Geoff Emerick was either the engineer or (early years) an assistant on most of the key Beatles recordings (notably, "Revolver," "Sgt. Pepper," and "Abbey Road"), and now he's written a book about his experiences. "Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles" by Emerick (and writer Howard Massey) is quite a different look at the Fab Four. It's not the usual celebrity tell-all book - it's told almost entirely from the perspective of his work in the studio with them. Since Emerick was in the studio the week they first recorded "Love Me Do" and then as the engineer for the "Abbey Road," he was one of the few people who could truly evaluate how they evolved as artists, musicians, and people.

Emerick is a droll kind of fellow who has some criticism for just about everyone. Lennon was a brilliant song writer but lazy in the studio and unpredictable, difficult to work with; Harrison was terrible at playing lead guitar (until the later years) and found it difficult to lay down his solos in the studio; Ringo was mostly uninvolved; George Martin was mostly hands-off after the first couple of years. Only Paul McCartney, who seems to have won over Emerick early while the other Beatles mostly treated him like staff, is somewhat immune from criticism and is mostly portrayed as a hard working professional and a brilliant musician, in contrast with the others. Little wonder - Emerick has continued to work with Paul in recent years and is still considered a friend (McCartney was best man at Emerick's wedding; Linda took the wedding photos).

But the book is full of jucy bits of technical trivia such as how certain songs were recorded, how various recording challenges were overcome in the days of 4-track analog recording, how tapes were nearly ruined and usually salvaged by Emerick himself (rarely portraying himself in a negative light), how Yoko had a bed in studio during the recording of "Abbey Road" (!), how the Beatles collaborated (or didn't) as they evolved as a band. You can almost hear the individual tracks being recorded and visualize the guys with their headphones on doing it. It's a fun read if you have any interest in the Beatles or the early days of Rock and Roll recording in general.

Andrew

Ever seen the picture with staff in the halls acting as tape guides so they could separate record and play head distance by using two 2" machines in different rooms 40 or 50 feet apart?

I forget where I saw it ... about 3 or 4 years ago someone wrote a book I think about George Martin.

I have not seen the picture, but Emerick mentions this episode in his book.

Andrew

Fascinating book. This guy was able to get some amazing stuff done with reel tape and razor blades. A Portland freelance writer named David Loftus wrote a review last summer that tells a lot more:

http://calitreview.com/Reviews/herethere_089.htm

I read that book already. Quite informative. Adds much info beyond what was published elsewhere.
IIRC, he (Emerick) said he was NOT at the first session (June 62) that included Pete Best on Love Me Do, but was at the 2nd (Ringo version) and 3rd sessions (Andy White version) in Sept 62.
The Pete Best version is terrible.
The Ringo and Andy White versions are pretty much the same, except for the Tamborine, and a few other minor differences.

Well, Emerick was at the first EMI recording sessions for "Love Me Do" - he obviously wasn't there at the earlier auditions and recordings of demo tapes, because non-EMI engineers weren't allowed even to visit other recording studios. The EMI "Love Me Do" sessions (originally another non-Lennon/McCartney song was to be their first single) were the first Beatles sessions intended to record a single.

Andrew

Andrew2, I think I am correct. Look at the book again. I returned it to the library, so I cant refer you to specific pages. The June 62 "recording session" (perhaps actually a "studio audition") at EMI abbey rd was before Emerick was hired IIRC. That June 62 EMI studio recording of Love Me Do is on Anthology 1 CD. If I am wrong about the fine points of this matter, I apologise.
The other song you menioned that was recorded in Sept 62 was How Do You Do It, which George Martin wanted to be the first to be issued, but JPG&R objected.

I'll check the book (still have it), but I didn't think the Beatles had recorded at Abbey Road (then known as EMI studios) before the first sessions that included Ringo. But you may be right. Sort of a silly point to be arguing, I guess!

Andrew

Anybody care to relate more detail (the rest of the story) on the 40-50 foot "tape loop" down the hallway? That would be 16-20 seconds delay at 30 ips...why were they doing this ?

I don't have the book in front of me but later on I'll try to dig that up. You really have to admire the ingenuity of people like Emerick who had a knack for solving these kinds of recording problems using whatever creative idea was required, no matter how goofy it seemed. Emerick himself comments on how the constraints of the times pushed the engineers and recording artists of his era to come up with creative solutions and make artistic decisions quickly to produce good recordings unlike today, when digital recording technology offers such flexibility that no one need be creative at all to produce them...which means today's recordings sound lifeless and dull. I agree with him completely on this.

By the way, I recently got Brian Wilson's "Smile" CD out of the library and was pleased with how good it sounded. I read that they used some tubes for some of the instruments and old equipment such as an analog tape recorder to record the vocals. Geoff Emerick did something similiar when he needed to do those "new" Beatles tracks for the "Anthology" project: he needed to go buy some old analog equipment because EMI no longer had it in studio.

Andrew

The June 62 EMI abby rd recording/audition (Pete Best on Drums) is well documented in multiple places.
It is also mentioned in various sources as being part of what prompted the Pete out-Ringo in.

On some documentary I heard it suggested that the quiet, comparatively modest Ringo had a stabilizing influence on his high-strung counterparts. This uncommon appraisal sounded plausible to me, and if true, would have made his contribution to the band's long success much more considerable than his artistic ability, or the credit he has received.

His humanity in the context of the band's early, overblown presentations and exaggerated personas was touching as well as amusing. A favorite clip is of a TV peformance when he turned around to gape in startled astonishment at huge posters of the Fab Four being unfurled behind them as they played, then suddenly ducking in his embarrassed realization that he was obviously being seen doing so as he quickly turned back to his drums.

If you want the ULTIMATE Beatles recording book you have to get this....

http://recordingthebeatles.com

Unbelievable.

Also, unfortunately there's alot of mis-information in Mr. Emerick's book. It was ghost written by another writer and he ran with semi-recollections that have since been rebuffed by people that were there. Not to take anything away from Geoff Emerick. He became the main engineer on the Beatles album "Revolver" which has been voted best rock album of all time many times. He was responsible for bringing "close" miking techinques to the front line as well as using the famous Fairchild limiters on the drums. If you are a Beatles fan you will notice the drastic change in they're overall sound starting with Revolver. Up to that point all their albums were engineered by a man named Norman Smith who himself was an innovator as well. Oh God, don't get me started on Beatles trivia.....

I wonder how well he worked with Alan Parsons on "Abbey Road"...

I have a book called "The Beatles, the Bible and
Bodega Bay" by Ken Mansfield who was the Beatles manager in the USA. I bet Ken and Geoff knew each other.

Hmmmm.... in all my years of reading and studying the Beatles I've never seen his name associated with them. I looked him up a few minutes ago and it says he was the executive in charge of the US branch of Apple records. So he definitely wasn't their "manager". Still, just about anyone who ever had anything to do with them has written a book!!

He was actually the executive manager for Capitol records in the USA for the Beatles.

Hey! I heard this guy interviewed recently on Radio Merseyside (BBC) and he was very interesting. And we just got back from Liverpool so I'm pretty Beatled-up now.

The Beatles Anthology dvd gets into the recording aspects with Sir George Martin. Stuff they did analog could not have been done any other way.

The Beatles impact on culture is immense and longlasting. Their scribbled lyrics on scraps of paper and postcards are on display in a case in the British Museum. Just across the room are four Magna Cartas.

Hey Brooks, I visited Liverpool 2 years ago. Did you go as a "Beatle" person or for some other reason? I did the whole Beatle tour thing. Loved every second of it!! Went inside Lennon and McCartney's homes, visited Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields, the Cavern, the Casbah. Even got to perform at the Jacaranda one night!! I'm going back in '08

Sorry true radio people! Don't mean to get so far off the radio track here but it's what I know. ;-)

More on ADT:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_double_tracking

This explains the origins of the technique and its background.
I also read that by the time they got to Sgt. Peppers, Sir George started introducing longer delays by moving the second machine down the hall into another room to gain delay time. I just can't find that article, yet.

"Ken Mansfield can write authoratively about the music business of the sixties because he was there making it happen. As a young redord label executive at Capitol Records, the Beatles were his clients and they became his friends. Ken was hand-picked to be the first US manager of the Beatles' Apple Records."

From the front cover of the book I mentioned.

Bhone2000, I took a Beatles walking tour in London in 2000 (which included of course a final stop at Abbey Road where we all did the cheesy "Walk Across the Crosswalk" thing all tourists do). I loved it. Is Liverpool worth a visit just for that or is there more to see/do up there?

Andrew

Andy_brown:
Thanks for the link about ADT, It looks as if the delay was created by running the second recorder slower than the first, so perhaps the people in the hallway were used to control the increasing "slack" that would be produced between the two recorders during the recording of each song?

AndyBrown, or anybody, I dont think that wikipedia description of how it works makes sense if you read it carefully. I think it is a confused description of what was actually done. Do you agree?
Note: I don't understand myself what was actually done to achieve the result, but I understand the concept of having 2 playback sources, slightly out of sync causing the phasing sound. Good examples are Itcykoo Park and Doobie Bros Listen to the Music. The mono sgt pepper has it more than the stereo sgt pepper.
Did the abbey road ADT work while voice was being initilly recorded onto tape, or was it a seperate remixing operation done later?

I thought The Cavern was torn down!

Semoochie, the original Cavern WAS torn down back in the 80's but was rebuilt almost literally on the same spot a few years later using the bricks that they salvaged from the original demolition. It's build to nearly exact specifications to the original.
Andrew2...I also went to London and did the whole Beatle thing too. But Liverpool is where it all started so you can visit literally every place they ever performed (that still exist), lived, ate, drank and went to school. It's amazing. If you're not familiar with the famous spots in Liverpool it would be a good idea to do some research first so that you know what to look for.
I'll get back to you all on the way that Ken Townsend created ADT. It's got something to do with sending the playback signal to another machine that is running just slightly at a different speed. It's really not that complicated. They discovered it out of Lennon's bitching about always having to manually double track vocals. Once Townsend made it work it was used on nearly every song on Revolver for vocals and then for lots of instrumental tracks as well. Digital ADT doesn't even come close to the original.

Mr Beatle...your the best!

Stoner, how about playing the MONO Sgt. Pepper on the time machine program? Or at least some of it.

The 1st 3 and the last 3 have are somewhat different on the mono version. DDtRS should have a copy of the mono sgt pepper, I presume. The most obvious differences I think are during the long transition between Good Morning and the Sgt Pepper Reprise.
However some casual listeners might not notice differences unless you point them out.

How is ADT "invented" by Ken Townsend different than what was done on the 1950's record "The Big Hurt"?

Yeah, in his book, Emerick really poo-poo'ed the stereo mixes of the Beatles tracks he (and others) mixed up until the "White Album," saying that through "Sgt. Pepper" very few people even had stereo playback capability so the stereo mixes were done last, without much care.

While looking for more info about ADT and 50 foot tape loops, I found this info about the recording/mixing of Strawberry Fields Forever... wow, complicated!

http://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beatles/strawberry-fields.html

At the end of Strawberry Fields John says "Cranberry sauce." A lot of people still think John really said "I buried Paul." Thats from "Rolling Stone Book of Rock Lists."

EXCELLENT IDEA 62 KGW!

Finding a mono copy of Sgt. Pepper is tough these days. They do exist on CD though!!
Ok, here's the poop on ADT. And yes the same kind principal was used on the Big Hurt. That's what we now call Phasing or Flanging where 2 tapes of the same performance are sync'd to 2 different machines and when played back, a person would manually decrease or increase the speed of one so that it would play just slightly slower or faster. This results in that "whooshing" sound you hear. Same with Itchycoo Park.
Here's the quote from "Recording the Beatles"..
Ken Townsend realised that during playback of the 4 track tape, he could split a "copy" of the vocal track off at the sync head and then delay the duplicate signal until it was almost-but not completely -in sync with the orignal signal. This resulted in the illusion of 2 voices singing.

George Martin elaborates- " Ken had the idea that if you could take the signal off the recording head of the tape and delay it until it almost coincided with the signal from the playback head, you might get 2 sound images instead of one" Tapping off the sync head was simple. It was the same signal the Beatles listened to while performing overdubs. It came out of the sync output on the rear of the tape machine and into the control room's patchbay where it could easily be routed to anywhere the engineers pleased.

Hope that helps..

By the way, in all my reading I have never heard of the 50 ft loop. What you might be thinking of is the story concerning the multiple tape loops for the song "Tomorrow Never Knows" on Revolver. The story goes that there were several people in different studios with these 3 or 4 foot loops of sound that McCartney had made up. These guys would stand there with the tape going around the head and onto a pencil that they held onto. They would send all these different signals to the main mixer in studio 2 and each would be assigned a fader. That way they could literally "play" the faders like an instrument and bring them into the mix as they felt necessary. Ok... I gotta go read something about the Monkees now.....;-)

Did you know that "Because" is Beethovan's Moonlight Sonata played backword?

Well, thanks guys! Reading this brought back a terrible memory for me!

Back in high school, I sold a guitar, and threw in my MONO VINYL copy of Sgt. Pepper to "close the deal." Arggggh! I figured, heck, I wanted stereo anyway, who wants mono for cryin out loud?

Long term thinking is a wonderful thing, something I've never had unfortunately.

Great thread otherwise. BHONE, it's good to see ya!

Hey Warner!! It's been a long time since my "expertise" was needed on this website. I read it every day but don't butt in unless somebody mentions the Beatles!!

By the way, the mono version of the White Album is has even more differences in the mixes than Pepper..

If same/similar process was done for The Big Hurt, then Ken Townsend wasn't really the first to invent it. But lets give him benefit of the doubt in that maybe he nor anyone else there at abbey rd ever heard The Big Hurt and came up with the idea independently.

Back in the dark ages of radio production I stumbled on an easy way to achieve a flanging effect. I rolled record on a cart machine and one of the reel to reels at the same time. I brought the outputs of both record machines up on another buss, and due to the different record head to playback head spacing, there was a nice hollow sound. You changed the pitch of the effect by applying a slight amount of thumb drag on the supply reel. It was a two man job though...one person to mix the effect and one to do pitch control.

Why are the Capitol albums so different from the British versions? I have the American version of "A hard day's night" and its all in mono except for two instrumentals. The British version has more songs and is in stereo and doesn't have the instrumentals by George Martin's Orchestra.

I'm sure that Ken Townsend has never heard "The Big Hurt" the same way that George Harrison never heard "He's So Fine". Can someone explain to me about the "28 IF" license plate on the cover of Abbey Road? The rumor was that Paul would be 28 if he had lived. How can someone born in 1942 be 28 in 1969?

I also have stereo hard days night album (United Artists). Only the George Martin instrumentals are actually stereo. The Beatles recordings on it are mono versions that have noticeble differences compared with the stereo versons of the same songs on other LPs such as Something New. Also the treble seems to be cut off. One example is And I Love Her the mono version does not have the double track vocal.
Bhone2000 probably can explain why the major differences between US and british albums. I think it mainly had to do with different marketing practices and also some greed.
Perhaps they counted the number of years starting with and including 1942. That way you get 28.
If Ken Townsend heard The Big Hurt only when DXing on AM radio at night, he might have thought the phasing was caused by the atmosphere. Was The Big Hurt a Big Hit in England?

The British releases are the "correct" releases. Those are the ones that were approved by George Martin and the Beatles as far as content and track order. Their policy was to have 14 songs per lp and NOT to include the current single on the lp itself. They believed in giving true value for the money. In America, it was out of their control. Capitol not only put the singles on the US lps but I believe only put 12 songs per LP. So that allowed them to release nearly 2 Lp's to every 1 that was released in England. That's why there's no British releases of " Meet the Beatles, The Beatles 2nd Album, Something New, Beatles 65, Yesterday and Today, etc. A Hard Days' Night soundtrack was different because it was released on the Unitied Artist Label and they owned the rights to release the songs from the movie itself along with the incidental music.

The VW with the "28if" was purely coincidental and that's why it doesn't make true sense in the "Paul is Dead" thing. The photo was taken in August of 69. Paul had just turned 27 in June.
Geez I'm such a geek.

As far as Ken Townsend hearing the Big Hurt. I'm sure they probably did hear it. I think it was a hit in England as well. But again, from my understanding they didn't achieve the result the same way. I had read that with the Big Hurt they actually had a 2nd tape of the song on a 2nd machine playing at exactly the same speed. When they were perfectly sync'd up you couldn't hear any difference but as soon as somebody applied a little pressure to one of the reels, you got the phasing sound. The process that Ken Townsend invented was quite different. See my previous post.

Stoner: GREAT! (Tomorrow?)

Additional e-quests:

Isn't there a version of My Sweet Lord by The Chiffons?

I also want to hear the version of It Don't Come Easy with George singing instead of Ringo. I heard that played once on the Art Bell program a few years ago.

Didnt George later claim that he was not trying to copy from He's So Fine, but rather he was trying to copy from Oh Happy Day.

I wonder if the Chiffons ever did "My Sweet Lord." How does one prove unconsious plagerism? Thats what Harrison was found guilty of wasn't it?

I remember when the Beatles first came out the magazines made a big deal out of the fact that none of the Beatles could read music and that hasn't been talked about much since then.

I have a book called "the Beatles on Record" and it makes the point that "Revolver" is the first album the Beatles did in which the US and British versions have the same songs.

You're right about Revolver Wayne. And it's true that none of the Beatles ever learned to read and write music. It's been said that George was really the only one of the 4 that even showed an interest in his own instrument as far as how it worked, etc. One time in an interview for Bass Player magazine McCartney was asked what kind of bass strings he used and he repied.."long shiny ones". But in some books that have been published in the last few years, namely "The Beatles Gear" it's been pointed out that John and Ringo were both "gear heads" and many early photos of John on stage show his guitar in various stages of being modified. Thanks for giving me a platform to put forth my useless Beatles knowledge!! So anyway, back to work...;-)

The Big Hurt by "Miss Tony Fisher" spent 12 weeks in the US Top 20 beginning in December of '59.

It's peak position in the UK was #30.

In those days the Brits would try to "cover" many US hits before they got distribution over there.
The young rockers like J,P,G & R all scoured the record stores for American r'n'r, so it's conceivable aspiring "sound" oriented youngsters, who would later become engineers/producers soaked up sounds they heard and asked themselves, "How'd they do that?"

Production is part of the "creative" process.

I recall doing a 2 voice promo with Terry McManus at KOL in '69 for a "multi-media experience." We both worked off the same Mike (on a stand), read the copy in unison...marking "cross-over" points in which in mid-phrase one would take a step closer to the mike, while the other took a step back.

We then made a copy of the read on another full-track. We also made a copy employees "reverse tape reverb," by flipping the full-track over...playing it backwards with tape feedback reverb. Then when we turned the resulting dub over, the reverb appeared before the spoken word.

Simply starting 2 full-track ampexes for simultaneous playback with a remote start...results in slightly "out of synch" conditions. Then by fading the decks across one another at those "cross-over" points where were stepping into and away from the mike...created a "cosmic effect."

Add the right music effects, and 60-70 tape edits, and you've got a Rembrandt. Oh, yeah. A project like this might take 5-6 hours to get it just right....but you were "creating" on the fly, and only "settling" when you got what you envisioned.

I believe that's why 50's/60's rock'n'roll and R&B was so innovative. Singles were cut from start-to-finish based on the artist & producers vision. Phil Spector spent 15-18 hours recording instruments, vocals, & working each track from start-to-finish.

When the multi-tracking era began, it became common for musicians to lay down parts, perhaps never completing one track on a given day. Instead...drums were laid down...rhythm guitars...pianos. Start-to-finish song production became more of a rarity.

Those of you who create, know it comes in "bursts." When you're bursting...keep going. When you're spent...rest. It's much more inspiring than stamping out widgets.

Sorry if I took this "off thread," but "sound" was what first attracted me to radio.

Correction, the Capitol Revolver only has 11 songs vs. 14 on the UK Revolver.
The other 3 were diverted to the Yesterday and Today LP.
Sgt pepper was the first lp to have all same songs for both USA and UK.

See here: http://www.beatletracks.com/btlps.html

I love "The Big Hurt" by Toni Fisher and the weird sounding guitars was what made the song a hit. Why wasn't that tried again?

It was Wayne, many times. Listen to Itchycoo Park by the Small Faces, listen to the Drums in Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds, Sky Pilot by the Animals,etc. It's been used alot of times but it also kind of "dates" the recording so alot of bands stopped using it. There are still a few today who throw REEL phasing into the mix. I love it.

62-you are correct sir. I should relinquish my crown as "Mr. Beatle". Sgt Pepper was the first release that was the same in the US and England.

Robin, thanks for your wonderful insight as always. It's great to be able to read your stuff on this board.

One of the 910 Time Machine promos includes Phasing/flanging/ADT whatever you call it added to a "Yours Truly Kisn Radio" jingle.
Anybody know if that was effected by using analog method?

Anyone planning to go to "The Unreleased Beatles" reading at Powell's on Hawthorne on November 30?

http://www.powells.com/calendar.html#1271

Assuming I'm in town, I plan to be there.

Andrew

62...I've heard that jingle. I'm sure Stoner will give more insight but I'm pretty sure it's a vintage 60's thing and it has the true REEL phasing sound that we're talking about.

On the general Beatles topic: I repair guitars, and currently have one in the shop for an overhaul, with an interesting story that I'd love to corraborate.

The guitar belongs to the owner of Double D music in McMinnville, and he relates that the guitar (a red Hofner 12-string flattop, possibly a model #5156, distributed by Selmer Music; the serial number is not readable) was used by John Lennon when the Beatles played in Portland in August of '65.

The story goes that Lennon dropped the guitar onstage during a soundcheck and caused considerable damage to the peghead, and that damage exists today. He gave it to a roadie to get it repaired. The roadie brought it to a local music store (the shop and the owner's name available, but I don't have it at hand).

The owner told the roadie it would take over a week to fix it; the roadie left it and said he'd advise the tour manager. End of story, as the roadie, nor anyone from the Beatles organization, ever gave further instructions nor claimed the guitar.

The guitar languished in the shop for years and years, and was ultimately sold to the fellow who now owns Double-D music. To it's credit, the shop that sold it never tried to "cash-in" on the fact it was a Lennon guitar. In fact, the current owner purchased it on it's own merits, and was told the Beatles story AFTER the sale. It was playable at the time, but still has a huge chunk of maple out of the rear of the headstock, where it "hit the deck".

The current repairs (in my shop) will be a new headstock, a neck reset and a general "TLC" going-over.

Does any of this ring any bells with any Beatles afficianadoes of that era? The next step, I suppose, would be to contact the elderly gent who owned the music store in Portland. He's still alive but (by all accounts) not really "with it", so I dunno how much good that would do.

Anyway, that's the story.... it may be a great fabrication or an undocumented truth. But it's interesting nonetheless!

Uh, don't you think the guitar would have been worth more WITHOUT being repaired as a museum piece, the kind of thing they'd have at the Experience Music Project??? There are ways to validate whether the guitar was really Lennon's...

I enjoyed reading "Rock and Roll Archaeologist" by Peter Blecha - he was the guy who bought most of the original stuff that EMP has now, and he has all kinds of stories of people chasing down instruments like the one you now have in your possession.

Andrew

Perhaps contact the author of "Beatles Gear"?
He documents all kinds of details about each specific guitar (and other gear) that they owned or used. Including running down the serial numbers and what store origionally sold it and to whom.
The other suggestion is the local person who made the documentary about the 65 visit. Perhaps he or someone has photos of that rehearsal, or of other 65 shows that preceeded portland the same instrument maight have been used then.
I would agree with Andrew #2 about not repairing/restoring it, at least until it could be proved if the story was correct. If it could be proved that JL owned it (or used it), big time ka-ching!
Restoring/repairing it might (significantly) degrade the $ value in that case. Seek professional advice.
For example, the story might be partly correct, but maybe it was guitar was owned/dropped by one of the "opening acts" of the show, rather than by JL himself. In that case, I would think a repair would be in order.

You're reading my mind: I advised the current owner (Dan, of Double-D Music) that the chunk missing from the headstock might be best left "as-is", in that it's a stable break, it doesn't affect the playability, and it certainly is germaine to the story! It's ultimately his call on whether or not to repair it, as I'm just the "mechanic".

In any event, the neck will have to be reset in order for the guitar to ever be playable again... it's one of those repairs (like refretting) that will have to be done over time to most acoustic flattop guitars, and won't affect the value. I liken it to putting new tires on a classic car... you COULD leave the "originals" in place, but it serves no purpose having bald, flat tires on a 1963 Lamborghini.

Thanks for tips on Peter Blecha, the "Beatles Gear" author and the fellow who did the '65 documentary. This bears further investigation. By the way, I believe the music store that initially received the guitar "back-when" was Day Music.

Mike, If it WAS Day Music, you can contact John Chassaing who now runs Showcase Music. I'm pretty sure he was there in 65. I bought my first guitar from him and his partner Jerry in 1968. As far as the guitar in Portland, there's never been any mention of it including in the "Beatles Gear" book by Andy Babiuk or the excellent documentary DVD by Charles Stenberg. Charle's email address is....
cstenberg6@msn.com
I'm a Beatles gear nut. Not only being a fan but a musician for 35 years who has disected their music in my recording studio over the years. I read Andy's book cover to cover and there's no mention of any incident with the guitar you're talking about. I don't think it was a guitar that Lennon ever owned but who knows? Maybe someone was letting him try it out. Or maybe he had purchased it and it was never documented since no photos or documentation exists. So that'll be a tough one to prove I'm afraid. Still Andy Babiuk would probably be interested in your story. You should email him at ...beatlesgear@att.net. Make sure to let us know if you find anything out...

I just flipped thru the Gear book. I don't see any mention or pictures of any lennon guitars (in the 64,65 sections) besides various Rickenbackers and some accoustics. But that does not necessarily mean there weren't others. There were all kinds of promoters giving them stuff to try out.

Even if you fix a scratch or refinish it, you might remove evidence which could be seen old photographs.

Here are some songs about the Beatles:

All I want for Christmas is a Beatle-Dora Bryan
The Beatles Barber-Scott Douglas
Beatle beat-Ella Fitzgerald
Beatle Flying Saucer-Ed Soloman
A Beatle I want to Be-Sonny Curtis (he was one of the Crickets)
Bring back the Beatles-David Peel
Crazy John-Tom Paxton
Early 1970-Ringo
Frankenstein meets the Beatles-Jekyll and Hyde
Pop Hates the Beatles-Allan Sherman (Without dying, Paul got a bigger obituary than Allan)
I love you Ringo Bonnie Jo Mason (who is actually Cher)
I want to be a Beatle-Gene Cornish and the Unbeatles (they later became the Rascals)
I want to kiss Ringo goodbye-Penny Valentine
I'll let you hold my hand-The Bootles
I'm better than the Beatles-Brad Berwick
The Invasion-Buchanan and Greenfield
The Late Great Johnny Ace-Paul Simon (tribute to John Lennon)
A Letter from Elaina Casey Kasem
Little Beatle Boy-the Angels
My boyfriend got a Beatle haircut-Donna Lynn
A letter to the Beatles-the Four Preps (they probably wished that were the extent of their problems)
Saga of the Beatles-Johnny & the Hurricanse
We Love you Beatles-the Carefrees(does the Stoner have that one?)
Yes you can hold my hand-the Beatlettes

From Rolling Stone's Book of Rock Lists.

Mike, you might even google Peter Blecha and try emailing him. I met him at Powell's when he was here to do a book promotion thing last year and he seemed like a nice guy, who would probably answer questions about what one ought to do with a damaged, supposed "Lennon Guitar."

I don't know if the guitar would truly be worth that much, but at very least you know some local bar would love to display it as "a guitar John Lennon played in Portland" or something, like Hard Rock Cafe does. Since it does have some significant to Portland, it might find a home here in a place like that.

Andrew

2 answer songs were included in that list. Another that may apply is Neil Sedaka's "The Immigrant"("There was a time when strangers were welcome here!"). I think I mentioned before that my wife's podiatrist has a guitar hanging on his wall that is purported to be Paul McCartney's bass accompanied by pictures of Paul playing it. The trouble is, it's definitely a right hander!

That song is about John Lennons immigration problems.

Wow, what a Rocket Scientist!

In "Yellow Submarine" Ringo says "slubmarine" after the spoken part.
In "Paperback Writer" the voices sing "Frere Jacques."
in "I feel fine" John plays a guitar feedback.
In "Norwegian Wood" George debuts the sitar
in "Baby you're a rich man rumor has it that the Beatles sing "rich fag Jew" which may have been a slur on Brian Epstien.
In "Girl" the background singers say "tit."
"I am the Walrus" has John reciting from King Lear by Shakespeare.
"I'm only Sleeping" has the guitar track recorded straight but overdubbed backward.

From Rolling Stones Book of Rock Lists.

At least a couple of those items are not 100% correct.
The shakespeare reading is not JL speaking, but rather a recording of a Shakespeare play being broadcast on BBC Radio at the time Walrus was being re-mixed.

You beat me to it 62kgw!!!

...and in "Oh Bla Di, Oh Bla Da", they provide a place to put the "Girl" comment.

I saw a poster from which John Lennon got the idea for "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite." It looked to me like John quoted from the poster word for word. I think it was in a book about the Beatles. Has Bphone2000 seen it?

Go here and click on #4 to see it.
http://www.beatlesagain.com/

Also go here for other info
http://www.beatletracks.com/

Thanks. I just saw the Sgt. Pepper cover and thought of a question: How many faces on it can you name?

Hi Wayne, it's weird for me to hear questions like yours. For me the answers are just ingrained in my mind. I guess it's like a fanatical football fan who can name every quarterback in history and what team they played for in what year. The names on Pepper are well documented. I'm just a Beatles geek. That's why Stoner has me on his show when he has his annual Beatles spectacular. You go with your strengths!! It's cool to still see this much interest in the Beatles on this site though. Keep posting! ;-)

Bhone2000, yea, but can you name them completely from memory?

I wouldn't be surprised! And probably from the unedited original artwork, no less!

Very cool!

62---no, not that good!! I could defnitely name a bunch of them though!

By Bhone2000 on Monday, November 06, 2006 - 6:14 am:
Hi Wayne, it's weird for me to hear questions like yours. For me the answers are just ingrained in my mind. I guess it's like a fanatical football fan who can name every quarterback in history and what team they played for in what year. The names on Pepper are well documented. I'm just a Beatles geek. That's why Stoner has me on his show when he has his annual Beatles spectacular. You go with your strengths!! It's cool to still see this much interest in the Beatles on this site though. Keep posting! ;-)


greetings! I am not suprized that you know. But I was thinking it might be a good question to ask the listeners the next time you visit the Stoner's cave. It looks like we have given you some good ideas for subjects that could be talked about. For instance I mentioned the songs about the Beatles. I wonder how many of them Dirty Dave the record slave has.
I also would like to make a correction here: The group is Gene Cornish and the Unbeatables who became the Rascals. I had never heard of the song anyway. But I do know of the Carefrees song "We love you Beatles."

Hi Wayne,

D.Dave is a great friend of mine. And if ANYONE has those songs it's him. We'll see if he chimes in here with an answer. And you're right, there are some good subjects here that the average listener wouldn't know and might find interesting. I hope to get the chance to work with Dave and the Stoner again soon. Maybe in February on the anniversary of the Sullivan show?

Hi mr. Beatle! I think having excerpts from the Sullivan show would be quite appropriate. I have a cousin living in Washington DC who was present when the Beatles performed their first concert in that area back in early 1964. What I have often wondered is how the music world would be different without the Beatles.

We've actually played alot of Sullivan excerpts on the shows. Between Dirty Dave and myself we've got quite a collection of rarities that Stoner let's us play!
The last question you posed is impossible to answer! They influenced an entire generation of musicians. To this day each generation seems to pick up on how innovative they were. Just look at McCartney ticket sales....and it's not just baby boomers that are going to the shows.

The Beatles came at the right time didn't they? There were some great rock and roll songs but there weren't any trends or anything. Its hard to say what the music would have been. Maybe it would have been a bit mellower and soul music might not have made the impact it did. Thats just my take.

A few more suggestions for next Beatles Time Machine spectacular:

The beatletracks website lists many other artist's records that the Beatles covered, can you play some of those such as Arthur Alexander Anna?

One book I have mentions other records that the beatles liked and played before they got famous, some I have never heard, such as Hully Gully (artist?), a version of Shout by Lulu, and Apache by Cliff Richards.

A couple from the Beatles on BBC CD:
Keep your hands off my baby.
I'll be on my way.

Perhaps also some from the "Decca" audition?

The Rolling Stones version of I wanna be your man.

Here is a list of some of the Beatles songs they recorded but didn't write

1 Act Naturally-Buck Owens
2 Ain't she sweet-Paul Ash & his orch 1927
3-Anna-Arthur Alexander
4 Bad Boy-Larry WIlliams
5 Baby its you-Shirelles
6 Boys-Shirelles
7 Chains-Cookies
8 Devil in her heart the Donays 62
9 Dizzy Miss Lizzie-Larry williams
10 Everybody's Trying to be my baby-Carl Perkins (there is a rumor that he was present at the session but didn't take part)
11 Honey Don't-Carl Perkins
12 Kansas City/Hey Hey-Little Willie Littlefield

13 Long Tall Sally-Little Richard
14Mr. Moonlight Dr. Feelgood & the Interns
15 Matchbox-Carl Perkins
16 Money-Barrett Strong
17 Please Mr. Postman-Marvalettes
18 Rock & Roll Music-Chuck Berry
19 Roll Over Beethovan-Chuck Berry
20 Slow Down-Larry Williams
22 Till there was you-Robert Preston & Barbara Cook from the Music Man
23 Twist and shout Isley Bros
24 Words of Love - Buddy Holly
25 You Really got a hold on me-Miracles

Of course this is only a partial list from Rolling Stone's Book of Rock Lists.

You guys are hogging my gig!! ;-)

Actually you gotta listen the next time we do a show on KISN. We play alot of the songs that Wayne just posted. And most of the songs that 62 posted. It's very cool to understand what the Beatles were into and what influenced them.It's not just the well known acts like Elvis, Carl Perkins, Fats Domino, Little Richard,etc. They tell the story that they would get their records from sailors when they would come in from America. They really went for the R & B stuff and alot of the artists they covered really weren't that well known in America like Arthur Alexander, Larry Williams, etc.
The version of Ain't She Sweet I believe they copied from either Gene Vincent or Eddie Cochran. And then for their live shows they would choose the B side of any single to learn.
Remember George's 1987 # 1 hit called "Got My Mind Set On You"?? That was an old R & B song that George loved when he was a kid.
And don't forget that they wrote alot of great songs for other artists and we've played all those songs too. Bands like Billy J. Kramer, Peter and Gordon,etc. Here's a piece of trivia that you migt not know....Peter and Gordon had a big hit with a song called "Woman" which was credited to Bernard Webb. It was actually Paul who wrote the song. They allowed the fake name just to see if it was his name that was selling the records. It didn't make # 1 but did make an impressive #14 on the Billboard charts in 1966.
On the Time Machine show SToner, Dirty and I pull together tons of rare tracks, Live stuff and interviews that haven't been released to the public. I've been collecting this stuff for over 35 years. I think I have stuff that even the Beatles don't know they did!! It's alot of fun and I appreciate Stoner giving me an opportunity to use my Beatle knowledge once a year.
More, more!!

Didn't the Beatles and the Rolling Stones do a song together? I noticed one on Limewire!

Supposedly John and Paul sang background vocals on a tune that the Stones recorded. I think it was called "We Love You" or something like that. I have a version of it. It sounds like them! Paul also sings background vocals on Donovan's Mellow Yellow.

See, this is why I've always thought that an "all Beatles" radio format would work! You play Beatles, Beatles covers, Beatles solo. You've got more than enough to fill a playlist. With a variety of artists and styles.

And look! The Beatles bring people as diverse as Wayne, myself, Bhone2000(Mr. Beatle to you), Andrew2, etc. together!

"Come together, right now, over me". Never needed more than now.

Let's get it started!

Count me in!!....no wait, that's Gary Lewis and the Playboys....

Bphone: Check out Limewire and you will find a rare recording called "drift away" which featured the Beatles and the Rolling Stones!

I'd be leery about that one. Never heard of it. I'll check into it and run it thru the computers of the Bat..I mean Beatle Cave.

Wayne, how many times are you going to call him Bphone?

It's Bhone.

I am sorry. I am not very good at names. I thought of a question as I was lying in the sauna. I think Bhone knows this but its a fun question anyway: Can you name the artists who toured with the Beatles? There have been some weird bills!

The Beatles have been credited with "saving" rock-n-roll which really wasn't very old at the time. It may have gone back to all lounge singers. Who knows?

The last number 1 song on the billboard charts before the Beatles took over in late January 1964 was ....."There I've Said it Again" by Bobby Vinton!!

Wayne, there were so many bands that opened for the Beatles over the years it would be tough to come up with all of them. For the US tour in 1965 (the one where they came to Portland) it was, Brenda Holloway, Cannibal and the Headhunters, and Sounds Incorporated. I know at one point the Righteous Brothers were on the bill as were the Cyrkle and the Remains. Most were bands that Brian Epstein took a liking to. The other subject that's interesting was who did the BEATLES open up for before they became famous...off the top of my head, Trini Lopez, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, etc, etc...

I believe Helen Sharpio and Frank Ifield were 2 big stars in England that the Beatles opened for. Didn't they open for Cliff Richard?

Shapiro, I didn't know I knew that until just now but I remember hi-im.

Another e-quest for Stoner/Mr. Beatle/Dirty Dave:

Helen Shapiro record(s)- titles I dont know

How about Cilla Black (White?) Your My World. She was a friend of pre-famous beatles.

Del Shannon- From me to you

I have 2 songs on Itunes by Helen: I don't care and Walking back to Happiness.
Cliff Richard also did some hits I would like to hear sometime: Living Doll, The Young Ones, Summer Holiday, & Bachelor boy

Cilla had a big hit in England with a song written by Lennon/McCartney called "It's For You".Discovered by Brian Epstein. She was supposedly the cloak girl at the Cavern Club.. Very "Shirley Bassey" sounding...

Stoner, maybe we shouldn't wait til February!!

How about this.....
You all remember "stars on 45" which was a medely of mostly beatles hits but recorded by a group of copycats with a disco beat.
I have seen reference to a version of that created by actually splicing the origional Beatles recordings together. Can you get that for the show?

62kgw helen shapiro did the original version of its my party in 63 before lesley gore

62.... that could be done but the thing about the "Stars on 45" medley was it was all done to a set disco beat so some of the songs were speeded up or brought up a key to match the beat. It was clever at the time and the musicians that played and sang the Beatles parts were excellent. If you tried to do the same thing with the same original Beatles tracks you wouldn't be able to have them all match that beat. It could still be done though. I've never heard the one you're talking about.
Stoner, there's a challenge for me. I'll have it together by the next show just for 62kgw....!!

I have wondered who the "Stars on 45" actually were. I read that they were from Europe somewhere and put together the tracks of the Beatles songs and added a drummer. Remember when Les Elgart did "Hooked on Swing?" It was the same idea except he put together many of Glen Millers songs and added a drummer. When I go dancing on Saturdays its one of the most requested numbers!

Mr. Beatle, I understand what you are saying about tempo and pitch, but I did hear it and it "worked". Perhaps they fiddle with the speed to make the tempo match, but they could have instead varied the tempo of the added drumbeats to match the Beatles?
The stars on 45 using the actual beatles recordings was on a web site perhaps 5 years ago, It may have only been a portion of the whole posted at that time, I cant remember for sure, might have been before 911. I think that one was created at that time using modern music editing software, rather than back in 70's/80's. I looked around the web yesterday but could not find it. Maybe they could not afford the web site fees, or maybe they got a call from Neverland about publishing rights.
Looking at other info on the web, there is many mentions of this kind of thing being done on bootleg disco records in Holland/Netherlands in the late 70's. Perhaps those were not beatles, but combinations other hits. If you google "stars on 45" (use the quotes) you can find more info.
Also, There is a 15 minute version (I have it) of the Stars on 45 Beatles copycats, actually Stars on LP. (i.e. one entire side of a LP). I dont suppose you can play that on 910? That is Beatles copycats only, without the Venus/SugerSuger.

Wikipedia has some info about the "stars on 45" history. Some guy named Jaap did it with a group of singers who could sing and play almost exactly like J,P and G. Which is why it almost sounds exactly like the beatles. I presume many beatles fans think its an abomination?

Thanks for the info 62...I'll see if I can find any more info on the version you're talking about. As far as myself is concerned, when the Stars on 45 thing came out I thought it was pretty cool. Of course I can't speak for all the fanatics like me. It was a weird concept but they did such a good job imitating them that it was interesting if nothing else. Plus it brought a bunch of Beatle songs back into the limelight to the next generation 10 years after they broke up. It was actually released just months after Lennon was murdered. Whitburns' book says it was done by Dutch session musicians assembled by Jaap Eggermont.

There have also been collages of Carpenters and ABBA songs, among others, released under the Stars on 45 banner.

They did one of Elvis didn't they?

Speaking of Medelys, What is the actual name/artist of The Stoner's theme song? Usually played at 1:05 PM on Saturdays.
(Hey Mr. D.J. ....Those Oldies We All Love So...)

I think its by Anthony and the Sophmores.