The Beatles - Unsurpassed Masters - Vol. 3 [FLAC]

Publisher: Yellow Dog Records
Reference :YD 003
Date :1989
Made In :Luxembourg
Quality :Ex
Booklet & packaging :
Total duration: 58:33

Comments
The cover is a photo op from the "Our World" broadcast of"All You Need Is Love", history's first live world-wide satellite TV link-up.
Oops!
Harrison's sign has two spelling errors in the Russian word for "love".
Latin characters for "B" and "V" are used where Cyrillic letters should have been painted. Who's checking these things, anyway?

First issues were improperly mastered with only one of the stereo channels in noisy mono, and timing cues were off.

The second ("fixed") version has the text "Previously available in mono only NOW IN STEREO" on the back cover.

Paperback Writer (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 1
13 Apr 1966
Stereo, without vocals.
Guide guitar in place of opening vocal harmonies.
Drums, guitar, jangle box.
Breakdown after first verse.
Pitch correction: +1.0%

Paperback Writer (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 2
13 Apr 1966
SS.PM2.03.02
Lacks delay on vocals, leaving sparse space at refrains.
Left channel: Bass, lead vocal, "Frere Jacques" falsettos.
Right channel: Drums, guitar, jangle box, lead vocal. No fadeout at end, revealing electric keyboard riff and falsettos that didn't make it onto the EMI/Capitol single.

This is not an "alternative stereo mix with
radical separation". It's how it sounds on the master tape. There is no keyboard played on this track at all, and all the vocals here are on the single. There is the sound of a piano-through-Leslie at the very end, from a previous unidentified recording on the tape that "Paperback Writer was recorded over.
Pitch correction: +1.0%

2. Rain (Lennon/McCartney)
3:;04
Take 7
Reduction Mix
14 Apr 1966

Left channel: Bass, drums w/high hat.
When panned left, it's purely instrumental except for backup vocal phrases and Lennon's harmony at the refrain.
Right channel: Lennon's lead vocal, guitar, drums without high hat.
The stereo separation allows listeners to focus on Lennon's stunning vocals.
Especially riveting are his double-tracked harmonies at the refrains.
Fully separated in this mix, the listener can pan left or right to hear each Lennon vocal separately.
Droning on the word "Rain," he achieves the vocal timbre of a Tibetan monk high in the mountains.

3. Tomorrow Never Knows (Lennon/McCartney)
2:57
Take 3
RS3
6 Apr 1966


Listed as "Mark I".
RS3, 22 jun 1966

Don't get too excited by the false liner notes.
This is not "Mark I", the early take of "Tomorrow Never Knows". (see Mark Lewisohn's book on the Abbey Road Sessions).

This is not an alternate stereo mix of the tape loop experiment...it's the LP mix -180 degrees out of phase, and so poorly transferred that it sounds like stereo, when it is in fact mono.
The loops are out front, more distinct, than on "Revolver", and Lennon's vocal becomes buried when the revolving Leslie speaker effect kicks in.
The real "Mark I" reportedly was included on Anthology II.
Pitch correction: +0.4%

4. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
3:06
Take 1
24 Nov 1966
SS.MMT.08.01
The wonderful take 1 ...

Innocent psychedelia.
Stereo mix taken from the master.

Lennon does not sing the harmonies himself, George and Paul are
plainly present on them.

There's a clip in the film "Imagine" where Lennon is interviewed as he is entering Abbey Road studios toward the end of 1966. He's holding a reel-to-reel tape in his hands. It's possible that this track is from that 1/4" reel.
Pitch correction: -2.2% (Key B)

Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 2
28 Nov 1966
Pitch correction: +4.4%

Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 3
28 Nov 1966
Pitch correction: +4.4%

Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 4
28 Nov 1966
Pitch correction: +3.1% (Key B flat)

Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 5
29 Nov 1966
Pitch correction: +4.7%

Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 6
29 Nov 1966
SS.MMT.08.06
Pitch correction: +4.7%

Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 7
29 Nov 1966
SS.MMT.08.07
Reduction from take 6.
Pitch correction: +5.3% (key B flat)

7. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
3:42
Take 25
Remix
9 Dec 1966

This is the orchestral overdub onto the edit of Takes 15 & 24.

George Martin's orchestrated score for the faster, heavier SFF that became the second half of the EMI/Capitol release.
No vocals here, though.

Ringo's drumming becomes manic through the bit that was faded out at the end of the EMI single.
And Lennon can be heard shouting: "Tell you... What? ~Laugh~. Ho, huh-huh. Can you hear ...buh, da-da dup... ~laughing~... cranberry sauce, cranberry sauce."

Then John orders: "All right, calm down, very well. Calm down."
Pitch correction: -3.4% (key B)

8. Strawberry Fields Forever (Lennon/McCartney)
3:30
Take 26
Remix
15 Dec 1966

This is the vocals and other overdubs onto Take 25, which was edited to Take 7 to make the master version for the single.

Same orchestra take, this time with all the back masking and overdubs.
The ending grows into a massive psychedelic din, a rush of sound textures that were all faded out of the EMI single.

Perhaps this mix was too harsh for a pop release in 1967. For today's post-Nirvana dissonant-trained audiences? Solid Gold.
Pitch correction: -3.6% (key B)

A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney)
RS4
Take 6, 7
20 Jan 1967
SS.SGT.13.0607.RS4
Another stereo mix attempt.

Reduction mix (take 4 into take 5, 6 & 7).Several failed stereo remixes, including Emerick's "RS-4" and Martin's "RS-5" and "RS-6" verbal documentation.
The longest remix reveals the synching problem that emerged while trying to link the 4-tracked orchestra swell to another machine with the 4-tracked Beatles' reel. (see Lewisohn, Abbey Road Sessions).

Three failed remixes. Note the differing stereo placements from one to another. The longest tape of this remixing session- RS 5 & 6 appeared previously on "Dig It" (Condor 1987) among others.

This is stereo mixing session done on 22 February 1967. These stereo mixes were edited from takes 6 and 7.
Pitch correction: +2.8%

A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney)
RS5
Take 6, 7
20 Jan 1967
SS.SGT.13.0607.RS5
A quickly aborted stereo mix.

Reduction mix (take 4 into take 5, 6 & 7).Several failed stereo remixes, including Emerick's "RS-7" and Martin's "RS-5" and "RS-6" verbal documentation.
The longest remix reveals the synching problem that emerged while trying to link the 4-tracked orchestra swell to another machine with the 4-tracked Beatles' reel. (see Lewisohn, Abbey Road Sessions).

Three failed remixes. Note the differing stereo placements from one to another. The longest tape of this remixing session- RS 5 & 6 appeared previously on "Dig It" (Condor 1987) among
others.

This is stereo mixing session done on 22 February 1967. These stereo mixes were edited from takes 6 and 7.
Pitch correction: +2.8%

A Day In The Life (Lennon/McCartney)
RS6
Take 6, 7
20 Jan 1967
SS.SGT.13.0607.RS6
A stereo mix attempt.

Reduction mix (take 4 into take 5, 6 & 7).Several failed stereo remixes, including Emerick's "RS-7" and Martin's "RS-5" and "RS-6" verbal documentation.
The longest remix reveals the synching problem that emerged while trying to link the 4-tracked orchestra swell to another machine with the 4-tracked Beatles' reel. (see Lewisohn, Abbey Road Sessions).

Three failed remixes. Note the differing stereo placements from one to another. The longest tape of this remixing session- RS 5 & 6 appeared previously on "Dig It" (Condor 1987) among others.

This is stereo mixing session done on 22 February 1967. These stereo mixes were edited from takes 6 and 7.
Pitch correction: +2.8%

All You Need Is Love (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 57
TV
25 Jun 1967

Take 57 of the "Our World" live world-wide TV broadcast of June 25, 1967.
Pitch correction: +2.6%

All You Need Is Love (Lennon/McCartney)
Take 58
TV
25 Jun 1967

Take 58 of the "Our World" live world-wide TV broadcast of June 25, 1967.
Includes several seconds of studio ambiance from after the cameras had cut away, with Mal Evans announcing "Happy New Year, everybody!"
Pitch correction: +2.6%

11. I Am The Walrus (Lennon/McCartney)
4:13
Take 9
5 Sep 1967

This is an excerpt of an external recording ("monitor mix") from the control room, of the session for the instrumental track. Yellow Dog would release this complete tape four years later on "Control Room Monitor Mixes"

A surprise gem.
Angry, grungy instrumental take 9 of "Walrus".
Recorded Sept. 5, 1967 - just days after Brian Epstein's death.
Bass, drums, keyboard and guitar.
Ringo is still sorting out his drum part through the first half.
By the end, his patented left-handed snare fills are in full blossom on his right-handed kit.
Pitch correction: -3.5%

12. Aerial Tour Instrumental (Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey)
2:05
Take 8
RM4
8 Sep 1967
SS.MMT.05.08.RM4
Acetate.

This is an alternate mix of "Flying".
There is a minimal, back-masked keyboard track in this mix in the place of a guitar track that is heard on the EMI release.
Most notably, the long mellotron ending which fades into "Blue Jay Way" is missing.
In its place is a basic 1-4-5 progression in a ragtime rhythm featuring banjo, whistling and saxophone.

The long mellotron meanderings that follow the end of the group's performance, from RM1, were hived off and replaced with a recording of a jazz band, from an unidentified record. Yellow Dog would release the complete RM1 in 1994 on "The Ultimate Collection" Vol. 1.
Pitch correction: +0.5%

13. Hello Hello (Lennon/McCartney)
5:05
Take 1
2 Oct 1967

Emerick calls it: "Hello, Hello. Take one."
Highlights of this piano and organ backing track are Ringo's Pepperesque fills with his cross-over rolls off the toms.
A complete take without vocals or guitar overdubs.

The intro of this piece is stereo, but the recording goes mono at the fade of all sound just before they start playing. Paul plays piano, John plays organ, and George plays tambourine.
Pitch correction: +1.1%