It's All Too Much - an Alternate Beatles TL

BlackentheBorg

BlackentheBorg

Banned
March 21st, 1967 –
While recording music for their new album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, John Lennon ingests LSD in the recording studio. Whilst all four members of the band occasionally smoked a joint while recording, none of them had intentionally taken LSD during recording before. George Martin took notice of this.

MARTIN: “We were overdubbing voices on one of the Pepper tracks, and John, down in the studio, was obviously feeling unwell. I called over the intercom, 'What's the matter, John? Aren't you feeling very well?' 'No,' said John. I went down and looked him, and he said, 'I don't know. I'm feeling very strange.' He certainly looked very ill, so I told him, 'You need some fresh air. Let's leave the others working, and I'll take you outside.”

And so, the producer took John up to the roof of Studio 2 (as there were “the usual five hundred or so kids waiting for us at the front”). Martin watched carefully as John awkwardly walked around in circles, from one part of the roof to the other, alerting him whenever he wandered to close to the edge. After a while, John stopped.

MARTIN: “I remember he started jumping up and down and making these quacking noises. He was listening to the sounds he made. I asked what he was doing out of curiosity and he said that there was ‘a real good echo up here.’ I was worried the kids below us could hear him making his weird noises, so I took a look over the edge. They had heard him, and all of them we’re gazing up at the roof waiting for more of John’s nonsense.

I laughed and said 'They seem to be enjoying the show you’re putting on, John.' and I turned back round, and his expression had changed entirely. I thought I had offended him somehow, but he was thinking, some kind of crazy plan coming together in his head. I asked if he was alright, ‘Fine’ he said. After five minutes of silence, he looks up at me, grinning.

‘Martin’, he said, ‘how many amps do you think we can lug up here?’”

*
Wowee, my first post. This is something I've been toying with in my off hours, thought you guys might like it.
 
Jonathan

Jonathan

BlackentheBorg said:
Heh. You'll find out in the next post. It'll be toppermost of the poppermost.
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BlackentheBorg

BlackentheBorg

Banned
March 26th, 1967 –

STARR: “The whole thing was John’s idea, actually. Usually it was Paul who came up with that kinda stuff, so you could already tell this was something different. The rest of us, George especially, weren’t on board to start with, but he [George] agreed to do it if we included one of his other songs on the album [Only a Northern Song]. John didn’t mind, he wanted this to happen. He was convinced we needed to do this.”

Lennon had managed to convince the rest of the band to take part in his spontaneous roof concert over a period of two days, "Which I basically spent nagging them till their ears needed to be nailed back on"). Dates were discussed (ranging from 'in a few hours' to the day before Sgt. Pepper’s release), but Lennon insisted it be done as soon as possible. So it was decided they would play on the roof the following Monday.

HARRISON: “It took us hours to convince him we needed a couple of days to get ready. I said I needed that time to tune my guitar right, but I was really trying to psyche myself up to perform again. It was a scary prospect, you know, after getting mobbed in the Philippines. Also, being able to hear yourself play for the first time in a year or so? Daunting stuff.”

The suddenness of John’s idea caused panic amongst the sound technicians and interns working there at the time.

MARTIN: “Me and Paul held a meeting and said they were gonna play on the roof, and I’m pretty sure we caused several small panic attacks. They were shouting – ‘How the hell we gonna get the speakers up to the roof?!’ ‘Will we be using the recordings for the album?!’ ‘What if it rains?!’ ‘Are they really performing live again?!’ We all had to work overnight to get everything right, and it took us the entire morning to get all the machinery up there. Amps are heavy, you know!”

At quarter past twelve on the roof of Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles ascended to the roof.

MCCARTNEY: “So we got up there, George [Martin] and the rest had managed to haul four of these great big speakers up there, one for each corner, in the cold, along with all our gear and two eight-track machines. I turned to John and asked ‘are we doing this?’. He grinned his big grin and said ‘that we are’.

After a brief equipment check (from the same interns that helped lug up the equipment, the Beatles begin playing. Passers-byes are enthralled, and news-trucks are quickly dispatched. Ten minutes after it begins, Abbey Road (along with neighboring Hill Road and Garden Road) are brought to a standstill by hoards of fans and reporters. Apple Scruffs desperately tried climbing the gutters on the side of the building, others swarmed businesses to sit and watch on the roofs opposite.

RINGO: “While we were up on the roof, people went mental and tried breaking down the doors. The police got involved when traffic went into a gridlock. Martin came up, white-faced, and said we might need to stop. But we didn’t. We stretched that baby out as far as it would go.”

MCCARTNEY: “In the end it started to filter up from Mal and George [Martin] that the police were complaining. We said, 'We're not stopping.' He said, the police are going to arrest you. John looks across and says cheekily 'Tell them we’ll be done in a few minutes!' We kept going to the bitter end and, as I say, it was quite enjoyable.”

Half an hour after the show began, with the Police joining in with the rabid fans trying to break down the Abbey Road doors, the Beatles scurried off the rooftop, accompanied by a thunderous applause from the crowd below, not before Lennon could make a passing remark through the microphone –

"I'd like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we passed the audition."

The event (referred to as ‘the rooftop concert’ by fans) helped to nearly double the already large amount of hype surrounding Sgt. Pepper’s release.

LENNON: “It was a bit tricky at first, you know, being able to hear yourself play for the first time. But you get into it. It’s like riding a bicycle…in front of a few hundred people. I think they liked it.”

HARRISON: “Yeah, I’ll admit. It was fun. It really gave the album an edge.”

Years later, both John Lennon and George Harrison cite the experience as what changed their minds about touring.

ROOFTOP CONCERT SETLIST –
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (two takes)
2. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (one take)
3. Fixing a Hole (two takes)
4. Lovely Rita (two takes)
5. With a Little Help from my Friends (one take)
 
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flippikat

flippikat

Two takes of the album's title track, and one of "With a little help from my friends" sounds a bit odd, given that the one flows into the other on OTL's album.

Admittedly they were recorded separately and crossfaded, but maybe in a rooftop show a better approach would have been one take of each, and maybe a take of the uptempo reprise of the title track as their last number on the rooftop.

I realise that in OTL the title track reprise was written right at the end of sessions, but the need for a last live song may bring forward that song idea.
 
BlackentheBorg

BlackentheBorg

Banned
flippikat said:
Two takes of the album's title track, and one of "With a little help from my friends" sounds a bit odd, given that the one flows into the other on OTL's album.

Admittedly they were recorded separately and crossfaded, but maybe in a rooftop show a better approach would have been one take of each, and maybe a take of the uptempo reprise of the title track as their last number on the rooftop.

I realise that in OTL the title track reprise was written right at the end of sessions, but the need for a last live song may bring forward that song idea.
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In my mind, the reason 'With A Little Help From My Friends' was played last as a sort of finale song. At that point, the fans would've been pretty exited, so you would've got a genuine crowd roar during the bridge in-between the two songs.

Also, the takes weren't necessarily done one after the other. I think they did various takes in no particular order during the OTL rooftop concert, can't remember, might need to look that up.

And as for the reprise? Doing away with that entirely. Room needed to be made for Only a Northern Song. I don't think Neil Aspinall would bother to suggest a reprise when everyone is preoccupied with the sense of wonder that the rooftop concert left them with.
 
BlackentheBorg

BlackentheBorg

Banned
June 1st, 1967 –

MCCARTNEY: “After we spliced in the concert audio, I thought it was great. I thought it was a huge advance, and I was very pleased because a month or two earlier the press and the music papers had been saying, 'What are The Beatles up to? Drying up, I suppose.' So it was brilliant, playing up on the roof and making an album like Pepper. Showing everyone that we could still rock.”

HARRISON: “[Sgt. Pepper] was Paul’s baby, but John helped introduce it to the rest of the family.”

Cover-shoot-for-Sgt-Pepper-5.jpg


SGT. PEPPERS LONLEY HEARTS CLUB BAND

SIDE A
1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band
2. With a Little Help from my Friends
3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
4. When I’m Sixty Four
5. Only a Northern Song
6. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite

SIDE B
1. Within You Without You
2. Getting Better
3. Lovely Rita
4. Fixing a Hole
5. She’s leaving Home
6. A Day in the Life
-

After a further month and a half of development and two bouts of "messing about with the track list" (McCartney), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Band, releases to critical acclaim. The album spends a total of 152 weeks on the charts from June 3rd 1967, debuting at number eight on pre-orders alone. It tops the charts for a total of 27 weeks.

The album is noted by critics in being something ‘genuinely unique’, having live songs amongst studio-born ones. The title track, for example, was the second take from the Rooftop Concert two months prior, the hysterics of the crowd gathered below Abbey Road clearly audible in the background. Another isolated sample of the crowd’s cheering, taken from the 8-track recordings, were neatly slotted at the ending of Side A, melding together with the last gasp of the calliope-sounding Mr. Kite.

LENNON: “We ended up doing a lot less dubbing than we thought we would, actually. I guess our attention was divided between the work that we had to do, and the brilliant feeling we had gotten performing. We wanted to do it again, definitely. When you do something you forgot you loved, trying to sync up Mal’s harmonica gets very dull.”

MARTIN: “Looking back on Pepper, you can see it was quite an icon. It was the record of that time, and it probably did change the face of recording, but we didn't do it consciously. I think there was a gradual development by the boys, as they tried playing live again. I remember they kept saying 'We don't have to go up onstage and do this; we can do it just for ourselves, and just for the studio.' But, as you know, they couldn’t be stifled up indoors for long. I think it represented what the young people were on about, and it seemed to coincide with the revolution in young people's thinking. It was the epitome of the Swinging Sixties. It linked up with Mary Quant and miniskirts and all those things - the freedom of sex, the freedom of drugs, and the absolute majesty of Rock and Roll”.
 
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flippikat

flippikat

What next, an ATL "Magical Mystery Tour" project where the Beatles, friends, and circus freaks go out in a bus AND play a few "surprise" gigs ala OTL's Wings tour of universities in the early 1970s?
 
BlackentheBorg

BlackentheBorg

Banned
August 9th, 1967 -

In a surprisingly casual press conference, Paul McCartney, flanked by Brian Epstein and Neil Aspinall, announces that the group intends to start touring again sometime in the near future (‘…but this time on our own terms.’). A media storm ensues, with neither band member or Abbey Road technician leaking any details. "We're still sorting it out. We have a lot of ideas, and when we decide on one, we'll let you know." (McCartney)

Manager Brian Epstein was also noted to be appearing “reinvigorated” at the prospect of another Beatles tour.
John Lennon said of it in a 1982 interview with Rolling Stone;

“Yeah, I mean, at that point, Brian wasn't up to much. We’d stopped touring and he didn't really have anything to do, after all, Paul was really trying to run the show at that point. But he knew we need Bri’ to help out. He’d gotten us through the You Ess of Aye in one peace, didn't he? […] I couldn't help but feel as though Brain was sort of lost at that point. It was like if he didn't have anything to do, something bad would've happened to him sort enough. It’s probably a good thing that we started touring again. The man would've been bored stiff!”

*

Here, have this minor update whilst I work on the big one. Mapping out ATL tour schedules are difficult...
 
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flippikat

flippikat

The intriguing question is what acts they take with them on the road.

Note the use of the word "acts" rather than musicians - there's all manner of performance art that could be staged as a part of the show.....
 

Glass Onion

I've spent a lot of time thinking about how the Beatles could have returned to live performance in 1967, and I love this approach. I don't know how they could have convinced Harrison to go along with the idea-but the idea of Lennon deciding on acid that he wants to put on a impromptu performance isn't that unbelievable.

When I saw the beginning of this timeline I thought it was going in a completely different direction.

I'm not sure about the set list on the roof-and I think they would probably need a keyboard player to produce live versions of much of their 1967 material. Yes, With a Little Help from my friends and Sgt. Pepper are obvious picks-but after that I'm not sure. I think Getting Better could also work there-and they might try a version of Strawberry Fields Forever. Not sure who the Beatles would recruit to come up with them if they do need a keyboard player.

I'm also not sure on the idea of putting the live recordings on Pepper or with altering the tracklist. Pepper was such a massive success-and part of that success had to do with Pepper as the product of the studio-that making much of it a live album and reducing the concept album element by removing the reprise risks undermining Pepper's success.

To me it would make more sense to keep the live performance in the can for a later date-that way when the Beatles are struggling in the fall of 1967 to complete a new album one side of it can be the 1967 concert.


I hope this response is not too negative. I really like the idea and I'll be interested to see where it goes.
 
flippikat

flippikat

Some cool points above - if the Beatles need to draft-in a keyboard player they could either drag in some anonymous session player, or pitch the idea to someone from another band to make a guest appearance.

In OTL Brian Jones played on early sessions for "You know my name (look up my number)" in 1967. Maybe he could be on the shortlist?
 
BlackentheBorg

BlackentheBorg

Banned
Glass Onion said:
I've spent a lot of time thinking about how the Beatles could have returned to live performance in 1967, and I love this approach. I don't know how they could have convinced Harrison to go along with the idea-but the idea of Lennon deciding on acid that he wants to put on a impromptu performance isn't that unbelievable.

When I saw the beginning of this timeline I thought it was going in a completely different direction.

I'm not sure about the set list on the roof-and I think they would probably need a keyboard player to produce live versions of much of their 1967 material. Yes, With a Little Help from my friends and Sgt. Pepper are obvious picks-but after that I'm not sure. I think Getting Better could also work there-and they might try a version of Strawberry Fields Forever. Not sure who the Beatles would recruit to come up with them if they do need a keyboard player.

I'm also not sure on the idea of putting the live recordings on Pepper or with altering the tracklist. Pepper was such a massive success-and part of that success had to do with Pepper as the product of the studio-that making much of it a live album and reducing the concept album element by removing the reprise risks undermining Pepper's success.

To me it would make more sense to keep the live performance in the can for a later date-that way when the Beatles are struggling in the fall of 1967 to complete a new album one side of it can be the 1967 concert.


I hope this response is not too negative. I really like the idea and I'll be interested to see where it goes.
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It's not to negative at all, really! Feedback of any kind is appreciated, especially from such an involved Beatles-altist such as yourself.

With the rooftop concert, it was largely improvised, spur-of-the-moment event. They did it largely because Lennon wouldn't stop going on about it, but in the process rediscovered the love of preforming to a live screamy audience. They songs they played were intended to be would-be singles from the album, or the ones you could name right off the bat. They'd still be largely acoustic at that point of development, still lacking the keyboard/instrumental overdubs.

As for the live tracks on Pepper, I wanted history to repeat it self, regarding how Let It Be had selected rooftop songs on it. Not to mention it'd be interesting to see a combination of cutting-edge studio work and electric live performance. Tracklist altering probably would've been necessary to make the album 'flow' better.

ALSO -- I meant to put "Getting Better" instead of "Good Morning Good Morning". My bad. I'll fix that now.
 
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