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Author Topic: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story  (Read 80980 times)

Brian Kehew

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #45 on: March 04, 2005, 06:45:33 AM »

>>I now have decided that it rhymes with "mug." <<

Well...... it IS a Dutch name, and correctly - it would be pronounced more like "Moook".

(Sorry for the topic to diverge so far - it still is a great story.)
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Kendrix

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #46 on: March 04, 2005, 08:25:20 AM »

Wow. What a story.  Totally baffling.    
As someone who has had a few "unbelievable" experiences myself I must say Its brave of you to post it.  

Im tempted to make some joke about how good the acid was at the time.  But even that couldnt explain getting the lyric correct  and the conversation with Sir George.

Is it possible it might have been a rough demo cut elsewhere at an earlier time?
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Bob Olhsson

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #47 on: March 04, 2005, 09:58:11 AM »

A little more of the story unfolds.

Mike McLean just found a copy he had Larry Miles make of Brian Holland's acetate. The label says the copy was made May 5, 1967. It is titled "I Heard the News Today" but Mike doesn't remember there being any title on the original.

Lee Flier

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #48 on: March 04, 2005, 10:32:33 AM »

Unbelievable, Terry!  I agree with the "this was worth the price of my Internet connection for the month" sentiment!

I would agree with the others who said it was probably a Beatles prank, set up through a friend or two who was travelling back and forth.  I don't think they had any worries that someone else would release it first, not in those days.  It was a lot more difficult and expensive to just duplicate stuff and release it than it is now, and anybody who did it professionally would have known it was obviously the Beatles, and would have reacted as Terry did.  Even if anyone HAD managed to leak it privately, it would've certainly made for good advance publicity!

I'm guessing the Beatles knew exactly what they had on their hands - a truly revolutionary record - and they were just dying for their peers and heroes in the industry to hear it.  Think about it... you've just recorded Sgt. Pepper.  You know it's not going to be out for two or three MONTHS yet.  How could you stand it? Very Happy

JGreenslade

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #49 on: March 04, 2005, 12:13:14 PM »

Quote:


set up through a friend or two who was travelling back and forth.



Who could this friend be? Who would've worked with the Beatles, and at the same time had security clearance for Motown and Ardent?

It can only be one person...










Bernard Purdie  :-)


Justin
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David Kulka

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #50 on: March 04, 2005, 12:28:25 PM »

I think J. Edgar Hoover disguised himself as Janie the maid, and planted the disk.
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J.J. Blair

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #51 on: March 04, 2005, 12:52:36 PM »

Maybe Bernard "The Hit Maker" Purdie played on the soundtrack for the Robert Stigwood 'Sgt. Pepper' movie, and that's what he has been trying to tell us all these years?

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They say the heart of Rock & Roll is still beating, which is amazing if you consider all the blow it's done over the years.

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JGreenslade

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #52 on: March 04, 2005, 01:09:08 PM »

I don't know if you're joking, but according to a Google search, Bernard reckons he played on 21 tracks on the 1st 3 LPs: http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=bernard+purdie+be atles&meta=

Taken from http://aboutthebeatles.com/misc_timeline_postbeatles.html

Quote:


1978
February - in an interview with 'Gig' magazine, session drummer Bernard Purdie claims to have played on 21 tracks on the Beatles first three albums, adding that he was paid by Brian Epstein to keep his mouth shut in the amount of "five figures". He also claims to have played on tracks by the Animals and the Monkees. Also, he claims that guitar overdubs were made on several additional tracks. It is believed that Purdie overdubbed drums on the Atco US Single "Ain't She Sweet", and that he may have performed overdubs on other Tony Sheridan recordings which did not feature the Beatles, and was confusing Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers with Tony Sheridan and another backing band.



Regardless of his claims / ego, Bernard remains one of my favourite drummers. If you consider how many hip-hop cats have sampled him I guess that says something about his timing, particularly in the pre-waveform editing early days of sampling with S900s etc (unless you could afford a Fairlight).

Justin
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J.J. Blair

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #53 on: March 04, 2005, 01:17:17 PM »

Thermionic, yes we know and we are joking.  And regardless of his immense ego, I would use Bernard on a session any day of the week, especially if Chuck Rainey is the other half of the rhythm section.
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They say the heart of Rock & Roll is still beating, which is amazing if you consider all the blow it's done over the years.

"The Internet enables pompous blowhards to interact with other pompous blowhards in a big circle jerk of pomposity." - Bill Maher

"The negative aspects of this business, not only will continue to prevail, but will continue to accelerate in madness. Conditions aren't going to get better, because the economics of rock and roll are getting closer and closer to the economics of Big Business America." - Bill Graham

compasspnt

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #54 on: March 04, 2005, 01:26:54 PM »

My main drum kit, which I've used on almost everything for about 17 years, was one of Bernard's before I got it.  It does have a certain "Strange Magic" to it (apologies to Jeff L).
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J.J. Blair

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #55 on: March 04, 2005, 01:46:22 PM »

compasspnt wrote on Fri, 04 March 2005 10:26

My main drum kit, which I've used on almost everything for about 17 years, was one of Bernard's before I got it.  It does have a certain "Strange Magic" to it (apologies to Jeff L).


One of the Sonor ones?
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studio info

They say the heart of Rock & Roll is still beating, which is amazing if you consider all the blow it's done over the years.

"The Internet enables pompous blowhards to interact with other pompous blowhards in a big circle jerk of pomposity." - Bill Maher

"The negative aspects of this business, not only will continue to prevail, but will continue to accelerate in madness. Conditions aren't going to get better, because the economics of rock and roll are getting closer and closer to the economics of Big Business America." - Bill Graham

David Kulka

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #56 on: March 04, 2005, 02:28:06 PM »

Getting back to the topic, i spent a little time scanning Google for possible clues.  Here are a couple of links that might relate to the Motown and Stax mystery disks...

g. 1967 ("Parlophone" PCS1967)

     ...Unlike the other titles on this list, "1967" is a compilation album of material previously available on other bootlegs (A bootleg of a bootleg, if you would). However, it's probably the easiest way for a new collector to get a sample of material available from this era, and includes several demos from "Magical Mystery Tour", as well as an amazing early acetate of "A Day In The Life"...
http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/faqs/rare.html

RM1, 30 jan 1967
...Vocal overdub recorded 20 Jan 1967 with this rough mix been made 30 Jan prior to Paul's vocals being wiped on a subsequent overdub on the 03 Feb 1967.

The famous 'Oh Shit' version
(different than on Anthology 2 because here it is complete).
You can hear the counting clearly.Paul is laughing while singing and forget his lyrics...
   http://www.bootlegzone.com/album.php?name=acetates&secti on=1

And this is a nice account of the Day In The Life sessions.  http://www.ereader.com/product/book/excerpt/4419
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compasspnt

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #57 on: March 04, 2005, 02:31:58 PM »

J.J. wrote on Fri, 04 March 2005 13:46

compasspnt wrote on Fri, 04 March 2005 10:26

My main drum kit, which I've used on almost everything for about 17 years, was one of Bernard's before I got it.  It does have a certain "Strange Magic" to it (apologies to Jeff L).


One of the Sonor ones?



This is a Pearl Studio maple kit, like Larrie London used to use also.

By the way, here's a GREAT interview with Larrie (real name Ralph), but I'll include some BP related comments from it here afterwards:

http://www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Venue/9362/larrie.html

"JF:
In the book, THE BIG BEAT by Max Weinberg, Bernard Purdie claims that Bennie Benjamin  was a junkie and that he (Purdie) actually played on some 500 of those Motown sessions,  only he claims that the rhythm tracks were cut in New York and shipped to Detroit where  vocals were laid on.

LL:
Well, some of that may or may not be true about Bennie. Bennie was a very sick guy and  it's no secret that he had a problem with the junk. As far as Purdie's claims go I don't  want to get into a big thing about it but the guy's got some kind of a problem of his own.  I mean - his memory's not too good.

JF:
Without actually naming you he claimed that he, had to fix up go in and overdub a lot  of the Motown stuff, because it wasn't right."

LL:
Yeah, I've read that interview. He also claims he played drums on the early Beatles  records too. There's no doubt that he was a great player, with King Curtis, James Brown,  Aretha ... but I was there and I can tell you he didn't do some of the stuff he claims  because I did it. Those sessions were live, vocals and all, and overdubs were unheard of  in those days. If someone goofed we just did it over.



JF:
In the Weinberg interview, Purdie seems to be hedging - he's very reluctant to name  any of the tracks he claims he doctored with The Beatles or for Motown.

LL:
Well, that's because he didn't play on COME SEE ABOUT ME, or BABY LOVE or SUGAR PIE  HONEY BUNCH, or any of the others. Lots of witnesses were there, so ask them if it was a  tape from New York or a fat scared white kid named Ralph. (Laughs.) I really hate to call  someone a liar, but he called me one first. Ringo called his story rubbish and said you  don't bother disputing that shit. Those were his words...I just never bothered. There were  other drummers from time to time - Purdie may have been one of them. I don't deny that,  but 500 tracks? I have fond memories of playing double drums with Stevie Wonder on the  UPTIGHT sessions. It was a gas - he was soooo funky!

....

JF:
You've played on more hit records than any other drummer.

LL:
(Grins) If you say so. I think maybe it's Hal Blaine.



JF:
Or Benard Purdie?

LL:
No (Laughs.)"
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Lee Flier

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #58 on: March 04, 2005, 02:47:38 PM »

... And let's not forget Earl Palmer...

neve1073

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Re: The Bizarre Beatle Mystery Story
« Reply #59 on: March 04, 2005, 03:00:29 PM »

thermionic wrote on Fri, 04 March 2005 17:13

Quote:


set up through a friend or two who was travelling back and forth.



Who could this friend be? Who would've worked with the Beatles, and at the same time had security clearance for Motown and Ardent?

It can only be one person...










Bernard Purdie  Smile


Justin



That's Purdie good!

The beatles prank theory doesn't explain how it got into the building and, even more difficult to explain, how it was removed from the hiding place in the office.
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