|
:
This is the isolated vocal track, which
Giles explains is the three singers (John, Paul and George),
done three times, accounting for the heavenly choir-like
sound. Fans may be familiar with this from its previous
inclusion on the CD Beatles Anthology Volume Three. Here,
there are sound effects of flying birds, similar to those
heard in the “Free As A Bird” video.
:
this one starts out with the final chord from “A Day
In The Life” played backwards. As Giles explains: “that
(chord) was a great closer; I figured playing it backwards
would make a great opener”, going on to say that the
goal here was to imagine a “gig that never happened”.
As it builds up, we hear the crashing first chord from “A
Hard Day’s Night” and the drum solo from “The
End” (to evoke the band coming on stage) as the pulsating
bass for the main theme “Get Back” builds up,
the crashing cymbals signifying that the band has arrived.
:
follows a brief “Hello Goodbye” interlude. The
strings in the fade out lead nicely into …
(transition):
at first we hear isolated strings without vocals, then the
solo (and later double-tracked) McCartney vocal leading
us into the full blown song. Giles pointed out that certain
songs originally done on 4-track (and “bounced down”
as Paul recently demonstrated on his Abbey Road Studio TV
special) had to basically be “de-mixed” by going
back in reverse-history order to the individual tracks and
manually synchronizing them; the resultant “Eleanor
Rigby” was a 6-track recording.
Due to time constraints, certain
tracks were not played at the session. We’ll list those
here, but refrain from commenting as we didn’t hear
the final CD versions, having only experienced them “live”
at the show in Las Vegas (see our earlier reports for details).
: truly one of
the highlights of the show and this CD, so much so, that
there is triple billing in the title! In addition to those
mentioned, the track also prominently includes the guitar
lead from “Taxman”.
. Giles tells
how he stumbled into this one, saying that he just wanted
that soft crash cymbal (backwards), but as the track played,
the isolated vocal was just so fluid. One would think that
the vocals of a full song, played in reverse would come
across as gibberish; in point of fact, as the tempo is maintained,
and it resembles almost a foreign language version of the
song. Stunning.
(transition): this one starts out a bit stripped down, with
the vocal mixed way up front, but is fully textured by the
time it is over, building slightly throughout the song.
The “transition” segment features a couple of
lines from “Nowhere Man”.
:
due to its big-top imagery, “Kite” was one of
the most obvious tracks for inclusion in the show. Here,
the circus organ is mixed to the front, and the waltz segment
at the end segues seamlessly (and ultimately sits atop)
the instrumental closing of “I Want You”. Giles
points out that the show’s producers wanted “Kite”
to take on a dual-meaning, and reflect the “media”
circus that surrounded the band, hence the inclusion of
‘Helter Skelter”. Quite clever, that.
:
another example of the collaborative creative process. Giles
says this was one designed to show The Beatles being creative,
so we get the solo acoustic take from John, blended with
two studio versions to demonstrate the progression into
the final product, eerily recalling his dad’s own experience
with the song (keeping it all in the family, Giles revealed
that it was his wife who initially suggested this one).
Over the extended drumming in the fade out, we hear well-placed
timed excerpts of “Sgt. Pepper”, “Penny Lane”,
“Piggies”, “In My Life” and the coda
from “Hello Goodbye”. Once George Martin vari-speeded
all the various takes of the song into the key of B, Giles
then took six weeks to create this one mix.
: this one seems to
be a favorite of anyone who has seen the show or heard the
track. It starts out with the sitar drone from “Tomorrow
Never Knows” and an isolated vocal of John (“turn
of your mind relax and float down stream”). The backing
track kicks in, and the vocal from “Within You Without
You” sets in. That fades into a tabla and vocal passage,
and leads to the return of the drums from “Tomorrow
Never Knows”. Giles points out that the modular, basically
mono-chordal structure of the two songs made this one of
the easier “technical” exercises, and points out
that indeed it was the very first one he did for the project.
:
as in the show, this one starts out really slow, and builds
up to the standard tempo. In the choruses, we hear the guitars
mixed to the fore, and are treated to horn passages from
“Sgt. Pepper”.
:
Now it’s time for Ringo’s turn in the spotlight.
This song has always been aligned with “Yellow Submarine”.
That’s one of the reasons that Ringo refused to perform
both in concert. This version opens with the string section
from “Goodnight”, with the sound effects, chatter
and chains from “Yellow Submarine” sprinkled throughout.
Ringo’s isolated vocals from “Octopus’ Garden”
are audibly slower during the string passages but are returned
to “normal” when the songs backing tracks kick
in.
:
this one opens with thunder and the footstomping from the
Cirque show. We quickly hear The Beatles mock trumpet voices
into the drum track from “Why Don’t We Do It In
The Road”, organ and horn riffs from the main title,
and a glorious isolated vocal passage (“see how they
run”). The electric guitar riffs from “Hey Bulldog”
are interspersed along with Clapton’s searing guitar
solo from “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. .
(transition)
(transition)
:
Giles pointed out that Olivia Harrison was originally not
keen to use the acoustic version (as heard in the Beatles
Anthology) as she felt it was unfinished and fragile. A
new string arrangement was scored by George Martin (similar
to the treatment he did for “Grow Old With Me”
on the Lennon Anthology) at Giles’ recommendation,
which draws liberally on the famous guitar leads played
by Eric Clapton on the final White Album recording.
(reprise)
:
over the famous fade out, we hear not only “In The
Mood” as on the original take, but also bits of “Baby
You’re A Rich Man”, “Rain”, “Goodnight”
and ultimately a snippet from the Beatles Christmas Album:
“this is Johnny rhythm saying goodnight to ya’s
all, and God bless ya’s”
Got all that?
|
