A few days ago, on RSD, what is arguably the best progressive rock (and not only...) single of all times, The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields Forever' / 'Penny Lane', has been reissued on 7'' format in a remixed version.
The Beatles - Penny Lane Single Ad - Billboard 25th-Feb-67.jpg
What do you think about it? Have you bought your copy? Opinions?
Let's discuss it!!
Strawberry fields IMO is a masterly production and is a bit of a landmark with the effects and the eastern modes sneaking in. My recollection is that the final mix consisted of different takes played in different keys and tempos and that George Martin took the best and merged them together by essentially varying the tape speeds giving the track it's unique sound. However, Revolver which preceded this single I think is far more revolutionary.
Watching those two vids back-to-back is an outstanding display/example of the period of evolution/maturation of the Beatles moving from the days of A HARD DAYS NIGHT into the years of what would become SGT PEPPERS and MAGICAL MYSTREY TOUR.
These vids reflect the differences in the songs written by McCartney and Lennon..........one on each side of the 1966 single.........and both are excellent in the final draft after Sir George Martin adds his magical touch.
To the OP................thanks for posting..............wonderful memories.
Second best single they ever released.... after "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain," imho, of course.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
I actually agree with this!Originally Posted by strawberrybrick
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
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“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
The fact that that single didn't go to number one tells you how advanced (and progressive) it was for its day. How many bands would release a total game-changer in one little piece of plastic?
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
Alongside 'Good Vibrations', for me the greatest 45 single ever released. And this comes out on top because it has two sides of untouchable brilliance. (In the US and UK, 'Good Vibrations' just had old album tracks on the B side.) The Beatles went on to fully realise their ambitions with Sgt Pepper, Brian Wilson sadly faltered and the world ended up with the frankly hopeless Smiley Smile, sending The Beach Boys into counter-cultural irrelevance for some years.
In the UK it was beaten to the top by Engelbert Humperdinck's 'Release Me', a fairly characterless MOR cover (1967 saw a lot of similarly bland records hitting Number 1 here, almost like revenge of the 'squares' in the face of all that psychedelia!). It's one of only a handful of Beatles songs not to be a UK Number 1 on original release. Its subsequent acclaim is an indication of how chart positions don't mean very much, in the grand scheme of things.
The SFF remix will have been on the Beatles 1 Blu-ray, but I think the version of 'Penny Lane' on this single (and the upcoming Sgt Pepper re-release) was remixed again this year.
Whoever compiled Anthology 2 made the baffling decision to leave off the full 'heavy' version, which starts at 1 minute in on the final mix (and was slowed down). The two different arrangements are going to be on the new Sgt Pepper release.
Last edited by JJ88; 04-27-2017 at 11:28 AM.
Man those sounded great - cheers for posting.
The last kid is the man! Could've been me:
+1
Hell, they ain't even old-timey ! - Homer Stokes
I bought it. Will probably never unseal it, though.
My sisters had that single when I was a kid. Loved it then, love it now. I recently learned the bass part to Penny Lane for a jam night thing (along with LSD and MMT). Beautiful stuff!
Strawberry Fields Forever: revolutionary, and not Revolver. Beyond that, somewhere elsewhere, otherwise outside, the sole shining occupant of the regal sonic space the song creates. You can't define it, and neither can I, but it's fucking brilliant and it's weird and it's awesome and it hurts a little bit, too -- John's vocals.
Penny Lane is a half-baked throwaway compared to Strawberry Fields Forever, and I adore Penny Lane so do the mathematics.
As much as I consider Brian Wilson the One True Pop Rock Genius, what Lennon came up with for Strawberry Fields Forever is a step or two beyond Brian Wilson's very best work, IMOF (in my opinion, fucker). Only an Englishman with Lennon's sense of whimsy could've come up with something so staggeringly unique on all levels (music, lyrics, performance, recording).
As cool as "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" is as a single -- talk about bang for the buck -- those are just two riff-based jangle-rockers, Chuck Berry taken a couple notches further. Sublime songs, among the Beatles best, but not groundbreaking in any tangible, new way.
Strawberry Fields Forever ushered in a whole new mindset.
But the Beatles had to go through Paperback Writer/Rain to get to Strawberry Fields/Lucy in the Sky...
And in the FWIW dept, I have two daughters, one is named Lucy and the other Penny.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
That's true, but (IMO) if the size of the evolutionary leaps involved were graphed out...
"Day Tripper"/"We Can Work It Out" (Dec 1965) ---> "Paperback Writer"/"Rain" (May 1966)
"Paperback Writer"/"Rain" (May 1966) -------------------------------> "Strawberry Fields"/"Penny Lane" (Feb 1967)
Furthermore, IMO the other two Revolver tracks released as a single in August of '66 -- "Eleanor Rigby" and "Yellow Submarine" -- are closer in style and spirit to "Strawberry Fields"/"Penny Lane" than "Paperback Writer" and "Rain".
Not that all of the songs under discussion aren't insanely good. This is just Beatle-y geekdom run amuck!
I'm holding out for the Wilson-mixed 5.1 super-duper walletbuster special anniversary extra adjectives edition.
If you ever get the chance, go see Scott Freiman's Deconstructing the Beatles talks. I caught his presentation on Strawberry Fields a few years ago. He brings you through every layer of how it was created. Just mind boggling!
http://www.beatleslectures.com/
"The unexamined life is not worth living." -- Socrates
To which Chief Tumbling Dice and I say "ONGA WHINA HOO CHOW!" In other words, we agree.
A 7" single is completely useless to me, but I'm curious to hear the remixes. Not sure why they were needed though.
That's true, but (IMO) if the size of the evolutionary leaps involved were graphed out...
Not that all of the songs under discussion aren't insanely good. This is just Beatle-y geekdom run amuck!
And if we plot the Weed vs. Acid O' Meter between Rubber Soul and Revolver....
Rubber Soul (1965) --------------------- #$(*@#($*^(@*Y%(*@Y#TNK$(%* ----------------------------- Revolver (1966)
Last edited by strawberrybrick; 04-27-2017 at 08:36 PM.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Bingo!And if we plot the Weed vs. Acid O' Meter between Rubber Soul and Revolver....
Rubber Soul (1965) --------------------- #$(*@#($*^(@*Y%(*@Y#TNK$(%* ----------------------------- Revolver (1966)
Not that the remixes were absolutely needed, anyway, Giles Martin went through all the pre-bounced down 4-tracks tapes, so that he could assemble on the mixer a complete set of master recordings from each line feed a song is comprised of and then remixed the song anew.
In the specific case of Penny Lane, Giles revealed that recently Apple found a 4-track tape that was believed to be lost which contains the recordings of the piano, harmonium and drums components of Penny Lane before they were bounced down onto a single track of a new 4-track tape for further recordings and overdubs. So, he was able to put into the mixer all the original elements the track was constituted, and to make a new remix. For the “1+” project he still hadn’t got this newfound 4-track tape, so that's why he created a new mix of Penny lane only 2 years after the previous one.
Basically, the new remixes (and here i'm speaking of the whole forthcoming Sgt Peppers 50th) should sound fresher than ever, given that all the basic elements of each song come from a master recording rather than a 1st, 2nd, and sometimes even 3rd or 4th generation of bouncing down.
Brilliant!
"The White Zone is for loading and unloading only. If you got to load or unload go to the White Zone!"
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