanted me to do a score for him without being too specific. I thought long and hard about this and took a leap of faith by booking an orchestra and sixteen voices to make swooping sounds, chants and noises of laughter. When John heard what this choir were doing he fell about laughing, it was so unexpected. It really is a quirky track, but absolutely brilliant.“
Giles
„The guitar from Julia in the transition into „I am the Walrus“ is so beautiful and peaceful it seemed to act as a good counterpoint to the madness within the main track. The song is timeless, and it still sounds like nothing else out there today. There was certainly nothing we could add to make it any more psychedelic so we decided to bring the band out a bit more.“
I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
George
„At the turn of 1963/4 I was in Paris with the Beatles when Brian Epstein rang me in my hotel at one in the morning, bursting with pride and jubilation as he told me that at last we had our first No. 1 single in the USA after „I Want To Hold Your Hand“ had quickly reached the top of the charts. It was a wonderful and significant moment. The Beatles had arrived!“
Giles
„We were always under pressure to present the songs in a different way and with the early material this was always more difficult as there’s no separation between tracks. My dad came with an idea of using the three track tapes from „Live at the Hollywood Bowl“ and combining the performances with the original masters. Surprisingly, both versions were perfectly in tune with each other, so what you’re listening to here is both the live and studio versions of the song edited together.“
DRIVE MY CAR/THE WORD/WHAT YOU’RE DOING
George
„“Drive My Car“ was the opening track of a great album — Rubber Soul — and was recorded remarkably quickly — between 7 pm and midnight on an evening in October 1965. Great rhythm that was just right for a dance sequence in the show. „The Word“, recorded a couple of weeks later, had an almost identical beat and was also completed in a few hours. „What You’re Doing“ was recorded a year earlier, with a similar driving rhythm. They certainly worked hard and did not waste any time in those halcyon days.“
Giles
„The Beatles came up with some of pop music’s most iconic riffs, none more so than „‚Drive My Car“. This era of Beatles music symbolises London at the peak of the swinging sixties. „The Word“ and „Taxman“ have such great grooves, we tried to blend as much of the band at their vibrant best in this, the only medley on the album.“
GNIK NUS
George
„In the show we needed a sound to set the scene, a prelude to establish a mood, and a never-heard-before chorale by the Beatles does just that. It is pretty obvious where „Gnik Nus“ came from, but I make no apologies, because for me it is absolutely lovely and it works well in the performance.“
Giles
„I had turned the cymbal backwards on „Sun King“ for an effect for „Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows“ and I realised I’d turned the vocals around as well. My dad heard what I’d done and loved it and said that it’s exactly the sort of thing that John would have gone for.“
SOMETHING
BLUE JAY WAY (TRANSITION)George
„A most beautiful song by George which made everyone realise that he could write just as great a song as John or Paul, and it gave him enormous confidence. The master track was completed in May with a keyboard line from Billy Preston, and finally I added a string orchestra in mid August. I was so pleased with the final result.“
Giles
„“Something“ is such a sensitive song that works really well as it is. We moved the strings around for effect, leaving George’s great vocal performance more upfront. “
BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR. KITE!/I WANT YOU (SHE’S SO HEAVY)/HELTER SKELTER
George
„This has to be one of John’s most pictorial songs and we all had fun making our recording sound like a real circus in the studio. My problem was playing the ancient harmonium while John and Paul acted as producers. They delighted in seeing me pedal away at that damned instrument for what seemed like hours. The show demanded something a little different, with a much darker mood. So although all the original sounds are still there, it does become rather menacing towards the end.“
Giles
„The LOVE show director, had visions of a macabre Victorian circus for the show. This made us approach „Kite“ in a completely different way. „Blue Jay Way“ set the scene really well, and the sound effects from „Good Morning“ add to the general circus vibe. To create the sound of a circus going wrong we edited in „I Want You (She’s So Heavy)“ at the end flying in the mad organs and Paul’s vocal on „Helter Skelter“ over the top.“
HELP!
George
„“Help!“ was originally written for the second Beatles film, and many armchair psychiatrists have read into it a cry from John to get him out of his prison of fame and success. It was to me a straightforward and good composition, one that came together in the studio without too much fuss, and it became the successful title song of their film.“
Giles
„This was recorded really quickly onto a four track, with the band playing live onto one track. This recording has such a great natural Beatles sound that it’s wonderful to just hear the power of their playing.“
BLACKBIRD/YESTERDAY
George
„We agonised over the inclusion of „Yesterday“ in the show. It is such a famous song, the icon of an era, had it been heard too much? The story of the addition of the original string quartet is well known, however few people know how limited the recording was technically, and so the case for not including it was strong, but how could anyone ignore such a marvellous work? We introduce it with some of Paul’s guitar work from „Blackbird“ and hearing it now, I know that it was right to include it. Its simplicity is so direct; it tugs at the heartstrings.“
Giles
„I wasn’t sure how the more sensitive songs would sound in the theatre, I was scared that some intimacy would be lost. While I was in Montreal, Cirque let me go with sound designer Jonathan Deans to a new show they were about to tour so I could play around with their PA. As soon as I played „Yesterday“ through the system all the workmen stopped and just listened to the song. I guessed then that we would probably be OK!“
STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
George
„I will never forget the first time I heard „Strawberry Fields Forever“. John began by giving me my usual private performance, standing in front of me, strumming his acoustic guitar and singing those incredible opening lines. I was absolutely captivated, such different material, almost too tender to be recorded. The song went through a few changes, and we recorded it more than once, eventually combining two completely different versions, in different keys and different tempos. I love the song to this day, but John told me many years later that he was never really satisfied with it and I felt that in its recording I had let him down. I hope he has forgiven me.“
Giles
„The LOVE show director, had wanted us to demonstrate the Beatles experimentation and creativity in the studio. Yoko had brought in some early demos of John singing „Strawberry Fields Forever“ so in the spirit of the original we decided to combine the very early takes with the final version. I went on holiday and my poor father spent hours with a vari-speed tape machine putting all the takes in the key of B. I came back and spent about six weeks combing the various tracks to make one long new version of the song. And at the end, with those fantastic drums, we just decided to have a bit of fun?“
WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU/TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
George
„Paul was always on the lookout for new sounds and experimenting at home with a Brenell recorder, he discovered that he could record on a constant loop of tape until it was literally saturated with sound. I selected a number of these tapes and used them, sometimes at a different speed and pitch, in a new song John had written. We started with a terrific rhythm track recorded in only three takes, with a constant tamboura drone and that marvellous and hypnotic drum beat from Ringo, „Tomorrow Never Knows“, was born.
Later, while Sgt. Pepper was under way, George came up with an interesting and distinctive song, „Within You Without You“, heavily influenced by his love of all things Indian. Working with George on this recording was fascinating. His sense of complicated rhythms and tonalities earned my respect, and the song was issued as the first track on the second side of Sgt. Pepper. Giles suggested that we combine these two tracks together in such a brilliant way.“
Giles
„This was one of the first things I tried when we were making the initial demos for the show. I was really quite scared about offending all who were involved and at one stage we weren’t even going to play it anyone. The fact that it was accepted showed how open-minded everyone was in the approach to the music we were creating.“
LUCY IN THE SKY WITH DIAMONDS
George
„This song has the most extraordinary lyrics, with John doing his utmost to build a psychedelic vision rivalling creations by Lewis Carroll and Salvador Dali. It all began with his son Julian coming home from school with a picture of his classmate, Lucy. She was kind of floating in mid-air with little stars that he had drawn around her. Such innocence! The song came together quickly, and the opening bars are simple, but magic.“
Giles
„As soon as the LOVE show director, showed me his ideas on creating a starry sky by using LED effects I set out on trying to introduce the song by having shimmering stars appear individually with sound. By slicing the original keyboard and using vari-speed we managed to get the effect I was looking for.“
OCTOPUS’S GARDEN
George
„I am glad we were able to use Ringo’s „Octopus’s Garden“ in the show. In many ways it’s timeless, a children’s song, easy on the ear and perfect for the LOVE show director’s imaginative undersea scene, with an unexpected beginning.“
Giles
„I thought it would be great to start the song with Ringo on his own. I first tried to combine his vocal with the end strings from „Glass Onion“ and it sounded creepy. Then I tried the strings from „Goodnight“ — they had always interested me because they’re in stereo. My dad came in and pointed out if I had doubled up the strings and played the verse twice the vocal would work better, and as usual he was right, and Ringo sounds great.“
LADY MADONNA
George
„Considering that Paul only played guitar when I first knew him, his piano work with that rolling boogie piano driving this along like a powerhouse had become startlingly good. In the backing we tried using Kazoos, but the old comb and paper did just as good a job.“
Giles
„I wanted to get the riff from „Hey Bulldog“ in the show somewhere and it works great as a middle section to „Lady Madonna“. It took a while to get the track to sit right, Billy Preston’s organ solo from „I Want You(She’s So Heavy)“ provides the glue between the two and Eric Clapton’s guitar solo from „While My Guitar Gently Weeps“ replaces the sax solo.“
HERE COMES THE SUN
THE INNER LIGHT (TRANSITION)George
„A brilliant composition with an unusual metre relying heavily on George’s great guitar work, very different to „The Inner Light“, which was basically recorded in Bombay during the time that George was recording music for his „Wonderwall“ film and album. George had used a host of Indian virtuoso players with weird and wonderful instruments I did not even know existed. Once back in England he added his voice and we overdubbed vocals with John and Paul.“
Giles
„It’s strange that although George brought a huge Indian influence to the sound of The Beatles, some of his most famous songs have no Indian instruments on them. The tabla and delrouba from „Within You Without You“ made a perfect introduction to George’s guitar and we used the chorus vocals from the song to set the scene. „Here Comes the Sun“ is a great song about enlightenment; it made complete sense then to finish with „The Inner Light“.“
COME TOGETHER/DEAR PRUDENCE
CRY BABY CRY (TRANSITION)George
„“Come Together“ is such a simple song but it stands out because of the sheer brilliance of the performers. Paul’s bass riff makes a fantastic foundation for Ringo’s imaginative drumming, and John’s vocal with heavy tape echo has a marvellous effect when he claps his hands and hisses into the microphone. George’s guitar is equally distinctive, and altogether I believe this is one of the Beatles‘ greatest tracks. Combined with „Dear Prudence“ is Paul’s vocal piece from the end of „Cry Baby Cry“ that creates a very reflective mood.“
Giles
„This for me is the Beatles playing live at their economical and inspirational best. There’s nothing that can be added to the song as all the parts are so well constructed and yet the song is so sparse. ‚Dear Prudence‘ was used to end the song without fading it and I loved the way the vocals and Ringo’s mad drumming add a climax to the end of „Come Together“. Dominic Champagne, the shows director, had wanted something disturbing to bring in „Revolution“ and I thought this ending sounded from another world. The strings from „Eleanor Rigby“ and the climax from „A Day In The Life“ provided an edge that isn’t on the original.“
REVOLUTION
George
„Hard rock recordings do not come much stronger than this one. The distortion of the guitars led to many complaints from the more conservative of listeners at the time and it did in fact give quite a few technical problems when it came to cutting the masters for the vinyl album of that day (it wasn’t on an album at the time. I suggest we put replace the word album with single). Like many of John’s songs its message is very clear and, for its time, pretty revolutionary! “
Giles
„The guitar sound on „Revolution“ rips your head off, even today it defines the word ‚distortion‘, it’s amazing to think that it was recorded nearly forty years ago.“
BACK IN THE U.S.S.R.
George
„Miraculously recorded and mixed in two days at a time of tension among the Beatles when a frustrated Ringo had temporarily walked out. Paul, George and John tried to work without him and started to record „Back In The U.S.S.R.“, with Paul playing drums. Ringo returned to find they had in fact managed a track without him, but they were so delighted he was back that they showered him with flowers. Nevertheless it is one of the very few tracks without Ringo’s terrific drumming.“
Giles
„Like „Revolution“ this bursts out from the multi-track tapes with such energy that there’s nothing much that we could do with it either.“
WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS
George
„Most people remember the heavy version of „While My Guitar Gently Weeps“ but an earlier version, almost a demo, was recorded at Abbey Road and discarded until we issued the Anthology albums. I was asked to write a string score to make that early take sound more like an issued master. I was aware of such a responsibility, but thankfully Olivia and everyone approved of the result. „Yesterday“ was the first score I had written for a Beatle song way back in 1965 and this score forty one years later is the last. It wraps up an incredible period of my life with those four amazing men who changed the world.“
Giles
„The LOVE show director and Olivia had decided that take one, an acoustic version, of ‚While My Guitar Gently Weeps‘ should be used for the show and asked what we could do with it. The vocal performance on the take is so tender, so the only thing I could think of was for my dad to do a string arrangement. I was surprised to find that he was apprehensive about doing it, there’s no one in the world better at this kind of thing, and even after all this time he still arranges with the same vitality and empathy that has made his work legendary.“
A DAY IN THE LIFE
George
„John as usual, took his inspiration from odd sources, in this case newspaper cuttings, but he needed a middle section and asked Paul if he had anything. Paul had something, but it wasn’t a fit. Realising that such different tempos and styles needed to be separated, Paul suggested a 24 bar section between them which could be filled in later. I had no clue what it would be filled with, until they told me they wanted a symphony orchestra.
I think Paul came up with the idea of a great ascending crescendo, but I needed to do some orchestral organisation if it was to be effective. We all know the result. It was terrific, awe-inspiring and mind boggling to all who heard it for the first time, although some thought it to be subversive and even the dear old BBC banned the track on the grounds that it promoted drug use.“
Giles
„Even before we approached this I knew there was nothing we could add to it. It really is a masterpiece. Then Allan Rouse, our project co-ordinator at Abbey Road Studios, brought the early orchestral takes up from the vault. This meant that we could make the crescendo and the last piano chord at the end even bigger.“
HEY JUDE
George
„The Beatles in their time wrote and recorded quite a few anthems and „Hey Jude“ is a supreme example. I remember having a little rebellion in the orchestra I had booked for the overdub. After the musicians had finished playing their parts I asked them to sing along with the chant and to clap as we did. Cheeky, I know, but not everyone was amused. One violinist remonstrated quite forcibly, saying he was not employed as a session singer and left. I asked if anyone else wanted to join him and bless them, they all stayed and received overtime pay as a result.“
Giles
„The biggest challenge we faced with „Hey Jude“ was finding a way of ending it. I’d found a great bass line that Paul played at the end of the song and put it in the middle, but the ending is so well known that it took quite some time to find the perfect match?.“
SGT PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND (REPRISE)
George
„“Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)“ is a rousing and upbeat shorter version of the original song specifically designed to wrap up the imaginary performance of the Sgt. Pepper album. It is ideal for a link into the final song. Our original recording was a quick affair, taped from seven in the evening of April Fool’s Day 1967 right through to six the following morning.“
Giles
„?..and it was sheer luck that Sgt. Pepper Reprise was in the right key so we could link the two together.“
ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
George
„The Sgt. Pepper album was released in June 1967 to world acclaim, and in no time we were all given an incredible task. The Beatles were selected to represent Great Britain in a world wide television hook-up that was to be broadcast live. It happened very quickly, and the week of the event was for me one I will never forget. John’s „All You Need Is Love“ was an inspiration and I had the normal job of arranging and producing it. One week before the show my father was taken to hospital. I visited him every day, and he seemed to be recovering well, so much so that I rang my sister who was in Italy and told her not to break up her holiday. But early on Tuesday morning I walked in to the hospital as usual with a bunch of flowers and I was stopped by the Ward Sister who drew me aside and told me my father had died just before dawn.
I was shattered, devastated. Perhaps the work on All You Need I Love was my lifeline. I pitch forked myself into all the things I had to do, which was a mercy for me. When it came to the actual television transmission we had TV cameras focussing on us in the control room as well as the studio. With seconds to go before being on air I had a panic call from the TV director in
his BBC van outside saying he had lost contact with his crew in the studio and could I relay his instructions?I laughed aloud at the real unimportance of it all. If you are going to fall flat on your face you might as well do it in front of 200 million people! It was the end of an era and it has now become the end of our show. We have come full circle.“
Giles
„I spent a long time looking for The Beatles signing off and saying goodbye for the very end of the show. But it just so happened that at the end of most of their gigs and radio shows they would either say a polite ‚thanks‘ or bow and go straight off. So what you hear over the final chords of ‚Goodnight‘ is taken from a Christmas record recorded in 1965.“
© 2006 Apple Corps Ltd
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/music/article/0,2792,DRMN_54_5160529,00.html
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