The “pistol” represented a turning point for the Beatles.
Brilliant and bold, but also full of sensitivity, the 1966 album launched the band’s penchant for unpredictability with music that would continue to evolve with “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club” (which they began recording later that year) and “The White Album.” (1968).
The 14-track album received major remixes by producer Giles Martin – son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin – and engineer Sam Oakley.
The Special Edition “Pistol” arrives on October 28th. But among the collection of gems discovered there are demos of “Yellow Submarine” such as A radically abstract song featuring John Lennon in sad vocals Instead of Ringo Starr and Heavy, top hat background in early versions of “Got to My Life”. Both are available on Friday It can be heard here.
Martin and Starr recently spoke with USA TODAY about the history of the album and some of its amazing elements.
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Ringo Starr describes the development of “Yellow Submarine”: “Maybe it was” green or purple
The drummer has maintained a reputation as the grotesque and funny guy in the band, which may be why Lennon and Paul McCartney designated some of the tunes as “Ringo Songs.”
Lennon’s working version of the song – which is just over a minute long – finds him quietly repeating the lyric “Where I Was Born, Nobody Cared, Nobody Cared” as he worked in other adaptations like “And the name I was born, nobody cared” and In the city where I came from, no one cared.
By the time “Yellow Submarine” was introduced to Starr—the band recorded it on May 26 and June 1, 1966—it was already in “Ringo song” form.
“The boys used to write a song for me and they will give whatever they think will be useful to me. They had this song and decided to bring it to life,” he says. “I think Paul thought of (Yellow Submarine). He could have been in a green submarine, but the yellow sub is much better. Or a deep purple submarine, that would be like, “What are they talking about right now?” But, yeah, it was Ringo’s song, like “With A Little Help From My Friends” was Ringo’s song.
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John Lennon’s Show of ‘Yellow Submarine’ Was a ‘Complete Discovery’
Martin jokes that people think he spends all his time listening to quotes from The Beatles. But finding Lennon’s original version of the song was one of the happy accidents that often occurred when mining tapes.
“I had no idea it was there. It was a complete find and I was surprised,” says Martin. “One of the excitement I get when doing this is for people to experience the same thing I do. Going through cobwebs and finding gold – that’s what I want to convey to other people. ”
The second part of the hands-on version of “Yellow Submarine” retains Lennon’s acoustic guitar background, but also includes Lennon and McCartney’s discussion of how to move forward with a strong folk-style version of the song, which at that point included the well-known popular chorus.
Martin says he understood why the Beatles chose to direct the tune in a more complex direction.
“It wasn’t as commercial as the original, and you can hear them working together and pushing each other in different directions,” Martin says. “Which, of course, was their downfall in the end. But at this point, they were happy with the way they were creatively pushing each other.”
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How The Beatles Evolved From ‘Rubber Soul’ to ‘Pistol’
In Martin’s view, the 1965 song “Rubber Soul” is packed with the sound of Merseybeat, the British musical genre that developed in Liverpool in the early 1960s and blended rock, pop, skevel and R&B. But it was through “Revolver” that the band found its “swagger”.
“There is still a goal to satisfy the ‘rubber soul”,” he says. ‘It feels like they’re leaving Liverpool on a ‘pistol’. “
Martin cites “Tomorrow Never Knows,” the first recorded track for “Revolver,” as an immediate indication of the band’s enlightened musical approach.
“The way the drums open up the song, you can sense that they have somehow turned their backs on the past,” Martin says. “The Beatles were ruthless in their creativity.”
From the thick, choppy guitars in “Taxman” and “Dr. Robert” to the elegant strings in “Eleanor Rigby” to the simple tenderness in “Here, There and Everywhere,” the songs on “Revolver” exemplify the Beatles’ vocal expansion.
“They were punching through the walls of Abbey Road[studios],” Martin says. “They made a conscious decision to take off their Beatles suits, not cut their hair, and turn into individuals.”
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How many special editions of “Revolver” are being released?
The deluxe “Pistol” includes 63 tracks and is available in digital audio, five CDs, and four LPs (plus a 7-inch EP). The Deluxe Edition offers 29 tracks in 2-CD format, and the Standard Edition is 14 tracks available as a single CD and single LP, as well as a limited-edition vinyl photo disc with album cover art.
The songs were mixed in stereo and Dolby Atmos (to be released digitally), and the original single album mix was sourced from the 1966 main single.
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Why was producer Giles Martin nervous about remixing Revolver?
The producer, who expects “Rubber Soul” to be the next Beatles album to get a special release after he finishes work on upcoming director Sam Taylor-Johnson biopic Amy Winehouse, has been concerned about the reaction to the reintegration of “Revolver” because it’s loved by before fans.
“It’s a treasured record and people have embraced it in a good way,” Martin says. My question is always, why do we do this? The purpose is to find the thing to go for, “I like this recording, but what about the reality he heard He. She?’ “
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