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10.17am
18 April 2013
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Supposedly this is the lost experimental McCartney Christmas recording that he pressed three copies of and gave to his Beatles bandmates in 1965.
But it doesn’t sound very experimental. It’s basically just a mix tape. Is this real or fake?
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
7.56pm
Reviewers
17 December 2012
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It’s an interesting one, @Expert Textpert. It’s certainly Paul, and there are elements which match Paul’s description of the fabled lost McCartney Xmas album:
I had two Brenell tape recorders set up at home, on which I made experimental recordings and tape loops, like the ones in Tomorrow Never Knows . And once I put together something crazy, something left-field, just for the other Beatles, a fun thing which they could play late in the evening. It was just something for the mates, basically.
It was called Unforgettable and it started with Nat ‘King’ Cole singing Unforgettable. It was like a magazine programme, full of weird interviews, experimental music, tape loops, some tracks I knew the others hadn’t heard; it was just a compilation of odd things.
I took the tape to Dick James’ studio and they cut me three acetate discs. Unfortunately, the quality of these discs was such that they wore out as you played them. I gave them to the fellas and I guess they would have played them for a couple of weeks, but then they must have worn out. There’s probably a tape somewhere, though.
It first emerged in 2011, and is generally accepted to be the real deal.
I suppose, at 18 minutes, the question arises whether it is the whole record Paul had pressed for his fellow Beatles, or whether it is merely one side, and there is another side somewhere.
I certainly find the suggestion that there are songs among those included (Unforgettable, Nat “King” Cole; Someone Ain’t Right, Peter & Gordon; I Get Around, The Beach Boys ; (Love Is Like a) Heatwave, Martha & The Vandellas; Don’t Be Cruel, Elvis Presley; Down Home Girl, The Rolling Stones) that the others hadn’t heard hard to believe.
But then, maybe in Paul’s memory, it was edgier than it was reality…
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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966
10.42pm
15 March 2017
Offline It sounds like an interesting experiment for him to do.
These days it is easy for someone to make a record or mixtape like this but back then it would have involved a little bit more of an effort.
And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.
11.41am
18 April 2013
Offline Ron Nasty said
But then, maybe in Paul’s memory, it was edgier than it was reality…
Maybe all this business about Paul being experimental before John was is not really true, and John was the more experimental one after all.
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
8.02pm
15 March 2017
Offline Expert Textpert said
Maybe all this business about Paul being experimental before John was is not really true, and John was the more experimental one after all.
Paul seemed to really enjoy making tape loops and things like that. I know he was involved with avant garde artist as well.
John certainly made his experimental side more public than Paul but I do think that Paul had his finger on the pulse of experimental art before John did.
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10.13pm
5 November 2011
Offline Expert Textpert said
Maybe all this business about Paul being experimental before John was is not really true, and John was the more experimental one after all.
Why’s it gotta be a competition tho? And even if John was experimental before Paul, how would that make him more experimental??
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11.38am
18 April 2013
Offline Elementary Penguin said
Paul seemed to really enjoy making tape loops and things like that. I know he was involved with avant garde artist as well.
John certainly made his experimental side more public than Paul but I do think that Paul had his finger on the pulse of experimental art before John did.
Yes, but all we have is Paul’s word for it. Where are the tape loops? This Christmas tape was supposed to be evidence of experimentation but it seems Paul was lying, unless we only have side 1.
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
7.09pm
15 March 2017
Offline Expert Textpert said
Elementary Penguin said
Paul seemed to really enjoy making tape loops and things like that. I know he was involved with avant garde artist as well.
John certainly made his experimental side more public than Paul but I do think that Paul had his finger on the pulse of experimental art before John did.
Yes, but all we have is Paul’s word for it. Where are the tape loops? This Christmas tape was supposed to be evidence of experimentation but it seems Paul was lying, unless we only have side 1.
Well yes we don’t have the loops themselves but I think they were home experiments and not intended for release but wasn’t a lot of the tape loops in Tomorrow Never Knows provided by Paul himself?
I am happy to be proven wrong if this is not the case.
And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.
8.06am
Reviewers
29 November 2012
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Expert Textpert said
Elementary Penguin said
Paul seemed to really enjoy making tape loops and things like that. I know he was involved with avant garde artist as well.
John certainly made his experimental side more public than Paul but I do think that Paul had his finger on the pulse of experimental art before John did.
Yes, but all we have is Paul’s word for it. Where are the tape loops? This Christmas tape was supposed to be evidence of experimentation but it seems Paul was lying, unless we only have side 1.
Not only Paul’s word, but Miles, John Dunbar, Peter Asher, and numerous others…Paul was involved in this stuff 1-2 *years* before John was. I know so many of the Lennon fanboys hate admitting this (I’ve seen it happen on numerous message boards), but the fact is Paul *was* the first of them to get interested and involved in the avant garde and underground art/music/literature scene in London. He was the only one living in and exploring the city while the other three were stuck out in suburbia.
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8.20am
18 April 2013
Offline I know he was into the scene but I don’t believe about the tape loops. It just seems too convenient that they were meant for his own ears only.
I have heard the story about Tomorrow Never Knows but I’m not sure if it’s accurate.
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
8.26am
18 April 2013
Offline The only reason I doubt this is that Paul seems into revisionism. In interviews he seems to be all about making his own role seem more important. And he often claims writing credits for songs John said he himself wrote.
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
1.34pm
Reviewers
29 November 2012
Offline Expert Textpert said
The only reason I doubt this is that Paul seems into revisionism. In interviews he seems to be all about making his own role seem more important. And he often claims writing credits for songs John said he himself wrote.
There’s only really a few cases where Paul’s recollections and John’s diverge…mainly “Help !” (which I tend to believe John on writing almost entirely himself), and “In My Life ” (Paul claims to have written the melody, which I believe…it’s a very vertical melody and John almost never wrote those, while John claims he wrote it. Listening to it, musically, I side with Paul here). Numerous other people around at that time (Asher, Miles, just to name two) have mentioned hearing weird tape loops and musique concrete Paul messed around with on his own, as well as some of the weird films he made. I think in this case, Paul is having to espouse this because for decades it was only John who was described as the “arty” Beatle (often promulgated by John himself). The incredible pro-Lennon media bias, especially in the wake of the Beatles breakup and then after his murder, didn’t help Paul’s case. I don’t blame the guy (and I say this as someone who loves Lennon as much as McCartney)
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3.28pm
18 April 2013
Offline Not being a fan until about 5 years ago, I never caught any of the pro-Lennon media bias. All I have seen is McCartney tooting his own horn.
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
1.36am
15 May 2015
Offline Expert Textpert said
Not being a fan until about 5 years ago, I never caught any of the pro-Lennon media bias. All I have seen is McCartney tooting his own horn.
It’s true Paul has been doing that for a few years now (however, I always wondered why he was so lax in the late 80s and through the 90s). My sense & memory of it overall is that through the post-Beatles decades, John was always elevated as the cooler, hipper, wiser rocker, while Paul was kind of dismissed as, what was implied, a bubble-gum pop artist (viz., “Silly Love Songs”). It’s only been in the last few years, after such figures with gravitas as Dylan and Neil Young have been giving Paul his due, that some of those Paul detractors have come around to respecting him (you’d think Helter Skelter , not to mention like 30 other songs from yesteryear, would have been enough…)
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8.25pm
18 April 2013
Offline At the same time that Paul is praising himself and receiving praise from others, people have started criticizing John more–he’s often portrayed as a narcissistic, drug-crazed maniac who beat women and abused children.
"If you're ever in the shit, grab my tit.” —Paul McCartney
10.22pm
15 March 2017
Offline I really do believe that Paul’s tape loops weren’t meant for the public and were just experiments that he did at home but it would be good to hear them if they are around.
And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.
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