The Fab Faux - Abbey Road Side 2 (mostly)
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Jusatele
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that was great
A excellent find
You know, when the Beatles went into the studio to do Abbey Road they were excited to get back to basic Rock N Roll, what happened in the studio not only put out one of the most amazing recordings they ever did, but also tore the band to shreds beyond repair. That Piece of music, the way it evolves over so many musical ideas, their ability to meld them all with a dynamic so many bands could never achieve shows the potential talent in that band. It is a damn shame that after putting the finishing touches on that Album that they took equipment to the roof. Did a final concert till the police shut them down, and never got together to record or perform again.
A chapter in musical history was closed.
A excellent find
You know, when the Beatles went into the studio to do Abbey Road they were excited to get back to basic Rock N Roll, what happened in the studio not only put out one of the most amazing recordings they ever did, but also tore the band to shreds beyond repair. That Piece of music, the way it evolves over so many musical ideas, their ability to meld them all with a dynamic so many bands could never achieve shows the potential talent in that band. It is a damn shame that after putting the finishing touches on that Album that they took equipment to the roof. Did a final concert till the police shut them down, and never got together to record or perform again.
A chapter in musical history was closed.
B3Guy
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American English does ALL periods of Beatles music, pretty well (not perfect, but pretty darn good.) The secret is their keyboard player who is backstage for the duration of their live shows, adding in the extra stuff that four guys can't handle live.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksQc2Aw6e3k&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqCINiVdf-4[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksQc2Aw6e3k&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqCINiVdf-4[/youtube]
B3Guy
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Most of the album Let It Be IS "live" Beatles, taken directly from their final, spontaneous public performance. An iconic way to "go out", It is my favorite album, because it is the Beatles at their most live . . . most raw. IT is also quite sad, as it was their last public appearance playing music as a group. Here is the first of 3 youtube videos made of their spontaneous concert/recording session on the rooftop of the Apple Records building. Yes, nobody knew they were going to do this, and yes, the police shut them down.
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6325bmcsQ[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6325bmcsQ[/youtube]
Jusatele
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from that famous day
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6325bmcsQ&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MVWy09RQYo&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttmjiYDk7Y&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT6325bmcsQ&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MVWy09RQYo&feature=related[/youtube]
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ttmjiYDk7Y&feature=related[/youtube]
B3Guy
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Man, it would have been EPIC to have been there. Keep in mind, this was at the time a new album that they were working on. Nobody had heard most these songs before. Would have been mind-blowing :blob7:
(Beatles, btw, are my favorite band. I go into phases of liking other music, but then when I listen to them again, they amaze me all over again.)
(Beatles, btw, are my favorite band. I go into phases of liking other music, but then when I listen to them again, they amaze me all over again.)
Jusatele said:
Y'see I thought it went down like this.
The Beatles recorded Let It Be and had a contract to do another film. I've seen the film and it's full of bickering and generally they just took cameras into the studio to satisfy the contract and knock something out but were all pretty unhappy with the whole thing. There waer various arguments etc and it culmnatied with the roof gig as a finale for the film. During the Let It Be sessions pretty much every beatle left the group at some point. After it was all over, they knew they were finished so they went to George Martin and asked to do one more album 'the way they used to'. What they knocked out was Abbey Road, a fantastic album, one of their best. Let It Be still remained unreleased with the band members being generally unhappy with it. After the band broke up, Let It Be fell into the hands of Phil Spector who 'Wall of Sounded' it, and it got released as a final album, but it was recorded before Abbey Road and the rooftop concert was also before Abbey Road.
I'm a bit of a Beatles nut, I used to have a copy of the Let It Be film and it is a fascinating insight into the band at that point, some really fantastic moments in there.
Jusatele
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I always thought the rooftop concert was after Abbey Road.
when ever it was, that band went out in style. Abbey Road is still in my list of top ten recordings ever made.
Very few bands will be able to reach the pinnacle that the Beatles did, you can dismiss a lot of their music as 3 minute pop, but you hear something like that and you know they were miles ahead of the rest.
when ever it was, that band went out in style. Abbey Road is still in my list of top ten recordings ever made.
Very few bands will be able to reach the pinnacle that the Beatles did, you can dismiss a lot of their music as 3 minute pop, but you hear something like that and you know they were miles ahead of the rest.
O
OzziePete
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Panthur said:
Pretty much the way it happened....
AFAIK, Paul McCartney had this idea of getting the band back onto the road, and filming the recording of the album that they would promote on their next tour. The working title was "Get Back' a song McCartney had written.
McCartney could NOT get the others to agree to that grand plan, but he did have consensus to record a live-ish album as a soundtrack to a film of them recording.
They were unable or unwilling to use Abbey Road Studios for this project (I thought years ago that that was a daft idea, taking them out of a creative environment they knew so well AND adding a film crew following them around. But I read recently that Abbey Road did update it's recording studios at about that time with new consoles etc. [the REDD consoles were replaced in 1969 or so with the transistorised consoles], so maybe Abbey Road was simply unable to take any sessions?). Instead they recorded in a soundstage, which would have been even more sterile than the old Studio 2 at Abbey Road. John Lennon and I think George Harrison both commented later that that was the last invasion of privacy they felt they had been subjected to, the recording sessions was the only place they could be themselves and now that too was invaded by a film crew and that brought pressure & tension to the sessions.
As George Martin was not there in these initial recordings things degenerated as the creativity stifled under the glare of the film crew lights. A great piece of film was captured with a pushy McCartney getting some lip back from George . Heck if George Harrison could get upset at the proceedings then things were NOT going well.
Realising this wasn't working out, they then tried to get their own Apple Studios up and running which had been delayed time and time again because John Lennon insisted upon using some acid freak posing as an electronics guru to build their studio and, of course, the place was mess of wires. They got help from EMI by taking one of thsoe discarded REDD consoles and having it installed intheir studio and called in George Martin. He also called in Billy Preston to help them with keyboards duty, and having that extra person there playing, helped to make them behave a bit better. The film crew squeezed in too.
When all was said and done, McCartney had hoped to get the other Beatles enthused about performing live again, but the best he could manage was a rooftop performance at their offices at Saville Row which was stopped by the Police. The idea of a grand tour evaporated as they all took a break after that.
Each of the Beatles were not happy with the Get Back/Let It Be tracks being their last recording sessions and felt they ahd something better to offer and be more professional about it.
They apporached George Martin about it and he insisted they be very professional and behave themselves and to go back to Abbey Road one last time. By then the studios had been upgraded to the newer transistorised consoles and been imporved with newer tape machines etc.
With this new technology came the creativity, Abbey Road sessions being one of the first to ever use the first Moog Synthesizer on "Here Comes the Sun", and the emergence of George Harrison's great songwriting period. Guitar wise they used the Fender amps to great effect.
The song, The End, is the only Beatles track to ever contain a drum solo by Ringo Starr, he absolutely behests them and was cajoled into doing this one by the others... The End also features the 3 guitar players in the band taking lead breaks.
Abbey Road was critically acclaimed and released way before Let It Be. Let It Be, in fact, was released without the Beatles themselves giving permission, as by then Apple had fallen into administration & people like George Martin were brought in to salvage some money by releasing some unfinished product they knew they had. He wisely got Phil Spector to polish up the turd that was the Let It Be sessions and in the final days of The Beatles as a group it was released and, of course, made the charts. The film that was supposed to be Get Back, finally came out as Let It Be and it highlights the way the personalities within the band had degenerated past friendship.
BTW, the video that starts this Thread is brilliantly done....It would have been very difficult to do with all the vocal & instrument exchanges. Thanx for posting that, I enjoyed watching ti.
Abbey Road is my favorite Beatles album and will always be in my top 10 favorite albums. It taught me a lot about music, which sounds weird because it was an old album when I bought it, but it really was one of the first albums I listened to as a kid that made me start thinking about music in a more "outside the box" kind of way.
Jusatele
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Abbey road was released before Let it be because the Beatles were unhappy with Let it be. I do not think they actually wanted it released.
I guess this is a place where urban legend is greater than the truth however
Yesterday I did a bit of research on the concert and it seems they had permission to do it, it was part of the filming for the movie, hence the cameras on the street and such
the quality of the sound is better than a newscamera's mic of the time. Etc.
So we have a very famous event, part of the end of the Beatles as we knew them, A point in music when change was blowing like a hurricane. We now are left with legend, tales and good media, and the Truth is judged by the Media we review, which like so many things today is easier to view than dig up the truth.
My Bad
I guess this is a place where urban legend is greater than the truth however
Yesterday I did a bit of research on the concert and it seems they had permission to do it, it was part of the filming for the movie, hence the cameras on the street and such
the quality of the sound is better than a newscamera's mic of the time. Etc.
So we have a very famous event, part of the end of the Beatles as we knew them, A point in music when change was blowing like a hurricane. We now are left with legend, tales and good media, and the Truth is judged by the Media we review, which like so many things today is easier to view than dig up the truth.
My Bad
B3Guy
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Abbey Road is definitely the top of their work, and therefore also the "if you own one of their albums own this" one. As a Beatles fan, though, I like Let it Be the most, be cause like I said earlier, it is so Beatles at its core, yet it sounds so raw and alive compared to the very "studio recorded" sound of the rest of their work.
O
OzziePete
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One of my earlier musical memories is of a bearded Paul McCartney singing Let It Be behind what seemed to be a monstrous Grand Piano. And John Lennon being so disinterested sitting on the floor next to Yoko. So yeah, I have a fond memory of Let It Be too, but later on when you delve into what was happeining around The Beatles at that time, it becomes quite significant seeing them interact the way they did at that point. To me, a lot of suppressed annoyance was around them. :dontknow:
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