LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND
by
THE LEGENDARY ALBUM BY
THE BEATLES AND MUCH MORE!
With the STRAWBERRY STRINGS and UNBEATABLE HORNS !
Introduction
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his is no cover band, this is musical archaeology.” This statement about The Analogues seems to hit the nail square on the head. We dissect each Beatles song the way an archaeologist carefully dusts off his excavated artifacts, delving into who played what, with which instruments, amplifiers and audio effects, and what recording techniques were applied. We do all this to ultimately reproduce their sound as authentically as possible live. The stories we’ve encountered during this process of unraveling the (often quite complicated) songs and productions are intriguing, and have made us even more eager to share these stories with as many people as possible. So we made this booklet to make listening to Sgt. Pepper even more pleasurable.
— Fred, Bart, Diederik, Jan & Jac
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1. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
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side from having inimitable musical talent, Paul McCartney also has a keen ear for language. During the last tour The Beatles embarked on through the United States, McCartney noticed that many of the newer American groups had given themselves bizarre names (The Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Mothers of Invention, Jefferson Airplane, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, etc.). He felt The Beatles’ moniker sounded dated in comparison, which gave Judging by their faces, the gents seem mightily pleased with the result of five months’ strenuous studio efforts.
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him the idea to create an alter ego: Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
This alter ego is introduced in the overture of the album, and is a perfect example of how The Beatles could combine different musical styles in one song in an absolutely credible way (and in two minutes). Some people say that you can tell during the verses that The Beatles were at a Jimi Hendrix concert two days before recording the vocal tracks (and Hendrix in turn performed his own version of Sgt. Pepper two days after the album was released). Either way, it lends Jan van der Meij an opportunity to demonstrate what we consider an excellent ‘raw McCartney’. The brass instruments that can be heard during the bridges only complement the visual style and colorful uniforms worn by the members of The Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (The Analogues are obviously not partaking in such a masquerade). k5l
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
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his title is actually about the song itself, and how it came into existence (that’s our interpretation, admittedly). Initially it was written by Lennon and McCartney for Ringo Starr – the only track he sang on Sgt. Pepper – and was composed especially so that the melody would suit Ringo’s somewhat limited vocal range (we still love you though, Ringo). The initial opening lyrics were: ‘What would you think if I sang out of tune? Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?’, but Ringo was concerned that fans would take him literally at concerts, bombarding him with tomatoes. He shouldn’t have worried, as they never performed live again after Pepper. Secondly, the song did in fact come to fruition with a little help from some friends. At Lennon’s home, in a room full of chatting people, accompanied by some substances to stimulate their creativity, John and Paul sat in the corner fooling around on the piano, incorporating shreds of people’s conversation in the room, and turning k6l
them into a song. Finally, the recordings were done on March 29th 1967, in ten takes (piano, guitar and drums). At 5:45 in the morning, Ringo was ready to call it a night (Imagine! These guys knew they were making a masterpiece that the whole world was waiting for, had unlimited time to spend in the studio, and had nowhere to be the next morning – that must have been a pretty great time). Anyway, Ringo was not allowed to leave until he perfected his singing, which he duly did, while his friends stood No Ringo, you can’t go home just yet. around to help. k7l
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
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o, it’s not about LSD (how many times must explain that??). Although it is pretty coincidental ‌ your son makes a drawing of something, with LSD as the acronym, and the
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lyrics of the song depict one big psychedelic journey? We don’t know … this is starting to sound like an excuse. But let’s say we give John the benefit of the doubt. Through The Looking Glass, written by his favorite author Lewis Carroll, is credited as a major source of inspiration, which would warrant the psychedelic vibe. And for that psychedelic vibe we are largely dependent on the Lowrey Heritage Deluxe – an extremely rare organ that we were fortunate enough to find (thanks to Bart van Poppel’s negotiating skills) for a real bargain. One could say that we were looking for the Lowrey, but the Lowrey was looking for us too.
When John Lennon’s son makes a drawing of you in the nursery as a little girl, your name gets mentioned in the newspapers when you die.
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4. Getting Better
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ot only is Getting Better the ultimate cure for a bad mood in our opinion, it is also one of the best examples of a typical McCartney bassline; one that makes you want sit down, maybe with a pair of headphones, and really listen very closely (the alternative, of course, is to listen to Bart play it from the comfort of your theater chair.) While we’re at it, Ringo’s drumming is a miracle of effective simplicity (note the way the hi-hat is surprisingly played right before the beat. While not technically difficult, the genius lies in the intent.
We’ve got one of these (the Ludwig ‘Black Oyster’) up on stage with us too.
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A famous incident happened in the studio during the recording of Getting Better: John accidentally took a couple of LSD pills, thinking they were uppers. Very soon, he wasn’t feeling ‘better’ at all, but nauseous and dizzy, and was having difficulty concentrating. George Martin, not knowing what was going on, urged him to go get some fresh air outside on the roof. Once Paul and George caught wind of this, they rushed to the roof in a panic, only to find John just casually smoking a cigarette, and fortunately, not entertaining any grandiose ideas of being able to fly. No sir, they don’t make ’em like that anymore (the Höfner ‘Violin Bass’).
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5. Fixing A Hole
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song for the trainspotters amongst us, and the only song on Sgt. Pepper where the bass wasn’t dubbed over the track
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retroactively, giving us proof that Paul McCartney is in fact human, though you have to listen very, very carefully. This caused a major philosophical debate amongst The Analogues. When your goal is to play the Beatles authentically, do you play the mistakes, or do you ‘fix’ them fifty years later? We normally opt to play the mood-defining error in all its analogue imperfection. Possibly because of this minor faux pas, Paul was especially thorough while recording his vocals, which drove George Harrison bonkers. He later claimed he didn’t really participate in the making of this album, other than to sit around while Paul was singing the sentence Fixing A Hole. Fixing A Hole was the first song The Beatles
recorded in a studio other than Abbey Road, in Regent Sounds, which was also in London. Paul had brought a random person to the recording; a man who had rang his doorbell, claiming to be Jesus Christ, and Paul didn’t want to risk being the guy to reject Jesus.
< This is where The Beatles strayed on a rare occasion.
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6. She’s Leaving Home
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ollowing the recordings of Sgt. Pepper, Paul McCartney felt like he had earned a vacation, so he took Jane Asher, his girlfriend at the time, to America. It is said that Jane had a big influence on Paul’s music and lifestyle, but that’s a different story. We would like to focus on their visit to a studio, where The Beach Boys were busy recording their album Smile. The Beatles were heavily influenced by Pet Sounds, the album recorded by The Beach Boys in 1966, which led to Revolver and Sgt. Pepper. Smile was meant to be their answer to Revolver ( Sgt. Pepper was yet to be released). Paul McCartney sat down behind the piano in the studio, played She’s Leaving Home, and then walked out, gleefully proclaiming “You’d better hurry up”, to a perplexed Brian Wilson. This may well have been an intimidating encounter for Wilson, as Smile wasn’t released until 37 years later, in 2004. k 14 l
Paul McCartney and Jane Asher.
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7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
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e’re the last ones to disagree with the statement that John Lennon was a genius. But even geniuses can make it easy on themselves. The proof is in the pudding in the lyrics of Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!, which were mostly taken directly from a 19th century Victorian circus poster. Lennon still had to have the foresight to wander into an old, dusty antique store in Kent, and uncover this poster from a stack of old paper. Genius. The crazy thing is that Lennon also found it a little bit too easy with hindsight – he had the tendency to measure the quality of his songs by the level of difficulty required to create them. He would likely be delighted to know that The Analogues had plenty of hard times reproducing this masterpiece, as George Martin used his entire bag of tricks in order to create the circus atmosphere in the song. Per Lennon’s request, you needed to be able to “smell the sawdust”. To do so, Martin utilized various organs and tape recordings of a Victorian steam organ. These k 16 l
tapes were all cut up into pieces, thrown in the air, and randomly reassembled. It proved quite the puzzle for our live reproduction, but thanks to an incredible collection of organs, and in our humble opinion a successful recreation of the random montage, we hope to have succeeded in managing to regenerate that aroma of sawdust.
Find the lyrics within the poster.
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8. Within You Without You
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ne of the upsides of pledging to play entire albums from start to finish, is that you can avoid the endless discussions of what to play. The flip side, as drummer Fred often laments to the audience, is that we need to play the songs that you folks might sneakily skip at home. Most people assume he is talking about Within You Without You, though we cannot confirm or deny that. One thing is certain though: this is the oddest of all the Sgt. Pepper compositions, and when it comes to playing it live, we have often fantasized about being able to skip it. The song requires a dilruba, which may be a type of string instrument, it compares to a violin like a bicycle compares to a drumkit (or rather a table). When one of our own violin players made an initial attempt to play the dilruba we were rather discouraged (although he did master the instrument eventually). Harrison was no amateur on the sitar. He was deeply fascinated by Indian music, and even k 18 l
spent time in India studying with the sitar master, Ravi Shankar, spending eight hours a day playing. Shankar was pleasantly surprised by how quickly Harrison became adept at Indian music. When The Analogues George and sitar teacher Ravi Shankar. tried their Our boy Jac has to manage without an Indian guru, sadly. hand at this genre fifty years later in their rehearsal space, we quickly realized that we needed the help of some experts â&#x20AC;&#x201C; most importantly on the tabla. And itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a good thing we did. k 19 l
9. When I’m Sixty-Four
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he song order on an album is rarely coincidental, and here we see a hallucinogenic and deadly serious Indian experiment, followed by a sweet 1920s-inspired tune, with a wonderful clarinet score arranged by George Martin. When I’m Sixty-Four was a little instrumental
ditty by McCartney, used by the band at moments when the voice amplifiers cut out on stage, which was not uncommon in those days. The lyrics came later, when Paul’s father Jim turned 64. At the time of writing it, Paul must have thought 64 was ancient, though we imagine his thinking to be a bit more nuanced today, as 64 is pretty much when life begins (on this, as almost everything else, we agree with Paul 100%).
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10. Lovely Rita
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n first listen, this song might just sound like an upbeat, light, filler song, but this is a track jam-packed with little tricks, making bringing it to life a somewhat frustrating exercise at times. The Beatles played around a lot with the speed of tape; making it quite difficult to even determine which key the song is in. George Martinâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s piano solo was recorded on a slower tape, making the final result quicker (and higher). The tempo of the song is also
George Martin and Paul McCartney.
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a little bit ‘wobbly’ creating a somewhat honkytonk effect. While we can of course cram the stage with vintage keyboards (and don’t worry, we will), it is still a very tricky solo, which Diederik has worked on tirelessly to perfect. One of Lennon’s contributions here is a ‘vocal percussion’ (also used later on I Am The Walrus). It is very difficult to describe, one could almost call it a rhythmic panting and growling. And who’s going to try and recreate that sound? You guessed it – us! The kazoo-like sound, that can be heard right before the lyrics When it gets dark I tow your heart away, is actually produced by a comb covered with toilet paper. As this creative contraption doesn’t normally produce a lot of sound, we have opted for the much more reliable kazoo – two of them in fact. This ode to the meter maid is quite humorous actually. Initially, Paul planned on writing a contemptuous song about this profession, but in the spirit of the 60s, he decided to just fall in love with Rita. k 23 l
11. Good Morning Good Morning
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ennon liked having the television on while writing songs, and we can thank a very annoying Kellogg’s Cornflakes ad for this one. If you listen closely to McCartney’s Good Day Sunshine on Revolver, it seems like Lennon tried his best for this to be a gloomy, cynical response to McCartney’s optimistic and naive love song. Lennon is making the existential claim that life is boring, but what can you do about it? We’re lucky that he chose to make music about his boring life, as it’s a very enjoyable piece of self-pity. Few people can be as entertaining while complaining in quite the unique manner that Lennon could, and with apparently random interchanging keys and beats, brass backing provided by members of Sounds Incorporated (the hottest session musicians of England in the 1960s), as well as one of Paul’s (!) most inspired guitar solos. So, while you’re in the theater, be sure to take note of the brass section, and (after one minute and 15 seconds) check out Jac Bico on guitar.
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Be sure to shine your shoes before every studio session.
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12. Sgt. Pepperâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise
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ne could say that the reprisal of the opening number makes this a concept album by definition, with a fictitious character opening the show, and then drawing it to a close after an exciting musical adventure. One could also say, that that would be overly analytical, as in reality many decisions in the studio were made by The Beatles on the spur of the moment. The suggestion to finish the album this way came from Neil Aspinall, their road manager and general handyman. But the real closing spectacle is of course the grand finale, A Day In The Life â&#x20AC;Ś k 26 l
Bart and Diederik explain it one last time.
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13. A Day In The Life
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hile it is the firework ending to the album, A Day In The Life was one of the first tracks recorded for Sgt. Pepper. It is miraculous with hindsight how so many separate ideas and inspirations led to something that sounds as logically natural as this (weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re not afraid to say it!) genuine masterpiece. The verses, written by Lennon, were the first to be recorded, while Paul McCartney conceived the middle part ( Woke up, fell out of bed), though it was yet to be clear how these two would become connected. A 24-bar gap was left open, which was later filled by a little party held in the studio. Invited to this party were forty classical musicians, who played the crescendo (overdubbed four times to create the feeling of a massive orchestra), which not only created an incredible build-up, but also provided a brilliant transition between the two sections. There is an endless amount of speculation about the meaning of the text, and while we often like to partake in these kinds of debates, we are k 28 l
refraining right now. All we want say is; close your eyes, let the music transport you, and enjoy!
Here, Diederik conducts the crescendo in â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;A Day In The Lifeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; on hallowed ground. We use this recording in the theater for The Analogues. Whenever we want to make things easy for ourselves, we like to try and do it the hard way.
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The Analogues
Director
Bart van Poppel - bass, keys, vocals Jan van der Meij - guitars, vocals Fred Gehring - drums, vocals Diederik Nomden - keys, guitars, vocals Jac Bico - guitars, sitar, vocals
Ruut Weissman
Orchestra Marieke de Bruijn - violin Jacob Plooij - violin, dilruba Camilla van der Kooij - viola Jos Teeken - cello Marijn van Prooijen - double bass Allard Robert - French horn, trumpet Jean Pierre Grannetia - trumpet Michel Lamers - saxophone, clarinet Christof May - saxophone, clarinet Annemieke IJzerman - harp Léon Klaasse - percussion Niti Ranjan Biswas - tabla
Set & light design Jantje Geldof
Visuals Marcel de Vré Ruben Langedijk & René te Riele (Vision Impossible) Robert & Sonja Muda van Hamel (Spacebar) Sarah de Weijer / Jelle ’t Hart (Shosho)
Stage manager Eelco Ladan
Sound technicians Remko Luijten Ger Arts
Light technicians Tijs Winters Wouter Janmaat
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Instrument & amp technicians Mike Hageman Sidney Katz Martijn Klippel Niels de Maa
Technical advisor Hennie Schwithal
Set building De man met de hamer Drapes2go
Styling Carine Beelen
Drivers Eric Apeldoorn Iwan Verploegen Richard Hoppe
Publicity Monique Ophorst (Multimo Media) Hajo de Boer
Production Louis-Fritz Maurer
Agency George Visser Productions B.V. + 31 (0)70 3465657 www.gvproductions.nl
Thanks to Peak Audio (Amsterdam) Ampco Flashlight Rental B.V. Creative Technology Holland B.V. Tenfeet Group B.V. Pieter Smit Peopleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Place Peas Catering
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Credits Text: Hajo de Boer Copy editor: Annemiek van Grondel Translation: Renee Gehring Translation proofreader: Sam Ford Graphic design: Robert Muda van Hamel Photo editing: Hajo de Boer & Robert Muda van Hamel Photography: Pag. 2 - Keystone Pictures USA/Alamy Stock Photo Pag. 5 - Interfoto/Alamy Stock Photo Pag. 8 & 9 - Michel Mees Pag. 13 - Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy Stock Photo Pag. 17 - John Malmin/Los Angeles Times/Polaris/Hollandse Hoogte Pag. 20 - D avid Graves/Rex Features Ltd./Hollandse Hoogte Pag. 23 - Pictorial Press Ltd/Alamy Stock Photo Pag. 24, 25 & 27 - Daniel Burdett Pag. 28 & 29 - Jaap Reedijk Print: Drukkerij Nautilus
First print - May 2017 Š 2017 Over Easy B.V. k 34 l
MO R E I NF O R MATION & TOUR DATES
www.theanalogues.net