On The Records

What an idea!

What if no one in the world had ever heard of The Beatles or any of their songs…except for you.  That’s the premise of the new movie Yesterday.

Now suppose you were a pretty good guitar player & singer and had the entire Beatles Songbook to use as if you’d written those songs.  How popular could you become?  That’s what we’re going to find out in the movie.  Here’s the trailer:

Update: The movie is reviewed on this site (it’s really good) with no spoilers.

Yesterday is a romantic comedy.  It appears to be in good hands, including British screenwriter Richard Curtis who is known for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Love Actually, and About Time.  Plus, it’s directed by Academy Award winner Danny Boyle.

The stars of the film are Himesh Patel (from the British TV series EastEnders), Lily James (from Cinderella, many other movies & Downton Abbey), Kate McKinnon (from Saturday Night Live), and Ed Sheeran (from many hit songs).

It’s interesting what Beatles songs they put in the trailer.  Featured are “Yesterday”, “Let It Be”, “Hey Jude”, “Something”,  and “I Want To Hold Your Hand”.  That’s a good start on the best known song catalog in history.  Imagine how much the music rights cost!

Since this is a romantic comedy, we don’t want to take the premise too seriously, but it does make you think about why The Beatles remain so popular.  It’s the quality of their songs.  The Beatles’ haircuts, British accents, and Rock & Roll energy may have helped create Beatlemania, but it was their amazing songwriting that kept them popular, and keeps them musically relevant.

Yesterday is set to open June 28th.  The trailer certainly makes it look like fun.  We don’t know whether the main character, Jack, is in a coma dreaming, is in an alternate universe, or whatever else it might be, but the movie should provide some needed escapism from the real world.

There was no legal reason for The Beatles to approve the movie (except for song rights), but Ringo Starr has already seen “Yesterday”…according to the L.A. Times.

Linda Ronstadt has released her first concert album, Live In Hollywood.  The concert took place nearly 40 years ago, and the master recording had been lost for decades.

It’s amazing the master tape was even found.  Music producer and friend John Boylan had been checking the internet for any unauthorized use of Linda Ronstadt recordings.  He came across an old poor quality video of a Linda Ronstadt concert that aired on HBO in 1980.  Boylan was interested in finding the master audio recording for possible release, but didn’t have any luck.  Boylan says he was attending his son’s hockey game and told another father, Craig Anderson, the story of the lost recordings.  Anderson is an audio engineer at Warner Brothers, and just a day later he called Boylan and told him he found the master tape.  It had been misfiled.  Boylan says the odds of finding the recordings through a chance meeting at a hockey game must be astronomical.

Linda Ronstadt selected 12 songs from that 1980 concert:

1. I Can’t Let Go
2. It’s So Easy
3. Willin’
4. Just One Look
5. Blue Bayou
6. Faithless Love
7. Hurt So Bad
8. Poor Poor Pitiful Me
9. You’re No Good
10. How Do I Make You
11. Back In The U.S.A.
12. Desperado (The wonderful encore I mentioned in a career-spanning article:  Linda Ronstadt…Queen Of Rock & Roll, which you can read on this site.)

We saw Linda Ronstadt at the Civic Auditorium in Omaha during that 1980 tour, and this concert from L.A. captures that time brilliantly.  The whole album is good, with her clear and powerful voice sounding the way we remember it.  The album has a nice flow of rocking moments and softer moments, and Ronstadt uses the appropriate touches of varying dynamics in each song.  It shows her great vocal ability wasn’t limited to the recording studio.

For the most part, the songs are performed like her original hits, but are refreshingly “stripped down” compared with the multi-layered studio versions.  For “Blue Bayou” she sings the final verse and chorus in Spanish as a salute to her family’s roots in Tucson, Arizona.  Also, “You’re No Good” is expanded with an extra guitar break that lets the band jam a little.

What a band it is!  The lead guitarist is Danny Kortchmar, who also performed with James Taylor and Jackson Browne.  The other guitarist is Kenny Edwards, who worked with Ronstadt since they had the hit “Different Drum” with The Stone Poneys.  Bill Payne, of the band Little Feat, is on Keyboards (his band’s song “Willin'” is covered here).  Rounding out the band are some of L.A.’s finest musicians…Dan Dugmore on pedal steel guitar, Bob Glaub on bass, and Russ Kunkel on drums.  Backing vocals are by Wendy Waldman and Ronstadt’s manager and main record producer, Peter Asher (of Peter & Gordon fame).  Asher also adds percussion.

Linda Ronstadt’s popularity was amazing.  She did what no other woman, man or band had ever done…she was the first artist to ship an album Double-Platinum.

    (Our picture disc of Ronstadt’s Living In The U.S.A. album.)

The album was Living In The U.S.A., released about a year-and-a-half before this concert.  it was her 6th Platinum album in a row.  Her 7th was Mad Love, which was released in conjunction with this 1980 tour.  The Live In Hollywood album features three hits off Mad Love, “I Can’t Let Go”, “Hurt So Bad”, and the intensely rocking “How Do I Make You”.

(Our copies of Linda Ronstadt’s 2013 Simple Dreams autobiography and her 1999 4-CD Box Set.)

Linda Ronstadt was 33 when she recorded her live album.  Now she’s in her 70’s, has a Parkinson’s-like degenerative palsy, and can no longer sing.  In a  touching interview on CBS, Ronstadt recently said…”I can sing in my brain”…but she greatly misses the physical feeling of actually singing.

It’s important that recordings like Live In Hollywood exist to remind the world Linda Ronstadt once possessed one of the all-time-greatest Rock & Pop voices.

It was February 3rd, 1959 when a plane crash killed Buddy Holly (22), Richie Valens (17), and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson (28) .  Because of the song “American Pie”, that tragic event is often referred to as “The day the music died”.

I don’t remember the news story from when it first broke.  I was 10 years old, and the news wasn’t everywhere like it is today.  The fact is, except for knowing “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue”, I wasn’t very aware of how special Buddy Holly was until years later.  That’s probably the way it was for many people.

(Buddy Holly and The Crickets…Joe Maudlin, bass & Jerry Allison, drums.)

Buddy Holly had his first hit “That’ll Be The Day” (#1) in 1957, followed that same year by “Peggy Sue” (#3) and “Oh Boy” #(10).   In 1958, he had 4 more Top-40 hits, with “Maybe Baby” being the only major hit at #17.  Richie Valens had the two-sided hit “La Bamba”/”Donna” (#2), and The Big Bopper (who was a radio DJ) had one major hit “Chantilly Lace” (#6).  He also wrote “Running Bear” for Johnny Preston, and it later became a #1 hit.

The importance of Buddy Holly revealed itself over the decades.  Musicians who were influenced by him recorded his songs.  The Beatles released “Words Of Love” on the Beatles For Sale album in 1964 (on Beatles VI in the U.S.), and had been performing the song live since 1958.  They also recorded “Crying, Waiting, Hoping” for the BBC in 1963.

           (John Lennon in his “Buddy Holly Glasses” in 1963.)

The Beatles name was even based on The Crickets.  John Lennon thought it was cool that “Cricket” had two meanings…the insect and the game.  He wasn’t aware that the game, Cricket, wasn’t well know in the U.S.  Of course hearing “Beatles” can bring to mind both the band and the bugs.  Paul McCartney is a major Buddy Holly fan, and he wisely bought the rights to all of Buddy Holly’s songs.

The biggest popularizer of Buddy Holly songs was Linda Ronstadt.  She got major airplay in the mid-seventies with three of his songs “That’ll Be The Day” (#11), “It’s So Easy” (#5), and a popular album track “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore” (written for Holly by Paul Anka).  Of particular note is the success of “It’s So Easy”.  It was released as a single in 1958 by Buddy Holly & The Crickets, but failed to chart.  Linda Ronstadt and her producer, Peter Asher, recognized the potential of the song, and then turned it into a hit.

Holly’s “True Love Ways” was a #14 hit for Peter & Gordon in 1965.  The Bobby Fuller Four had a hit with “Love’s Made A Fool Of You” (#26) in 1966.  “Not Fade Away” has been played and recorded by numerous artists through the years, including The Rolling Stones and The Grateful Dead.  “Rave On” is another popular choice of Rock Bands.  “Everyday” has been recorded by many artists, including James Taylor.  His recording was #3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1985.

Eric Clapton saw Buddy Holly in London in 1958, and he says seeing Holly on stage with a Fender Stratocaster guitar made him want to have a career in music.  Bob Dylan also saw Buddy Holly perform, and he says they looked each other directly in the eyes.  Dylan claims it affected his music.  Bruce Springsteen says he plays Buddy Holly songs every time before he goes on stage.  He said, “It keeps me honest”.

Buddy Holly’s influence shows up in other ways.  He added a rhythm guitar to The Crickets line-up, and two guitars, bass & drums became the blueprint for Rock bands.  He was also one of the first musicians to write, sing, arrange, and produce his own recordings.  He experimented with recording techniques, including double-recording his vocals so he sang harmony with himself.  He sounded a lot like The Everly Brothers.  Shortly before his tragic death, he was working with orchestral arrangements to broaden his sound.  All of this from a young man who was just 22, and whose successful recording career was only about 2-years long!

In just those two years, his impact was so great that he was one of the first ten artists inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

February 3rd, 1959 wasn’t “The day the music died”.  Buddy Holly’s music continues to live on through all the artists he inspired, and the new artists they inspire.

Update:  There will be a new film about the life of Buddy Holly.

Oscar-winning director Bruce Beresford is helming  the movie Clear Lake, which is expected to be a 2023 release.  The movie’s title comes from the fact Buddy Holly’s final concert was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa.  Here’s hoping the film concentrates more on his life and music than it does on the tragedy.  Here’s the main cast for the movie:

Ruairi O’Connor got the part of Buddy Holly after hundreds of auditions.  Producers say his singing ability was a key factor, so he’s obviously not going to be lip-syncing.  Colin Hanks plays Holly’s producer, Norman Petty.  Update:  As of December, 2023, there has been no word on a release date, or even if the movie will be completed.

Update (August 22, 2022):  The original drummer for The Crickets, Jerry Allison, has passed away at the age of 82.  Jerry and Buddy Holly went to high school together, and formed a band.  They eventually settled on the name “The Crickets” which was suggested by Allison.  Allison was also a songwriter who co-wrote “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue”.

Update (Nov, 12th, 2022):  An original poster from Buddy Holly’s final tour sold for $447,000.  Because of the plane crash, the February 3rd dance never happened.  It’s a new record for a Rock poster.  The previous high was $275,000 for a Beatles Shea Stadium poster.  Here’s the new record holder.

The estate of Tom Petty has released a major “Greatest Hits” collection.

The Best Of Everything is a 2-disc career-spanning set that came out March 1st, 2019.  It’s nicely priced on the low end of such collections.  You can see the set includes all his major hits and some of his most popular album cuts.  Out of the 38 songs, 21 are not on his previous Greatest Hits album.

Disc 1:

1. Free Fallin’
2. Mary Jane’s Last Dance
3. You Wreck Me
4. I Won’t Back Down
5. Saving Grace
6. You Don’t Know How It Feels
7. Don’t Do Me Like That
8. Listen To Her Heart
9. Breakdown
10. Walls (Circus)
11. The Waiting
12. Don’t Come Around Here No More
13. Southern Accents
14. Angel Dream (No. 2)
15. Dreamville
16. I Should Have Known It
17. Refugee
18. American Girl
19. The Best Of Everything (Alt. Version)

Disc 2:

1. Wildflowers
2. Learning To Fly
3. Here Comes My Girl
4. The Last DJ
5. I Need To Know
6. Scare Easy
7. You Got Lucky
8. Runnin’ Down A Dream
9. American Dream Plan B
10. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around (w/ Stevie Nicks)
11. Trailer
12. Into The Great Wide Open
13. Room At The Top
14. Square One
15. Jammin’ Me
16. Even The Losers
17. Hungry No More
18. I Forgive It all
19. For Real (unreleased song)

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers sustained their career for 40 years, and Tom Petty’s songwriting was great all the way through.  You’ll notice the order of the songs is not chronological.  Probably the main reason is that the presence of Rock music on Radio declined over the years.  Tom Petty’s later songs got far less exposure than they deserved.  By mixing his songs from the last half of his career with his better known earlier songs, listeners are more likely to get to know the songs they may have missed.

As a collector of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ music since their first hit, there would only be a few changes I would make to the list (adding “It’s Good To Be King” and “Crystal River” in place of a couple other songs, and using the more stripped-down version of “Walls” came to mind), but that’s just personal choice, and minor at that.  The reality is that this will likely be the definitive collection, and Tom Petty’s family has done an excellent job…with help from Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench.

Collectors of their albums know there are a lot more great songs by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, but this kind of “Greatest Hits” treatment is always a good idea to get the music to even more people.  It’s also a helpful guide for future fans in the decades to come.

I don’t take the cynical view that releases like these are “money grabs”.  Rather, I think they help keep alive the interest in musicians like Tom Petty…which is a good thing.  Also, since less than half of these songs were on the previous Greatest Hits album, this is a needed more complete view of Tom Petty’s career.

We miss Tom Petty, and it’s sad we’re no longer able to hear more of his songwriting and performing.  The set has one previously unreleased song, “For Real”.  The lyrics tell us about his approach to music…almost like a note he left for us to find:

“I didn’t do it for no magazine.  Didn’t do it for no video.  Never did it for no CEO.  But I did it for real.   Would’ve done it for free.  I did it for me.  ‘Cause it was all that rang true.  I did it for real.  And I did it for you.”

We can still enjoy all that he did for us…including the music on this new The Best Of Everything collection.

___________________________

Bonus Analysis:  Just for comparison, here’s what the same collection of songs would look like if they were placed in chronological order like many “Greatest Hits” albums.

Disc 1:

1. Breakdown
2. American Girl
3. I Need To Know
4. Listen To Her Heart
5. Refugee
6. Here Comes My Girl
7. Even The Losers
8. Don’t Do Me Like That
9. The Waiting
10. Stop Dragging My Heart Around
11. You Got Lucky
12. Don’t Come Around Here No More
13. Southern Accents
14. The Best Of Everything (Alt. Version)
15. Jammin’ Me
16. Free Fallin’
17. I Won’t Back Down
18. Runnin’ Down A Dream
19. Into The Great Wide Open

The four songs on this Disc 1 not on his previous Greatest Hits album are…”Stop Dragging My Heart Around”, “Southern Accents”, “The Best Of Everything” & “Jammin’ Me”.

Disc 2:

1. Learning To Fly
2. Mary Jane’s Last Dance
3. Wildflowers
4. You Don’t know How It Feels
5. You Wreck Me
6. Walls (Circus)
7. Angel Dream (No. 2)
8. Room At The Top
9. The Last DJ
10. Dreamville
11. Saving Grace
12. Square One
13. Scare Easy
14. I Should Have Known It
15. American Dream Plan B
16. Trailer
17. Hungry No More
18. I Forgive It All
19. For Real (Unreleased)

Only the first two songs on this Disc 2 were on his previous Greatest Hits album.  By the way, the one track that was on the Greatest Hits album, but missing here is “Something In The Air” (originally by Thunderclap Newman).

If you’ve collected Tom Petty’s studio albums and know the songs, you might prefer this order.

Tom Petty was particularly fond of the Wildflowers sessions, and had talked about doing a project based on that music.  Update:  The Wildflowers Box Set was released on October 16th, 2020.

If you look up the word “harmony”, it might say…See The Everly Brothers.

(Phil [left] and Don Everly)

Of course it should say…Listen to The Everly Brothers.  It would be hard to find a better example of two voices blending beautifully.  It’s said that family voices blend the best…and it also helps if you have singing talent, play guitars, and write songs.

The Everly Brothers’ parents were folk & country performers who lived at various times in Kentucky, Iowa, and Tennessee.  Don & Phil began singing with the family when Don was eight and Phil was six.  When they were in their teens, guitarist/producer Chet Atkins asked the duo to move to Nashville.  In 1957, when Don was 20 and Phil was 18 they had their first hit…”Bye Bye Love”.  Crossing-over between Pop and Country is not a new thing…the song was #2 on Billboard’s Top 40 chart, and #1 on the Country chart.

(Phil & Don)

Just 4-months later, in the fall of 1957, “Wake Up Little Susie” topped both charts.  In April of 1958, “All I Have To Do Is Dream”, also made #1 on both charts.  Now that’s how you start a career.

Through 1962, The Everly Brothers scored 25 Top 40 hits, with these songs hitting the Top 10:  “Bird Dog” (#1), “Devoted To You” (#10), “Problems” (#2), “(‘Til) I Kissed You” (#4), “Let It Be Me” (#7), “Cathy’s Clown” (#1), “When Will I Be Loved” (#8), “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)” (#7), “Walk Right Back” (#7), “Ebony Eyes” (#8), “Crying In The Rain” (#6), and “That’s Old Fashioned” (#9).

Many of the Everly’s songs were written by the team of Felice and Boudleaux Bryant, but The Everly Brothers wrote some of their own songs, including “When Will I Be Loved”, “So Sad (To Watch Good Love Go Bad)” and Don wrote their multi-million-selling hit “Cathy’s Clown”.  Normally, Don sang the lead vocal and Phil sang the harmony.

(My Family’s 1961 copy of “Walk Right Back” & “Ebony Eyes”)

My two older sisters, Veronica & Janice, collected records by The Everly Brothers, Ricky Nelson, and other stars of the late 1950’s and early 1960’s.  Ronnie and Jan were both good singers, and they had that “sibling blend” like The Everly Brothers.  I remember hearing them sing “Teen Angel” together, and it definitely sounded better than the hit version by Mark Dinning.  By the way, The Everly Brothers’ “Ebony Eyes”…like “Teen Angel” and “Last Kiss”…had that somewhat creepy “dead teenager” theme that was popular at the time.

The Everly Brothers had a major impact on other musicians.  The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, The Hollies, The Bee Gees, CSN&Y and many other musicians of the Sixties and Seventies have said that listening to Phil & Don Everly helped teach them how to sing harmony.  Paul McCartney said he and John Lennon identified with The Everly Brothers, with Paul being Phil, and John being Don.

Artists also covered songs by The Everly Brothers.  Linda Ronstadt had a big hit with “When Will I Be Loved”, and James Taylor and Carly Simon had a hit with “Devoted To You”.  In 2007, The Everly Brothers song, “Gone Gone Gone” was the featured single for the Grammy winning album Raising Sand by Alison Krauss and Robert Plant.  Many more Everly songs can be found as album tracks, including a personal favorite…Art Garfunkel and James Taylor doing “Crying In The Rain”.

As you can see, The Everly Brothers changed their hair after The British Invasion started in 1964 (the year “Gone Gone Gone” was a hit for them).  They never regained the popularity they had in the late ’50’s and early ’60’s, but their music continues to be played.

Despite some conflicts, including a ten year estrangement, they did continue to (off-and-on) record and perform live, including a successful tour with Simon & Garfunkel in 2003. 

Simon & Garfunkel have always said The Everly Brothers were the biggest influence on their own career, so they were thrilled to perform with them.

Phil Everly passed away from lung disease at the age of 75 in 2014.  Don Everly said he thinks of his brother every day.  Update:  Don Everly passed away on August 21st, 2021 at his home in Nashville.  He was 84.  No cause of death was given.

The importance of The Everly Brothers has always been recognized in the music community.  In 1986, they were in the very first group of 10 artists inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame.

After 55 years of being a Beatles fan, I finally had a chance to meet an expert…someone who has studied, investigated, and written books about The Beatles.

Oregon State University in Corvallis brought in Kenneth Womack.  His many books include…The Beatles Encyclopedia: Everything Fab Four, Long and Winding Roads, and two recent volumes on George Martin…Maximum Volume and Sound Pictures.

(Kenneth Womack [left] was interviewed by Bob Santelli, who is OSU’s Director of Popular Music and Performing Arts.  He’s also the Executive Director Of The Grammy Museum In L.A.)

The interview format was excellent, with Bob Santelli asking questions that guided us through the Beatle era.  Kenneth Womack proved to be a living encyclopedia of Beatle information.  He knew just how to answer each question in an enlightening and entertaining way, without trying to stuff-in too many facts.

The audience was mostly fans who grew up with The Beatles, and about a dozen raised their hands when asked who had actually seen The Beatles in concert.  The above photo (of people sitting behind us) was taken before the event…those empty seats filled up.  You’ll notice there are some younger people mixed in, and in fact, it was my son, Paul, who suggested we attend the event.  It’s always great to see other generations appreciate Beatles music.  Kenneth Womack told the crowd he believes the songs of The Beatles will live on in the same way as those of Mozart.

Womack had a relaxed and sometimes humorous way of talking about The Beatles.  It was easy to see that he and Bob Santelli both love music.  They fit right in with the audience of Beatles fans.

Besides collecting every bit of music by The Beatles as their singles and albums came out, I started reading books about them with the release of their first biography by Hunter Davies in 1968.  In the above photo, it’s the top book with the yellow The Beatles on the binding.  The other books are ones I’ve kept.  Some of my Beatle books were passed on to other fans, and some are in digital form.  My favorite book is The Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn.

Lewisohn’s 1988 book chronicled all the recording sessions by The Beatles.  Because the book concentrates so much on how the music was created, it’s fascinating.  We can thank the author for guiding Apple to many of the tracks released on The Anthologies collections.

After the interview and Q&A at OSU, Kenneth Womack took the time to visit personally with a few of us who lingered.  I found out he too loves the new remix of The White Album.  He even pulled out his phone and shared some fascinating extra audio outtakes!  Now that’s a Beatles fan!

Received my copy of Womack’s The Beatles Encyclopedia. It’s filled with great detail and interesting information about everything Beatles.  You can read it like a regular book, or simply go to the Beatles songs or topics that interest you the most, because everything is in alphabetical order.

Update:  Here are a couple more of Ken’s books I read and recommend.

The Sound Pictures book featuring George Martin was a really good look at The Beatles’ albums from Revolver onward.  Actually, the whole first half of the book was on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, and I appreciated all of the details.  It reminded me of Mark Lewisohn’s The Beatles: Recording Sessions, and I consider that high praise.

Kenneth Womack also has a news letter, “Everything Fab Four”, that I enjoy.  I’m sure you could be added to his email list.

It may seem like the remixing of Beatles music started recently, but it actually began decades ago.

Although George Martin did a little bit of remixing on Rubber Soul for the 1987 CD release, it was really during the time of The Anthologies in 1995 & 1996 when the modern remixing of Beatles music started.

(I had collected the three promotional posters as each anthology was released from 1995 to 1996.  If you put the posters side by side, they formed one large art piece by Klaus Voormann.  I had the posters mounted together and framed, and eventually gave it to a record shop in Lincoln, NE when we moved to Eugene, OR in 2008.)

As Apple went through all the original recordings by The Beatles to find alternate versions and unreleased songs for The Anthology series, they also started manipulating those recordings.  Most of these “takes” of the songs had never really been mixed before, so it had to be done for this release.  I remember some fans being upset that the producers had “flown in” a guitar solo from another take to complete the anthology version of “One After 909”.  “How dare they mess with what The Beatles had done!”  In reality, The Anthologies were a welcome gift to Beatles fans.  We were able to hear the alternate versions writer Mark Lewisohn had praised in his excellent 1988 book The Beatles Recording Sessions.

An early take of “Here There And Everywhere” was not included on The Anthologies, but was an extra cut on the “Real Love” CD single in 1996.  The track is mostly a solo McCartney vocal, but for the final chorus of the song the beautiful background vocals were added in an impressive effect.  The text said the ending was an example of how Beatles songs could be remixed (instead of just remastered) in order to improve the sound quality and stereo mix.  Here it is:

Extra:  One other track from the Anthology series was “Good Morning Good Morning” without those words included.  It gave the song a more serious feel.  Here it is with the horns and lead guitar added back in.  It probably would have been called “Nothing To Say”:

The first big remixing project of familiar Beatles recordings was the release of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack in 1999.  This was a clever choice, because instead of remixing a well-loved album, this was a new collection of songs that had been in the movie, rather than the old soundtrack, which only had a limited number of these songs.  So how did it come out?  The results were, well…mixed.  Some of the songs, particularly “Eleanor Rigby”, “Yellow Submarine” and “Nowhere Man” were the best-sounding versions ever.  The songs from Sgt. Pepper were less successful, probably because they are more complex recordings.  Overall, engineer Peter Cobbin and his staff did an admirable job on a risky project.  It was well received enough to allow for future remixing.

In 2003, there was a remixing of the songs from the Let It Be sessions.  Let It Be…Naked was spearheaded by Paul McCartney, and approved by George Harrison and Ringo Starr.  The remix engineer was Allan Rouse, who helped McCartney shape the album into the original concept…The Beatles with less production and orchestration.  It was mostly successful, but didn’t replace the original release.

Although it wasn’t really a remixing of a Beatles album, George Martin and his son Giles used Beatles songs in unusual mashup mixes to create a soundtrack for Cirque du Soleil’s Love show in 2006.

(The 2015 CD of The Beatles 1 remix, with accompanying video DVD.)

The next major project was also another collection of songs, The Beatles 1.  The original release of the album was in 2000, and it’s one of the best selling albums ever.  In 2015, Producer Giles Martin and Engineer Sam Okell released their remixed version.  Luckily for Apple, the reviews for these new mixes were widely positive.  That was encouragement to green-light more projects.

Then came the riskiest project of all…the remixing of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017.  The beloved album was painstakingly remixed by Giles Martin (with Sam Okell who works on all the remixes).  It was almost unanimously praised.  There are links to my reviews of all the new remixed albums at the end of this article.

November of 2018 we got the new remix of The White Album.  The short review is that it sounds amazing.  It seems the simpler arrangements on The White Album (in comparison to Sgt. Pepper) allowed Giles Martin to do an even more impressive remix.

The remix release of Abbey Road was September 27th, 2019 (link to review at the end of this article).  The remix sounds great, especially the side two medley!

 A 5-CD box set (plus Blu-ray) of Let It Be was released on October 15th, 2021.

There’s a matching 5-disc vinyl set (4 LP’s & an EP).  There’s also a 2-CD set that is the new remix, plus a disc of selected highlights from the box set.  It’s also available as a single CD or record.  The remix of the album is impressive.  It keeps the feel of the original album, but has greater clarity.

Update:  The new remix of Revolver was released on October 28th, 2022.  There’s a complete description of the CD & Vinyl box sets and other versions on this site.  There’s also a link to the review of Revolver at the end of this article.  The quick review is that the new stereo mix is a major improvement in audio quality.

Based on a comment in September 2022 from remix producer Giles Martin, Rubber Soul was expected to be next for the remix box set treatment.  Unfortunately, it’s delayed, because the remixed Red & Blue collections were released instead on November 10th, 2023.   The Red Album remix is especially good. (A link to the review is below.)

When they finally release the Rubber Soul remix, maybe the lid of the box will use the original cover photo (before it was altered).

Perspective:  It’s understandable that some people only want to hear the recordings exactly as they’ve known them, and hopefully those people have purchased those original mixes.  The truth is, the remixes are not necessarily for those of us who have lived with the songs for decades.  They’re for future Beatles fans who will want the audio quality to sound as good as their other music.  Giles Martin has done a great job of recreating the songs extremely close to the way we know them…only with better sound quality.  When we listen on good audio equipment, it’s more like what The Beatles themselves heard in the studio.

Here’s the link to the Sgt. Pepper remix article:   https://ontherecords.net/2017/07/sgt-peppers-new-mix-worth-it/

Here’s the link to the White Album remix article:  https://ontherecords.net/2018/11/the-beatles-white-album-remix/

Here’s the link to the Abbey Road remix article:  https://ontherecords.net/2019/09/abbey-road-remix-review-perspective/

Here’s the link to the Let It Be remix article:  https://ontherecords.net/2021/10/let-it-be-2021-box-set-review/

Here’s the link to the Revolver remix article: https://ontherecords.net/2022/10/beatlesrevolver-remix-box-set-review/

Here’s the link to the Red & Blue albums remix article: https://ontherecords.net/2023/11/the-beatles-red-blue-remixes-review-perspective/

It was 50 years ago (1968) when I bought my first copy of The White Album on the day it was released.  I went through at least two vinyl copies, the original CD release in 1987, the remastered CD’s in 2009, and now I bought the new 2018 Remix (Deluxe Version) on the day it was released…and it’s the best sounding version.

This 3 CD version is new, in that all of the songs have been completely remixed from the original studio tapes.  Of course the original production was by George Martin, and this remix was done by his son Giles.

According to Giles Martin (shown above with his dad), the main purpose of remixing The Beatles albums is to improve the sound so that the recordings don’t seem dated when played beside more recent recordings.  He feels it increases the possibility that future generations will enjoy the recordings.

Giles does a great job with the remixes.  Basically, he  centers the lead vocals and balances the instruments into a good stereo mix.  He also provides a greater fullness by reducing the compression that is on the original mixes.  Plus, he uses the original recordings before they were “bounced down” to other tapes to make room for more instruments.  It all gives the recordings a cleaner sound that allows us to hear the voices and instruments with new clarity.  These new mixes don’t take away from the original visions for the songs, and of course they’ve been approved by Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr.  In fact, in a new Rolling Stone interview, Ringo says with the clearer mix “…you can really hear the drums”.  He joked…”I have to pay Giles extra for that.”

The other addition to the “Deluxe” album is a third disc filled with demo versions of the songs.  These are the rehearsal sessions that were recorded at George Harrison’s house in Esher prior to taking all these songs into the Abbey Road Studio.  Most of the songs for The Beatles’ only double album were written while John, Paul, George & Ringo were on a break, studying with the Maharishi in India.  The three main songwriters came back bursting with new tunes, and appeared anxious to share them.

The “Esher Demos”, as these recordings are called, have been bootlegged for years, but this is the best they’ve ever sounded.  For the most part, the demos (27 of them) are as if The Beatles are sitting around with acoustic guitars in an “unplugged” performance.  The difference is that near the end of many of the demos, The Beatles do something silly, or out of character with the song, probably because they haven’t yet developed an ending.  So what you have are raw versions that are much simpler than the finished product, and they certainly could never replace the versions we know.  Still, it’s an interesting glimpse into how the songs were written, and there’s an appeal to the casual intimacy of the recordings.  It sounds like The Beatles are having fun.   It also shows that The Beatles had already decided how to approach each of these songs, because there are few drastic differences between these recordings, and the final interpretations.

Giles Martin says even though the sessions for The White Album are infamous for The Beatles being at odds with one another, the tape recordings reveal a well-functioning band.  One of the reasons they were going off on their own to separate studios, was because they were recording so many songs.  There are 30 tracks on the double album…which is more than twice as many as their regular albums.  They had even more songs that didn’t make the final cut.

So, the question is…do you need to buy this 3-disc “Deluxe” set.  No, you can get by with the 2009 remastering that gives you the best copies of the recordings exactly as we have known them for these five decades.  However, if you want to listen to these songs with new depth and clarity of sound, they’re more than worth the $24 price tag.  As a bonus, you’ll get the demos (and people used to pay $24 just for the demo bootlegs).  The more I listen to The White Album remix, the more I realize it’s a major improvement…a real listening pleasure!  Anyone with a good sound system should treat themselves to the remix.

There’s also a “Super Deluxe” set for fans who want to dig even deeper into the album.  It costs $139 on Amazon, and includes a 164 page book that details more of the recording process.  The biggest draw is that the set includes 50 alternate recording studio takes.  If you just want the digital downloads, the Super Deluxe set is $70 on iTunes.

The alternate recording takes are fascinating to listen to, but for the most part, they simply show how much better the final recordings are.  It’s hard to listen to these without subconsciously hearing all the missing instruments, harmonies, and other details of the final recordings.

The alternate version that’s attracting the most attention is Take 10 of “Good Night”.  It’s a song written by John Lennon, with the lead sung by Ringo Starr.  This version includes the other Beatles supporting Ringo’s vocal with harmony parts, and a nice acoustic guitar part by Lennon (that was actually from Take 5).  The other versions that drew my attention the most were the instrumental backings for “Back In The U.S.S.R.” and “Revolution”.  They accent how rocking those songs are.  You hear the really crunchy distortion of the guitars on “Revolution”.  Besides singing lead, Paul McCartney played drums, bass and lead guitar on “Back In The U.S.S.R.”  John and George also played multiple instruments.  This was while Ringo was on break from the band, but he soon returned.

Last year, I bought the “Super Deluxe” version of Sgt. Pepper, but found that I don’t really listen to the alternate versions very much.  So, for The White Album, I just bought the $24 “Deluxe” set, and then bought my favorite alternate takes from the iTunes version of the “Super Deluxe” download.

Since this article was written, Giles Martin has been doing more remixing of Beatles albums, and his work (along with engineer Sam Okell) has been impressive.  There are reviews on this site for all of the remixed albums.

Bonus:  The White Album has been on iTunes for many years now, so I was curious how those 30 songs rank with buyers.  Here they are in order of popularity.

1. Blackbird
2. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
3. Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
4. Birthday
5. Dear Prudence
6. Back In The U.S.S.R.
7. Rocky Raccoon
8. I Will
9. Helter Skelter
10. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
11. Julia
12. Revolution 1
13. Martha My Dear
14. I’m So Tired
15. Mother Nature’s Son
16. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?
17. Glass Onion
18. Cry Baby Cry
19. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
20.  Sexy Sadie
21. Yer Blues
22.  Good Night
23.  Honey Pie
24.  Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
25.  Revolution #9
26.  Don’t Pass Me By
27.  Savoy Truffle
28.  Long Long Long
29.  Piggies
30.  Wild Honey Pie

A quick analysis shows 7 of the top 10 songs are by Paul McCartney.  George’s great song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is #2, but his other three songs are at the bottom of the list, with only the short not-really-a-song “Wild Honey Pie” lower.  While not exact science, I think we can agree that the public’s top 15 songs would make a much better single album than the bottom 15.

On The White Album it’s obvious which Beatle was the main writer of each song.  There was also less co-writing by John and Paul.  Still, the Beatles stayed together, and there was a lot of great music to come!

This article has been updated.  Here’s the link:

Let It Be is now Get Back (2020 Updates)

 

Joe Walsh joined the Eagles over 40 years ago…in 1975.  His solo career predates his time with the band, and continued even while the group was active.

Joe’s career included time with The James Gang & Barnstorm…for which he was the principal songwriter, lead guitarist, and lead vocalist.

(The James Gang consisted of Jim Fox, Dale Peters, and Joe Walsh)

Joe Walsh was with The James Gang from 1969 to 1971.  The main songs to come out of that time are…”Funk 49″ and “Walk Away”…plus I recommend their second album The James Gang Rides Again.

Barnstorm didn’t have any hits, but they’re on Joe Walsh’s first official solo album, The Smoker You Drink, The Player You Get from 1973.  It includes the classic  guitar song “Rocky Mountain Way”…Walsh’s first Top 40 hit at #23.

Then in December of 1974, before Joe Walsh joined the Eagles, he released his very best album with the help of…the Eagles.

Don’t let the crazy cover and So What title turn you away.  This is a masterful album that every Joe Walsh and Eagles fan should own (or stream).   Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner, and J.D. Souther all contributed.  The songs include “Falling Down” (co-written by Don Henley), “Welcome To The Club”, “Turn To Stone”, “Help Me Through The Night”, and “County Fair”.  Those aren’t hit singles, but all of them were played by Album Oriented Rock stations.  Joe Walsh is an accomplished instrumentalist, and for this album he played guitar, bass, piano, and various synthesizers.  He said at the time that the goal of the album was to make his “Sgt. Pepper”.  If he meant his “best album”, mission accomplished.

In 1976, Walsh and the Eagles released Hotel California.  One of Joe’s many contributions was coming up with the guitar riff for “Life In The Fast Lane”.  Before the Eagles’ next album, The Long Run, Walsh released his 1978 solo album But Seriously, Folks.  I remember dropping the needle on the album.  As I listened, there were no songs I thought were very good…until the very last song.  Finally, I heard some cool guitar riffs, and then the words…”I have a mansion, forget the price.  Ain’t never been there, they tell me it’s nice.”  Instantly, you could tell this was a great song…”Life’s Been Good”.   It was a hit single (#12 in Billboard, #6 in Cash Box), was added to the Eagles’ concerts at the time, and has been a staple of their shows ever since.  It was worth the price of the album.

Joe Walsh continued to release albums while the Eagles were broken-up from 1980 to 1994. The albums include… There Goes The Neighborhood (1981) [Which is when we saw him in concert], You Bought It – You Name It (1983), The Confessor (1985), Got Any Gum? (1987), Ordinary Average Guy (1991), and Songs For A Dying Planet (1992).  His most recent, Analog Man, was released in 2012.  Other popular songs of his include…”All Night Long”, “A Life Of Illusion”, “The Confessor”, “Ordinary Average Guy”, and a couple songs off his latest album “One Day At A Time” and “Lucky That Way”.  That last one is kind of a follow up to “Life’s Been Good”.  It reflects on how his life is now.

Joe Walsh’s solo songs bring a lot of fun and energy to all those Eagles concerts.  He’s considered one of the best guitar players ever, and despite some earlier substance abuse problems, he was a great addition to the Eagles.  He straightened out his personal problems long ago, and life really has been good to him (so far).

Bonus Fun Fact:  Good friends Joe Walsh and Ringo Starr are also family.  Ringo Starr is married to Barbara Bach, and Joe Walsh is married to her sister, Marjorie.  Associated Fun Fact:  Eagles’ drummer Don Henley says his favorite drummer is Ringo Starr.

One More Song:   One of the original Eagles, Randy Meisner, left the band after Hotel California.  He had some really good solo songs…”Deep Inside My Heart” (#22), “Hearts On Fire” (#19), “Gotta Get Away”, and “One More Song” with backing by Don Henley and Glenn Frey.  All four of the songs are on the 1980 album One More Song.  “Hearts On Fire” and “One More Song” would have fit perfectly on an Eagles album.

Update:  We lost Randy Meisner on July 26th, 2023 at the age of 77.  He died of complications from chronic pulmonary obstructive disease.  Meisner was a big part of the Country Rock movement, having played with Linda Ronstadt, Poco, Rick Nelson’s Stone Canyon Band, and as a founding member of the Eagles.  His best known song is “Take It To The Limit”, which was a #4 hit for the Eagles.

That concludes the three-part series on the Solo Eagles.  You can find the other two parts listed on the right side of the page, or at the bottom of this article.  Don Henley…Solo Eagles Part 1 and Glen Frey…Solo Eagles Part 2.