I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

The first session for what became the Abbey Road album was on 22nd February 1969, recording 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)', but the Abbey Road sessions "proper" didn't begin until late April, and the last session for the Abbey Road was on 25th August 1969. They were still working on the album when the cover photo was taken on 8th August 1969 (the sessions that day were for various overdubs on 'The End', 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' and 'Oh! Darling') ... the master tape for the Abbey Road album which the LP was cut from was actually compiled and banded five days before the last session for the album on 20th August 1969. But they actually had a couple of sessions which they did work on the master tape itself. On 21st August 1969 the final attempt at the crossfade for 'You Never Give Me Your Money' into 'Sun King' was completed and actually re-cut into the master tape. The final session on 25th August 1969 was to edit down 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' and 'The End' slightly - these edits were, again, done on the master tape itself. There was some additional recording of sound efffects etc. that weren't used, and then the master tapes were sent off to cut the vinyl.

1967 Wednesday 1 February

Studio Two: 7.00pm-2.30am. Recording: 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' (takes 1-9). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush.

Nine takes of the rhythm track ( drums — with heavy echo — bass and two guitars, one by Paul the other by George) were recorded on this night, and only two of those – one and nine – were seen through to completion. Paul's bass was recorded by direct injection of the sound into the recording console, as opposed to being recorded through an amplifier and a microphone. "I think direct injection was probably used on Beatles sessions for the first time anywhere in the world," says Ken Townsend. "We built our own transformer boxes [called DIT boxes] and plugged the guitars straight into the equipment."

Lewisohn, Beatles Recording Sessions, p. 95

the next day they overdubbing the vocals heard here onto Take 9. yet this is missing the "heavy echo" Lewisohn says are on the drums. maybe that's in Take 1 but it seems just as likely he would mix that out.

xpost:

In between the 22nd February 1969 recording of 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' and the sessions picking back up in late April, they were mostly fucking about with coming up with satisfactory mixes for the Get Back project, putting together the 'Get Back'/'Don't Let Me Down' single and the recording of 'The Ballad of John & Yoko' and 'Old Brown Shoe'

Oh yeah, 'Cold Turkey' was recorded the day before Abbey Road was released.

There's the take 2 (instrumental) of "with a little help" on spotify (+ the final deluxe versions of "Sgt Pepper" and "with a little help" and the "Sgt Pepper" take that was already linked upthread). It's surprisingly accomplished (minus the directly plugged bass part, of course).
Also, they DO sound great (it's in stereo, though. I've never heard the mono versions of their albums...).

you could mix the left and right channels (either through software or with a simple adapter) to get a nice mono mix (some amps have a mono button that does this which can be extremely helpful for noise removal on poor stereo reissues)

Actually, I consider getting the mono remaster cd of Pepper since it's supposed to be quite different and much better than the stereo one. On the coming deluxe box, I suppose the mono remaster will be the same as the previously released one, right ? Not a new remix by G. Martin like the stereo ?
I've always preferred the stereo mixes of classic pop tracks as I find they have more punch (although the mono mixes are supposed to be stronger) and I simply enjoy hearing all the instruments and arrangements more clearly(I know the difference between the stereo and mono Beatles mix has been discussed a lot already !)

What's the line-up in that Take 1 and Take 2? Paul on piano and George on the guitar on the left speaker? What's John doing?

Well the drums on the remix certainly sound fabulous.

"The Beatles recorded 10 takes of the song on 29 March 1967, with Paul on piano, John beating a cowbell, George playing lead guitar and Ringo on drums. Following the final take Ringo overdubbed his lead vocals.
The following day - on the morning of which they posed for the Sgt Pepper cover shoot - they added guitar, tambourine, bass and harmony vocals."

Listening to that outtake, I was actually wondering where the cowbell was coming from !
yeah the drums sound great. bass too. it's so HUGE. and I discovered some guitar parts too, thanks to that take !

I've always preferred the stereo mixes of classic pop tracks as I find they have more punch

http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/earwax/pages/introduction.aspx?nobeta=true

Eheh. I know in theory the mono should be punchier but for instance I find the 1996 stereo version of Pet Sounds more powerful than the original mono version !

yeah i had the same feeling w/r/t Blonde on Blonde. had no idea that record was mixed primarily in mono and they spent like 5 minutes on the stereo mix, but the stereo versions sound much better. whereas with the Beatles, hearing mono versions for the first time after years of shit stereo mixes is a revelation. i didn't hear the mono Sgt. Pepper until I was 20 and it blew me away, specifically the heavy flanging on chorus vox on Lucy in the Sky.

Kinks village green mono packs much more punch to me than the stereo

Yup, I absolutely agree - I'll take everything The Kinks did prior to Arthur in mono, without a doubt.

btw i had a lot of trouble not posting this afternoon that the first two Kaleidoscope (UK) albums (Tangerine Dream and Faintly Blowing) are 'as good as sgt pepper'. I regained my footing but damn they should be mentioned more often than they are, very original, very affecting upper-second-tier psych with no bullshit album filler.

Well, I suppose it depends on the quality of each stereo/mono mix.
When it's well done, I find the drums and bass are bigger/clearer in stereo and this is key for me.
I often find the mono mixes too... flat.

AlX, you could get banned from the Steve Hoffman forums for saying that.

i like the collaborative vibe on the speech between George, Paul and John at the end of that Take 9. on earlier sessions there's very little of that and plenty of larking and Paul shouting the odds to the rhythm section.

eheh. also, I like COMPRESSION !
#loudnesswar

yeah, the conversation at the end of "SPLHCB" is cool (although I don't understand everything they say : something about how to sing it properly, I believe ?).
As discussed upthread, that take and the "WALHFMF" instrumental confirm that these songs are basically live performances and could have been played in public quite easily with John on keyboard/piano and some rearrangements (to replace the the brass orchestra in "SPLHCB" for instance).

Maybe I am missing the point of conversation but I feel like one question is whether some of those songs could be played live and another question is whether production is crucial part of why Sgt. Pepper was declared revolutionary work of art. Sure, to some extent, you could probably do without all those layers of production but I feel like what's left is melodies that could climb the charts years before. Supposedly it took 700 hours of studio recording to finish this album, that's a lot of time. Martin's work is what I feel really made this album so great.

I've always found it a little disheartening how little Lennon contributes on their last 5 albums as a musician. His rhythm guitar tracks practically disappear from Pepper onward, unless its a track he wrote.

xpost
Oh, of course production is crucial to Sgt Pepper as an album. The discussion, for me, was about realizing that beneath the production, overdubs, various "revolutionary' arrangements and technics, most of the songs were basically guitars/piano/bass/drums and could have easily been played live (with a different sound from the album, of course), something I had never thought of considering they had stopped touring and these tracks have never been performed live by them.

I've always found it a little disheartening how little Lennon contributes on their last 5 albums as a musician. His rhythm guitar tracks practically disappear from Pepper onward, unless its a track he wrote.

really ? I have the impression he plays just as much as the others on the albums after Sgt Pepper.
He plays on all the Macca tracks on MMT (acoustic, lead guitar, organ...), same on the white Album (except for tracks mostly performed solo) and Abbey Road (except for "Maxwell").

The discussion, for me, was about realizing that beneath the production, overdubs, various "revolutionary' arrangements and technics, most of the songs were basically guitars/piano/bass/drums and could have easily been played live (with a different sound from the album, of course)

Yes and also how cool it would have been to see them do those things live. How different it would have been from their stage show from a year earlier, which had already expanded to include "If I Needed Someone," "Yesterday," "Nowhere Man" and "Paperback Writer."

what songs, prior to this, reflect on just how important it is to have friends?

this question was sticking in my mind and then I remembered the Kinks "See My Friends", which is several years earlier

was gonna say the Jungle Book song by the vultures with Beatles haircut but that movie didn't come out until Oct 67

this question was sticking in my mind and then I remembered the Kinks "See My Friends", which is several years earlier

well - I mean that's an "I've lost my love, but at least I have my friends" lyric, kind of not the same as WALHFMF which strikes me as pretty distinct in its focus - its bridge obv ventures elsewhere though I guess.

For the first time ever I've just noticed the bit where Ringo goes into double-time at the end of the mono version of Hey Jude (which is ten seconds longer than the stereo one)

Revelatory!

regarding friends songs, yeah, I can't think of another one prior to WALHFMF.

the bit where Ringo goes into double-time

I noticed that too! And it doesn't really work for me. I always think, yep, good decision to fade out before that point.

do you mean this bit? (you have to turn it up to really get the impact of the stereo version)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcz8dMly_FU

ok lol

apologies, had to share that as it suckered me in when i was trying to find a YT of the mono Hey Jude

Is that a Ritchie Roll?

We're really analysing the content of a fade out. Christ.

Even their fade-outs were bigger than Jesus.

Sorry, didn't see the list of things we're allowed talk about.

The remix (stereo) and take 1 of "Lucy" are available on Spotify.
The remix sounds particularly great and a little different from the "original" version (something in John's double tracked vocals, maybe).
At the end of take 1, it's nice to hear Paul's advice to John regarding the singing of "yellow and green" (advice that John followed as the final version shows !)

disc 2 and 3 have leaked. honestly upset that they seem to have mixed out George from a lot of the early takes. it's cool to hear a harpsichord-bass-drums take of Fixing a Hole but where is the guitar. same for When I'm Sixty-Four, it's just bass and drums with very minimal piano. what's worse is you can hear guitar between some of these takes. still a fun listen but can't help but feeling a lot of things were mixed out from these early takes.

interesting thing from Martin about Carnival of Light --
"Yeah, it’s like 'Revolution 9.' 'Carnival of Light' was designed for an experience for the Roundhouse in London for an experience. It’s quite progressive, in a way. It’s basically for a walk-through experience, so it’s not a song, it’s a sound-piece. And I think we should do something fun with it. That’s what I’d like to do. It’s on the same tape as 'Penny Lane,' but it’s not 'Penny Lane.' But it’s interesting and emotive, and it’s them, and I think we just need to find the right place for it. But that place was never going to be 'Sgt. Pepper’s,' because it was never meant to be (for) 'Sgt. Pepper’s.' You could argue that 'Strawberry Fields' and 'Penny Lane' were, but 'Carnival of Light' wasn’t."

It's going to show up in some sort of Beatles VR experience, isn't it?

yeah, haha -- only available in vegas!

The NPR interview with George Martins kid goes into Lucy In The Sky. Great interview.

I A/B'ed the new "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" with the Yellow Submarine Songtrack version twice, once in headphones, and I have to say that I like the latter quite a bit more. It's much more radical.

I like this:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/sgt-pepper-at-50-inside-within-you-without-you-w483668

Me too, thanks!

Listening to the new mix now, it's weak as hell. Every element positioned and EQd for maximum clarity, what's missing? oh yeah the song. Opening track and "Getting Better" particularly bad, the latter missing its manic acid-bright clang chords, the fuzz on "Fixing a Hole" smoothed out in favour of pointless b/g vocals. The idiosyncrasies of the original blanded out.
Must say I am surprised at how reactionary-old-man I am in response to this. For all its flaws the album has an otherness which is clearly due in part to its crammed, breathless mix. Oh fuck, now "She's Leaving Home" sounds like a tent should be put up around it before a compassionate shot to the head.

I'm listening to disc 2 and it's bits. They nice. I like the clarity of the vocal takes, and the instrumental versions (effectively) of "She's Leaving Home" and so forth are amazing.

Having said that, will the new mix make those clear vocals seem incongruous within the overall sound picture of the album, proper? We shall see...

WELL WHAT DO WE THINK OF THE REMIX?