Anthology 2 (2016 remaster)

3:54 • Studio version • A2016

Recording :

Circa 1979

Studio :

New-York

Session Recording:

February 1995

Studio :

Hog Hill Studio, Rye, UK

1:50 • Outtake • C2016 • Take 2. Because the take broke down it is completed here with a section (in newly remixed and edited form) from the master, Take 14, distinguished by George's tone-pedal guitar sounds and some fine three-part vocal harmony by John, Paul and George, emphasising how well the recording blossomed - and how quickly too: the Beatles recorded Yes It Is form start to finish inside five hours.

Session Recording:

Feb 16, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:54 • Outtake • C2016 • Issued here for the first time is Take 1, played live in the studio and, as Paul had wished turning out "pretty darn good". Listen closely at the end for Paul's comment "Plastic soul man, plastic soul", a phrase which, when slightly altered, became the title of the Beatles' sixth album, issued in December 1965.

Session Recording:

Jun 14, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:45 • Outtake • D2016 • Take 5. This is prefaced by some studio banter: John's "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3, hold on, hold on" count-in that is all there was of Take 1, and some "shattering" talk that preceded Take 2

Session Recording:

Feb 18, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:48 • Outtake • A2016 • Take 1

Session Recording:

Feb 18, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:27 • Outtake • B2016 • Take 1

Session Recording:

Feb 20, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:34 • Outtake • E2016 • Issued here for the first time is the only alternate studio recording of the song, Take 1, performed solo by Paul, voice and acoustic guitar.

Session Recording:

Jun 14, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

1:59 • Outtake • D2016 • Take 2, preceded by the false start that was Take 3

Session Recording:

Jun 15, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:16 • Live • L2.2016

Concert From "Blackpool Night Out" in Blackpool, United Kingdom on Aug 01, 1965

2:45 • Live • L3.2016

Concert From "Blackpool Night Out" in Blackpool, United Kingdom on Aug 01, 1965

2:43 • Live • L3.2016

Concert From "Blackpool Night Out" in Blackpool, United Kingdom on Aug 01, 1965

2:55 • Live • L3.2016

Concert From "Blackpool Night Out" in Blackpool, United Kingdom on Aug 01, 1965

2:45 • Live • L2.2016

Concert From the concert in New York City, USA on Aug 15, 1965

1:59 • Outtake • E2016 • Take 1, an earlier model issued here for the first time, was recorded during the first day of sessions for the new album. Like the eventual master, it includes a sitar contribution by George Harrison (the first time this Indian instrument was heard in a "pop" song) and also a lead and occasionally double-tracked vocal by John, harmonies from Paul and John, acoustic guitar, finger cymbals, maracas and bass guitar. The recording was marked "best" on the tape box and studio log-sheet so, clearly, the Beatles thought that they had made a master, and indeed it remained the preferred take for nine days, until they cut a remake

Session Recording:

Oct 12, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:54 • Outtake • D2016 • First master version. The Beatles spent nine hours on 24 October working on I'm Looking Through You, perfecting a rhythm track and then overdubbing lead and harmony vocals on to this new Paul McCartney composition. For two weeks the result was considered to be the master, until a remake was started on 6 November (and another one followed on the 10th) that added the two "Why, tell me why" choruses and caused the fine first version to remain unissued.

Session Recording:

Oct 24, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

3:15 • Outtake • D2016 • Mark I, take 1. 2016 remaster

Session Recording:

Apr 06, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

2:54 • Outtake • D2016 • 2016 remaster. Take 5. The arrangement of Paul's Got To Get You Into My Life altered significantly from first studio outing to last, the released version (Take 9) being layered with vocals and brass in addition to the group's own rhythm tracks. When the song was first aired in the studio, on 7 April, the Beatles recorded Takes 1 to 5, marking the last of these "best" (temporarily, as it turned out) and overdubbing vocals for the first time. The result is a piece of work scarcely comparable to the released version, with its different musical structure and some alternative lyrics. By the end of this session two of the tracks on the four-track tape had been filled, and doubtless the vacant ones would also have been completed had the Beatles decided to press on. Instead, returning to Abbey Road the next day, they shelved Take 5 and moved on the song in a different direction.

Session Recording:

Apr 07, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

2:13 • Outtake • D2016 • Take 2 - John's composition And Your Bird Can Sing appeared on Revolver in remake form, Take 10 form 26 April. Six days earlier, in two takes, the Beatles recorded a different arrangement of the number, the overdubbing of several vocal tracks on to Take 2 indicating that, for a few days at least, they considered that it had the makings of a master. This recording is released here for the first time, counted-in by John. And someone or something - the tape does not reveal what - was causing them to giggle...

Session Recording:

Apr 20, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:32 • Outtake • C2016 • Take 11. Issued here for the first time is that Take 11, not dissimilar to the master but with some notable differences, principally in the clean, full ending (instead of the repeated guitar solo) and the "anybody got a bit of money?" backing vocals (instead of the "Mister Wilson, Mister Heath" reference).

Session Recording:

Apr 21, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:06 • Outtake • D2016 • Eleanor Rigby presented in a manner never before heard, featuring only the double string quartet - four violinists, two viola players and two cellists - in isolation, performing the score written and conducted for Paul's song by George Martin. This is Take 14 (later "reduced" into Take 15 and on to which lead and backing vocals were overdubbed to create the master) remixed anew in 1995 using the fine reverberative acoustics of Abbey Road's Studio One.

Session Recording:

Apr 28, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

0:41 • Rehearsal • D2016 • A brief instrumental rehearsal - distinguished, unusually, by a vibraphone part being played along with the acoustic guitar and drums. This recording nearly didn't survive: the session tape was spooled back after the Beatles had finished rehearsing and five proper, numbered takes were recorded anew form the top, wiping over the earlier sounds. The last of these stopped just short of where the rehearsals had concluded, leaving the final minute intact.

Session Recording:

Apr 29, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

2:59 • Outtake • E2016 • Take 1. The other version presented here (in mono, because it was taped that way) is the first of these proper, numbered takes - recorded, curiously, two days after the Beatles had already cut takes 1 to 11, the last of which led to the Revolver master. None of these five further takes (acoustic guitar, simple percussion and joint John and Paul vocals) was used.

Session Recording:

Apr 29, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

1:39 • Live • L2.2016

Concert From the concert in Tokyo, Japan on Jun 30, 1966

2:55 • Live • L3.2016

Concert From the concert in Tokyo, Japan on Jun 30, 1966

2:54 • Outtake • B2016 • Stereo • Part of take 2

Session Recording:

Nov 04, 1965

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

1:42 • Demo • 2016 • This is John Lennon, alone in his music room at home in Weybridge, recording demonstration versions of his latest composition. The date would be circa the Ides of November 1966: John wrote Strawberry Fields Forever (evoking memories of his childhood Liverpool) while on location in Almeria, Spain, during the shooting of the motion picture How I Won The War, and taped these demos after his return on the 7th but before the Beatles convened for recording at EMI on the 24th.

Recording :

November 1966

Studio :

'Kenwood', Weybridge, Surrey

2:35 • Outtake • D2016 • Take 1. [...] the final master was not completed almost a month after this initial session. As it took shape on 24 November, with an alternative lyric order and arrangement, this recording was considerably different from that master.

Session Recording:

Nov 24, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

4:14 • Outtake • E2016 • Take 7 and edit piece. Just five days after that initial take of Strawberry Fields Forever the song's arrangement was undergoing dramatic change. The master was a composite of two separate recordings - the first minute came from Take 7 the remainder from Take 26. Presented here, issued for the first time, is the full Take 7, going beyond those first 60 seconds (indeed, including within that first minute a 23-second verse that was later excised). The sound is mono because the recording presented here is an original mono mix - labelled RM3 - made, like Take 7, on 29 November 1966. The conclusion of the original master (embracing Take 26) included sections flown in from a combination of edit piece taped on 9 December featuring backwards cymbals, a "wild drum track" played by Ringo and some extemporal vocalising by John. A much longer section of this edit piece is released here, again for the first time, crossfaded on to the end of RM3. At the conclusion one can hear John twice mutter "cranberry sauce", a phrase which, less clearly audible right at the end of the master mix, has long puzzled listeners.

Session Recording:

Nov 29, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Dec 09, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

3:01 • Studio version • D2016 • Stereo • 2016 remaster. The version presented here is a unique combination of the many different takes and sounds that comprised that original master, broken down - in some cases instrument by instrument - and remixed anew from a 24-track tape. In this way one can hear a certain parts quite differently: Paul's vocal is only single-tracked, the bridge section highlights the overdubs of cor anglais and trumpets effected on 12 January, and the piccolo trumpet overdub featured near to the conclusion of the master is heard here in extended form. And then there is "a suitable ending"...

Session Recording:

Dec 29, 1966

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Overdubs:

Dec 30, 1966 and Jan 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 12, 17, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

5:05 • Outtake • C2016 • Takes 1, 2 and take 6 overdub. Assembled expressly for the Anthology, this composite embraces the best of the unreleased outtakes of A Day In The Life, plotting the making of the song that brought such a monumental close to the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The opening talk, the sounding of the alarm clock (used so effectively in the finished master) and the intro - John muttering "sugar plum fairy, sugar plum fairy"instead of the more conventional count-in - is from the start of Take 1, when the song was first taped on 19 January 1967. The main body of the music is Take 2, recorded during the same session. At this point the tape features John's acoustic guitar and haunting live lead vocal, sundry percussion instruments, piano (played by Paul) and an echo-drenched Mal Evans, one of the Beatles' two assistants, counting out the first of two long gaps that would later be so famously filled with the orchestral crescendos. After the counting, the track slips into mono to illustrate a guide vocal from Paul, taped on 20 January as an overdub on to Take 6 but then superseded by a better recording of the passage on 3 February. The original survives, however, thanks to a mono mix done in the interim, on 30 January. Take 2 then returns, leading into a new mix of the orchestral crescendos recorded on 10 January, but instead of the familiar final piano chord the track ends with Paul talking about the orchestral overdub, a short extract from one of four tapes of ambient studio sounds recorded at the same session.

Session Recording:

Jan 19, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Jan 20, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Feb 10, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road

2:40 • Outtake • C2016 • As issued on Sgt. Pepper, the master of Good Morning Good Morning was Take 11, laden with overdubs by way of a succession of "reductions" deriving in Take 8. For almost a month, though, from 16 February to 13 March, that original Take 8 remained untouched, and, because it was complete and included an overdubbed John Lennon lead vocal, it is reasonable to assure that, for much of that time, it was considered to be the master. This is that Take 8, the basic track from 8 February with John's vocal added on the 16th.

Session Recording:

Feb 08, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Feb 16, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

2:44 • Outtake • B2016 • The mix presented here, in stereo and slightly speeded up, is Take 3 - the basic track from 13 February, with bass and guitar added on 20 April - with unused vocal tracks (yielding a number of lyric variations from the master) overdubbed on to a separate "reduction", Take 12, flown in.

Session Recording:

Feb 13, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Overdubs:

Feb 14, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Overdubs:

Apr 20, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Abbey Road

1:05 • Outtake • C2016 • Takes 1 and 2. The recordings presented here come from that initial Abbey Road session, 17 February 1967, when the Beatles cut seven takes, beginning with the above dialogue that introduced Take 1, and the performance that followed and immediately broke down. Then there is Take 2, which also broke down, and the ensuing conversation wherein Paul offered John some direction.

Session Recording:

Feb 17, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:34 • Outtake • D2016 • The next cut, Take 7, formed the basic for the eventual master (which was Take 9), opening with George Martin encouraging the Beatles to perform, and then pumping away at the harmonium which he played on the track. Near to the end, this recording is crossfaded with an organ and calliope effects tape, prepared on 20 February, that formed part of the final master but is clearer in this new mix.

Session Recording:

Feb 17, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Feb 20, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

3:06 • Outtake • C2016 • Takes 6, 7 and 8. This is a unique combination of some different takes and sounds that comprised the original master of Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, broke down to their constituent parts and newly remixed. The basic track is Take 6, taped on 1 March, in which John sang a guide vocal, not yet attempting the finished model. The sound of a tamboura has been added from Take 7, also 1 March, and the chorus vocals have been flown in from Take 8, a "reduction" of Take 7 that received vocal overdubs the next day.

Session Recording:

Mar 01, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Mar 02, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

5:28 • Outtake • C2016 • Instrumental. This is the master of the George Harrison composition that opened side two of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, presented here in a fashion not previously available: remixed, without George's vocal, from the different original four-track tapes that formed that master. What remains, audible to the fore, is a combination of tamboura, tabla, dilruba and swaramandal tracks recorded in March, with violins, cellos and George's sitar track overdubbed on 3 April.

1:27 • Outtake • C2016 • Take 5. The master was Take 9, with overdubs - the version here is a basic track, Take 5, with Paul's guide vocal.

Session Recording:

Apr 01, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road

5:43 • Outtake • B2016 • Extended version. Here it is issued in stereo and , at almost six minutes, in extended form for the first time, including never-heard-before sections cut out by John and newly restored. Now as then the emphasis is on fun, and there is plenty to enjoy, including the sound of Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones playing saxophone.

Session Recording:

May 17, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Jun 07, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Jun 08, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Recording:

Apr 30, 1969

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

4:02 • Outtake • C2016 • Take 16. Lacking at this juncture the many overdubs and effects that would turn it into perhaps the most compelling master ever issued by the Beatles this is Take 16 of I Am The Walrus, the basic track on to which all the extras were added.

Session Recording:

Sep 05, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road

Session Vocal overdubs:

Sep 06, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2:48 • Demo • C2016 • Three weeks before he recorded it for disc release on Magical Mystery Tour, Paul taped a piano/vocal demo of his latest song. Taking as long to achieve as it sounds - less than three minutes - he sat at the studio piano, playing and singing live. The result is far from the sound of the final master (indeed Paul hadn't yet fleshed out a full lyric) but it has a charm of its own and a nicely sent-up ending.

Session Recording:

Sep 06, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

3:02 • Outtake • C2016 • Take 27. "Do you want us to do it again, George?" mocked Paul to the Beatles' producer at the star of this recording. Your Mother Should Know had already been on the blocks for a month, initial sessions taking place at a different venue - Chappell Studios, just off New Bond Street in Central London - on 22 and 23 August (the last time that the Beatles saw their manager Brian Epstein, who died on the 27th). Now Paul was embarking on a new arrangement, with snare drum, harmonium, jangle piano and vocal. The Beatles recorded eleven such takes of Your Mother Should Know during this 16th September session, the one featured here, Take 27, being marked "best", albeit only temporarily.

Session Recording:

Sep 16, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

3:45 • Outtake • D2016 • Take 4. The master of Paul's The Fool On The Hill was a remake, started on 26 September. Three takes of an alternative arrangement were recorded the previous day, the last being "bounced down" to Take 4 and on to which recorder, drums and Paul's lead vocal were added. As with the demo, it is clear that Paul had yet to finalise the lyric at this point.

Session Recording:

Sep 25, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

3:18 • Outtake • C2016 • An early incarnation of Paul's Hello, Goodbye, the master of which was issued as a single by the Beatles in November 1967 and was the Christmas number one - in Britain holding off composition from the Magical Mystery Tour double-EP set. This is Take 16 (a "reduction" of the best basic track, Take 14, from 2 October) with vocals and more guitars added on 19 October. From here the recording would be "bounced" three more times and given a number of further overdubs, so, although, there are similarities, there are also many differences between this take and the master.

Session Recording:

Oct 02, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Session Overdubs:

Oct 19, 1967

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road

2:22 • Outtake • C2016 • Takes 3 and 4. This is a unique remix of some of the different takes and sounds that comprised the master, encompassing Take 3 (the basic track of piano and drums with overdubs of guitar, bass, vocals and more drums) from 3 February and a "reduction" of this called Take 4, also with overdubs (particularly saxes), from 6 February.

Session Recording:

Feb 03, 1968

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

Session Overdubs:

Feb 06, 1968

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road

3:29 • Outtake • C2016 • Take 2. Here, for the first time, is an unembellished and alternative recording Across The Universe, Take 2, recorded on Saturday 3 February 1968 in EMI Studio Three, temporarily marked "best" on the tape box and so afforded overdubs and technical wonders like the phasing on John's guitar and the percussion.

Session Recording:

Feb 04, 1968

Studio :

EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road