G. Harrison's "Only A Northern Song": did the other Beatles really sabotage it (random psych noise)?

Absolutely nearsighted that OANS was left off of the Pepper 50th Anniversary. If they wanted to leave if off the 2-Disc version, OK, but at least include a remix and outtake of this song in the big box for Pepper. The remix opportunity for this song is immense, and the Anthology version of it with alternate lyrics and sounds was really interesting too.

 

John lamented later that Strawberry Fields Forever got drowned in psychedelia. At that point, they were using their own songs to experiment on ~ the historical moment demanded it, and John sacrificed a song that meant a lot to him to create a different kind of masterpiece. But I doubt George would've been as beholden to Northern Song ~ the lyrics, after all, make no pretense that they're throwaway. Still, the sounds painted overtop (and that pure George melody) made it a keeper despite itself.

 

Nope, I want it on the 2-discer, too!

 

Wow, so prior to 1999, that song sounds bad on every stereo version of Yellow Submarine? That's a bummer, because it truly sounds awful, but it's certainly useful to know. Thank god for the Mono button!

 

I agree - doing that would have helped improve what I think is Pepper's wildly uneven side 2.

 

I agree, I guess I was trying to be nice ha ha.

It's the closest thing there is to a b-side for Pepper. And if any of the songs would have been pulled from the LP as a single, surely George's tune would have been brought back as the b-side.

In my head, there's a nice EP to be made from the Pepper "castaways" :

Side A
1. Strawberry Fields Forever (single version)
2. Penny Lane (single version)
3. Only a Northern Song
Side B
4. Strawberry Fields Forever (first slow mellow version)
5. Carnival of Light

 

imo, Pepper would have been a better album by replacing :

She's Leaving Home
Within You Without You
When I'm 64
Lovely Rita

with :

It's All Too Much
Only A Northern Song
Hey Bulldog

and subsequently the
Yellow Submarine Songtrack lp
replacing the original Yellow Submarine album entirely.


IATM was far more worthy of inclusion on Pepper than those rather dud tracks, imo. It is one of the top four Harrison masterpieces, along with WMGGW,
Something, and HCTS.

Sabotage ? .. more like Gravitas !

 

It’s weird how people are happy to completely rewrite track listings for Beatles albums yet are vehement in the belief that all pre 68 albums should be mono “because that’s what the Beatles wanted”.

 

You're not the only one who pushed the mono button. It seems that after the fake stereo mix was done, they made a decision to release a mono version in the UK. Instead of going back to the original mono mix, they simply folded the fake stereo back to mono. They pushed the mono button.

The irony here is that when mixing, a mono product was considered essential. They couldn't be bothered with the stereo. But when released, it was (almost) universally heard in fake stereo!

This prompted me just now to look at my 2009 Beatles Mono box to see what they used for OANS, and bingo it's the original mono mix, never before used directly as a mix for release! So...30+ years to hear it in true stereo, and 40+ years to hear the original direct mono mix!

 

speaking for myself, I only like mono because it sounds better to me not because it's "what the Beatles wanted".
I may have pointed out that fact in other discussions, but only as a point of evidence that perhaps The Beatles held the same view. I'm not an idolator in the sense of holding the Beatles up as flawless.

 

They also used the original Mono mix on the 2009 Stereo CD instead of the fake stereo.

 

That's interesting, and unfortunate that a good song was basically neglected like that for so many years.

What's funny is I occasionally see people here complaining that something or other is "fake stereo," but I was never sure that I'd actually heard an example of it myself. Now I can say that I have, and it's not pretty. Still, at least for this song, pushing the mono button on my stereo is a vast improvement.

 

Nope, that's 100% pure unadulterated fake stereo!

That just sounds nasty, what the hell were they thinking with that one? Mind ya, I suppose the better question would be why they never did a proper stereo mix of "Only A northern Song" back in the sixties in the first place...

 

The mono mix was created by painstakingly synchronizing two 4-track tapes, each holding a different set of overdubs on the same basic track. I suspect they considered it too much effort to remix the track for stereo, especially considering they had no immediate plans to release the song.

 

Right. But they never really needed a mono mix. If they had put their efforts into stereo instead, the history of this song would have been very different.
For me there is no clearer illustration that the studio mindset was mono.

 

The question is, why didn't they carry out the exercise to create a stereo mix, which they could then fold down to create mono? They had no need to mix the song twice. And certainly, creating a mono fold down would have given a far better result than having to create a fake stereo mix.

 

I agree... If Pepper goes wrong it's in the McCartney belt on side 1. I guess since the rerelease of pepper I've considered the opinion that Macca doesn't really shine as brightly on Pepper as he might have. I love his 5 songs but those three in a row seem to take the album away but not very far. Then 64 and Rita and that's it there's something that SHOULD happen on that album that gets lost in there (maybe the double should have been here and not a year later? I'm sure the post revolver post April 67 eras could have yielded another 10 tracks easily).

OANS is such a favorite of mine ..YS was probably the 8th or 9th Beatles album I bought and since the day I heard it I've always thought OANS and Too Much were stellar musical ideas and the orchestration on OANS has never sounded random to me it seems to fit perfectly..great work by Martin. It could have had the same impact in the running order as don't bother me had on the 2nd album..defining and solidifying the mood and sound of the earlier tracks. Of course it could have been better and this was no time for the Beatles to put their guitars down!!!

 

Amen. How on earth Giles Martin talked Olivia out of putting 3 or 6 minutes of OANS outtakes on the album mystifies me. Its like some sort of banned religious text that would besmirch George Martin's memory if somehow it ended up defiling Strawberry Fields and Penny Lane OR that it was part of the YS project so it wouldn't fit even though many Beatles fans never even heard the YS album! And by the way...why not a 5.1 blu ray audio issue of the songtrack along with the film rerelease if that is the case?

 

I don't know how the Beatles commission works. I presume Giles works in protected space being GMs son... but considering how cooperative Olivia and Dhani have been I too am stunned if that's how the discussion went. "Why celebrate that it was not on the album?" uh..cuz it's a 50th anniversary and it's a disc of outtakes?

 

What you said...

 

It continues to be a source of irritation that at least one version of it didn’t make it into the outtakes. I really doubt it was Giles’ choice but any justification he has subsequently offered has made no sense. You can include any outtake in a compilation of outtakes from an album’s recording sessions and it would be relevant.

If we are going to get a surround remix of nonsense like Wild Honey Pie, a tidy stereo mix of the February version of OANS wasn’t too much to ask.

 

What do you think Apple will do, if anything, for this remix series, with Magical Mystery Tour, the '67 tracks that went to Yellow Submarine, and the early '68 session that produced "Lady Madonna" "Hey Bulldog", "Across the Universe" and "The Inner Light"? Of course "Across the Universe" will go to the Let it Be box, but the others?

Those 15 (?) tracks could all be a nice Summer '67 - Spring '68 two disc set of remixes and outtakes.

But tricky in how that's marketed and presented. The sad part is that all those songs are ones in which a remix would be so interesting to hear, and yet we may not even get it at all.

What if Apple played up the psychedelic period and vibe, have liner notes about these songs' related film projects and release this set of remixes as a new compilation:

CARNIVAL OF LIGHT: The Beatles 1967-68

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. Your Mother Should Know
3. I am The Walrus
4. The Fool on the Hill
5. Flying
6. Blue Jay Way
7. Baby You're a Rich Man
8. Hello Goodbye
9. The Inner Light
10. Lady Madonna
11. Hey Bulldog
12. Only a Northern Song
13. All Together Now
14. It's All To Much
15. All You Need is Love
16. Carnival of Light

One of the photos from this session could be the cover art:

 

Wrong.

 

WYWY, listening to Sgt pepper as a whole, is the perfect piece after an intermission of a show ( intermission being, flipping the album over). It fits perfectly. The melody is fantastic.

 

But it would have reminded Olivia that it was dropped from Sgt. Pepper Still think band politics were at play with both this song and "Carnival Of Light" - you would assume if it were up for consideration Olivia would have vetoed it (as George did with Anthology)