Saturday, December 12, 2015

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" mixes

Over the course of time, various mixes of the John Lennon composition "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" have been accomplished. The commercial mono mix very interesting for it's amount of "flanging" which is a sort of wobble throughout the song which makes this mix cool to listen to and to compare with the stereo mix (both mixes RM4 and RS5 can be heard on the commerical LP/CD "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band").
Overdubs for the final recording evolving into take seven were accomplished on March 02 1967 and included bass by Paul, vocals by John and Paul, some lead guitar and tamboura fom George and drums from Ringo. The recording of overdubs took place in Studio 2 at EMI in London, England.
For the current mixes one anomoly features a mix whereby John Lennon's vocals are mixed out and the voice of Dick Emery (who did the voice for the "boob" in the movie "Yellow Submarine" speaks/sings the first verse). This mono mix was never used in the movie due to the fact that it's been said the Lennon had no interest in sharing the songwriting credit - nor do I blame him !! This mono mix can be found on the CD bootleg "The Lost Pepperland Reel" and the recording was accomplished on November 01 1967. The mix for the commercial Apple 2-CD/3-LP "Anthology 2" includes a stereo mix of the song which uses take six with some tamboura from take 07 added. The date for this particular mix was probably done in the early 1990s.
Finally the mix for the commercial Apple LP/CD "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" moves the drums to the center of the spectrum and was also probably done in the 1990s since the recording was issued in 1999.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

"Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" - Take 06

A new Beatles composition written mainly by John Lennon has surfaced at this time and it would be an addition to the new LP being recorded. The song was entitled "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" inspired by John's son Julian's title for a painting he had done at school.
There were rehearsals for the song in Studio 2 at EMI on February 28 but nothing exists from these rehearsals and anything recorded was probably erased.
Attempts at a backing track were also recorded on March 01 1967 once again during the evening at the same location as the rehearsal (Studio 2 at EMI) in London. Seven takes were attempted with the seventh one ultimately used.
We also have take 06 of the backing track with Paul McCartney playing the organ including the opening riff, George Martin is on piano, George Harrison is playing an acoustic guitar and John Lennon is singing a guide vocal along with shaking some maracas. Eventually by the next take, the piano would be taken out and not used on the final recording.
This take can be found on the television special "The Making of Sgt. Pepper" whereby George Martin and Paul McCartney sit at a modern control board and pull faders up and down revealing the sounds. From this soundtrack, the song is also available on the bootlegs "Arrive Without Travelling" on LP and "Arrive Without Aging" on CD.