It's Not Too Bad

The Evolution of Strawberry Fields Forever

Pegboy 1008

This is a wonderful CD, both musically and in its presentation, consisting of 25 tracks of the various incarnations of Strawberry Fields Forever. Included with the disc is a 24-page booklet very nicely done with color and b/w photos and faily extensive liner notes. The liner notes are reproduced below.

Liner Notes

It's Not Too Bad - the evolution of strawberry fields forever

"I have an original tape of it around somewhere. Of how it sounded before it became the sort of psychedelic-sounding song it became on record."
- John Lennon - September 1980

Here it is! John's complete composing work tape, offering the listener an unique insight to the genesis of 'Strawberry Fields Forever', arguably the pivotal point in the Beatles' career. Coupling these home recordings with a demonstrative sampling of the EMI session tapes, this collection offers an unparalleled perspective of the evolution of 'Strawberry Fields Forever' - from conception to release. It is an outlook unavailable for any other song in the Beatles' canon! One can actually hear the composition taking form, and aurally witness John Lennon's modus operandi in action! Many have theorized on the importance and effect of this composition on the Beatles' career, not to mention popular music as a whole. Supposals range from the accurate to the absurd, but they all have one thing in common - they aren't much fun to read! As Mr. Lennon himself once said, "writing about music is like talking about fucking." So rather than wax prophetic about the "drooping appoggiatura" or the "sinister distortions of the instrumental sonorities", I'd like to persent more of a technical history of the recordings and the events which surround them. Listeners who are interested in the inspiration behind the compostion should forsake the essays and search out the transcripts of John's marathon interview with David Sheff for Playboy magazine. The inspiration goes deeper than the image of the gothic orphanage, once visible from the now famous gates.

Santa Isabel Demos

The story begins while John was on location in Spain, filming 'How I Won The War' with producer/director Richard Lester. It was during these early weeks of Autumn 1966, while temporarily residing in the tiny valley village of Santa Isabel that John's new composition began to take shape. (Although some have erroneously attributed its impetus from a few notes played by John on a Hohner mouth organ during the Beatles' stay at New York City's Plaza Hotel in February, 1964!)

The first section of the tape finds John alone with his nylon-stringed classical guitar, which has been drastically de-tuned to accommodate his vocal range. The ambiance and instrumentation are also reminiscent of this earlier demos for 'She Said She Said.' After a few moments of warming up with a decidedly 'Paperback Writer-esque' lick, John switches off the portable tape recorder, then returns with the first of six attempts at "It's Not Too Bad."

At this stage, only the second verse exists, and in a lyrically incomplete state at that. Two takes are recorded initially, both consisting of the sole verse sung repeatedly. After a seemingly brief pause, John returns with the verse completed and continues to polish the meter with each of the two performances that follow. In the fourth and final of thse close-miked passes, a skeletal version of the chorus is first introduced.

After some off mic composing has taken place, John resumes recording, this time taking advantage of the acoustical properties found in the bath. The two "distant" takes show considerable progress, with part of the third verse, and a nearly completed chorus having been added. The acoustic demos conclude with a brief snatch recorded at another sitting, of John polishing a portion of the second verse. There is a possiblity that this snippet is the remnant of a previous session that was spooled back and recorded over.

Kenwood Demos

The next batch of home demos were recorded in the two week interim between John's return from Spain on November 7th, and the Beatle's [sic] return to the studio on November 24th. Once John was ensconced in his home studio, tucked away in the upstairs loft at Kenwood, he was able to experiment with a wider range of instrumentation and production techniques.

Appearling on this tape is the first evidence of John's primitive "sound on sound" recording technique. To achieve these "overdubs," John would play back a previously recorded performance through an amplified speaker, and record the ambient sound along with a live performance (the overdub) onto a second machine - a technique he utilized as late as his 'Double Fantasy' pre-production recordings some fourteen years later. While effective at capturing multiple Lennon's [sic], the technique was horrific from a technical standpoint, exponentially degrading the original performance with each "overdub"!

The reel presented in this segment consists of John's overdubs onto another series of home demos; one instrumental, one with vocal, both replete with false starts. Since John was not utilizing true "multi-track" technology, these undubbed performances existed on a separate reel and are not included here. In addition, one must realize that these recordings are work tapes. They are the rough notes used to realize the final objective: an accurate demo recording. The fragmentary nature of these recordings is akin to the writer's overflowing waste bin of discarded and half-finished ideas.

After a few attempts at rehearsing and adding some fumbling guitar flourishes to the instrumental demo, John moves on. He double tracks his lead vocal onto the other pre-recorded take, which still lacks the first verse. After a handful of technical interruptions, John abandons these recordings and starts anew on his Epiphone Casino. It is in this composing sequence that melody and lyric finally gel.

During these performances, an unknown individual is present, most likely a musical associate judging from the comments which John passes. By this time the composition has shifted to the key of C in comparison to the takes of 'It's Not Too Bad', which were performed somewhere near the key of A. The first attempt breaks down a few lines into the performance, and after some tuning, pickup and recording level adjustments, he resumes. The second, third and fourth endeavors break down even sooner than the intital take, as John wrestles with the dynamics. Growing impatient, John alters the rhythm for the next two passes, although he quickly abandons the idea.

The next two takes are keepers. Even though the first verse is still absent, all other elements, save for the introduction, are present. An edited, resequenced and sonically squashed version of the sixth and seventh takes appear on 'Anthology 2'. This "demo sequence" consists of a complete take six, John's comments which followed take four, and a heavily edited take seven. In addition, for reasons that are unclear, the sequence has been sped up one half step (to C#).

The final stage in the home demo process was to flesh out his simple arrangement by adding vocal and mellotron overdubs. As the unidentified assistant cued up the final composing sequence on the Brennell tape machine, John warmed up his new Mellotron Mark II. As the incomplete passes played, John experimented with numerous "samples" and spastic impressions, before adding "wine glasses," "pipe organ" and a double-tracked vocal to the next to last demo take.

It was time to go in the studio...

The EMI Sessions

On November 24th, The Beatles entered EMI for their first session since completing the 'Revolver' LP over five months earlier. This evening, starting at 7pm in Studio Two, they dedicated the entire 7 1/2 hour session to recording Take 1 of John's new composition. This take also appears on 'Anthology 2' in an unedited form, although the backing vocals have been mixed out for no apparent reason. This collection presents the take as originally performed, with the backing track in the key of B-natural.

It should be noted that the versions appearing on this release are undocumented stereo remixes, balanced from the original multi-track tapes. Although some analogue artifacts are still apparaent, this collection offers the finest fidelity of this material ever to surface.

The following evening was spent recording their 1966 Christmas single, 'Pantomime: Everywhere It's Christmas'. Then after breaking for the weekend, the Beatles returned to Studio Two on Monday, the 28th of November. It was during this evening session that Takes 2-4 were recorded and three rough mono mixes of Take 4 (RM1-RM3) were prepared.

The next evening saw recording of what would become the basic track for the first section of 'Strawberry Fields Forever'. Once again working in Studio Two, but this time starting in the afternoon, takes 5 and 6 were committed to tape. Take 6 was determined as the "best", and was treated to a tape reduction, Take 7. The Beatles then added more vocals, piano and bass guitar. Once the overdubs were completed, three mono remixes of Take 7 incorrectly numbered RM-1-RM-3, were completed.

RM3, of Take 7 with overdubs appears here taken from a contemportary acetate. Although this version is not stellar from a sonic standpoint, it does feature the complete ending in comparison to the 'Anthology 2' version. This commercially released version differs as a result of being crossfaded with an excerpt of Take 25 as prepared on December 9, 1966. Takes 2 through 7 were all performed in the key of A major, which is how they are presented here. Overdubs were recorded at various speeds lending a unique quality upon playback.

At this point John expressed his dissatisfaction in the Beatles' recording to George Martin and requested that the producer prepare a score. On Thursday, December 8th, the Beatles recorded an additional 15 attempts at the backing track during an 8 hour plus session in Studio Two. Of takes 9- 24, (there was no take 8 or take 19), eleven were complete according to the studio documentation. It was determined that a composite consisting of the first 3/4 of take 15, and the final 1/4 of take 24 would provide the most suitable backing. An attempt to prepare this edit was abandoned until the next day.

The next afternoon in Studio Two, a tape to tape reduction was prepared of the previously described edit, which now occupied track 1 of Take 25. The Beatles then overdubbed swordmandel, additional percussion, and George's guitar solo onto track 2.

Over the next week, George Martin finalized his score for three cellos and four trumpets, and on December 15th, these overdubs were layered onto tracks 3 and 4 of the multi-track tape. It appears as though the score was prepared in the key of C and recorded at roughly 53cps in order to sound as though it were in the key of B-natural upon playback. This explains why George Martin's count-in sounds so unnatural. The reason? Quite possibly, it was the ease of notation and performance. Even though these were highly trained classical musicians, it is easier to deal with no incidentals as opposed to five. The mix of Take 25 appearing on this collection consists of tracks 1, 3 and 4, with a slight amount of bleed-through from track 2.

The studio musicians' effort were permanently committed to the master tape upon a tape reduction of Take 25 into tracks 1 and 2 of Take 26. John then recorded two new lead vocals onto tracks 3 and 4 of the multi-track, with the speed adjusted to sound in the key of B-natural upon playback. Upon completion of the overdubs, 5 mono remixes (RM5-9) were prepared. It has been thoroughly documented that John's infamous "cranberry sauce" statement (undoubtedly inspired by some Thanksgiving leftovers) was added after the tape reduction into Take 26. However, it is apparent in listening to the mix of Take 25 that this statement was indeed part of Take 24's backing track.

Nearly a week later, on December 21st, during a late night session in Studio Two, a piano overdub and more Lennon vocals were added, thus completing the actual recording process. A mix of Take 26, with these overdubs in place, appears here adjusted to play in the key of B-natural.

The next day, Martin and company were faced with the task of remixing and editing, not to mention John's innocent request to join the two completed versions. Fresh remixes of Take 7 (RM10) and Take 26 (RM11) were prepared with speed adjustments, then edited together as Mono Remix 12. It is this remix which appears on the currently available CD single.

A week later, on December 29th, a tape copy was made of RM12 (ingeniously numbered RM13) and dispatched for US consumption. It was on this day as well, in a session lasting just under an hour, that the production team worked in the Studio Three control room to mix take 7 (RS1) and two remixes of Take 26 (RS2 & RS4) were completed. RS1 and RS2 were then edited together as RS3, while a second attempt, joining RS1 and RS4 as RS5, proved to be the most successful. It is this final mix which closes this collection.

RS5 first appeared on the stereo 'Magical Myster Tour' EP/LP, depending upon your country of origin. It differs from the "German" stereo mix prepared on October 26, 1971, which is currently the standard utilized by EMI for all releases. An additional stereo remix was prepared by George Martin in 1988 for inclusion in the "Imagine: John Lennon" documentary where it appears heavily edited. The accompanying soundtrack CD contains the standard EMI mix.

Well, that about wraps it up. I hope that you've enjoyed this romp through Strawberry Fields. I know I have. Until we next meet, remember "tuoba gnuh teg ot gnihton dna, lear si gnihton"!

Ernest Goodbody - OSIHF (Ret.)
Somewhere in Germany
August, 1997

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