Abbey Road 50th contents, outtakes and sound quality thread .. only

I hope you'll enjoy it. In the end That's what it's all about

 

I was a little disappointed, I had ordered the single LP in hopes of comparing it with the Optimal 3LP but since they are both the same pressing it's just a backup copy now. Maybe I should have done my original plan of ordering the single LP from Amazon US instead of a local place. Especially since the local place arrived on the same day as the 3LP from Amazon UK and would have actually arrived later if DHL hadn't delivered to the wrong address by mistake.

 

It's just not physicaly possible Paul being on drums on Old Brown Shoe. Anybody playing drums can tell right from the first few bars.
There are other errors in the other SDE books as well.
For example, for the released version of While My Guitar Gently Weeps the book repeats Lewisohn's claim that Paul plays piano and organ on the live backing track. But that's not possible. When the organ joins in the piano part is for two hands so it must someone else playing the organ (John or George Martin?), they missed to name the person.
They missed to list John on "bang bang shoot shoot" backing vocals on Happiness Is A Warm Gun.
They missed the harpsichord on Because (according to @Kim Olesen , I don't have the set yet).
The Pepper SDE book lists John on rhythm guitar on the opening title track while in the text itself it says it's Paul on the rhythm guitar (which is the correct claim).
It's been said that the released version of Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite comes from Take 7. We have complete Take 7 in the box and it's clearly not the released version backing track, it's not even complete take! Was there another Take 7 on the tape? The book says nothing about it.
There are contradictions in Strawberry Fields Forever essay, the list goes on.
And these are errors that can be revealed just by listening to the released versions and outtakes. Who knows how many more mistakes are there that are impossible to reveal with just what we have?
So you better not believe everything in the book.

 

How is the hi-Rez stereo on the Blu-Ray, comparable to the 5.1 or closer to the stereo on the CD?

 

I agree with this 100%, and I did play percussion in band and/or orchestra through college.

 

You mean the part is way above Paul’s abilities?

 

Most of the outtakes would only be 4 tracks.

 

The book mentions that Ringo wasn’t present for Ballad of John and Yoko and Old Brown Shoe because he was away for a movie shoot. Seems a rather specific mention must have come from some source?

 

"Woke up, fell out of bed.
Dragged a comb across my head"

Her Majesty worked the same way to help with John's portion of The Long One.

 

Ooh! That gives me an observation I had never considered before:

John and Paul sometimes wrote bridges to fill out the other’s song. In the early days, they were much more seamless. As time went on, they seemed more forced until finally we get to “The Long One” where they no longer can really fit them together anymore. They just sit them alongside each other as bits of individual songs.

Much as their own relationship progressed. :/

 

So to sun up, should I get the new vinyl or the Bku-Ray?
I would be getting the EU vinyl.

 

That would be true for BOJAY but as i recall ONS was an evening session and Ringo could have made it. He also could have had a day where he had nothing to do on the set. Happens often in filming. So if that is all they are going by in the SDE, then that’s really nothing.

And everyone has been open about which songs Ringo did not drum on. It has never been secrets so it is VERY strange for this turninng up now.

Plus OBS is very full if signature Ringo stuff. Down to the main grove which Ringo used on several songs in their Cover band repetoire.

 

It sounds like "Hold you in his arms, yeah, you can feel his disease" on both versions to me too. Heck, even on the Live In New York City version (at 1:58) JOHN LENNON LIVE IN NEW YORK CITY - COME TOGETHER

 

Receive SDE and the single version plus the 3lp set over the weekend, the cd set of outtakes are such a joy Love it. On the single lp version side two really benefited from the new mix side one jury is still out need more listen. On Old Brown Shoe that's Richie on the" Pagan skins".

 

It may be a good thing to compare, but I have seen some complaints in this thread about a "whooshing" sound, especially during quieter passages, on the US LPs pressed by QRP. I was unable to discern from the posts I've seen whether that is present on all, most, many or just a few of the QRP copies. Then again, I also saw some noise complaints even concerning the Optimal pressings (and Lord knows there have been some clunkers from them at times as well). At least this time Apple/Capitol didn't use Rainbo like they did for the US 2012 releases, which served only to compound the sins already present in much of the mastering, or even worse, United in Nashville.

But fear not, if you don't break the shrink on that stand alone LP, it should bring pretty nice bucks not too long from now. BTW, if this helps, any copy with a blue hype sticker displaying the Capitol logo alongside Apple and UMe should be USA made and QRP pressed, but if it is Optimal, the blue hype sticker lacks the Capitol logo, and the rear jacket copywrite statement says "Made in Germany", which should mean Optimal. You can see these images on Discogs. So at least you shouldn't have to break the shrink to find out.

In the meantime, I am interested in finding out whether the Japan stand alone LP is pressed by and in Japan from what one would presume to be the same digital files as the QRP and Optimal elsewhere, rather than just importing one of those pressings. Japan did, after all, manufacture Japan-only SHM-CDs rather than just import the other worldwide CDs from elsewhere. If the LP is indeed a Japan pressing, then that may be the real deal for best pressing of the remix. Maybe I should just go ahead and order it, and see what ships back. Worst case scenario would be a few more bucks spent for just another Optimal or even QRP. But best case scenario would be flawless JVC type super vinyl. And since it would be cut from the same digital files as the worldwide release (which CD Japan claims), there would be none of the copy tape issues that would have been present for pressings from analog sources in an earlier time. Whatever issues I may have had with Japan-added EQ in the past, I have never EVER, even once, seen a Japan pressing that was anything less than dead flat perfect.

Food for thought.

 

Maybe take anything researched about 50 years ago with a grain of salt. Some researching will spot something and assume something. Just two weeks ago I saw a PBS documentary about the original Woodstock Festival, also 50 years ago. CSNY's appearance at the festival very late Sunday night the 17th (technically Monday morning the 18th since they didn't actually take the stage until 2 am in the drizzle) was claimed in that documentary to be their first concert ever with Neil Young before an audience, and even David Crosby himself (who should know better) can be heard in the documentary saying the same thing. But I saw them in Chicago at the Auditorium Saturday night the 16th, early (7:00 pm show), warmed up by Joni Mitchell, followed by a 10:30 pm show later that same night. And in both the original Woodstock film and album, made when memories were still very fresh at less than 36 hours, Stills himself can famously be heard on the Woodstock stage referring to their appearance there as "our SECOND gig, man". And unlike the claim in the documentary, Neil Young WAS in the band in Chicago on the 16th, wearing a light beige suit with flared slacks over boots. Then there are those who bogusly claim to have seen CSNY at what was SUPPOSED to be their original world premiere concert on August 1 at the Atlantic City Pop Festival, due to the fact that there are plenty of bills and artifacts showing them indeed on that bill, but they had to cancel because Nash was having some medical problems with what I understood to be "throat nodes" at the time, making Chicago their premier.

The bottom line is that when even David Crosby can't remember a BIG event like CSNY's first ever concert appearance with TWO shows that night, then how can one trust the memory of anyone (even a key surviving participant like Paul or Ringo), let alone leftover newspaper ads or other research materials, about a single take of a single track that maybe didn't end up happening on the assumed date. Like you said, Ringo could have been available during a break in the film shooting, or maybe the session date was wrongly recorded at a later date by some studio person whose memory may have been less than fresh when he/she recorded it. These sorts of things happen all the time.

So I'm with you on this one.

 

It is the same. Someone is imagining there is a difference.

 

Think George Martin was on vacation, so John played the organ on the basic track takes of While My... Weeps. (Clapton version)
What's this story about the harpsichord on Because?
It's listed on the new book!

 

Why do it at all?

 

Yes, that was my understanding too, John on organ on WMGGW.

I heard that the harpsichord is missing from some credits... Could it be YT video then?

 

Only for the outtake. Disclaimer: I only have the iTunes version but someone posted a picture of the SDE page where Because is detailed. George Martin is credited on the outtake but not the released version. Harrison is also credited for the Moog work, which i find strange too.

 

I guess, I'm assuming it is. "Old Brown Shoe" is a shuffle, which Paul has always said that he can't play. The tight hi-hat shuffle on OBS is tough enough for non-drummers, but in addition, the beat is highly unorthodox, with the snare coming on the "up beat". It's difficult, so my guess is that it isn't Paul. Paul plays a great straight 4/4 beat, but OBS just doesn't sound like anything I've ever heard him play. Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems pretty unlikely.

If you watch this video, Paul's pretty ham-fisted when he tries to play "I'm in Love Again", which is a standard shuffle. They get Ringo to do it. See 1:40 in the video below.

 

Why? George overdubbed the moog on Because.

 

Just looked in the Deluxe book. The book lists George Martin as playing the harpsichord for the instrumental takes recorded on August 1 (the first day that "Because" was recorded). This would apply to both the outtake and the released take. So for this song, there is no error in the book.

 

Don't know about the YouTube video, but on the book, George Martin is credited playing the harpsichord.