The Beatles Cd - Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 3 (1966-1967)

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(TITLE REVIEW)

I really loved this CD. I guess because it has a lot of the making of Strawberry Fields Forever on it. This CD starts out with two fast songs Paperback Writer and Rain. Paperback starts off slow with a few mistake by the band but they finally get into the song and its not to bad. Rain was very well done for what ever take it was. Tomorrow Never Knows could have been a final take for how well it sounded. Strawberry Field Forever - Well!!! Listening to John Lennon - Ok I cried and so what? Yes girls some guys do cry. I have and allways will love and miss John. They should come out with a CD that has the complete making of Strawberry Fields Forever... Sorry. A Day In The Life and All You Need Is Love was not bad. I Am The Walrus with out vocals was very injoyable. The last two song were instrumental yet I think that they will be like by all who listen to them. On the whole this album is really good to listen to. I think that whoever listens to it will really like the songs. Not hearing Unsurpassed Masters Vol.1 and 2 I can't compare it to those CD's but I would say that each on of the Unsurpassed Masters can only compare with it's self.





Paperback Writer (Lennon/McCartney)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 1 Breakdown 13 Apr 1966

The Beatles Stereo, without vocals. Guide guitar in place of opening vocal harmonies. Drums, guitar, jangle box. Breakdown after first verse.

Pitch correction: +1.0% Paperback Writer (Lennon/McCartney)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 2 13 Apr 1966 SS.PM2.03.02 The Beatles Lacks delay on vocals, leaving sparse space at refrains. Left channel: Bass, lead vocal, "Frere Jacques" falsettos. Right channel: Drums, guitar, jangle box, lead vocal. No fadeout at end, revealing electric keyboard riff and falsettos that didn't make it onto the EMI/Capitol single.

This is not an "alternative stereo mix with radical separation". It's how it sounds on the master tape. There is no keyboard played on this track at all, and all the vocals here are on the single. There is the sound of a piano-through-Leslie at the very end, from a previous unidentified recording on the tape that "Paperback Writer was recorded over.

Pitch correction: +1.0% 2. Rain (Lennon/McCartney) 3:;04 Take 7 Reduction Mix 14 Apr 1966

The Beatles Left channel: Bass, drums w/high hat. When panned left, it's purely instrumental except for backup vocal phrases and Lennon's harmony at the refrain. Right channel: Lennon's lead vocal, guitar, drums without high hat. The stereo separation allows listeners to focus on Lennon's stunning vocals. Especially riveting are his double-tracked harmonies at the refrains. Fully separated in this mix, the listener can pan left or right to hear each Lennon vocal separately. Droning on the word "Rain," he achieves the vocal timbre of a Tibetan monk high in the mountains.

3. Tomorrow Never Knows (Lennon/McCartney) 2:57 Take 3 RS3 6 Apr 1966

The Beatles Listed as "Mark I". RS3, 22 jun 1966

Don't get too excited by the false liner notes. This is not "Mark I", the early take of "Tomorrow Never Knows". (see Mark Lewisohn's book on the Abbey Road Sessions).

This is not an alternate stereo mix of the tape loop experiment...it's the LP mix -180 degrees out of phase, and so poorly transferred that it sounds like stereo, when it is in fact mono. The loops are out front, more distinct, than on "Revolver", and Lennon's vocal becomes buried when the revolving Leslie speaker effect kicks in. The real "Mark I" reportedly was included on Anthology II.

Pitch correction: +0.4% 4. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney) 3:06

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 1 24 Nov 1966 SS.MMT.08.01 The wonderful take 1 ...

Innocent psychedelia. Stereo mix taken from the master.

Lennon does not sing the harmonies himself, George and Paul are plainly present on them.

There's a clip in the film "Imagine" where Lennon is interviewed as he is entering Abbey Road studios toward the end of 1966. He's holding a reel-to-reel tape in his hands. It's possible that this track is from that 1/4" reel.

Pitch correction: -2.2% (Key B) Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)

Take 2 28 Nov 1966

The Beatles Pitch correction: +4.4% Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)

Take 3 28 Nov 1966

The Beatles Pitch correction: +4.4% Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)

Take 4 28 Nov 1966

The Beatles Pitch correction: +3.1% (Key B flat) Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)

Take 5 29 Nov 1966

The Beatles Pitch correction: +4.7% Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 6 29 Nov 1966 SS.MMT.08.06 The Beatles Pitch correction: +4.7% Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 7 29 Nov 1966 SS.MMT.08.07 The Beatles Reduction from take 6.

Pitch correction: +5.3% (key B flat) 7. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney) 3:42 Take 25 Remix 9 Dec 1966

The Beatles This is the orchestral overdub onto the edit of Takes 15 & 24.

George Martin's orchestrated score for the faster, heavier SFF that became the second half of the EMI/Capitol release. No vocals here, though.

Ringo's drumming becomes manic through the bit that was faded out at the end of the EMI single. And Lennon can be heard shouting: "Tell you... What? ~Laugh~. Ho, huh-huh. Can you hear ...buh, da-da dup... ~laughing~... cranberry sauce, cranberry sauce."

Then John orders: "All right, calm down, very well. Calm down."

Pitch correction: -3.4% (key B) 8. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney) 3:30 Take 26 Remix 15 Dec 1966

The Beatles This is the vocals and other overdubs onto Take 25, which was edited to Take 7 to make the master version for the single.

Same orchestra take, this time with all the back masking and overdubs. The ending grows into a massive psychedelic din, a rush of sound textures that were all faded out of the EMI single.

Perhaps this mix was too harsh for a pop release in 1967. For today's post-Nirvana dissonant-trained audiences? Solid Gold.

Pitch correction: -3.6% (key B) A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney)

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RS4 Take 6, 7 20 Jan 1967 SS.SGT.13.0607.RS4 The Beatles Another stereo mix attempt.

Reduction mix (take 4 into take 5, 6 & 7).Several failed stereo remixes, including Emerick's "RS-4" and Martin's "RS-5" and "RS-6" verbal documentation. The longest remix reveals the synching problem that emerged while trying to link the 4-tracked orchestra swell to another machine with the 4-tracked Beatles' reel. (see Lewisohn, Abbey Road Sessions).

Three failed remixes. Note the differing stereo placements from one to another. The longest tape of this remixing session- RS 5 & 6 appeared previously on "Dig It" (Condor 1987) among others.

This is stereo mixing session done on 22 February 1967. These stereo mixes were edited from takes 6 and 7.

Pitch correction: +2.8% A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney)

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RS5 Take 6, 7 20 Jan 1967 SS.SGT.13.0607.RS5 The Beatles A quickly aborted stereo mix.

Reduction mix (take 4 into take 5, 6 & 7).Several failed stereo remixes, including Emerick's "RS-7" and Martin's "RS-5" and "RS-6" verbal documentation. The longest remix reveals the synching problem that emerged while trying to link the 4-tracked orchestra swell to another machine with the 4-tracked Beatles' reel. (see Lewisohn, Abbey Road Sessions).

Three failed remixes. Note the differing stereo placements from one to another. The longest tape of this remixing session- RS 5 & 6 appeared previously on "Dig It" (Condor 1987) among others.

This is stereo mixing session done on 22 February 1967. These stereo mixes were edited from takes 6 and 7.

Pitch correction: +2.8% A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney)

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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RS6 Take 6, 7 20 Jan 1967 SS.SGT.13.0607.RS6 The Beatles A stereo mix attempt.

Reduction mix (take 4 into take 5, 6 & 7).Several failed stereo remixes, including Emerick's "RS-7" and Martin's "RS-5" and "RS-6" verbal documentation. The longest remix reveals the synching problem that emerged while trying to link the 4-tracked orchestra swell to another machine with the 4-tracked Beatles' reel. (see Lewisohn, Abbey Road Sessions).

Three failed remixes. Note the differing stereo placements from one to another. The longest tape of this remixing session- RS 5 & 6 appeared previously on "Dig It" (Condor 1987) among others.

This is stereo mixing session done on 22 February 1967. These stereo mixes were edited from takes 6 and 7.

Pitch correction: +2.8% All You Need Is Love (Lennon/McCartney)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 57 TV 25 Jun 1967

The Beatles Take 57 of the "Our World" live world-wide TV broadcast of June 25, 1967.

Pitch correction: +2.6% All You Need Is Love (Lennon/McCartney)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Take 58 TV 25 Jun 1967

The Beatles Take 58 of the "Our World" live world-wide TV broadcast of June 25, 1967. Includes several seconds of studio ambiance from after the cameras had cut away, with Mal Evans announcing "Happy New Year, everybody!"

Pitch correction: +2.6% 11. I Am The Walrus (Lennon/McCartney) 4:13 Take 9 5 Sep 1967

The Beatles This is an excerpt of an external recording ("monitor mix") from the control room, of the session for the instrumental track. Yellow Dog would release this complete tape four years later on "Control Room Monitor Mixes"

A surprise gem. Angry, grungy instrumental take 9 of "Walrus". Recorded Sept. 5, 1967 - just days after Brian Epstein's death. Bass, drums, keyboard and guitar. Ringo is still sorting out his drum part through the first half. By the end, his patented left-handed snare fills are in full blossom on his right-handed kit.

Pitch correction: -3.5% 12. Aerial Tour Instrumental (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey) 2:05 Take 8 RM4 8 Sep 1967 SS.MMT.05.08.RM4 RM4, 8 sep 1967, acetate.

This is an alternate mix of "Flying". There is a minimal, back-masked keyboard track in this mix in the place of a guitar track that is heard on the EMI release. Most notably, the long mellotron ending which fades into "Blue Jay Way" is missing. In its place is a basic 1-4-5 progression in a ragtime rhythm featuring banjo, whistling and saxophone.

The long mellotron meanderings that follow the end of the group's performance, from RM1, were hived off and replaced with a recording of a jazz band, from an unidentified record. Yellow Dog would release the complete RM1 in 1994 on "The Ultimate Collection" Vol. 1.

Pitch correction: +0.5% 13. Hello Hello (Lennon/McCartney) 5:05 Take 1 2 Oct 1967

The Beatles Emerick calls it: "Hello, Hello. Take one." Highlights of this piano and organ backing track are Ringo's Pepperesque fills with his cross-over rolls off the toms. A complete take without vocals or guitar overdubs.

The intro of this piece is stereo, but the recording goes mono at the fade of all sound just before they start playing. Paul plays piano, John plays organ, and George plays tambourine.

Pitch correction: +1.1%