January-February, 1971
"Ram" sessions (A&R Studios, New York City)
Last updated on June 7, 2020
January-February, 1971
Last updated on June 7, 2020
Recording studio: A&R Studios, New York City
Session Jan 11, 1971 • Overdubs for "The Back Seat Of My Car", "Long Haired Lady"
Session Jan 11, 1971 • Overdubs for "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
Session January-February, 1971 • "Ram" sessions (A&R Studios, New York City)
Article Jan 19, 1971 • The case for the dissolution of the Beatles & Co opens in London High Court
Some of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Ram" LP.
I was a setup man in those days. Phil Ramone was the king of large orchestral recordings in New York at the time. He didn’t have that many guys around who had gone to music school and could read scores, which I was able to do. So I had some value to Phil, who asked me to work with him on the Ram sessions. […]
Paul came over to A&R to track the orchestra, vocals and some other overdubs with Phil. But Phil had a scheduling conflict one day and Paul asked me to take over. Things went well, and then Paul asked me if I’d finish the record with him.
Security was tight, and each day Paul and Linda would come up the back elevator with their kids and a playpen, which we set up in the front of the control room. I was a part-time nanny since Mary would often be crawling around the console and sitting on my lap! The interplay between Paul and Linda was sweet, especially when they were on-mic. Linda actually came up with some parts on her own — the entire backing vocals on ‘Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey’ consists of the two of them — but when she needed a hand, Paul was great with her. […]
Dixon Van Winkle, from MixOnline, August 1, 2004
What a ball I had! Paul felt comfortable with me. Each day he and Linda, along with their baby, Mary, would be led up to Studio A in a back elevator. We’d set up a playpen for Mary and go to work. I also worked on Red Rose Speedway. Paul is such a pro! And he’s a one-taker. Paul liked to develop ideas in the studio, and he encouraged me to throw different sounds at him to inspire him. For example, he’d play his guitar, and I’d put different loop and echo effects on it and feed the processed sound out through his cans. He liked that spontaneity. One day he was standing around strumming on a ukulele, rocking from side to side, singing `Ram On.’ I ran out and put a mic on the ukulele, one on his face and a pair of mics down by his feet. The tapping you hear comes from the mics on his feet. We were recording to an Ampex MM1000 16-track machine that looked like something you should be making ice cream with. Once word got out that I’d done a lot of work on Ram, the dates flew at me,” he continues. “People started to realize that I could handle most any kind of session, since I could read charts and had played lots of different styles of music and many instruments.” […]
Dixon Van Winkle, from MixOnline, October 1, 2000
Overdubs for "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
Jan 03, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Ram
Overdubs for "The Back Seat Of My Car", "Long Haired Lady"
Jan 11, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Ram
Overdubs for "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
Jan 11, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Ram
Jan 21, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Mary Had A Little Lamb / Little Woman Love (UK)
Jan 29, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Ram
Feb 05, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Another Day / Oh Woman Oh Why
Feb 08, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Another Day / Oh Woman Oh Why
Feb 22, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Ram
Recording "The Great Cock And Seagull Race"
Feb 23, 1971 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Wild Life - Archive Collection
Written by Paul McCartney
Recording • Overdubs
Written by Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney
Recording
Jan 03, 1971 • Overdubs for "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
Jan 11, 1971 • Overdubs for "The Back Seat Of My Car", "Long Haired Lady"
Jan 11, 1971 • Overdubs for "The Back Seat Of My Car", "Long Haired Lady"
Jan 11, 1971 • Overdubs for "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"
Jan 21, 1971 • Recording "Little Woman Love"
Jan 29, 1971 • Overdubs for "Smile Away"
Feb 05, 1971 • Mixing "Oh Woman, Oh Why"
Feb 08, 1971 • Mixing "Another Day"
'Ram On' And Sheep Noises
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Paul Rambling In Scottish Accent
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Please Don't Bring My Banjo Back
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
We've Got To Get This Album Together Man
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
What Is This, Paul: This Is Work Woman
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
Feb 22, 1971 • Recording "Ram On"
The Great Cock And Seagull Race
Feb 23, 1971 • Recording "The Great Cock And Seagull Race"
Paul McCartney: Music Is Ideas. The Stories Behind the Songs (Vol. 1) 1970-1989
With 25 albums of pop music, 5 of classical – a total of around 500 songs – released over the course of more than half a century, Paul McCartney's career, on his own and with Wings, boasts an incredible catalogue that's always striving to free itself from the shadow of The Beatles. The stories behind the songs, demos and studio recordings, unreleased tracks, recording dates, musicians, live performances and tours, covers, events: Music Is Ideas Volume 1 traces McCartney's post-Beatles output from 1970 to 1989 in the form of 346 song sheets, filled with details of the recordings and stories behind the sessions. Accompanied by photos, and drawing on interviews and contemporary reviews, this reference book draws the portrait of a musical craftsman who has elevated popular song to an art-form.
Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium
We owe a lot to Chip Madinger and Mark Easter for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details!
Eight Arms To Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium is the ultimate look at the careers of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr beyond the Beatles. Every aspect of their professional careers as solo artists is explored, from recording sessions, record releases and tours, to television, film and music videos, including everything in between. From their early film soundtrack work to the officially released retrospectives, all solo efforts by the four men are exhaustively examined.
As the paperback version is out of print, you can buy a PDF version on the authors' website
Maccazine - Volume 40, Issue 3 - RAM Part 1 - Timeline
This very special RAM special is the first in a series. This is a Timeline for 1970 – 1971 when McCartney started writing and planning RAM in the summer of 1970 and ending with the release of the first Wings album WILD LIFE in December 1971. [...] One thing I noted when exploring the material inside the deluxe RAM remaster is that the book contains many mistakes. A couple of dates are completely inaccurate and the story is far from complete. For this reason, I started to compile a Timeline for the 1970/1971 period filling the gaps and correcting the mistakes. The result is this Maccazine special. As the Timeline was way too long for one special, we decided to do a double issue (issue 3, 2012 and issue 1, 2013).
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