"Yellow Submarine" mixes

On May 26, 1966, The Beatles started work on a new John/Paul song for Ringo entitled "Yellow Submarine". This tune would prove quite popular as it was pulled from the LP and issued as a single along with "Eleanor Rigby" and a number one all over the world.
The basic tracks featured acoustic guitar, bass, drums, tambourine and Ringo's lead vocal. An overdub of all four Beatles singing along was also added at the session.
Fast forward to June 01 1966 and the effects were added to the song including John blowing bubbles, bells being clanged,a noisemaker, party chatter, etc. An edit piece was also added at the session with the sound of marching feet and a "rap" style chatter from Ringo. The edit piece was not used on the original LP nor was it used on the original single in the 60s but was commercially released on the Apple single 45/CD "Real Love" as a bonus track.
The mono mix has the acoustic guitar on the first strum but the stereo mix has the acoustic guitar entering the sound picture on the second strum. The stereo mix for some reason omits a backing line from John in the third verse with his "life of ease" response vocals. The mono has the effects throughout the song yet the stereo mix for some reason fades them out temporarily.
The "real love" mix has the effects turned up all the way through the song and includes the spoken intro while the commercial  Apple LP/CD "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" which synchs up take four with take five. The intro is not present on this one, but the effects are nicely heard and mixed evenly and spread over the stereo spectrum.
Here's an example of take 5 with the lead vocal, backing vocals and effects overdub.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nV5bCrA3Kvw

"I'm Only Sleeping" Rehearsal and Take 1

On April 27 1966, a new composition by John Lennon was recorded in eleven takes by The Beatles for their new upcoming LP. The song title was "I'm Only Sleeping". For some reason or another, this song was left in the can for the time being.
Two days later on April 29 1966, The Beatles returned to record another version of the song in Studio 3 of EMI Studios in London. There was a brief rehearsal with a bit of experimentation including adding vibes with an acoustic guitar and then recording a proper take with acoustic guitar, percussion and dual vocals by John and Paul.
Both the rehearsal and the song can be heard on the 3-LP/2-CD Apple "Anthology 2" set.
Eventually , take 1 from the 29th was not used but The Beatles decided to use the previous take 11 from the 27th instead and Lennon overdubbed his vocal on this instead of continuing with the "Anthology" version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXYK6Ma5lso

"Taxman"/ "Tomorrow Never Knows" Cleaning up and a mono mix.

On April 22 1966, a session at EMI Studio Number 2 saw The Beatles and George Martin clean up a couple of previously recorded songs via overdubs and edits.
The first tune worked on was "Taxman". This included erasing a couple of stray upwards bends on the guitar for the second verse (you can hear it on the previous "Taxman" post via the link I put up). Also, the "Anybody Got a Bit Of Money" vocal from John and Paul was taken out and replaced with the now famous "Mr. Wilson/ Mr. Heath" backing vocal in it's place. Cowbell was added to the song (more cowbell !!) and it's interesting to know that the mono mix of the song has the cowbell coming in about ten seconds earlier than on the stereo mix.
Lastly, the ending of the song was extended by taking the guitar solo from Paul and adding the entire sequence to the ending of the song in order for the tune to eventually fade out at the solo. The last syllable of the George lead vocal was brought in from a previous verse as well.
In addition, there was also work to be done on "Tomorrow Never Knows": the addition of an organ fading in and out and tambourine as well. The backwards guitar solo was added - again played by Paul - and John's lead vocal double tracked. The tack piano was also added at this session. You can hear this as the song fades out.
There are two mono mixes available commercially on the "Revolver" LP in the UK - the original mix was RM 11 which included artificial double tracking on the guitar solo and actually made it onto various early copies of the LP when it was released. George Martin decided to change the mono mix and RM 8 was used instead with no artificial double tracking on the solo. It has never been explained as to why the different mix was conducted and finalized when some of the LP vinyl was already pressed and ready for release. You can tell which copy of the LP you have by the run out groove number: the original mono mix has the code 606-1 on side 2 meaning it's remix 8, 606-2 means that you have the more common remix 11. Also interesting to note is that there is feedback heard right after the guitar solo on the stereo mixes, but eliminated during the mono mixes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7dtC4_dKhg

"Taxman" - Alternate Edit

The Beatles entered EMI Studio 2 on April 21 1966 in order to record a George Harrision composition entitled "Taxman" which would eventually open their newest LP released four months later. This song had the composer complain about the British tax system - a bit of a political comment which at the time was rare for the Beatles in song form.
There is an alternate edit released on the Apple 3-LP/2 CD "Anthology 2" title which is interesting. It contains an early edit of the song but uses the same take as the released, commercial version on "Revolver". This would be take 11.
The difference between the two has John and Paul singing backing vocals in a high pitched falsetto during one of the later verses with the words "Anybody got a bit of money" rather then mentioning the political British names "Wilson...Heath" on the commercial version. Another difference is the ending of the song whereby it fades out with the guitar solo repeated - actually edited so that the first and second solo are the same - played by Paul. The alternate edit on "Anthology" lets us hear the original thought of having the song end "cold"...i.e. no fade out. There also seems stray guitar notes during the second verse that was not used on the commercial version.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDM4E7xm9Qk

"And Your Bird Can Sing" - Take 2

The first attempt at a new "John song" from the session completed on April 20 1966 from EMI Studio 2. This first attempt for "And Your Bird Can Sing" had been officially released and basically unheard of before the mid 1990's when it was released on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD title "Anthology 2".
This is take two containing a vocal overdub from both John and Paul for backing. It seems that there was something causing them both to break out into laughter for some reason or another. The song is in a lower key than what would be the second attempt along with a slightly different arrangement. The guitars in this are killer. Instead of an overdub or double tracking for the solo and the riffing; it's both George Harrison and McCartney playing together !! Very cool indeed.
The CD mix of the song allows one to remove the "laughing vocals" using the Out of Phase process if one chooses to and it's been done in certain cases on certain bootlegs in order to present the song without the annoyance of laughter but just the pure first version.
I've included a link below which contains the second the third track of the song: on the second track is Paul's bass and a tambourine added by Ringo. The third track contains the previous vocals (including John's lead vocal) as well as the attempt at the "laughing" overdub by John and Paul. The third track also contains the guitar solo and the end by Paul and George.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApI7YXQTVZQ

"Paperback Writer" - Takes 1 and 2

The Beatles entered EMI Studios number three on April 13 1966 for a late evening/overnight session in order to try and record a basic track recording for the new Paul McCartney composition "Paperback Writer". After recording the basic track for George Harrison's "Love You To" in the afternoon, the Beatles took a well deserved dinner break and were back for the session later that day and into the next day.
The initial backing track consisted of Paul and George of guitar (Paul using his Epiphone), Ringo on drums and John Lennon on tambourine. Amazingly, it only took two takes to get the backing track right. The first take consists of a mistake during the first verse where there is a chord switch and the switch from G to C comes in with hesitation (enough to stop the take).
Take two of the backing track is the one that is used on the commercial take, the single, etc. The instrumentation is the same as take one with the completion of the song until the end. Overdubs were recorded the next day in the same studio on April 14 1966 consisting mainly of vocals, backing vocals and bass guitar. On the bootlegs, the overdubs have been added in so you can hear the vocals, etc. During the intro, you can still hear Ringo tapping his drumsticks in order to keep time as in the backing track this was done before the vocals were added. On the commercial version, the tapping was faded down during the vocals only periods. The mono mix of the song lasts a little longer than the stereo mix of the song. Also, on take two of the bootlegs, the song does not fade out but plays until the song collapses - you can also hear a bit of jangle piano playing at the end . The jangle piano ended up not being used in the song.
Various bootlegs contain both takes one and two including: "Ultra Rare Trax, Volumes 5 and 6" (vinyl) and on "Unsurpassed Masters, Vol. 3" (compact disc). I've included a youtube link.
On a final note, "Paperback Writer" would be the only tune from 1966 that The Beatles would perform during their final world tour.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jp_7q78PLY

"Got To Get You Into My Life" - Take 5

On April 07 1966 into April 08 1966 - during the late evening past midnight into the early , early morning - The Beatles entered EMI Studios and used room Studio3 for two tasks:
The first task was to add some home made tape loops, some guitar and other effects onto the existing take 3 of "Tomorrow Never Knows" in order to fill up some tracks by looping the tapes over and over in various areas of the studio.
The second task was to record a new song written mainly by Paul entitled "Got To Get You Into My Life" which was inspired (according to Paul) by his habit of smoking pot and his love for the weed.
Here we have take 5 of the song - an early version - including an acoustic guitar, some drums by Ringo and a studio organ played by (it's been said) George Martin. Some vocals are also added: Paul sings the main line while both George Harrison and John Lennon add to the backing vocals.
This version of the song can be found on some of the "Alternate Revolver" bootlegs and is available commercially on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 2". I've included a link to the tune:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4KnMaxN81k