Drums are for the drummer
Drums are for the drummer
Episode 9 starts very strongly, in 1995 at Abbey Road and the last time the Fab Three are taped for the show. Paul is playing the drums while Ringo is mic-d up for the interview. He’s not having it. “What have I told you?” he scolds.
Feelings
Director Oliver Murray wanted to concentrate on how The Beatles felt about things and there’s plenty of feelings here. Warm (“I had three brothers,” says only child Ringo of his time in the band). Candid (“We weren’t talking much,” says George of the possibility of an Anthology-style project in 1975. Adds Paul “We were at war…”). Amusing (“I liked the Beatles,” says Paul. “I’m not ashamed of that…”).
George Martin playback
At the Abbey Road “Penthouse”, producer George Martin plays the Fabs some Anthology mixes. Elsewhere, he explains how they have all found it “traumatic” listening back to their past work. All this insight he dispenses while wearing a v neck jumper bearing the logo “Alderney Sailing Club”.
June 8, 1994
The surviving Beatles and their wives pay a visit to the edit suite to see how things are going on Anthology. This is the source of the amusing exchange between George Harrison and Paul McCartney much extracted online: “Is that a vegetarian leather jacket?” “Yes. And vegetarian boots.”
The Wilburys role in “Free As A Bird”
George explains that the Traveling Wilburys recently had a plan to have Elvis Presley (in tape recorded form) replace Roy Orbison on a new song. Jeff Lynne worked something like the magic on a Presley vocal he would later bring to John Lennon’s “Free As A Bird” demo. And he evidently did all this this using a computer which looks like the TV your parents have in the spare room.
Beatle boots…the origin story
The inspiration for Beatle boots came, George reveals, from an unnamed “British band” (we’re saying Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers) in Hamburg. This unnamed musician suggested the admiring bands swing by Anello and Davide in London, and have some made.
Quite a good “producer” joke
Paul: “How many producers does it take to change a lightbulb?”
Jeff Lynne: 18?
Paul: “I dunno, what do you think?”
Well, it is his studio…
The hint of “Now And Then”
We see the Beatles recording “Free As A Bird” and working on “Real Love” a year later. It’s a particular thrill to watch them working on an early “Now And Then” – though it needs more work. “We’re a bit terrified about it,” 1995 Paul says, as they figure out what it needs. “Yoko would have to allow us to chop it up. It might not go away that one.”
The wisdom of George Harrison
Very much the view of someone who has reflected deeply on things. “The Beatles will go on in people’s minds. It exists without us,” he says. He wishes John had also been granted to have 25 years to get over the experience of being in The Beatles: “We’ve had the opportunity to get together again in a new light”
Read more on The Beatles’ Anthology in the latest issue of Uncut – on sale now!
The post Nine revelations from the new ninth episode of The Beatles’ Anthology appeared first on UNCUT.
