Monday, September 23, 2013

The Beatles-The Esher Demos By Peter Reum

Growing up with the Beatles is a fundamental common experience of Boomers my age. I remember seeing Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show, but The Beatles' appearance on the Sullivan Show was almost a universal experience among my generation. As we grew up, so did The Beatles. Their youthful effervescence changed into jaded skepticism as ours did concurrently.

The Beatles changed as do all groups in whatever endeavor they undertake change. Group dynamics are well known and researched. The process model known among all group therapists like myself is "forming, norming, storming, working, and dissolving." The core Beatles had been together since the late Fifties by the time the preparation for the double album simply entitled "The Beatles" came along. They had all written songs in India with The Maharishi, and their cynicism about the experience was well known and publicized. Their return to the UK coincided with a need to turn in an album.

Songwriters don't stop writing, even if they are in India under the Maharishi's dubious tutelage (at least in The Beatles' point of view). The group reunited in England at George's home in Esher with a 4 track tape recorder, and acoustically laid down some 27 tracks, playing what they came up with in India for each other. The results were astounding.

I should now interject some opinions of my own. I am not a big White Album fan. I have always felt that The Beatles was a self-indulgent excessively lengthy double set. Personally, I am a "middle period" Beatles fan, enjoying the period roughly from Rubber Soul through the US Magical Mystery Tour album. That said, an album of these demos. recorded in the manner that Bob Dylan and The Band cut the Basement Tapes would have sold me on a double set, with no reservations. The legendary Basement Tapes are everything a double album should be....incredible musicians sharing their music together playing as an ensemble in a manner that makes the songs the star of the show, not the production.

A great song should sound great without production enhancements. That is the nature of most of the Esher Demos. There are some dalliances with whimsy, but hearing them "naked" brings out their inherent humor. The demos are roughly evenly divided between John and Paul, with few strong pieces from George. Most chronicles of the sessions show doubt that Ringo was present.

The tapes begin with John singing Julia, and the tune's sensitive and lovely character comes through beautifully. The song's chords are played on acoustic guitar, and it sounds like John doubled his vocal by overdubbing. John's loving tribute is as sensitive a song as he ever composed. It is sung tenderly, as a mother might sing to her son.  It is as gorgeous a song as John ever wrote. Paul's Blackbird is next, and again the chords played acoustically make the song the star. Paul's intention here was a song of encouragement to African-Americans fighting discrimination, and though presented allegorically, there is no mistaking what the song is about. Two homeruns in two at bats.....

Rocky Raccoon on The White Album comes across as a send up of America's rednecks. It is ironic that today in the USA that there is a deep divide between gun owners and the National Rifle Association and people who want stronger gun control. Thinking back to 1968, it may be a commentary on Paul's part about the deaths of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy by assassins. Back In the USSR has a strong resemblance to The Beach Boys on The White Album, but the chords are undoubtedly indebted to Chuck Berry. This tune is simply a great piece of rock and roll.

Honey Pie thumps along with a lyrical continuation of the USA Western theme, with a guitar for percussion, a Roaring Twenties music and lyrical theme, and some rowdy background vocals. It sounds like a tune you would hear in a saloon. Mother Nature's Son has the amazing chord progression that only a  Brian Wilson or Paul McCartney could come up with. This has always been a favorite of mine, and this version kills.  The only version that approaches this one is John Denver's ironically. There is a second guitar playing along, possibly George. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da follows, and is very catchy if a bit gimmicky. The tune is a musical bow to Dub music, but is too light lyrically.

Junk is a McCartney tune that did not see release until Paul's solo career. It is an achingly pretty song, and one wonders why a song like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da made it to the White Album and Junk did not. It is a McCartney melody that is simply lovely in acoustic form. Dear Prudence is a beautiful song in its acoustic form here, and is also certainly a highlight of The White Album as well. Lennon does a little rap alluding to the Maharishi at the end of Dear Prudence which segues right into Lennon's Sexy Sadie, a commentary on the Maharishi's sexual prowess in Rishikesh. Lennon was not a person who dealt  well with pretense or duplicity, and this song is an sample of those feelings.

Cry Baby Cry, another Lennon composition, is quite beautiful and all too brief. Lennon apparently wrote it about the time he wrote Good Morning, Good Morning, and this version, like so many of these demos, could have been released as it was cut in Esher. Child of Nature is obviously inspired by the time outdoors in Rishikesh, and the song did not make it to The White Album. It surfaced on John's Imagine album as Jealous Guy. I actually prefer this version with these lyrics.

The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill appears to be a commentary on the American predilection for violence. In 1968, America was torn into a thousand pieces, with rioting in the cities, a hated and divisive War in Viet Nam, and an election that was not well received by the world.  I'm So Tired apparently has an extra spoken passage on the Esher version. It is an unhappy John Lennon voicing his dissatisfaction with his life, and the constant demands being placed upon hum. This version is eminently releasable as is, and it is a shame it hasn't seen official release.

Yer Blues, from John Lennon, is a wonderful 12 bar blues with some fine slide guitar playing from George. The slide guitar is fairly unique in these demos, and Lennon's vocal is "suitably bluesy." John had apparently tried to hook up with God in India to no avail. His anger about the experience is spread out in several of these demos. Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey is a Lennon tune that alludes to heroin use. The tune, in my opinion refers to the seductive nature of the drug, which is blissfully enslaving, then becomes a demanding bitchy mistress instead of a vehicle for emotional numbing.

What's the New Mary Jane, another Lennon tune,  was not released until 1988. The tune is a Lennon lyrical mish mash, similar to some of Dylan's lyrics in the Basement Tapes. It is fairly pedestrian, and not his best work. Revolution is a tune on the Esher Demos that sparkles and screams for release. The song rocks acoustically, and is an obvious radio tune. I like Lennon's rejection of violence and prejudice and call for love in this tune. It is a generational anthem. The falsetto "don't you know it's gonna be" vocals are a kick.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps, George Harrison's classic, is as gorgeous here as it appears on the White Album. The guitar and organ here intermingle and form a bond that is wistful and incredibly sad. The tune almost sounds like chamber music in demo form. Simply beautiful.  Circles is accompanied by an organ that is jarring in tone, and is reminiscent of The Beach Boys Smiley Smile period. The tune is a George Harrison tune, and is an obvious outtake, and is not his strongest work.

Sour Milk Sea, first cut during the Esher Demos, was recorded by the late Jackie Lomax for his Apple lp. The tune, a George Harrison composition, may have been a commentary on some of the negativity some group members expressed about their Rishikesh experience. It is sung in a falsetto, has a strong melody and it's lyrics are probably what kept it from the White Album. Not Guilty is a Harrison tune that appears to be a musical retort to Beatle members who found the India experience unsavory. Harrison appears to be saying that what each group member experienced in India was of their own making. If those members didn't "get it", it was their own fault.

Piggies is a Harrison tune that almost sounds like Lennon could have written it. There is some masterful guitar work on the demo, and it is a tune that  satirizes the bankers and lawyers that dominate financial life in the world. In that sense, it reflects everyday feelings that ordinary citizens have about those people....Happiness Is a Warm Gun, a Lennon tune, begins with a Strawberry Fields feel, then abruptly jumps into some Lennonized puns, and the song has some continuity transitions that are rough in demo form. These appear to have been worked out on the White Album version. It is an acoustic delight.

Mean Mr. Mustard follows, with the whole tune having a slice of life feel, similar to the first section of A Day In the Life. The song is a minor composition, and found it's way into the Abbey Road album. In this version, the song's weaknesses tend to stand out, an unwanted side effect of acoustic performance.  Polythene Pam is similar in it's weaknesses to Mean Mr. Mustard. It is a song fragment from India, and describes a tryst that Lennon had.

Lennon's Glass Onion follows, and is he last tune in this collection of incredible demos. It is a Lennon tune that appears to make fun of the Beatles obsessives that played records backwards and searched for hidden meanings in Morse Code flatulence. It is a strong tune and one that I believe is usually underrated among Lennon's compositions. It is an acoustic delight in it's demo form.

What to make of these demos? Well, the first thing to say is that they cement Lennon. McCartney, and Harrison's reputations as great songwriters. Most of these demos stand alone in a stripped bare form beautifully. Second, the group knew themselves well, and they selected the best of these demos for The White Album. There are misfires on the album itself, but the best of these demos would have made a great single album plus part of another. This is The Beatles' "unplugged" album, and it is a very strong one, perhaps the best done by a major group. Third, the tension in the group shows up in the songs themselves, and those tunes are obvious. The India experience was not  good for either John or Ringo. Finally, this set needs to be released as an album. It is a shame these demos are not readily available for Beatle aficionados, including myself.  

Copyright 2013 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved


No comments:

Post a Comment