beatles

...the amount of white album boots (alternative takes/sessions/demos/acetates) must run into the hundreds by now and this is one more but it's one that will be wanted by all beatle heads and by any cats who just dig the rocking noise as it's some of the most rocking basement takes and mixes from the mountain of tapes filtered down to 15 tracks...starting with cool different takes on hey jude/revolution single and onto the LP which is one massive pile up of rocking noise, truely a 'back to basics' approach after the excesses of 1967 (the version of number 9 is quite interesting being an early version it's rougher and probably nearer to johns original idea)...not every layabouts favourite tune going to be here but ain't no cat going to be in dispute with what is...at just under an hour it flows real well with the tracks sitting well in the new abridged context...lennons guitar is real cutting on some of these takes (revolution/helter skelter/yer blues to name three) and shows his ability to rock up a storm with primal scream string-bending...possibly the main thing about this disk is that it shows the fabs could still rock the house and also do it with some ferosity, they still had the amphetamine rush they'd had in hamburg but now it was heavier, also even this far down the pike it's hard to think of any combos that had this sound as even these 'basement tapes' show they were meshing their axes and chops into a new (but based in the known tradition) sound that they had been using since before pepper, a thicker thud sound from every instrument, real or imagined...being made during the riot torn year of the barricades shows in the straight ahead, getting down to the nitty gritty approach, no more ornamentation, the world was falling apart with hatred and conflict and it was the fabs mission to reflect this with a destructive/constructive statement...they ask many questions, no least 'why dont we do it in the road' but more importantly here 'whats the new mary jane?' asking which side are you on? yet they know there are no sides, it's an illusion, one is a reflection of the other, two sides of the same coin (much like john and macca?) the white album must be seen also in relation to the 'get back' ethic that had been sparked by the beach boys 'wild honey' LP, a very funky move for the surfer boys, the basement tapes/john wesley hardin dylan joints, all necessary moves to shake off the acid storm of the past two years (stones jump in with beggars..)this disk keeps the urgency of the times up front, close to the edge, indeed it's robust solidity will accompany those who manned the barricades againt violent pig oppression from berkeley to tokyo, from paris to prague, the beatles gave strength to those that may need it...cats the world over knew the fabs were their brothers in times of bleakness, beacons of light and hope, future pilots from the casbah coffee bar...they were 'pop' as they were part of the population,they sang the new folk blues and some of the population listened...dig this and know these cats still out in front, this joint got it going on...

...the MONO version is a trip and that's the final word, a solid wig flipper and there's one reason, probably the most important and that's it makes a cat see(hear) the LP in new light, to see what really went down in the final hours of making this double 'back to the egg' biscuit...put side one on and straight away something awry is going down, something's missing, not all is as it should be...and so it goes on, things that don't get heard (that should) suddenly make their present felt more than if they were actually there...it's that old mono/stereo battle, which one's best in this late age? it's sometimes very hard to say as both bring possibities that now are matter of choice...back in the day every layabout with a reefer burning would tell the known 'truth', stereo was where it's at as the music moves around and when used in conjunction with headphones -POW, instant wig lifting and that had no contenders, it was a must-have-BUZZ that ain't no cat going to ever miss...of course also there's stuff happening that weren't noticeable in stereo now come into focus (brought up in the mix) giving the whole shebang a different perspective...it makes it a much heavier sound which is totally what's called for with tunes such as helter skelter, the thing gets a pounding reading (dig the mighty throb of the drums/bass, all mushed up into the thickest glollop of thudding rock'n'roll noise) its an outer-control killdozer ploughing through the charlie desert in magnificent creepy crawl style, the furniture of the tunes gets rearranged in true 'gettin the fear' style, a cats not going to know what's happening....all this comes about due to the efforts of one dr.ebbetts whose main goal seems to be is to offer the best sounding fab4 wax there could be, taking as the source 'mobile fidelity sound labs' vinyl editions from the early 80s(acknowledged as the toppest sounding of all fab releases) and digitizing with above 'industry standards' equipment and attention...these are not faked up with tweaking and fanageling like normal record co.reissues, adding bass to give extra oomph and other devious plots to sell substandard old gubbings to the gullibles, these are the straight up real deal, what is heard is what it is, nothing untoward happening, just the gauze removed from the sound opening the door a little wider, sinking deeper into the vibration of universal fabness...

...STEREO version, again courtesy of the good dr.ebbetts who's seen fit to make available the toppermost of the poppermost edition of the fabs double waxing...taken from the mobile fidelity sound labs vinyl releases of the 80s this is way better than the released 'official' version which the beancounters deigned good enough for 'joe public', the presence is upfront, a much fatter sound reflecting the urgency and vibrancy of the times and tunes...this release shows off the nuances of the stereo production to full effect, like digging it for the first time, all previous listenings may become redundant or at least secondary...take this brother and may it serve you well...

...the legendary 'whats the new mary jane', a lennon tune that came around during the summer of '68 first started cropping up outside beatle bore circles when it appeared on a couple of syd barrett boots in the early seventies as syd was supposed to be sitting in but that unfortunately has just to remain a myth for now and evermore...it's john, george and yoko plus mal evans getting down and funky with some avant garde tomfoolery to compliment the 'revolution 9' number but was rejected as double album fodder by paul who knew lennon was asking too much having such shenanigans on their post pepper return to the roots album(much preferrable to have ob-la-di) so it was mooted to be a plastic ono single but that was scrapped as apple fell into corrupt hands...hence this boot getting credited to the ono band as john once said 'anyone can be the plastic ono band', it just takes courage to step outside the known...this is 50 minutes of differing takes and overdub sessions which is easier to listen to than may at first appear to be the case, although fab4 geeks and avantophobes may look upon things differently, they may wish to hear 'martha my dear' once more...

...this is surely some mad mental gubbings from the exploito cover inwards, an hours worth of 'helter skeltering' in its various states, though not all different it's a goodly earful that plays well in circumstances that allow for mind stretching...theres about 3 different takes with different mixes and a 9 minute run through that's kind of like krautrock noise meets the FUNHOUSE stooges, a well out of control sound that towards the end is starting to go into some tranced-out black metal spew from the deepest psychedelic dungeon imaginable...when getting into chatting with beatle bores it may be good to mention they invented the future of rock music and this would of course sit well with said bores, then drop in this helter skelter jam that prefigured euronymous/dead mayhem by 20 years, traveling space-heads from the mersey sow together kraut/stooges/church burning in EMI (home of squares) in summer 68 (the riot days)...not on this coaster but in maccas collection is a half hour helter jam where they lock into a dirty rocking groove that moves back to 50s rock'n'roll along the way (hotcha)...if this was knocking about as a boot back in charlies spahn ranch days it would be required death valley listening from morning to morning 24/7, they'd blow their minds to mush, beyond the requirements of family life...an experimental listen to say the least and just right on a bonged afternoon with the sun blazing and temporal concerns suspended due to inactivity...

...a very nice release of a supposed/proposed disk of the rooftop gig from january '69 which was to be issued some time during the punk years and if it had that would have been a top class effort as then all those limp power pop losers could have called a halt to their activities forthwith and settle down to check out how it should be done (alex chilton sure could have used a rest from being called the reincarnation of the fabs for the proceeding few years)...though it was a cold winters midday in london town the fab4 put on a controlled showing that they could still rock and with a gospel touch that had been creeping in since their run in with the krishna-krew and the falling apart of the values the combo held true:peace/love/freedom/harmony and all with a sense of humour...chipper crisp sound that lends heavy creedence to the '77 release story (myths in rock are based on less) but of course cats who've stayed the course will know official record co. beatle releases leave a lot to be desired in the sound dept. most times so this is obviously from a higher source than beancounter trickery, this is from the bootleg gods channelled through the good dr.ebbetts...after a couple of spins this kind of takes on much more than a recording of 'live beatleness' this is a goodbye to the old way of life for every cat across the planet both hep and square, the seventies would usher in with a vengence the new world order of uncle sams autocracy that would hinder progress to the spread of groovy vibrations...with the gospel groove running through, the gig takes on the vibe of gathering the faithful for one lunch time, just like the cavern days at the other end of the decade, a refuge from the downpresser of the workaday world, a noonday underground from the rooftop singers in the sky(more gospel allusions)...if the whole GET BACK sessions ever needed to be reduced to a half hour sound bite this really is the toppermost of '69 poppermost...

...the thing about the fabs tapeing every last piece of beatleness is it can sure get mighty confusing after all these years about what was what and why in the emergence of the last wax 'let it be', what with glyn johns mixes be pressed up in possibly three versions (some cats say there's four different takes and mixes making it to full LP test pressing stage but this could be down to fake boots from back in the day when these things cost a decent chunk of change), george martin tried to interest the fabs with the different pressings but they were lethargic to the sounds, not quite realising they had acheived their desire to 'GET BACK' to where they once belonged, the live in the studio creating the vibe they hungered for is in plenty of these bootlegs of the sessions (cats should dig a copy of 'last licks live' the proposed LP of the rooftop gig for some idea of a controlled live beatle bash, the whole thing is tightened up by some george martin splicing)...these pressings found their way over to uncle sams autocracy and started getting air space on the FM radio staions who beleived they were in possession of the new fab4 disk...the disk in question here is the first genuine beatle boot put out by the first hippy underground cats to get involved with illicit wax, 'kum back' as it was known crept out of berkeley (pressed in los angeles) in late '69 in a quantity of 2/300 copies...with the title stamped on the front being the only indication that it may have some connection to the fabs (no pictures/titles) it sold to the local radicals/hippys in a matter of moments...the tracks are not in the 'correct' place as the running order had in no way been finalised, this in itself is a cool back to '69 talisman, back to the days when the fabs were still the guiding light in underground circles, (cats can dig it for the first time) its like the 'let it be' box ain't come out yet, this is grail from pepperland ...the sound ain't bad considering the 'on the fly' low rent pressing and this actual copy ain't as scratchy and worn out as the age may suggest and the scuffy noise here and there is just extra texture to the legend...