but that still doesn't diminish how cool it is to hear the vocals pretty much stripped away from the backing track. That being said, the backing track was extremely basic anyway (it was Take 3 of 3), with just guitar, drums and bass without any sweeting except for the piano solo. Here are some things to listen for.
1) Once again, the vocal blend of John, Paul and George shines. In my experience, vocal blend takes longer to come together than instrumental blend, and it's a big reason why you don't hear this kind of vocal sound much anymore. Unless you're singing together night after night, as the boys did in their years in Hamburg, you won't sound like this.
2) The interesting thing is this kind of blend can be rather forgiving in terms of singing in tune. Even if you're a little off, it's not as noticeable as when you have no blend at all. Listen to the first set of "oo's" behind Lennon's lead vocal. It's a little shaky but you don't notice unless you listen really hard.
3) I love the piano solo in that the tape was obviously slowed down, which made it sound like a harpsichord, so the part could be easily played (especially the run at the end of it). Producer George Martin originally played this solo on the Hammond organ, but didn't feel that the sound worked for the song so he replaced it with piano.
Sorry everyone, but every time I embed one of these great videos, EMI takes them down, even though it can be argued that they're being used for educational purposes under Fair Use.
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2 comments:
Very cool. To me, the Rubber Soul album was the best album they made that could be taken on the road and played live. After this, they went to studio tricks, which, as the Who and later Queen found out, didn't travel well with tape technology. I got this album for Christmas when it came out, and overplayed it so much that I had to buy a new album every month for 4 months! To me, it was a life changing event - I wanted to be the next John Lennon. My bad ... I'm not, and could never be. My good ... I don't have to buy a new CD every month.
What you said about the "oohs" in the background reminded me of how amused I was with regard to the harmonized "aaahs" in the verses to Helter Skelter. They sound so out of place in the midst of all that...dysphony, if that word exists.
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