Maybe Apple should have reached out to Pattie Boyd for her recollections of the Esher demos. I'm sure she was around for some or all of it.
I commented about this earlier and agree completely. And he not only beat the single-LP dead horse, but also went with the dysfunctional band narrative to such an extreme that I wondered if he was writing a parody for a bit. He should go and find some single albums that are critically acclaimed and argue how they should be EPs. In the end, I like the WA as is and feel bad for those who don’t.
Well we're both just guessing. I don't think Circles necessarily fits the style or mood of Dark Horse or Extra texture. Not Guilty is a bit more commercial & malleable imo. Circles is pretty locked into that 60s psychedelic sound, even on the 82 version. I think Extra Texture is Harrison's "I wanna be like Smokey Robinson" album. It could've used help that for sure imo. Dark Horse has mostly good tunes, but his voice is gone, & it woulda used 1-2 more songs, although they're pretty long songs. Extra Texture I think needed at least 3-4 maybe 5 more good tunes to replace some of the weak ones. Maybe Jeff Lynne coulda done a When We Was Fab trip with Circles, but off hand I can think of few post 69 Harrison songs, that have that early Floyd psychedelic sound going. I think late 60s Beatles was the way to go on all those, for optimum results, but how many songs can a band work on for one album ! They did cut 5 Harrison songs during the White album, & Paul & Ringo helped George do the Lomax track. So by far the most Beatles songs ever devoted to Harrison for one project. You'd think he could've gotten 3 for Abbey Road !
Despite Pretty Green's HIGHLY marked up prices, I must commend their attempt at recreating one of Paul's shirts from 1968, which didn't turn out too bad:
Well I can see both sides. I don't think its a very good song but it is an interesting experiment comparable to "You Know My Name" but even that song with its song within a song at the nightclub is more imaginative. It reflects Lennon's increasingly fragmented writing style. Luckily, for "I Dig A Pony" Spector wisely suggested cutting off the original beginning.
You may have a point. We often forget the importance of singles in the 60s. John and Paul competed to get the single, not a slot in an album. Singles were not "orphans" like one famous user said, they were the prime songs to be placed in the spotlight. Surely for George a single (even one by Jackie Lomax) was a better destiny for his song than a slot in the White Album.
I like the song but it's one of those that would have been improved with a different tempo and the band contributing to it. There's nothing wrong with a dirge mind you (everyone seems to think a dirge is a bad thing--it's just a mournful ballad if you're not doing a song for the dead) but, when its placed with a series of other ballads or dirges, it can be a bit, well, slow going.
Absolute low point for the Fabs. Not funny, not cool, not interesting. Just awful. Having grown up reading about it in all my Beatles books as a kid, when I finally heard it on Anthology I couldn't believe my ears. A real head scratcher. And I love weird music. (Good weird music.)
Two million views is overindulgent; would've been a better thread if it had been kept to a one-millioner.
I have been checking the hot 200 every day this week. I still have not spotted it there yet. Maybe tomorrow. Or maybe Ineed to check a different internet LOL.
Sorry I’m late........it’s not hard to Imagine that the Beatles survivors, most important Paul and Ringo, are avidly interested in seeing their art continued to be appreciated, remembered and yes, discovered by a lot of people. Of course it’s about the money too. However, don’t you think Paul and Ritchie broke out in big smiles when John and George come back in after the break in Birthday.....Don’t you think for them, it’s quite a bit about the music and the legacy? Oh ya, and thanks Giles and team for letting me re hear and re appreciate this great recording all over again.
Depends on what you mean. Are you saying that, in addition to P & R wanting to see their music "[continue] to be appreciated, remembered and yes, discovered by a lot of people", they wanted this remix done because they thought the album needed to sound better ("the music") and that improved sound would enhance the band's future reputation ("the legacy")? Or something else?
Some were. Some were tried out and then held over for Abbey Road or initial solo albums. Get Back/Let It Be sessions complete song list: https://www.beatlesbible.com/features/get-back-let-it-be-sessions-complete-song-list/
Hmmmm, I probably should have said they are life long musicians and still love playing and recording. As such, I expect they would love hearing some of their best work in a more detailed, clearer, accurate way, just like we do as fans.
I've mentioned elsewhere that I think Circles has a bit of a Syd Barrett feel to it. With a more upbeat and eclectic Floyd-ish arrangement, those chord changes could have made this an interesting song.
Yep. Circles is definitely a song that, by it's nature, is not going to be nearly as impressive as a minimal demo as it would be fully produced in a psychedelic style with organ, piano, loops, maybe backwards guitar, and some spooky harmonies. I think it might have required George and the guys to be in a deeper psych phase than they were in '68 though, in order for it to be a great studio track. The band had for the most part moved on from the likes of "Blue Jay Way" and "Only a Northern Song" of which Circles is most closely related IMO. I wonder if George "shopped" the song/demo to anyone who was still very psychedelic. It's total fantasy, but with Syd Barrett out of the picture in '68 and Roger and David not yet very prolific, maybe Floyd would have recorded a song like "Circles" if George had "given" it to them to put out first.
Anyone interested in the 1987 CD might want to check out the local Ollie's. I think I've seen like 30 copies over here, it sells for $8,- !!!
OK, that's essentially the same idea that I was getting at when I asked whether you meant that P & R "wanted this remix done because they thought the album needed to sound better". I'd qualify that by saying that I'm not certain that the terms "detailed, clearer, accurate" are the way that P & R would describe the improvement in sound that they were aiming for. Not everyone (including our host, on occasion) views these qualities in a positive way, depending on how they're construed. However, on the basis of what Giles has said (which would also reflect Paul's thinking) about the sound of this remix, "detailed, clearer, accurate" is a reasonable way of describing one aspect of what they were aiming for, though he has also said, "it’s not a question of making the Beatles into Steely Dan. You need to make sure that you preserve the feel of the songs."
