6 Responses to “Labor”

1. Micah Says:
   September 4th, 2007 at 8:44 AM

   Neat stuff. I hadn’t heard “I’m In Love” before, which John sings really nicely. And judging from the demo, John wrote “If I Fell” by himself, which I wouldn’t have guessed. It’s nice to hear without all the harmonies.

   There’s something fresh about bed tracks that gets lost with overdubs, especially considering the technology back then. The Beatles Anthology has a lot of really good versions of songs without so many overdubs like Good Morning, Good Morning and Here, There and Everywhere. Of course, the songs sound great with the overdubs, I just wish the technology had been a little better.

2. RAB Says:
   September 4th, 2007 at 1:34 PM

   Wow — if “I Am The Walrus” hadn’t become, you know, I Am The Walrus, it could have been a stunning but much more conventional hard rock guitar blues number. The song it eventually became is recognizable in the earlier take, but only with the benefit of hindsight. On the other hand, that first take of “Hello Goodbye” isn’t far removed conceptually from the heavily produced and overdubbed final version at all. I can see how these demos show the value of hard work and long hours of labor in the studio to get everything just right…but they also show the value of starting off with a really solid good idea, instead of taking something mediocre and counting on surface slickness and special effects to sell it.

3. Robert W. Getz Says:
   September 4th, 2007 at 1:34 PM

   This is an endless topic, but…

   Suffice it to say that the moptops’ version of “Sheik Of Araby” was played at our wedding, so large did it loom for us.

   And the wife recently got hold of some gigantic zippered file that contained every possible decibel of the “Let It Be” sessions.

   You haven’t lived till you’ve heard them take on George Formby’s “Leaning On A Lamppost” (though Herman’s Hermits actually took the step of releasing their cover version)…

   RG

4. Steve Gerber Says:
   September 5th, 2007 at 3:51 AM

   The various takes and demos are an interesting peek into the creative process — and give hope to those of us struggling with it on a daily basis.

5. Doc Says:
   September 8th, 2007 at 4:11 PM

   Any word on a Thundarr the Barbarian DVD release? Heh, or how ’bout a Thundarr movie. I’d love to see that whole moon shattering thing go down on the big screen.

   cheers!
   Doc

6. Starocotes Says:
   September 11th, 2007 at 9:11 AM

   Since the Dr. Fate comments are closed here my scan of the new CtM promo