"Slow Down", the sloppiest Beatle recording

Ballad or rocker, I think any of those would have been better than Dizzy Miss Lizzie, which IMO is over long and under inspired.

 

Big fan of John Miles' reimagining of the song:

 

All You Need Is Love.

 

That's live in the studio isn't it? I've heard it before, probably why I didn't mention it.

That doesn't do it for me, I want them hot and rockin in front of a screaming crowd!

The Beatles in late 64/early 65 would rock that song much harder than that live studio performance.

I prefer the record to that.

 

Yeah, I don't think he thought more than 15 seconds about what to play there, kind of peters out at the end, thankfully the violins come in

 

people get so uptight about this stuff...i love the song and it's imperfections about as much as i love Mr. Moonlight......the work they did in the time they did it......need i say more ?

 

I don't think it's a terrible solo either and I like this track a lot. On the other hand, Matchbox is pretty horrible imo. Double tracking Ringo's voice was a mistake. There's a BBC version where he's right on it.

In terms of 1963 or 4 being a rock guitar Dark Ages I think that's quite wide of the mark. I mean take a listen to Hank Marvin for starters, arguably the single most influential guitarist in British music history (unless you count Bert Weedon via his guitar instructionals). Not only was/is Hank a brilliant guitarist, his whole sound was game changing with his echo box gifted to him by Joe Brown, another hugely influential and quality player who was seen regularly on TV in 1960 backing artists like Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochran, Johnny Cash, Billy Fury etc.. on Jack Good's TV shows such as Boy Meets Girls and Wham! not to mention Joe Morreti's work on tracks like Brand New Cadillac and Shakin' All Over, two British pre-Beatle stone cold classics. There were a number of very good guitarists back then who people like George and the other beat groupsters were aware of. Mick Green was slaying it with Johnny Kidd from around February 1962 - he was massively influential among musicians if not a public "name".
There was a lot more going on in the UK before The Beatles than we are often led to believe. The Fabs may have built the Emerald City but a whole lot of other people had to build the yellow brick road to allow that to happen. Unfortunately the price most of those people had to pay was being forced to work in the middle of the road which has led to a lot of the sneering, post-Beatle and lack of proper documenting in music history books/mags.
(sorry, rant over !)

 

Ignoring vinyl versions how many different sounding cd versions of this performance are there? I have an old Long Tall Sally EP bought in the 1960s as I was (and still am) a big fan. Mono of course. For cd I have the old Past Masters, the 2009 stuff, the mono cd box, the lovely mini card sleeves of the stereo albums from Japan and the US Albums cd box (and of course the Apple USB stick). I forgot about the old cd EP collection which has the Long Tall Sally EP. Great collection of all the UK EPs and all in mono where appropriate.

 

Not bad for a days work. Over 50 years later this material still sounds fresh and vibrant whether stereo, mono (way better and a great explanation of why given by SH post 39) and whether played as an mp3 or a pristine mono Long Tall Sally EP.
PS I love the version by The Jam as well.

 

I've read that the arrangement didn't really support a solo in that spot. After the first two bars the violins swell and assumedly George just decided to stop playing at that point.

 

I love Slow Down (in the mono mix, of course). The only sloppy thing about the whole song is for me the boyfriend down the street/ dime for me bit, but I don't mind, I find it quite endearing actually - especially, that it paves the way for this absolutely fantastic lick from Ringo under you'd better slow down. This might be my favourite Ringo moment ever, and he shines here at least three more times - on the double bang on the snare in the middle of if you want our love to last before the solo (1:37), under the best little woman I've ever had and - most importantly - under the final if you want our love to last (2:44) (are these just triplets? there's something strange to them, one measure belated? great, anyway)

John is also great on the track throughout, his screams are top-notch (the one at the start of the solo!) and despite the boyfriend/dime bit, overall the double-tracking works very well (especially on the first verse, but also on the single harmonised note on the word books (!!! - that's not sloppy, that's pure art)

ah, the beauty of this forum: this one ain't!/this one is!/we were on a break!/we weren't on a break! - now it's my five minutes and the judge rules: great solo! what I love about it most is the narrative quality, the story it tells is interesting and rare, and keeps me focused (unlike many show-off borefests), I love how George in fact doesn't make it before John starts singing the final verse (and what a start it is, weeeell!), so there is this beautiful overlapping, like I need to squeeze these two more notes in...

AND I love how the solo is punctuated (pierced) by this scream from John (oow!), perfect timing

one of my favourite Beatle covers

woo!

 

I agree it isnt his best, he was capable of some really good playing. Till there was you is very good, for example.

I always got the impression Emerick didnt like Georgie and didnt have any patience with him. The Beatles apparently worked very fast in the studio back then and maybe Emerick didnt give Harrison any second chances to take a pass at a solo, I dont know if they did a lot of over-dubbing back then.

Its possible that Harrison played a better solo on one of the other takes, but, if it was all done live except for the vocals, maybe the other takes were better all around or perhaps somebody else blew a section and the take used, was the only one suitable... guitar solo weirdness or not.

Regardless of a HANDFUL of guitarists who could throw down in England in the early 60s, it was still more or less the Dark Ages in my opinion. I bet if you went back in time and asked 500 english teenagers about Harrisons guitar solo on that song, the vast majority of them would say it was great.

Its not like today when we've had 50 years of virtuosos to compare it to.

 

Overdubbing a lead vocal onto backing tracks that have stops and starts is really tricky. Unless you can have a click in your ear or a count that the drummer followed, it is darn near impossible to anticipate where the drums will land. For this song, a live vocal take along with the backing track would have been preferable, but alas, we have what we have. Even with that, I love the mono version. I think it cooks.

 

If this is sloppy, it sure can sound great. Artistic, raw talent perseveres. This song is proof of that.

And pristine can sound awful.

 

Awesome version of this song!

 

Geoff had nothing do with them, other than being a sometimes tape op, until April 1966. There's little reason why George Martin and presumably Norm Smith pushed the lads so much. Even after just a few false starts, Martin and Smith would start acting a bit school teacher-ish towards their proteges. They never quite got the fact that George liked to rehearse his solos and create them; at times they expressed displeasure to the fact. Perhaps forgetting that George wasn't involved in the writing process and would often have a song thrust upon him without hearing it before. Not that easy to come up with the goods that way. Then bring on time constraints from constant touring, TV and Radio appearances and films... it's a wonder they maintained such a high level of craftsmanship. Ron

 

Absolutely. One of their very best covers! As far as studio perfection hopefully I underrate that. Studio perfection is for classical maybe - not rock, jazz, or classic country. Country and pop efforts have tended to go south and sterile in recent years due to a focus on perfection rather than creative spontaneity and improvisation.

 

I think the mono mix of Matchbox is sloppier than Slow Down.

 

Really? I find the vocals are far better on the mono "Matchbox" - those double-tracked Ringo vocals on the stereo mix (they actually sound like triple-tracked vocals to me!) sound disjointed and sloppy as hell IMO.

 

Yeah, really!!

Compare George's solo and the double tracked vocals at the end of the track in the mono mix to the stereo mix. The guitar solo is sloppy and Ringos double tracked vocal sounds as if it is out of synch.

 

That is George Martin rockin' the 88s, yes?

 

Love that Hamburg sound!

 

For a "classically trained" pianist who recorded comedians for a living, he sure could lay down a good rock & roll piano track!

 

Don't pass me by is the sloppiest example of fabdom.although I woundn't change a thing about it.Mono or stereo.

 

I think it's a raw rocker with the four (or in the case the fab five) having a blast recording it. The essence of rock and roll. Are The Replacements and Stones sloppy at times? Yep. Doesn't diminish it in the least. The mono mix kicks the ass of the stereo by the way.