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PBS program: "Sgt. Pepper's Musical Revolution"


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This deserves to be separate from the "Happy 50th birthday" thread, as a special was on PBS (not surprisingly, it's fundraising time) that detailed how many of those songs were composed and recorded using groundbreaking and/or innovative techniques. The task was incredibly complicated for those times.

Was particularly glad to see that "Within You Without You" and "A Day In The Life" were among the songs dissected.

Among the instruments cited were a Mellotron, harmonium, piccolo trumpet, etc.

The final chord on "Day In The Life" had eight pianos and a harmonium, and lasted for 43 seconds.

Astounding what was accomplished with such primitive and now-antiquated gear (and I use that same line in my lectures about the Space Race in the same decade that Sgt. Pepper was released).

And "Lucy  In The Sky With Diamonds" wasn't about LSD...

Highly recommended viewing if it comes on again, can be downloaded, whatever.

 

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I only caught a little bit of it tonight, but I'm sure it'll be repeated on PBS soon enough.  Did they mention anything about the vinyl record 'run-out' groove (basically, the analog version of an infinite loop) at the very end of the album, right after A Day In The Life?  Also, during the massive piano chord that ends that song, while the chord is fading out/decaying, I/you can faintly hear the sudden creak of a chair, like somebody getting up...and a hushed 'shh'.  I wonder who was responsible for those?

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It was a great look into the making of the album, though I could have watched for several hours more. :D  I wish they would have talked about the tape loops that they showed footage of.  It looked like about 30 feet of tape across 4 machines!

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If not mentioned previously, would highly recommend reading a book by their recording engineer from that period:

Geoff Emerick, "Here, There, and Everywhere"

A really great read.

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On 6/3/2017 at 10:28 PM, Willie G. Moseley said:

Astounding what was accomplished with such primitive and now-antiquated gear (and I use that same line in my lectures about the Space Race in the same decade that Sgt. Pepper was released).

I recall hearing about how we could only return to the moon with international cooperation and how incredibly expensive it would be.  We did it with 1960's technology that we already paid for. 

The recording gear used for Sgt. Pepper worked because people were focused on the outcome, not the gear itself.  The Beatles imagined the music and pursued what they heard in their heads. 

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Two words - FOUR TRACKS.

What George Martin and the Beatles accomplished with four tracks, via overdubbing and "reduction mixing" was truly amazing. 

Hamerica

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                                       I saw it and it was VERY interesting..............................the last chord in  A "Day in the Life" how that was done. All very cool................nobody had done many of the things there were doing.................really groundbreaking recording by everyone involved.

 

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It was 1987, the 20th anniversary of Sgt Peppers,* that they first released Beatles albums on CD.  It was my 19th birthday and that was the one I bought.  I remember talking about it with a guy I worked with, an old feller, musta been almost 35, who couldn't believe that twenty years had managed to get away so quickly.  

And here we are 30 years later.

* When it was literally "twenty years ago today"

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Between Brian Wilson and the Beatles, the art of record production advanced the equivalent of decades in the span of only two years. 

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                                                                         They took ordinary things and made them magical.................I remember Abbey Road..........god I wore that one out. Later when I really had some dough I bought the MFSL recordings of all those albums................and..................I still have them all in perfect condition. I was really glad I was alive when all this great music was being made.....it was a time that will never happen again as SO much has changed in the music world.

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I watched the PBS production tonight. It's very good, and enlightening, especially how so many of the songs on the album are grounded in actual things and current events at the time.

I have most of the EMI/Parlophone LP mono reissues from the Sept. 2014 release. This special has put Sgt. Pepper's back in my head. Tomorrow I will listen to the albume straight through, not doing dishes or dusting around the house, but sitting in the sweet spot as I listen to everything from start fo finish. It was such an artistic effort. It deserves my undivided attention.

BTW: If you haven't heard "Within You Without You" on mono LP, you haven't really heard it.

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Most people only listen to the Stereo versions of the Beatles albums. The Mono versions are the better way. These records were created and mixed to be heard in Mono, not stereo. So, the mix levels are very different and not accurate when spread out for stereo.

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20 minutes ago, santellavision said:

Most people only listen to the Stereo versions of the Beatles albums. The Mono versions are the better way. These records were created and mixed to be heard in Mono, not stereo. So, the mix levels are very different and not accurate when spread out for stereo.

What really put me onto the mono pressings was Geoff Emerick's book. He stated that they spent four days on the mono mix of Sgt. Pepper and about four hours on the stereo mix. That's eight times as much attention paid to the mono mix as the stereo. Within a week of reading that I located an affordable mono LP of Sgt. Pepper and bought it. When the brand new all-analog mono reissues came out in Sept. 2014 I bought it again.

Having only known the stereo mix for so many years, as much as I liked the album, I had always regarded Sgt. Pepper as thin and strident sounding in places. The mono mix is warm and rich, and the tablas on "Within You Without You" sound incredible.

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Cream's Disraeli Gears was re-released in 2004 as a two-CD set that included stereo and mono versions of the album (as well as outtakes, demos, and mono BBC recordings). Not as iconic as Sgt. Pepper but still had some innovative recording procedures (amp placement in the studio, etc.) so it would prolly be interesting (particularly to players). Anybody ever hear it?

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On 6/4/2017 at 8:03 PM, tommy p said:

When PBS shows things like this, very often it is an edited version.  I'm sure the original is even longer with more "stuff".

The IMDB entry indicates a runtime of 60 minutes. The PBS broadcast occupies 90 minutes for the 30 minutes of selling/fundraising scattered throughout.

You're right, though, that the show itself leaves me wanting for more. Still, it pulls together a lot of unknown or lesser known info about the recording and creative environments, the techniques, the technology, the happy accidents, and the stories behind the songs.

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On 6/3/2017 at 7:28 PM, Willie G. Moseley said:

Among the instruments cited were a Mellotron, harmonium, piccolo trumpet, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if the harmonium was the same one Lennon played on "We Can Work It Out."

The final chord on "Day In The Life" had eight pianos and a harmonium, and lasted for 43 seconds.

As good as the info is in so many places, I don't know where the "eight pianos" comes from. According to the Beatles Bible:

"The idea of a piano chord was eventually settled upon. Initially using three pianos, John LennonPaul McCartneyRingo Starr and Mal Evans all played an E major chord. McCartney led the recording, which was captured by Geoff Emerick in the control room of Studio Two."

From other accounts I read, the instruments included two Steinway grands, a Steinway upright, and the Harmonium. (Some accounts also mention a fourth piano, a spinet upright.) Lennon and Martin played the two Steinway grands, Paul and Ringo shared the keyboard of the Steinway upright, and Mal Evans played the harmonium. 

Astounding what was accomplished with such primitive and now-antiquated gear (and I use that same line in my lectures about the Space Race in the same decade that Sgt. Pepper was released).

Some of the old technology contributed to the sound, but also slowed production as you mention. EMI made their own tape decks, and according to Emerick, they were some of the best sounding decks in the business. On the downside, EMI was very slow to enlarge their machines to add more tracks. The recording console and the tape machines were almost certainly tube-driven as well.

And "Lucy  In The Sky With Diamonds" wasn't about LSD...

It was based on this drawing (scroll down) that 3-yr-old Julian Lennon drew about a classmate, Lucy O'Donnell, and brought home from nursery school. I wish they'd shown the drawing. As of 2011 David Gilmour owned it.

 

 

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And IIRC, host Howard Goodall sez something at the outset like "For the next hour, I'm going to...." but the commercials stretch it by another half hour. Expected.

Down here, that program was followed by an acoustic Joe Bonamassa concert from Carnegie Hall. Too sleepy to watch, but it looked like some kind of multi-cultural presentation.

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9 hours ago, Willie G. Moseley said:

Cream's Disraeli Gears was re-released in 2004 as a two-CD set that included stereo and mono versions of the album (as well as outtakes, demos, and mono BBC recordings). Not as iconic as Sgt. Pepper but still had some innovative recording procedures (amp placement in the studio, etc.) so it would prolly be interesting (particularly to players). Anybody ever hear it?

                                                                                         I have and I still have it and it IS excellent. I also have the MFSL Gold CD version.

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