By Steve Marinucci
Published March 5, 1996, San Jose (CA) Mercury News
BEATLE fans get a belated Valentine's Day gift when ''Real Love,'' the second new Beatles song assembled from a John Lennon demo, hits record stores today as the lead track on the group's latest CD single.
''Real Love'' is free of the overproduction that cluttered ''Free As a Bird,'' the first song used from the tapes provided by Yoko Ono. Both were premiered during ''The Beatles Anthology'' telecast in November.
The song includes Ringo Starr's simple but very effective drum fills and George Harrison's soaring slide guitar, which really takes off. Paul McCartney, Harrison, Starr and Jeff Lynne, all listed as producers of the track, have done a marvelous job in transforming Lennon's slightly dour demo, which has been circulating on the Internet and among collectors, into a wonderfully upbeat track.
The song will also be included on the upcoming ''The Beatles Anthology 2,'' due March 19.
Other songs on the four-track single, none of which will be included on ''The Beatles Anthology 2'':
(box) ''Baby's in Black'': This version, recorded live, was taken from two successive nights of 1965 concerts at the Hollywood Bowl. The introduction, in which Lennon, displaying his usual irreverent stage demeanor, calls the song, ''a waltz for all of you people over 10,'' comes from the first night; the song, in gorgeous stereo, from the second.
(box)''Yellow Submarine'': A remix of the master that fades in with a charming, never-before-heard 15-second portion (cut down from about 30 seconds, according to Beatle historian Mark Lewisohn) of a spoken introduction by Ringo. ''And we will march to free the day to see them gathered there, from Land O'Groats to John O'Green, from Stepney to Utrecht, to see a yellow submarine. We love it,'' he says to the accompaniment of marching feet before the song begins. Too bad the whole spoken intro couldn't be included.
The song itself has been remixed to bring up more sound effects, especially the submarine noises.
(box) ''Here, There and Everywhere'': For Beatles collectors, this track will be the real prize. This is a combination of takes 7 and 13 and features a slightly nervous McCartney's guide vocal against a bare snare drum and guitar accompaniment at the beginning, with harmonies from take 13 (remixed in 1995) superimposed over the end to make the song sound closer to the original.
Unreleased tracks
This manipulation, however, will probably be the cause of debate among fans online, although many of the group's releases combined tapes from different takes.
''The Beatles Anthology 2'' will feature 45 unreleased tracks dating from 1965 to 1968. In addition to ''Real Love,'' it will include the first recorded takes of ''Yesterday'' and ''Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)''; a strings-only version of ''Eleanor Rigby''; demos of ''Strawberry Fields Forever'' that document the evolution of one of the group's most incredible studio creations; two songs, ''If You've Got Trouble'' and ''That Means a Lot,'' never released by the group; and unreleased versions of ''Got to Get You Into My Life,'' ''Taxman,'' ''A Day in the Life,'' ''Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds,'' ''I Am the Walrus,'' ''Lady Madonna'' and ''Fool on the Hill.''
The set, originally scheduled for February release, was delayed, according to unconfirmed reports, after the track order was revised, reportedly by McCartney. According to a widely reported story on the Internet and in Beatle fan magazines, McCartney ordered a change after ads with the original release date had appeared and the set had begun production.
Album delayed
The change - moving an outtake of ''I'm Down'' from track 6 to track 3 on disc 1 - supposedly caused the scrapping of a reported 2.5 million booklets and other materials, according to Beatlefan/EXTRA!, which said McCartney is paying the $2 million cost himself.
A representative at the group's publicity firm of Rogers & Cowan said the change was made, in fact, by the Beatles and not just McCartney, and the album was delayed because of a huge advance order.
List prices for the available configurations of ''Real Love'' are $5.99 for the CD single, $2.49 for the cassette and $2.99 for the vinyl.
No comments:
Post a Comment