Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds | Page 2 | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

Put this into your Google search box

isolated track “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds “

Ooooo, happy listening.

When I did that search, I got 3 videos. Has Apple zapped them already? Wouldn’t put it past them.

Shamrock Womlbs said

Yup, isolated tracks are ok but i was looking for one of their early takes recorded. Like the whole group playing together. Similar to one of those Strawberry Fields Forever early takes.

Thx a lot, anyway!   

The only complete early take is on ‘Anthology 2 ‘ and thats an Apple concoction. 

sir walter raleigh said
I’ve also heard a version that sounds like Jeremy the “Nowhere Man ” singing the first verse. George Martin said that for recording the final take, multiple instruments and vocals were recorded together to fit more into the four track, so I haven’t been able to find much dissection.   

There is. It was for the ‘Yellow Submarine ‘ film but ultimately went unused, supposedly as John didn’t want to share royalties due to the newly written lyrics. 

The below was written by a fan called ‘Helter Skelter ‘ on his now defunct blog ‘Moggical Mystery Tour’.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds

On the surface, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds  should be an easy song to discuss, being that this was one of the most simple recordings on the whole of the Sgt. Pepper LP. Recorded in Studio 2 in only two sessions from the 1st to the 2nd March 1967, this song required limited overdubbed, and the finished product was sublime. However there is some very interesting use of ‘varispeed’ along the way, which I will discuss during my analysis of these multi-tracks.
The basic rhythm section for this eye-brow raising Lennon composition was recorded on the 1st March 1967. It required seven takes to perfect, the final take being the master. The basic building blocks for this song would come in the form of Ringo on drums, Paul on Lowrey Organ (Lewisohn says Hammond Organ, so take your pick), George on acoustic guitar (phased/flanged) and John singing guide vocal. There is also periodic piano from George Martin for example before John sings “Cellophane flowers…” – this happens in the middle of each verse.
With the basic rhythm section complete George Harrison recorded a Tamboura drone onto TK4 of the 4-Track tape, wiping John’s guide vocal in the process (hence on the Anthology 2 mix of this track they use the basic Take 6 vocal as there was no vocal for Take 7), and the rhythm section was complete.
Here is the layout of the 4-Track for Take 7:

Take 7
TK1: Acoustic Guitar, Piano
TK2: Lowrey Organ (or Hammond)
TK3: Drums
TK4: Guide Vocal, Tamboura

Now this is where things get complicated, as following the rhythm section the tape was reduced down onto a single track to make room for overdubs (called Take 8), quite a normal process. However, this was done at 49 cycles/sec, meaning that the tape would sound faster on playback (standard speed was 50 cycles/sec).
Paul would now overdub his bass guitar accompanied by George on electric guitar through a Leslie speaker (a common technique used to create this unique sound). This was recorded at normal speed.
Now the vocal overdubs, firstly John’s lead vocal backed by Paul, which was recorded at 45 cycles/sec, and a second vocal pass (for both of them) recorded at 48.5 cycles/sec. Everything in the song therefore, other than bass and lead guitar, played back faster than the speed at which it was recorded, this resulting in a bizarre combination of vocal pitches, and the unique sound of this track.
Here is the final 4-Track layout:

Take 8
TK1: Drums, Acoustic Guitar, Piano, Lowrey Organ, Tamboura
TK2: Lead Vocal 1, Backing Vocal 1
TK3: Lead Vocal 2, Backing Vocal 2
TK4: Bass, Lead Guitar

So this brings us to our lovely .mogg file, and other than the acoustic guitar, which is combined with the Tamboura, and the combined vocal track, there is pretty much all of Takes 7+8 here – once I have pieced it back together that is!

Mogg Breakdown
Tracks 9/10 (Edited) + Guitar (Edited) = TK1+4 (Take 7)
Guitar (Edited) + Tracks 9/10 (Edited) = TK2 (Take 7)
Drums = TK3 (Take 7)

Vocals = TK2+3 (Take 8)
Bass + Guitar (Edited) = TK4 (Take 8)

DISCOVERIES
The .mogg has given us the complete Take 7, without John’s vocal – but this was wiped anyway, so does not even exist anymore (you can hear this in the background of the drum track.) And we also have the complete bass and lead guitar overdub – a total of 5 multi-tracks!
As a bonus here I have thrown in a stereo mix of the complete Take 7.

You want the isolated mogg files posted and they will have been booted a number of times, tho most of the time you will only get the isolated tracks and not the files HS compiled. A simpler quicker way does exist.

Was it the Take 1 RN posted about in the SP 50th celebration thread?