All Things Must Beat. Share Anything Beatles!!

[TomB]

This showed up in my random feed, but I liked it.

Love the soprano vocal part on the chorus!

 

[MarshallAC50Stack]

Here's a related article from recent times. The book about 1963 looks pretty cool:
Invalid Link Removed

 

[hrodbert696]

Just finished reading "The Beatles the Biography" by Bob Spitz. It certainly can change your opinion of what you thought the Beatles were, based on your memories of listening and seeing them in the various media of the 60's.

These guys were no angels. It was a great, long read. I highly recommend it.

There is always the debate about whether Yoko Ono broke up the Beatles. This book will answer that debate.

I wouldn't want to give the answer away for those who haven't read the book, however, I would enjoy a discussion on the matter.

I hadn't heard about this book. It certainly looks interesting. That said, this snippet from the Wikipedia entry on the book gives me pause. I can also guess what the author thinks about Yoko's role based on the phrase in bold.



From what I've read over the years, the breakup was inevitable. John was moving in a different direction musically from Paul well before Yoko, and George was obviously chomping at the bit to put more of his songs out there. Couple that with the vacuum left by Brian Epstein's death, and that's a recipe for breakup.

I am curious what those factual errors would be. If Spitz can be taken at face value, John Lennon's mental issues, (starting by being raised by an overbearing aunt, and having a mother that was there/not there and a father that was not there) coupled with a perpetual chip on his shoulder, plus his need for drugs made him a perfect vessel for Yoko's dominance. She literally had him brain washed.

The other issues with George could have been handled with just a break from each other for awhile, in my opinion. John ( I mean Yoko) had decided he was better off with out the rest of them.

My next Beatles biography is going to be "Can't Buy Me Love". Has anybody read this one?

These are older posts, but I'm quoting them just because I've been reading the Spitz biography myself and was curious about it. Without more information, the bit about factual errors is difficult to assess, because it's hard to tell if the errors are substantive or just trivia, or if they're allegations of errors around Spitz' interpretation and way of constructing the narrative by people with an interest in protecting the Beatles' legacy.

Certainly, as Spitz portrayed them, I find the Beatles very unlikeable people, narcissistic and maybe sociopathic - John and Paul certainly, maybe less so George and Ringo. It seems incredible that they would devote themselves to writing sweet romantic songs like "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "She Loves You" and so on in the earlier period while tearing through groupies and Reeperbahn hookers like popcorn. That seems like more of a lifestyle that would get you KISS or Van Halen lyrics than what they actually produced. Either there was a huge moral and psychic disconnect between their lives and their art, or Spitz's portrayal is indeed slanted and distorted.

The other thing that strikes me in Spitz's depiction is just how miserable the entire Beatles experience seems. They go from poverty and obscurity playing in dank basements and sleazy Hamburg brothels, to full-roar Beatlemania where they can't hear themselves play. It's funny in that respect, because it seems like most band histories and rock star biographies have this hopeful struggle to reach the top, a bright window of everything going their way, then it falls apart in drug addictions and infighting and creative and commercial collapse. The Beatles never really seem to have had the bright window; the mania wrecked it as soon as they were there.

But now I'm curious to read other takes on their career.

 

[marchone]

Jonathan Gould is a friend of mine. I have to ask him what he thought of the Spitz book.

 

[ElectroVibe]

Mccartney just posted that Denny Laine has died.

 

[G-Dog]

Mccartney just posted that Denny Laine has died.

Here's one such report: Paul McCartney pays tribute to former Wings bandmate Denny Laine
.

 

[gcb]

 

[gcb]

 

[roccobass]

Happy Holidays!

 

[GregC]

 

[13bass]

McCartney remembers Denny Laine

 

[G-Dog]

McCartney remembers Denny Laine

A nice, fitting tribute. But was it narrated by a computer, or something? The inflections sound a bit like a young Stephen Hawking's computer. Perhaps something that Denny's sense of humour would appreciate?
.

 

[Jeff K]

And Klaus Voorman on bass!

 

[ElectroVibe]

https://youtube.com/shorts/ChjCBtjqdMA?si=Y4XyTgby_Ul-lsEA

How Julian Lennon feels about HeyJude

 

[nixdad]

 

[13bass]

 

[13bass]

 

[Alkali Ike]

I got Now and Then on vinyl for my birthday. Listening to it carefully over good headphones, I gotta say it’s very compressed and I don’t much like the mixing. In Audacity the waveforms are pretty much straight flat bars, very little dynamic range.

I understand and make allowance for the fact this is an augmented reconstruction made from many pieces and eras. But McCartney’s new bass line, which is beautiful, is muddy and buried. Ringo’s drumming contribution seems to be coming from a different room. The string section is not clear at times.

The mix is by Spike Stent, not Giles Martin or the usual suspects. It could be better IMHO.

Spike Stent - Wikipedia

Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, Beth Orton, Harry Styles, Frank Ocean, Selena Gomez, All Saints, Spice Girls, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Mansun, Maroon 5, Muse, Lily Allen, Gwen Stefani, Moby, No Doubt, Lenka, Usher, Kaiser Chiefs, Linkin Park, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, Keane, Massive Attack, Bastille, Diana Vickers and Take That.[1]

 

[13bass]

I got Now and Then on vinyl for my birthday. Listening to it carefully over good headphones, I gotta say it’s very compressed and I don’t much like the mixing. In Audacity the waveforms are pretty much a straight bars, very little dynamic range.

I understand and make allowance for the fact this is an augmented reconstruction made from many pieces and eras. But McCartney’s new bass line, which is beautiful, is muddy and buried. Ringo’s drumming contribution seems to be coming from a different room. The string section is not clear at times.

The mix is by Spike Stent, not Giles Martin or the usual suspects. It could be better IMHO.

Spike Stent - Wikipedia

Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, Beth Orton, Harry Styles, Frank Ocean, Selena Gomez, All Saints, Spice Girls, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Mansun, Maroon 5, Muse, Lily Allen, Gwen Stefani, Moby, No Doubt, Lenka, Usher, Kaiser Chiefs, Linkin Park, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, Keane, Massive Attack, Bastille, Diana Vickers and Take That.[1]

This seems to be the case with so much current music nowadays. No idea why they mix music this way.

 

[beans-on-toast]

I got Now and Then on vinyl for my birthday. Listening to it carefully over good headphones, I gotta say it’s very compressed and I don’t much like the mixing. In Audacity the waveforms are pretty much a straight bars, very little dynamic range.

I understand and make allowance for the fact this is an augmented reconstruction made from many pieces and eras. But McCartney’s new bass line, which is beautiful, is muddy and buried. Ringo’s drumming contribution seems to be coming from a different room. The string section is not clear at times.

The mix is by Spike Stent, not Giles Martin or the usual suspects. It could be better IMHO.

Spike Stent - Wikipedia

Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed Sheeran, Beth Orton, Harry Styles, Frank Ocean, Selena Gomez, All Saints, Spice Girls, Lady Gaga, Coldplay, Mansun, Maroon 5, Muse, Lily Allen, Gwen Stefani, Moby, No Doubt, Lenka, Usher, Kaiser Chiefs, Linkin Park, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Oasis, Keane, Massive Attack, Bastille, Diana Vickers and Take That.[1]

Have you compared it to the digital version?

Mixing aside which is another process, mastering for vinyl can change the sound as well. There are several vinyl versions, each required their own master. Things can change here. Who mastered it is another question. Were they mastered at Abbey Road or somewhere else. One of the Abbey Road mastering engineers described his process. He seemed to indicate that what he chooses to do on any given day can vary. It left me feeling that the result can change. It can change from person to person doing the mastering.

Mastering is also done for various targets: apple music, amazon music, etc., movies, atmos mixing, club where the low end is boosted… So many versions.