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The Beatles - 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' Part 1
Could an album truly reshape the music industry and redefine cultural boundaries? Join us as we uncover the monumental impact of The Beatles' 1967 masterpiece, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." We'll explore how this groundbreaking work reimagined the role of the studio, utilized classical instruments in revolutionary ways, and even sparked a friendly rivalry with The Beach Boys, influencing their own iconic "Pet Sounds." Our discussion sheds light on the album’s status as a cultural keystone, earning hyperbolic praise and marking a decisive moment in musical history.
Have you ever wondered about the journey The Beatles took from their early rock-and-roll roots to the eclectic sounds of "Sgt. Pepper"? Listen to our personal anecdotes about first encountering the album and its immediate, transformative impact. We highlight the influence of the San Francisco rock scene and other contemporaneous sounds, celebrating the album's artistic unity despite its diverse styles. Tracks like "Strawberry Fields" and "A Day in the Life" illustrate a subtle cultural revolution within a cohesive yet non-narrative structure, showcasing The Beatles' rapid musical evolution over just a few years.
Why do certain mixes of "Sgt. Pepper" resonate more deeply with listeners? We compare the original 1987 stereo mix with the 1997 and 2009 remasters and Giles Martin's 2017 remix, sharing our preferences and the nostalgic value tied to the original's quirks. Dive into the fascinating backstories of tracks like "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" and reflect on the joy of rediscovering this classic album on vinyl. Join us for an immersive celebration of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," appreciating its unmatched brilliance and the iconic cover art that adds to its enduring charm.
Welcome everybody. I'm here with Bernardo Morales and we are going to talk about Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles, their iconic 1967 album, and I can't believe we waited this long to talk about it.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, I can't believe it. This is arguably arguably, I guess the best Beatle album, but I guess that depends on whether you like. Well, people have different likes and dislikes when it comes to Beatles albums, but this is arguably their most important album, I guess.
Neil McCutcheon:I agree and I mean it's. I mean there's a lot of hyperbole around the album, but it definitely changed the state of the industry. It definitely was important in the culture and I mean it kind of.
Bernardo Morales:You know, it invented or reinvented what an album could be, or it kind of continued the work that maybe the Beach Boys had attempted before, before Sgt Pepper, and it kind of went on from there. I don't know, what do you think?
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, that's right. I mean I've heard it. I'm going to say I've heard it described as the most influential album ever released. I've heard it described as the most influential album ever released, even though I guess the band weren't trying for this, they were just sort of having fun pushing boundaries. But there were so many new things.
Neil McCutcheon:I think the idea of having a kind of loose concept behind it, the idea of, you know, just printing the lyrics using classical instruments in a, not just as a kind of backing but as integral to the sound, the, the whole role of production and the whole role of the, the studio, it, I mean it's it's hard to describe, it's hard to imagine what music was like before, because we've grown up in the era after Sgt Pepper and we're so used to it. Perhaps it hurt its reputation a bit. It was always called, I mean, when I was growing up it was always assumed that this was the greatest album of all time and you know it was hard to disagree with that opinion and I think that's kind of hurt it. But it definitely has a huge influence. Yeah, definitely, I think that's kind of hurt it, but it definitely has a huge influence.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, definitely. I think you can tell that the Beatles were aware of the fact that they were not going to be playing this album live, and that's where they started kind of integrating more classical instrumentation into the songs and using the studio as an instrument in itself. So you can definitely tell that and you can definitely hear as well the influence from Brian Wilson's Pet Sounds in some of the songs, especially McCartney's songs.
Neil McCutcheon:Do you know that McCartney actually went over to LA I guess it must have been around Christmas, well certainly in the period when they were recording it and they met Brian Wilson and played him part of she's Leaving Home, or the whole of she's Leaving Home, on the piano and said you better get going, boy, you better catch up, or something. They had a friendly rivalry.
Bernardo Morales:They did, they did. And I think that really affected brian wilson because he never really did anything worthwhile after. Uh, pet sounds, um, I never completed smile, he never did. Um, he got recently released, right, he, they kind of finished it recently.
Neil McCutcheon:It's wonderful yeah, they well. Yeah, there were two versions there. There's the Brian Wilson version with his current band have I heard that? I don't even know if I've heard that, though I did see it live and it was very good. And the other one is yeah, they took the Smile Sessions a few years ago, maybe 2017. Yeah, and yeah, they made that complete album and it's really worth having it. It's a beauty. It's very eccentric compared with Sergeant Pepper, much more eccentric with the lyrics and everything.
Bernardo Morales:But it's a treat. Yeah, it's good. I really like the Beach Boys. I was actually watching their documentary on Netflix. Was it on Netflix, actually, or Disney Plus? It's on Disney Plus? I haven't seen that yet. Yeah, it's okay, it's not the best documentary, but it kind of made me, um, listen to pet sounds from beginning to end. Again, um, and it kind of made me feel that now it might sound a little bit dated, but at the time it must have sounded amazing.
Neil McCutcheon:I think that's the problem with Sgt Pepper as well, and I think that's I mean, it's very hard to find a beatles fan now um, certainly a published one who would say that this is their best album. But uh, you know, it's definitely a contender, but I think to some extent it's a prisoner of its time. In a way it's very 1967 in in the way that you know. Let's, the White Album could have been recorded last week, right, because of some of the sounds and some of the effects.
Bernardo Morales:But we need to bear in mind that those sounds and effects had never been done before on record by a pop band.
Neil McCutcheon:Exactly. And talking about the hyperbole, did you know I guess you know what the Times theatre critic, kenneth Tynan, said about Sgt Pepper? No, I don't know. He said it was a decisive moment in the history of Western civilisation. Wow, moment in the history of western civilization.
Neil McCutcheon:Wow, and that, yeah, and that's from 1967, but more recently in the, in the sort of the reissue, you know, the big package from 2017, howard goodall, famous classical composer and famously a beatles fan, said it was a realignment of the ecology of music itself. That's a modern quote. Um, because he says it kind of blurs the distinction between high art and popular art. You know, it's that. It's that time where you know the the distinction between classical music and pop music and whether we should take this seriously, whether it's an art form at all. From sergeant pepper bands, you know, you can see it going into the 70s as well with you know, pink floyd, I think, especially people experimenting with, you know, using sound effects and creating this kind of aural work of art as opposed to.
Neil McCutcheon:Okay, this is just 14 songs, just a. You know a bunch of songs for you to buy. Uh, it the album is a kind of unity from that point on and I guess that attracts a lot of criticism as well. You know bad poetry and da-da-da, but for me it's charming that people that kind of working-class kids or whatever would go out and write about fairy tales and try and make Lord of the Rings-themed albums, and all that because I don't think it'll happen again. I think the albums moment has passed in some ways because of streaming. I love the fact that Sgt Pepper inspired people to these giddy heights, even if they weren't really capable of making art at that level. Sgt Pepper really put people onto that track.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, for sure. And now that you were talking about Howard Goodall, I think he's done a couple of documentaries where he's analysed Beatles music from a classical composer's point of view and they're pretty good. I think they're on YouTube, so I highly recommend them. I love watching.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, I love those documentaries.
Neil McCutcheon:And the other thing I just wanted to say about the was the influence of sergeant pepper at the time, because I think some people have said you know it was very influential at the time but uh, you know now not so much, because music has moved back to being more kind of stripped down in some cases and all that indie music, maybe not so orchestrated, but at the time there were a whole lot of copycats.
Neil McCutcheon:I don't want to say that early pink floyd were copying, but you know they did have that fairy tale sort of imagery bands like the pretty things and tomorrow and idle race and kaleidoscope and you knowinks' next outing just so many. And then in the 70s with bands like ELO, bands who were kind of riding in that idiom and in a sort of a musical fairy tale back to childhood style, and that's one of the things that's important to me. I guess Sgt Pepper made such a splash with me that I started looking. I just wanted to find bands that sounded like Sgt Pepper. I ended up in my collection with a bunch of bands of varying qualities, right, but which were trying to imitate that sound.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, so did you come across the album as an album in itself?
Neil McCutcheon:So the first time that you got it, yeah, I remember very clearly. I kind of I knew the Red and Blue albums when John was shot. And then in early 1981 I went and I, oh, I'd got this like sort of commemorative magazine about john lennon's life and it said you know, of course at the time it just said, sergeant pepper, this is greatest album ever by anybody. And so of course I went out and grabbed it and I I didn't. I knew I guess I knew lucy and the tracks that were on the Blue album. So I knew a few. But yeah, I heard it from beginning to end and I think I was impressed straight away. The one I really liked as a kid was she's Leaving Home, because it's so melodic. But yeah, it definitely made a splash with me. How about?
Bernardo Morales:yourself. In my case I came across. I remember like my dad bought me Please, Please Me, and that was kind of my first introduction to the Beatles. So I was used to that kind of era and that's what I always expected from them. I expected that kind of old-fashioned rock and roll and I started kind of downloading songs and I came across Sgt Pepper and I just didn't think it was the Beatles. I thought it was a mistake.
Bernardo Morales:It just sounded to me so different, and that's something that I wanted to kind of talk about, and it's how they Because of the shouting and yelling in the Sgt. Pepper track, Because it's yeah, the Sgt Pepper track. It just sounds like proper rock. Or more modern rock than the 1963 stuff that they were putting out, and or more modern rock than the 1963 stuff that they were putting out and I just thought it was amazing how they had progressed. Yeah, it's a definite change.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, like just listen to this one second, I guess hadn't rocked out that much. Go on, just listen to this from 1963, right, okay, oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah.
Music:Imagine I'm.
Bernardo Morales:Okay, and now listen to this. It was 20 years ago today. Sgt Pepper taught the band to play, and that was just three years apart.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, that's incredible, isn't it? Do you think that they were trying to imitate kind of the San Francisco sound at all? I mean, I wonder who had that very rock sound I mean lots of bands, I guess, at the end of 1966, garage bands and everything, because it was never a Beatles track that sounded like that.
Bernardo Morales:I mean, I know they rocked out with I'm Down and so on, but that was kind of a new level, yeah, and if you start kind of looking at their progression from these times, from I'll Get you and Thank you, Girl and those songs from the early Beatles, to what they were doing in Help and Revolver. I mean you can definitely see a natural progression until Sgt Pepper. But if you play those two tracks and you say there were only three years apart, that's when you go, wow, they grew a lot as a band in three years. And if you listen to current bands you seldom see bands that progress so much in such little time.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, you're right. Right, I agree that the pace of the industry has slowed down a lot. I mean certain famous exceptions, right, like taylor swift seems to be very, uh, you know, prolific. But you know, bands have years between their albums now and, uh, I guess, because, because the the form itself was in its infancy, then, I guess, you know, the beatles were driving it forward and really trying to make that progress, and I guess it happened in the 70s with people like, you know, david boy, yeah, pink floyd, um, but the pace is, it's probably unequaled, right yeah, yeah, definitely.
Bernardo Morales:So at first I thought that must be a different band. It just doesn't sound like the Beatles I'm used to, so it was a discovery, for sure. And what did you think of the rest?
Neil McCutcheon:of the album.
Bernardo Morales:I just thought it was crazy at first. And little by little, I just fell in love with the songs and it's one of those albums I like from beginning to end and I think you have to listen to it from beginning to end.
Neil McCutcheon:The experience is different compared to if you listen to individual tracks. Yeah, that was a question I was going to ask you. One of my favorite things about Sgt Pepper is that it does have this kind of forward momentum, but it's not a narrative, it's not a strict it's not a narrative, you know.
Neil McCutcheon:It's not a strict, it's not a concept album not like the wall or Tommy or something like that, right, but I like the fact that it does. It seemed to be a progression and it works very well. And another thing about the lyrics that I read that was very nice. It said that the Beatles' kind of revolution in terms of what they were doing to culture, wasn't loud and rhetorical. It's not like there's a call to arms of revolution and all that, but it's all kind of hinted, hinted, hinted in the background, like in the mood and the sounds of the music. So it's all very kind of subtle and implicit in Sgt Pepper, which is something that you know.
Neil McCutcheon:I think for John Lennon that's something that he lost because you know he went on to doing songs that were explicitly about himself and very clear what the driving force was or the message. But Sgt Pepper doesn't really have any messages and in that way it's poetic when thinking about things like from Strawberry Fields to A Day in the life. These are works of art that you can discuss, uh, and but he's not.
Bernardo Morales:All you need is love, yeah no, exactly, yeah, exactly.
Neil McCutcheon:It's not a hymn, it's not a call to arms or something. It's not preaching, but there is a. Do you find, you know that, that unitary feel, despite the fact that it's got an Indian track and a kind of pastiche oldie worldie track and when I'm 64, it's?
Bernardo Morales:still that. That is just so Beatles, isn't it? And having that variety within the record that represents each of the members of the band, I think it's a feature that you see in most of their albums, especially from Help onwards.
Neil McCutcheon:That's one of the things I like the best about Beatle albums and when I was making music I liked doing that. It's just how to make every track sound different and that's counter to the modern idiom where people try and kind of go for this is the sound of this album, this is the sound of that album. But to go from say, go for, you know, this is the sound of this album, this is the sound of that album, but to go from say Within you, Without you, to when I'm 64. I mean, that's crazy. You're going from a different musical universe.
Bernardo Morales:I love that, Definitely, yeah, and you have something that actually is Leaving Home a very slow ballad followed by being for the Benefit of Mr Kite, which is very, I would say, psychedelic.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, wonderful, Before we go into the songs, I've got to read you this I love this quotation that when they were finished the sessions and they were listening, they all went back with the acetate to Mama Cass's flat on the King's Road and I can't remember who said this, but they played it out of the window at 6am loud, and this must be Mama Cass. And one of the groups said all the windows around us opened and people leaned out wondering. It was obvious who it was on the record. Nobody complained. A lovely spring morning. People were smiling and give giving us the thumbs up. I I just love that idea playing the acetate and people you know all being curious about what it was oh, I, I don't think that's really what happened.
Music:Can you imagine Maybe?
Bernardo Morales:they're saying shut up. They must have been on drugs.
Neil McCutcheon:Probably, they probably were. Yeah, how big an influence is, you know, drugs, psychedelic drugs, on this album? I mean, again, you can see it without without it being explicit, right? I?
Bernardo Morales:mean, that's how it seems to me. You can see that um, drugs influence the writing of the songs, but I don't think they were on drugs when they recorded them definitely not.
Neil McCutcheon:And and what did you take? Do you believe the story about lucy in the sky with diamonds, for instance?
Bernardo Morales:I don't know I mean, john says that it was julian right who brought a drawing um of a, a girl called Lucy, from his class and she was in the sky with diamonds. And Paul says that too, yeah, but I don't know. I don't think so. So who are we? Who are we I?
Neil McCutcheon:mean, but who are we to?
Bernardo Morales:judge it's a coincidence. Yeah, something that I wanted to talk about is the fact that they had stopped touring and then they went to do their own little projects before they actually got into, uh, recording sergeant pepper. So I think paul went on to record, um, with george martin, the soundtrack for a movie called the family way yes, which I've never heard I've never heard.
Neil McCutcheon:You probably have, I've got it, but I've never heard it.
Bernardo Morales:John went on to record the movie how I Won the War with Richard Lester. That's right. I think George went to.
Neil McCutcheon:India. Is that the movie that he refers to in A Day in the Life?
Bernardo Morales:I think it must be because he wrote a few songs.
Neil McCutcheon:The English.
Bernardo Morales:Army had just had just won the war, and I think he wrote Strawberry Fields Forever in Almeria. That's right, yeah, that's right, yeah, that's right. And people thought that the Beatles were going to split up.
Interview:That's right.
Bernardo Morales:They didn't think that they were going to get back together because they were going to stop touring. And then they came with Sgt Pepper. Can you imagine there's that?
Neil McCutcheon:wonderful piece of film when they interview the individual Beatles going into Abbey Road and they all seem a little bit stoned. And you know they're asking them whether they're going to split up and everything. And I think they're pretty clear that they're not. I think one of them says no, no, no, no, that's rubbish. I think it's George, you know, because they're just putting them on the spot because of that news. There was a story that they were going to split up.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, definitely, and I think that would have been the natural thing to think if you see that they were going to stop touring. And then the idea was that they wanted to send the record on tour, that they were going to record Sgt Pepper, and they were going to send the record on tour because Elvis had done something similar he sent the car around america that would stop and play the record and and they wanted to do to do something similar and the plasticona band did something like that later didn't, they did.
Bernardo Morales:And jack white did something like that recently as well. Did he send his guitar on tour? Um, he sent he a truck that would play the record which I thought was clever.
Neil McCutcheon:How much were the tickets?
Bernardo Morales:I think there were no tickets. He would just stop in cities.
Neil McCutcheon:Ah, okay, yeah, I think it was a publicity stunt, but I think that was a good idea at the time, yeah and then, of course, they were going to make this album about their childhood and you know Penny Lane and Strawberry Fields were part of that, and I guess, when I'm 64, had been recorded as well yeah, I think those were the first songs I recorded for the project yeah, and then that idea got scuppered quite a lot by the pressure to release a single and I know we've talked about those tracks before, but George Martin said that that was the worst.
Neil McCutcheon:I think the worst mistake of his professional career was letting those tracks out before the album. And one of the questions I had for you, bernardo, is had those tracks been on the album? You don't have to answer straight away, but where would you have put them in the sequence?
Bernardo Morales:Exactly when.
Neil McCutcheon:I don't know.
Bernardo Morales:Because, you would think that you would start the album with those two songs, but you can't. You have to start with Sgt Pepper.
Interview:I think it was a mistake.
Neil McCutcheon:You have to start with Sgt Pepper.
Bernardo Morales:I don't think it was a mistake to leave those tracks off the record. I think it was nice they released them as singles and it was great to see them popping up on Magical Mystery 2 later. And if it wasn't because of those two tracks, I don't think Magical Mystery 2 would have been as good an album as it is Right you're right, and it's interesting because again, that's a candidate for the best Beatles single and maybe the best single of all time.
Neil McCutcheon:So I wonder if you could name another band who recorded the best single of all time followed by the best album of all time hey Jude Revolution.
Bernardo Morales:Don't you think that's?
Neil McCutcheon:a good one as well. That's really good. And Come Together Something.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, that's amazing.
Neil McCutcheon:There's just something about that pairing uh of uh, strawberry fields and penny lane, which it it? It's a kind of foretaste of the album, because we've got peak john doing you know very weird and oblique poem. We've got peak paul experimenting with their arrangements, both records really in character for them as songwriters and of course they're all over the album like that too. Ringo gets his moment, george really gets his moment, but it's really what you're seeing, I think, is the peak of these two guys working together and I think, did they ever do it again? Maybe for the Ballad of john and yoko? But but after this I feel like paul's in the driving seat and and john's kind of being dragged along for the ride or they're doing more individual things. But this is a lovely marriage of their talents on that single and on that album.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, it's one where you wouldn't argue, you would say it's a double a side.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, yeah, you wouldn't argue, you would say it's a double A side.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, yeah, you wouldn't really argue.
Neil McCutcheon:I distinctly remember, because that's the only single that my parents had from the Beatles and I remember Penny Lane, probably the first Beatles song I heard as a kid. But I remember being at home on my own about 11 or 12, and I remember flipping it over and just you know, with Strawberry Fields I just didn't know what I was listening to. I loved it. It was so weird. The sounds were so weird, the kind of faraway vocal and everything like that. I didn't know whether it was speeded up and slowed down and all the stuff I know now, but I just was hypnotized by that.
Bernardo Morales:It was the greatest thing I'd ever heard yeah, I think John said later, I think, that if he could re-record all of those songs he would do it, and George Martin was really hurt by that and I think he was wrong. I think those recordings are wonderful they're amazing.
Neil McCutcheon:The remixes are faithful. The remixes are faithful. The remixes are good as well. But George Martin was definitely. I mean at this point he was the fifth Beatle. No question, I mean he was. You know things like Mysticite. This record couldn't have been the same without his desire to join in the experimentation. The same without his desire to join in the experimentation. He wanted to go with the Beatles and help them create the sound that they were doing.
Bernardo Morales:And A Day in the Life nobody could have done A Day in the Life but George Martin.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, he's a genius. At the time, I think people didn't weren't really aware because he it just said, produced by George Martin, really small, you know, and and everybody thought that the beatles were these, you know, towering geniuses, and timothy lee famously said that they were like avatars from a different realm, you know. But but george martin is is there helping them with their craft and translating what they wanted into, you know, reality. I mean, paul couldn't. I mean he was teaching himself to read music at the time, but he couldn't write music, he couldn't have scored those things.
Bernardo Morales:No, for sure not. Yeah um. Should we start talking about the songs?
Neil McCutcheon:let's go are we going to talk about strawberry?
Bernardo Morales:fields and penny lane no because we've done that before let's talk about.
Neil McCutcheon:Let's talk about side one and side two. We don't have to do them in order, but it's such a it's kind of such a well-known sequence that we can skip around. But let's do side one and side two. And you know, I urge anybody who's listening who hasn't heard it before, because I was just talking to my lovely wife yesterday and I said have you ever heard sergeant pepper? And she said no, and I showed her the cover and she'd never seen the cover. So I just think you know anyone who's listening who doesn't know this album and maybe who's just streaming Beatles music. Just you know, put on the album it's only 40 minutes.
Bernardo Morales:Just buy it. Just you know, take back, just buy it, buy the vinyl and see what you think. Which before we actually start talking about the songs. Which versions have you got? How many copies of Sardine Pepper have you got?
Neil McCutcheon:Okay, Well, let me see. I got the old cassette somewhere in this house. I got my original cassette. I bought the 1987 CD and sold it and then re-bought it because that Parlogram man was just saying how wonderful the original CDs were. So a couple of years ago, I re-bought that 1987 CD, which was the front of a big marketing campaign then. And then, of course, I do have the 2009. And I also have. This is terrible. I also have the double vinyl from 2017, the new remix and the sessions, and I also have the big box Wow. So that's like five or six copies. I can't believe it.
Bernardo Morales:I know it's crazy, isn't it? And it's becoming a recurring theme in these conversations is how many copies of the same album have you got?
Neil McCutcheon:How many have you got?
Bernardo Morales:I've got a few as well. I've got the 1987 version, which is kind of my go-to version, and it's not because it's the best version by any means, it's just because it's the one I grew up with and it's the one I feel I know what to expect from that one. I've got I feel I know what to expect from that one. Yeah, I got the 2009 vinyl. Yeah, but I got my vinyl from the Diagostini ones. I don't know if you remember when they were going.
Neil McCutcheon:With the magazines.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, with the magazines.
Interview:So I got that one Okay yeah, which is all right.
Bernardo Morales:It was pressed in France, so apparently it doesn't sound as good as the one pressed in Germany, and I would actually like to get a 1960s copy vinyl. I also have the 2009 one, and then I have the big box, the 2017 big box.
Neil McCutcheon:And here's the thing about the big box. Do you know what? I have never listened to those Sessions CDs. I mean, I might have listened to one or two things of them but, um, you know, for example I have with the white album and all that and abbey road, but I think with sergeant pepper I kind of mostly what interests me mostly are the full versions. Uh, those songs just don't sound as good in the sort of um construction phase yeah, it's something weird about them.
Bernardo Morales:There are certain songs from certain eras of the Beatles, like the White Album, for example, where the outtakes sound really good and it's really interesting to hear them Like. It's really nice to listen to songs like Blackbird or Mother Nature's Son, these acoustic songs. But because none of the Pepper songs were kind of like that, yeah, I think the outtakes and the demos and the takes sound quite poor.
Interview:I don't know.
Neil McCutcheon:They're less interesting. There are a couple which are good and you're going to play them later.
Bernardo Morales:I'll play them later.
Neil McCutcheon:Yes, I lost my train of thought, so let's go on.
Bernardo Morales:Let's talk about the songs.
Neil McCutcheon:Let's go on to Sidewalk. One more question before we talk about the songs. Let's go on to Sidewalk. Yeah, oh, no. One more question before we talk about the songs. I've got to ask you which mix do you prefer? The 2017?
Bernardo Morales:mix or the original. I prefer the kind of. My favorite mix is the original stereo mix, which I think is like the 1987 one.
Neil McCutcheon:I'm going to say that too, but actually I don't know the difference between 1997 and 2009. I can't really tell because that was just a remastering. But with the 2017 one I'd probably give that to a kid. If I was playing it to somebody for the first time, I'd say this is Sgt Pepper. But I mean, it's much more modern and I like what other people don't like. I like that the beatles walked away from the stereo sessions and the engineers just banged it together in no time, and to me it sounds great. It's eccentric as hell, but it's great, and so I don't need the kind of uh, what would you call it?
Bernardo Morales:the perfectionism of the modern mix, because I I like the eccentricity of things buzzing around from side to side yeah, it's probably not the most comfortable listen if you, if you, if you kind of listen to the album on headphones, even like strawberry fields, when you listen to it on headphones, like some of the, you lose the effect of some of the effects, if you know what I mean. But, as you said, I mean I think the original mix is the one to go to. There are certain differences between the kind of original stereo mix and the Giles Martin stereo mix. Like I think she's Leaving Home is sped up a little bit, as in the mono version. Okay, yeah, just like differences like that. And I just I'm so used to the 1987 um version, that um, I just find these things distracting, so I just keep going to to my old cd, okay, but anyway, yes, let's start because, wow, it's half an hour already the songs.
Neil McCutcheon:Okay, wow, so much on side one.
Bernardo Morales:I suggest we start with Sgt Pepper what do you?
Neil McCutcheon:think well, as we said, that's a really rocky introduction, a great, perfect introduction that works better as the kind of theme opening from the album than a sort of piece in itself. But I like the arrangement, I like the, actually with the 2017 mix of that with the crowd, I think they sound better like. They sound like they're coming from all around that. The horns on this four french horns, I believe overdubbed onto this very nice cheers. At the end, I think they say not cheers, not Billy cheers, but cheers as in hi right. Is that what they?
Bernardo Morales:say at the end in the reprise in the mono version no, in the stereo version.
Interview:When they go cheers and it leads on to with a little help from my friend yeah, um, yeah, um.
Neil McCutcheon:And here's a question for you where do the, where do the crowds come from? Where did the uh um crowd noise come from?
Bernardo Morales:was that not like um, like a special effect or something?
Neil McCutcheon:uh, yeah, well they. They had a recording of the comedy show beyond the fringe from 1961, so they took some noise from that. They took some of it from the february, 10th day of the life session and the screams are from hollywood ball when they scream at the end, you know well, that's, that's really.
Bernardo Morales:That's really cool. Didn't know that.
Neil McCutcheon:I guess you know the Jimi Hendrix story.
Bernardo Morales:Yes, I do, I do, and I actually have the Jimi Hendrix version here. Ooh, yeah, can we hear a bit of that? Yeah, one second. What's up with your ears? What's up with your ears?
Music:What's up with your ears? Okay ¶¶ now, but the guarantee to bring them down tonight is due to you getting better on your gears, so the story is that the day after the record was released, they had organized, I think three days after the Sunday after the release date
Bernardo Morales:yeah they had organized well a show at a theater in London. Is it the Sabbath? Yeah, yeah.
Interview:I'm going on memory here. I'm not sure.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, and Jimmy learned the song and opened his show with Sgt Pepper, and the Beatles were there and Eric Clapton.
Neil McCutcheon:And the Beatles, I guess, didn't know that this was going to happen. They must have been, absolutely. I mean, because Jimi Hendrix at the time was the coolest thing around. Yeah, they must have been. So I mean knocked back, you know, in a good way, knocked out yeah, they were very flattered from from the interviews.
Bernardo Morales:Paul tells a story and he's always very flattered. He tells a story in his concerts that, um, because he uses a lot the whammy bar, jimmy, um, his guitar would go out of tune. And he says that, um, after, well, when he played the guitar and he was completely out of tune, he he was looking for eric clapton in the audience. Is eric here to help him tune his guitar?
Neil McCutcheon:to tune up. I guess eric's got perfect pitch, yeah. So what do you think of the song Sgt Pepper? I guess we discussed it a little bit. Yeah, we discussed it a little bit before I just think it's an amazing opening.
Bernardo Morales:It's one of my all time favourite Beatles songs as well, because it's just so rocky. I know it's not like it, but it's kind of to me a little bit like Helter, skelter and Revolution. It just doesn't sound like the mop tops.
Neil McCutcheon:You know they should do that they should have done that more, I guess. I mean, it's great when they're rocking out I'm not sure whether it's george, you might know, or paul playing lead on this, because as the, as it goes on and we get the, the solo um late, and in the 2017 mix you can hear it even more clearly it really rocks like it's kind of back in the original mix but forward in 2017 and and I just I got a feeling it's paul because he does a lot of the angular guitar work on, you know, this album and other beatles tracks and I just wonder if it's him.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, he does lead guitar. According to um revolution in the head in mcdonald's book, um, mccartney does vocals, bass and lead guitar, lennon does harmony and vocals and harrison does harmony, vocal and guitar.
Neil McCutcheon:So okay, yeah, because they get the lead guitar. Work on this is just cracking, and if it had been released a couple of years later, it would have been, you know, they would have had a whole bit accentuating, it wouldn't have just been in the background yeah, but yeah, brilliant song and, interestingly enough, apart from being in the blue album, it's never really featured in any of the greatest hits records, because I guess it wasn't a single yeah, true, yeah, that's right. I wonder if it was. It was a single in the 70s, maybe.
Bernardo Morales:I wonder if sergeant pepper and, with a little help, my friend, was a single in america I don't know well, it's not in the singles box um, but it might have been released later but it's just, it's just really strange and and the guy from parlogram who, by the way, because of him, I've also spent quite a lot of money on records.
Bernardo Morales:Yes, it's crazy. He said that there is no perfect Beatle compilation, because there is always something missing from all of them, and I think, well, except perhaps from the red and blue ones which have been recently extended, but before that really there wasn't any compilation that you could say was the red and blue ones don't have rain, so yeah, but now they do or they don't.
Neil McCutcheon:No, I don't think rain's on there, so still a couple of question marks about those. We'll do an episode. Yeah, we should do an episode on that, but anyways.
Bernardo Morales:I just thought that it was incredible that it wasn't on the red album, because the red album was the red, I mean the, the one that was released in 2000. The number one's one, um, and it wasn't on. Which other compilation have they released actually, apart from that one?
Bernardo Morales:oh, there was one called uh, beatles, complete beatles or something, and yeah and beatles, greatest hits, yeah, from the 80s, yeah, um so it's just crazy, they never included sergegt Pepper and With A Little Help From my Friends, which I think are great songs both of them- which is a great song, so With A Little Help From my Friends, written especially for Ringo.
Neil McCutcheon:And there's such warmth in this song and the vocal you can tell I wonder if he's a little bit stoned. I don't know a little bit, just a little bit high when he's don't know a little bit, just a little bit high when he's singing that he sounds really happy. And I remember my first um acid trip. I'm not like to say that like I, just I remember listening to it with a little help, my friend, and just feeling that you know everything was all right with the world. You know the vocals, the way this is arranged. It's so generously like fronting Ringo. It's such a kind of obvious tune in a way, and the bass carries it along and it's good humored and I just love it. I love this track. Yeah, it's his best, ringo's best, for.
Bernardo Morales:It is. I don't know whether they actually meant to write such a good song for Ringo, because up until that point they had been mostly kind of throwaway songs, but they actually, I mean, they made, I think, the best song they ever made for Ringo. Yeah, as you said, the bass is amazing. I think the bass work is is great and you can see from um, from this song, that paul probably didn't record the bass live and that he and that he overdubbed it after it's an overdub, isn't it?
Neil McCutcheon:I was going to ask you, but I mean, the base is so good on this um that I yeah, I thought it was an overdub yeah, and, as you said, the lyrics and the singing is very good.
Bernardo Morales:I think paul said in an interview that they actually they made sure that the song like um, would be easy to sing for ringo um, except for the last um, for the last line that um, and apparently paul had to coach him um my friends.
Neil McCutcheon:He, he, he saw it. I bet he closes all his gigs with that song. Eh Ringo gigs.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, have you seen Ringo live by the?
Neil McCutcheon:way. No, I haven't, but I've often imagined that this would be the kind of the encore it's actually better than you might have thought.
Bernardo Morales:I saw him live a few, well like five years ago, yeah, and it was a great experience actually. Yes, because he plays with the All Star Band and so they all kind of have a moment to shine. So the guy who plays for Santana does a Santana song, the guy from Toto does Toto songs, ringo does his songs, so it's a lot of fun.
Neil McCutcheon:Oh, that's great. Yeah, well, that sounds really great. Okay, quiz question which line did Ringo not want to sing and had removed?
Bernardo Morales:Oh, I know that one. Would you stand up and walk out on me?
Neil McCutcheon:Okay, and what was it originally?
Bernardo Morales:Would you throw tomatoes at me, or something?
Neil McCutcheon:That's right. Would you throw a tomato at me? I'm glad they scratched that line. And apparently the reason was well, he didn't want to have tomatoes thrown at him if they went live again.
Bernardo Morales:Should I play a bit of the song? Yeah, all right, I'm going to go for the MFSL version, the Mobile.
Interview:Fidelity one.
Bernardo Morales:Oh wow, yeah, this is supposed to be one of the best pressings of Sgt Pepper, not according to the Parlogram guy, but according to the Steve Hoffmanffman forums.
Music:Um, they can't praise this version let's see one second. What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and walk out on me? Let me your ears and I'll sing you a song, and I'll try not to sing out of key. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friend.
Bernardo Morales:I get high with a little help from my friend. The harmonies are really nice because you feel it Is there friends singing.
Neil McCutcheon:It's perfect. And then there's a little bit of scouse humor as well in there. What do you see when you turn out the light? I can't tell you, but I know it's mine, you know. So you know, just like little humorous, sort of typical Beatles. You can see them writing that lyric together and having a bit of a laugh.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, for sure, yeah. So that's again one of the best ways to start an album. You have these fake bands, sergeant peppers introducing billy shears, so and then the concept goes away right until the end yeah, yeah um, until they actually say goodbye, yeah, but, but, but it kind of puts you in the zone, I guess. Um, and we? I mean, we agree that this is not a concept album, but it does have a feel.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, it's just like we were saying about Band on the Run as well. You can use your imagination to have this as a show, but it's not kind of pinned down by the kind of narrative which would make it less than it is, I think.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, right. So which song would you like to talk about next?
Neil McCutcheon:Well, for me, like the one that I've grown to like best on this side of the album, is Mr Kite.
Bernardo Morales:Being for the Benefit of Mr K. Mr kite, it's a great song, absolutely yeah, absolutely.
Neil McCutcheon:Um, I think I hear it. Yeah, I lost my notes, obviously. Obviously, this is from, you know, the antiques poster, which you actually get in that 2017 box set. Um, let lennon wasn't very impressed with this song, for whatever reason. He said, you know, no real work went into it. He said, you know, I'm not interested in third party songs. I like to write about me, you know, and he'd just taken the lyrics off a poster. But it's so successful at what they're trying to do. They're trying to recreate the circus atmosphere and I think what George Martin did with the sound effects and the, you know, the steam organ, the, and that's really you know, that's partly what makes this album psychedelic. I mean, you know, a lot of the traditional kind of psychedelic things aren't here, but that is amazing, isn't it? And it just brings that all to life. You know, henry the Horace.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, and if you actually listen to the first few takes of the song, it doesn't sound, they don't sound very good. So you can really see how George Martin's production really helped the song. It doesn't sound, they don't sound very good. So you can really see how george martin's production really helped the song work. Um, I read somewhere I can't remember where I read it that whenever paul described the musical idea to to george martin, it would be easy for him to kind of understand it and and and think of how to like implement different sounds and stuff. But with john it was always a bit more difficult. Um, like, when he wanted to sound like the dalai lama singing from the top of a mountain, he said that he wanted for this to sound like a circus, like a fair, and, and it was difficult for george martin to to think about, um, what exactly it was that john wanted yeah, he said he wanted to smell the sawdust yeah, on the floor or something which isn't it's not a very clear instruction.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, if you want to hear the effects um on anthology 2, they isolate that effects loop and you can hear what they did. So they went and got um. For anyone who doesn't know, they went and and got actual recordings of steam organs and calliopes I I don't even know what that is. So they had several recordings from the library and they chopped them up into six-inch sections or whatever and played around with them in different sequences and they eventually got that wonderful sequence of quite experimental music. It's like music concrete or something like that, but it really works. Some of it seems to be in the same key and everything I mean coincidence and luck is on their side a lot here.
Bernardo Morales:I think, yeah, should I play a bit of take seven.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah.
Bernardo Morales:All right, let's see what it sounds like.
Music:This time you get in the middle of the song. I had to laugh myself. You know, wild, wild smackle. One, two, one, two, three, four. For the benefit of Mr Kite. There will be a show tonight on trampoline. The Hendersons will all be there Late of Pablo, bank is where. What a scene. Over men and horses, hoops and garters. Lastly, through a hog's head of real fire. In this way, mrk will challenge the world.
Bernardo Morales:So that's take seven, missing all the bits and bobs that George Martin added later and you can see why John wasn't that impressed with the song.
Neil McCutcheon:But follow it through and it ends up with something wonderful. A friend of mine recently sent me something about Pablo Bank. I think he was where, you know, maybe the National Trust, something where Pablo Bank Fair had been or where he'd lived or something like that, and he said, oh, you'll know what this is yeah.
Bernardo Morales:Should I play a bit of the actual track from the album?
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, is it possible to play Henry the Horse or the sequence with the?
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, that's what I wanted to find. Just a second it should be about.
Neil McCutcheon:That's it.
Music:And, of course, henry the Horse dances the waltz, dancing the walls.
Bernardo Morales:There you go.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, sounds good, even in mono. Yeah, which song would you like?
Bernardo Morales:to talk about. Well, should we talk about she's Leaving Home? Go ahead. Is that on side one? Yes, yes, so it is an amazing song. Um, it's only um john and paul, right, because they're only singing, they're not really playing any instruments. Um, it was arranged by mike leander right, not by george martin and apparently that happened because, um, george martin wasn't available and Paul really wanted to get the song, the song done, and you can feel Paul's impatience there, can't you yeah, you can, and and George was hurt.
Bernardo Morales:He was really upset by the fact that he he went and got someone else, so but yeah, but Paul said that he didn't. He didn't think he would get upset at the time, but Paul said that he didn't think he would get upset at the time.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, sorry, go ahead. I was just going to say that kind of really lovely sort of one of Paul's little dramas in this song, like For no One, one of his best I think because I mean you know it's so easy to preach when you're writing a rock song and you it's, it's so easy to to preach when you're writing rock song and you know it's so easy to have a message. But in this case I think he's neither on the side of the girl nor the parents, right, whereas compare that with fool on the hill when he's obviously on on on one side. But good writing isn't on one side and the girl character and the parents' characters both have the sympathy of the writer here. That's wonderful and the music kind of follows. You know how they're feeling. They're kind of, you know, more sort of disappointed kind of melody of the parents.
Neil McCutcheon:And this really reflected Britain at the time because there was a very famous drama that everybody watched in late 66 called Kathy Come Home, which was about a girl who ran away from home and what happened to her. So it was very timely, fits with the times and just a great work of art. It's hard to hear it as it would have been heard at the time, because we've heard it so much and we know it so well, but it really is a triumph and I like the lyrics as well.
Bernardo Morales:I like some of the word choices um in this, like like clutching her handkerchief, I think it's yeah, it's um, it's a nice choice of words, or uh. Why would she treat her so thoughtlessly? I just don't hear that a lot in rock songs.
Neil McCutcheon:So, yeah, it's very good. Paul was at a peak writing at this period, wasn't he? 65 to 68. I mean, he was really excelling himself, yeah.
Bernardo Morales:I have a little video and it's a little interview with the woman who played the harp. Oh, sheila Bromberg. Yeah, and she tells the story when they called her for the session and I'll just have a listen.
Neil McCutcheon:Okay.
Interview:Sheila, how were you chosen for the session? There were people called fixers. This fixer phoned me up and said Am I free from 9 o'clock at night till midnight? And I looked at the diary and I thought, oh no, I had a jingle from 8 till 9, then I was on here from 10 till 1, then I was at Decca from 2.30 to 5.30. And I thought Do I really want a session from 9 till midnight? But it was Alec and he gave me a lot of work, so I didn't want to turn him down, I didn't want to upset him. He didn't tell me at the time that it was for the Beatles and you never knew who you were going to play with.
Interview:And I was sitting here at half past eight tuning the harp, thinking of nothing in particular. Suddenly a piece of music was plonked on my music stand. I gave it a brief look. Oh yeah, right, right. And then this voice said meaning what's written on the music? I recognised the Liverpool accent, turned round, of course it was Paul McCartney. Well, first of all, I played exactly what was written, which is I'm reading the music here. What was written, which is I'm reading the music here. It goes into that. Then I stopped and he said no, I don't want that, I want something. So I thought how can I make it different? So I thought how can I make it different? Very different, it's very different. No, I don't want that, I want something there. So then I brought out the big guns.
Interview:I think he had an idea in his head of what he wanted it to sound like, but he couldn't describe it, he couldn't express it.
Bernardo Morales:So in the end she says that he had everyone playing different takes until midnight and they ended up using take one.
Neil McCutcheon:Wow, they used the original one, yeah, yeah interesting, and also just recording at night. So I think they'd done a bit of that before.
Bernardo Morales:But very uh, typically for I mean for sergeant pepper they started at seven at night and finished sometimes at 7 am yeah, yeah, um, and it wasn't very common, especially for um classical musicians, to record so late, so they were not very keen. Yeah, exactly, yeah, they want to get to bed, eh Well, and they had sessions as well during the day.
Neil McCutcheon:I'm just looking at the time now and I wonder if we I think we're going to have to do a part two of Sgt Pepper. If we finish side one, then we might do, then we can do part two another time. Eh, yeah, that sounds good. And we can link it to something else as well. Yeah, okay. What about Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, I really like Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. It's not my favorite song on the album, I have to say, but I love the bass part and of course it's a very imaginative song and it's very John Lennon. Yeah, yeah me too.
Neil McCutcheon:I love the bass part and I think in fact you can listen to the whole album through and just listen to the bass and you'll get a different experience, because people don't usually focus on the bass, right. But yeah, I agree, I like this kind of Lowry organ sound that Paul has and he's got two sounds. I prefer the original mix, the 1987-2009 mix, to the new one, because in the new one that kind of chimey organ sound just moves around too much for me and I and in general I love that all that panning, but in this case it's a distraction and I prefer it to kind of stay. Stay where it is. Yeah, um, and yeah, it's very uh.
Neil McCutcheon:Again, it's very joyous when the vocal is kind of um, it's sped up a little bit, isn't it because they were varying the tape speed so much and I think they just got lost and they didn't know some things were recorded slower, some things recorded faster. So in the mix that we know you can hear that the vocal is speeded up. I think that kind of suits the psychedelic atmosphere and it's very kind of Alice in Wonderland.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, yeah, you can see that a lot in Sgt Pepper, that they speed up certain vocal tracks and, yes, it's very Alice in Wonderland and I really like it. I like the picture that John kind of describes. And there is also the version on the Yellow Submarine song track which was done by Peter Corbin, which is worth a listen.
Neil McCutcheon:Oh yeah, we've talked about that before.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, we've talked about that in the Yellow Submarine one, but it's really worth a listen. Especially the bass I think on that album sounds better than on the 87 in 2009.
Neil McCutcheon:Oh, I mean, those are amazing mixes, interesting. I mean the mystery about this one which you mentioned about Julian's drawing of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and his classmate, and everyone thought that that said LSD and John repeated in 1980, it's not an acid song, you know he was saying that in 1980. So it's just this incredible coincidence, isn't it? Given that the whole album was under the influence of their experiences, here and there, right With LSD and John's a lot more, I think it's just have to take them at their word right?
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, well, there is an article on Spanish Wikipedia about Lucy Vodden, who's supposed to be the inspiration for the song. She died in 2009. Okay, yeah, but she went to Heath House School and she was Julian's classmate. Yeah, yeah, she was the one who supposedly inspired the drawing.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, I mean all that's for sure true. It's just interesting about the LSD, and now I just believe him. I can almost imagine a nod and a wink, and just you know.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, well, you know I mean, whether the story is true or not, it's still a great song and it's still an anthem for LSD. Whether the story is true or not, it's still a great song, and it's still an anthem for LSD, whether the Beatles like it or not.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, I mean I guess most people, if they've taken LSD, might put that on at some point in their psychedelic careers.
Bernardo Morales:Psychedelic careers. Yeah, but yeah, as I said, I really love the. I also like the fact that the verses and the chorus are different meters. I don't know if you ever experienced that actually playing the song can be a little bit difficult, especially oh, I never noticed that.
Neil McCutcheon:I never noticed that, but now that you say it, yeah, so it's 3-4 or 6-8 for the verse, and then the chorus is just straight 4-4, right, yeah, that's it. It's 3-4 for 6-8 for the verse, and then the chorus is just straight 4-4,.
Bernardo Morales:Right, yeah, that's it. It's 3-4 for the verses and 4-4 for the chorus. I can't believe. I never noticed. Yeah but it kind of makes it a little bit awkward to play when you're playing it on the guitar.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, I can imagine One of the things about that level of musical analysis. I was reading Howard Goodall the other day, yeah, and one of the things about that level of musical analysis. I was reading Howard Goodall the other day, yeah, and apparently most of the songs on this album, or a great number of them, have modulations, so changing from one I don't fully understand this but kind of one root key or one vocal key to another one over the course of the song. Now, sometimes I notice that it's really obvious when a song jackikes up a tone.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, for example, but really I had no idea, like I had no idea in Sgt Pepper. These things, if they're cleverly done, you feel them but there's no jarring effect and you don't think oh, the song suddenly changed key, but they're just hiding there.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, I think you can hear it in penny lane at the end, right where oh, yeah, that's just a little jump, isn't it?
Neil McCutcheon:yeah, but I'd, I'd, yeah, I'd love to know where they are in search and prepping. Yeah, yeah, I'll have to listen out for them.
Bernardo Morales:I guess, once you play them, if you play the songs, then you know where they are, because you realize that you're working in another key yeah, definitely, but and as you said, and I don't know whether they did those things consciously, or whether it was george martin who suggested them, or or whether they were just very good musicians and and and they did it- I think they're good at that level.
Neil McCutcheon:yeah, I think they're good at that level. I think think Paul was definitely working at that level and I think John was probably not restricted or disciplined enough to stay in one key. So yeah, but it's difficult to do as a songwriter because if you're writing and you think you're in D, then you're going to pick the chords that go with D and you know you've got to pick the chords that go with D, you've got to push yourself to go outside those boundaries. I think at the time they were just at the edge, experimenting, following the melody and seeing where it goes. So I think those things are sort of happy accidents in a way.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah.
Neil McCutcheon:So we've got two more songs. Two more songs, yes.
Bernardo Morales:Getting Better and Fixing a Hole. Which one would you like to talk about first?
Neil McCutcheon:both McCartney songs let's do them out of order, since we haven't been used to doing things in order. So fixing a hole, well, I don't have much to say about this. One always liked it. I like the solo, yeah, yeah.
Bernardo Morales:George's solo can we hear that yeah, just one second, just a second, just a second. Oops, I'm having a bit of an issue. Technical issue it shows it's live. That's alright, that's okay.
Music:Okay, I'm getting my job, I'm painting the room in a colourful way, and when my mind is wandering there, I will go.
Neil McCutcheon:You will come. Hey, hey, hey. Ah, that's where the solo is.
Music:Yeah, soloist and lovely backing vocals as well.
Neil McCutcheon:I can't actually hear the solo with my headphones. I guess I'm only getting one channel, but if you can hear it at your end, that's what matters, Okay just a second. Okay, that's a nice sound. It's a bit like Nowhere man, isn't it?
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, yeah, it's great. It's just in the mono version. You don't hear the harmonies, or the harmonies are buried in the mix.
Neil McCutcheon:I like the harpsichord, and it's Definitely not about heroin, although people say it's not about heroin, it's about making repairs at his farmhouse.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, it's a house husband song. You could see they were growing up.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah yeah, that's a nice little song and it was recorded initially in tottenham court road, regent sound studio, not at abbey road. All right, I didn't know that. And if you listen to take three on the sessions, you'll hear all sorts of vocal improv at the end. There's nothing to write home about, but it it's just interesting, if you like those bits of Beatle craziness.
Bernardo Morales:It's also the only song where Paul played bass live and you can hear a mistake at minute 119.
Neil McCutcheon:Oh, I did read about that, but I don't know what the mistake is.
Bernardo Morales:It's just a note, it's just a oh okay.
Neil McCutcheon:And they didn't fix?
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, because now they would just fix it with Pro Tools right, yeah, and I always wondered, because of course we praised george martin because he was a great producer, but he left lots of mistakes. I mean, there is that mistake on fixing a hole. There is a mistake on the guitar solo and all you need is love. There is a mistake in the harmonies in if I on, if I fell there's a drop out in um.
Neil McCutcheon:Is it paperback right, or I think it's paperback right. There's a dropout in is it Paperback Writer? I think it's Paperback Writer. There's a dropout.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, there is a fucking hell in hey Jude. Oh yeah, but that's good. Yeah, that's good, but I mean, I'm sure that yeah, but now, but at the time I mean, I don't think that was done on purpose.
Neil McCutcheon:I think at the time they must have discussed that and said leave it in, you know, you think? Yeah, I think so I hope so, because I think that what, for me, one of the reasons that I like the beatles is that they leave in some of these little rough around the edges things yeah, well, it makes it more humorous, you know, if you look at like it.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, yeah I mean, if you take the best albums of, like Pink Floyd and everything, I guess they're finessing this art of the art album. But nothing is by chance. There isn't a single thing that's not planned. So I like the fact that Beatles you get little vocal chirrups and little shouts and stuff like that. Yeah, definitely.
Bernardo Morales:And the last song is Getting Better. Okay, what do you think of Getting Better? I like it Okay. It's a nice song. It's very kind, of happy and positive, except for the line. I used to be cruel to my woman. I beat her and kept her apart from the things that she loved. I was thinking about that the other day A bit of a dark line there.
Neil McCutcheon:Well, the story is that John contributed some of the lyrics and the you know angry young man and used to be cruel to my woman. That's John, right, that's definitely his writing. It's a dark lyric. It's actually quite a an interesting musical part of the track because that's where the tambura comes in. So it's my it's kind of my favorite part of the track. But uh, yeah, yeah, that's a dark lyric coming from john and I think I'm very nice kind of improves the song.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, but you may not put that line in a song now. I mean, I used to be a really violent person and I mean it's not the only time that John said that. I mean he's got that quotation about I'm a violent man who's learned not to be violent yeah, but what I find very strange is that he was included in a Paul song.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, and it's such a kind of ebullient song as well. Yeah, but what I find very strange is that he was included in a Paul song.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, and it's such a kind of ebullient song as well but you know it fits the theme of getting better yeah, because if you just have Paul on its own it could be too happy clappy. Yeah, they balance each other. But that bit with the tambourine is just so dramatic in the mix. Should I play that bit?
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, I'm going to play it from the mono Sgt Pepper so you can hear it well.
Music:It's a little better all the time, I have to admit it's getting better, it's getting better. Soon to be mine Getting so much better All the time. It's getting better all the time, better, better, better. It's getting better all the time, better, better, better. I used to be cruel to my woman. I beat her and kept her Apart from the things that she loved. Man, I was mean, but I'm changing my scene from the things that she loved. I know it's mean, but I'm changing my scene and I'm doing the best that I can.
Neil McCutcheon:There you go, there it is there, it is A great part of the song.
Neil McCutcheon:I like the bongos or congas on this. I mean, I guess that was Ringo. Nice to hear those. Here's a quiz question for you. On the day that they were recording Getting Better, what else happened? Not to do with the music, but what else happened in Abbey Road? I have no idea. Not to do with the music, but what else happened in Abbey Road, I have no idea. Okay, this is when John by accident had taken some acid and felt unwell and had to be escorted to the roof.
Bernardo Morales:Oh, they were recording getting better.
Neil McCutcheon:I didn't know they were recording getting better, yeah apparently so, and then George Martin left him on the roof and then told the others, and I guess the others knew that he was tripping and so they rushed off because they thought, you know, maybe he'll jump off the roof.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, they told the story on the anthology but I didn't know they were recording getting better, yeah yeah, and apparently this is also the day when they met Pink Floyd.
Neil McCutcheon:Uh, at 11 pm, I mean, maybe that's where they got the acid from, but who knows, they met Pink Floyd recording their first album in the studio next door. Yeah, great story.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah so.
Interview:I guess we'll do the second half, maybe after the holidays, right?
Neil McCutcheon:We will. We'll come back and do the second half half. I knew this would take a long time, just because of the whole, you know, cultural impact and and all that. Yeah, oh, here's the quote I meant to to say. I said this badly earlier, but this this was my favorite quote from the 2017 book. Ed vuliami writing on um. You know the whole thing about 1967. I love this. The Beatles' 60s revolt is subliminal, not rhetorical, and thereby universal and eternal.
Bernardo Morales:Ah, I love that Chachi Petit couldn't write that. No, definitely not.
Neil McCutcheon:Yeah, exactly yeah, I mean that the effect of sergeant pepper is that wonderful, wonderful buoyant, full of hints and kind of knowing smiles and wonderful music. But nowhere do they say you know, take drugs, kids, and change the world. No, they never did that yeah no, that's the kind of thing chat gpt would say um, so yes, so I guess we'll have to do another episode.
Bernardo Morales:Talk about the second half soon right, yeah, we'll do that.
Neil McCutcheon:We'll do that before the end of the summer. Great, great to talk to you, bernardo as always. Yeah, lovely to talk to you and fun doing the research and going to visit that album, because I've probably heard that album more than anything I own, so I don't listen to it that often, but great to go back and hear it for this.
Bernardo Morales:Yes, same here. I don't listen to it that often and it's not my go-to Beatles album, but whenever I listen to it, from beginning to end, especially my vinyl, I really enjoy it and also when you get the vinyl. It's such a good experience as well, because it's such a nice cover and it comes with lots of goodies as well inside and all the cutouts and stuff.
Neil McCutcheon:So it's such a nice experience all part of the fun. Have a great summer with your family in Poland and we will get together when you're back and we'll decide to.
Bernardo Morales:Yeah, you too Take care.
Neil McCutcheon:Bye for now.
Bernardo Morales:Bye, bye-bye.