Definitive version of Beatles´ Across The Universe

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Diego Lucas, Nov 12, 2018.

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  1. SixOClockBoos

    SixOClockBoos The Man On The Flaming Pie

    Thanks for providing the results. Looks like everything but the Let It Be version falls around the same. Close results for 2nd.
     
    linclink likes this.
  2. Hardy Melville

    Hardy Melville Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    I play this myself on acoustic, and fwiw I find it works best dropping it a whole note to C.
     
  3. Mickey2

    Mickey2 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bronx, NY, USA
    IIRC, yes. From Wikipedia:

    "Across the Universe", which dates from nearly a year before the rest of the original album was recorded, was stripped of almost all of its instrumental and vocal overdubs, leaving Lennon's acoustic guitar and lead vocal as the song's centrepiece, yet still retained the tamboura used on the original mix. This marks the second appearance of the track in its correct key as recorded (the first appearing on Anthology 2), as the original "wildlife" version had been sped up and the Let It Be album version had been slowed down.
     
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  4. Om

    Om Make Your Own Kind Of Music

    Location:
    Boston, USA
    This is my fan created version of "Across The Universe" in mono and in stereo. I lost the files three years ago but recently found them again.

    I took the Past Masters and slowed it down to the original speed, which would be 3:37 long in length.
    I then took the two "street birds" (girls) vocal parts isolated, and centered their vocals and removed geese at the end.

    I uploaded them to wiki archive website as streaming. I think it is real interesting to hear Past Masters slowed down.

    archive.org/details/AcrossTheUniverseStereoV1/AcrossTheUniversestereoV1.m4a
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2019
  5. Lewisboogie

    Lewisboogie “Bob Robert”

    Those mixes are great. Thanks for sharing.
     
    Om likes this.
  6. Lewisboogie

    Lewisboogie “Bob Robert”

    I’ve never understood slowing down the LIB version. I guess one can never have enough lethargy.:sigh:
     
  7. paul62

    paul62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Down to Earth
    The take we got on Anthology 2 is in the same key as the take we got on the White Album Super Deluxe Edition. I made myself a nice alternate take by putting the left channel of one take and the right channel of the other take into Audacity and using some time stretching (or time shrinking) as needed: sounds really good!
     
  8. Om

    Om Make Your Own Kind Of Music

    Location:
    Boston, USA
    Thank you! One secret touch, you notice the geese/duck sounds are no longer in the mix.
    I took the last verse before the nature sounds kick in on the outro, and made multiple time matched loops onto a slow fade out.

    When I heard the final result I was amazed at how good this song can really sound at it's original speed.
    I really love the harmonies from the two ladies on Past Masters. Maybe one day Giles Martin will mysteriously trip on the original tapes.
     
    Last edited: Jan 30, 2019
    Natural E, ronbow and Lewisboogie like this.
  9. Lewisboogie

    Lewisboogie “Bob Robert”

    I never realized there were geese/duck noises:biglaugh:Those are the birds?
     
    Om likes this.
  10. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :kilroy: I just stumbled on this by accident. It's not bad. I reckon it's the second cover of the song ever, coming out very shortly after Cilla Black's version:

     
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  11. BlueJay

    BlueJay Forum Resident

    I voted for the 'Our World' version, mainly because it's the first version I heard and has remained a Beatles favourite. It's also the version on side 4 of the vinyl 'Past Masters' release which is perhaps my all time favourite Beatles vinyl record.
     
    ronbow likes this.
  12. paul62

    paul62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Down to Earth
    A tip for any fans who like to make their own mixes: the Wildlife version needs to be slowed down by -3.963% to take it down by -0.70 of a semitone (and it will more or less correlate with the LIB....N version). (You can jigger around with that figure to get exact correlation if you wanted to synch one channel from one mix with another channel from another mix to make yourself a hybrid mix).
     
  13. paul62

    paul62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Down to Earth
    If you speed up the Phil Spector mix by 4.427% (and raise it 0.75 of a semitone in the process) it will more or less correlate with the LIB....N version (which is the version that is supposed to be at the correct speed).
     
  14. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    Let It be, but I'll take any...love this song. Beautiful melody.
     
  15. Diamond Star Halo

    Diamond Star Halo Forum Resident

    Location:
    Vancouver
    Interesting. The poll results show that the vast majority of voters prefer alternate versions of Across The Universe over the “canonical” version on Let It Be. That is telling.

    Phil did some good work on the Let It Be Album, but he butchered this track. Slowing it down and adding the choir was a bad musical decision.
     
    tug_of_war likes this.
  16. Jason Pumphrey

    Jason Pumphrey Forum Resident

    While a good song, it should have been left off the 1967-70 (Blue Album) comp, either Two of Us or For You Blue would have been a better choice IMO.
     
  17. Autotune Sucks

    Autotune Sucks Forum Resident

    Location:
    Little Rock, AR
    IDK...listened to his cover of "God Only Knows" lately?
     
    SoundDoctor likes this.
  18. paul62

    paul62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Down to Earth
    It is possible that Jeff Lynne may have been inspired by the dirge-like Phil Spector version of "ATU" when planning how "Free As A Bird" was going to sound. "FAAB" dressed up with orchestral and choral overdubs and with birdsong (like the Wildlife version) could have been very interesting!! (Oh, and George could have pulled out his Wah Wah pedal instead of using his slide!).
     
  19. beatleroadie

    beatleroadie Forum Resident

    Could John really not be arsed to re-record his vocal on top of Spector's slowed down strings and choir? Why couldn't John have redone the lead vocal so it doesn't sound so dragging and druggy? Maybe John and George could have sung a harmony part too. Telling of John's energy level for the Beatles that he didn't go back in and do more vocal work on Spector's remake of the song. Sad.
     
    paul62 likes this.
  20. bherbert

    bherbert Forum Resident

    Location:
    South Africa
    It’s not in the poll but the 2020 Giles Martin remix will be the best.
     
    beatleroadie likes this.
  21. beatleroadie

    beatleroadie Forum Resident

    What do you think Giles would do with a remix in 2020? Would he speed it up slightly and turn the choir way down? Can he fly in Paul's harmony and George's tamboura that Spector mixed out?
     
    bherbert likes this.
  22. paul62

    paul62 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Down to Earth
    Hopefully the multitracks for "ATU" have preserved the Hammond organ and Mellotron overdubs that George Martin and John Lennon recorded: a new mix featuring these would be very cool, I'd suspect!
    Adding some freshly-recorded drums from Ringo and bass from Paul could be great, as well (if neither drums nor bass exist on the multitracks).

    Here's an ELO medley of "Across The Universe"/"A Day In The Life" which is pretty good:
     
    Last edited: Feb 2, 2019
    marmalade166 and bherbert like this.
  23. applejam101

    applejam101 Humble Fan

    Location:
    NYC, NY, USA
    I've been listening to all sorts Beatles versions of ATU the past few days. Each is great, even the rehearsals from Let It Be. But I still love Spector's version the best.
     
  24. tug_of_war

    tug_of_war Unable to tolerate bass solos

    I can stand none of the versions released in 1969/70.

    The Our World/Past Masters version has Lennon sucking helium gas and the Let It Be version is too slow and morose and the orchestra and chorus are too syrupy.

    It wasn't until 1996 that this song was released in its original beauty, without any kind of post-production butchery.

    So my choice is the Anthology II version, though the one on Let It Be...Naked is similar.

    Haven't heard the new White Album yet.
     
  25. Arnold Grove

    Arnold Grove Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    They should put out an extended EP (physical and digital) of all 6 or 7 takes of the song, along with the 2 officially released versions in 1969/1970 (Wildlife and Spector versions).
     
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