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Notes from the booklet:Creation of John Lennon's classic song began with a series of home demo recordings. The first were taped in Santa Isabel, Spain during the filming of Richard Lester's newest picture, How I Won The War, in which John had a part. "It look me six weeks to write the song," John recalled. "I was writing it all the time I was making the film." The earliest tapes of John composing the song (Disc One, Tracks 2-9) come from that six week period - September 18th to November 7th, 1966. Sometime during. the next two weeks, at Kenwood, his home in Surrey, John continued work on the song, recording first a version onto which he overdubbed electric guitar and a second vocal (Disc One, Tracks 10-14), then a final version with overdubbed organ, mellotron and double-tracked vocal (Disc One, Tracks 15-24). For his home recordings, John used two mono machines to accomplish overdubs, playing back one tape and playing or singing along to it into a second tape. This meant that the original track was now second generation recorded off-line (that is, a microphone recording rather than a line recording, made directly from tape to tape). For the complete demo (Disc One, Track 24), two overdubs were done, thus making the original track a third generation recording, two of them off-line. As a bonus track (Disc One, Track 41) we've taken the liberty of digitally combining the finished, overdubbed demo with the original track it was based on, thus creating a new stereo remaster that sounds closer to what John's demo would have sounded like had he been working with more sophisticated equipment. Also sometime during that November 8-23 period John created the distinctive flutelike tape loop used on the finished studio recording (Disc One, Track 25).
The first studio recording of "Strawberry Fields Forever"' was produced in one evening session on Thursday, November 24th, 1966. They recorded one take of the basic rhythm tracks, onto which were layered a myriad of overdubs. The finished take 1 (Disc One, Track 27) featured lead vocal by John, mellotron by Paul, George's guitar, Ringo's drums and maracas, a Harrison slide guitar, another Lennon lead vocal and harmonies from John, Paul and George. The track was taped at 51 cycles per second, so that it sounded faster on playback. There is apparently no record of it being remixed in 1966.
The following Monday, November 28th, they began the first remake of the song, recording takes 2-4 of the rhythm tracks, then overdubbing maracas, more guitars and a speeded-up Lennon vocal onto take 4 (Disc One, Tracks 29-31). Mono remixes RM1-3 of take 4 were produced at the end of the session and acetates were quickly cut, but a night spent listening to his copy of the acetate convinced John to try again.
The second remake was taped the following day, Tuesday, November 29th. Again they recorded rhythm tracks, takes 5-6, then overdubbed a Lennon vocal onto take 6 (Disc One, Tracks 32-33). Take seven was a reduction mix of take 6, applying ADT to John's vocal in the process. Onto this were overdubbed pianos and bass guitar (among other instruments) (Disc One, Track 34). Again, mono remixes RM1-3 were produced from take 7 (ignoring the earlier RM1-3), and RM3 was called the "best" (Disc Two, Track 1). Thus it stood for nine days.
Further listening convinced John that the song still wasn't what he wanted, so he went to George Martin and asked him to write a score to be used for a third remake. They went back into Abbey Road on December 8th. George Martin wasn't available for the beginning of the session, so engineer Dave Harries temporarily doubled as producer as they began recording tapes of the rhythm track. Takes 9-24 were taped (there was no take 8, and they skipped take 19), with Ringo's cymbals (played backward), Paul and George on tympanies and bongos, Mal Evans on tambourine, and the usual bass, drums and guitars. The first three-quarters of take 15 were edited onto the last quarter of take 24 to create the finished rhythm track. At the end of the session they started to produce a reduction mix of this edited version, but gave it up until the next day.
The Friday, December 9th session began with the completion of the rnixdown of the takes 15/24 edit into reduction mix take 25, and onto this was added more percussion from Ringo, and George on swordmandel (a harplike Indian instrument). A rough mono remix, RM4, was produced at this point (presumable for George Martin's use while working on his splendid trumpet/cello arrangement), and then they overdubbed more backward cymbals onto take 25.
Six days later, on December 15th, they overdubbed the trumpets (Tony Fisher, Greg Bowen, Derek Watkins and Stanley Roderick) and cellos (John Hall, Derek Simpson and Norman Jones) onto take 25 (Disc One, Track 37). Another reduction mix produced take 26, and onto it were overdubbed two Lennon lead vocals (Disc One, Track 39). Finally, mono remixes RM5-9 were produced, with RM9 called the new "best" (Disc Two, Track 2).
But on Wednesday, December21st more Lennon vocals were overdubbed onto take 26, along with another piano track. A new remix wasn't produced, however, because John had decided that while he liked the ending of the new version, he still preferred the beginning of take 7. Could George Martin somehow combine them? Martin pointed out that the two recordings were not only played at different tempos, they were also in different keys. "Well," said John, "You can fix it!" And so he did, by speeding up take 7 and slowing down take 26, they luckily could be matched (the edit can be heard exactly one minute into the song).
On December22nd mono remix RM10 of take 7 was combined with mono remix RM11 of take 26 to produce RM12. Similarly, on December 29th stereo remix RS1 of take 7 and RS2 and RS4 of take 26 were combined to produce RS3 (from RS1 and RS2) and RS5 (from RS1 and RS4). RS3 was the version released on the stereo Capitol Magical Mystery Tour LP (Disc Two, Track 9), while a stereo remix produced for the German Magical Mystery Tour LP on November 26th, 1971 is the one that appears on the Magical Mystery Tour CD (Disc Two, Track 10).
Though RM12 was apparently used for both the UK and US mono releases of the song, on the British single (Disc Two, Track 12) one can hear a hi-hat click right after John first sings "Strawberry Fields Forever" which can't be heard on the mono Capitol Magical Mystery Tour LP version of the track (Disc Two, Track 11).
In 1982 engineer John Barrett produced the soundtrack for the multimedia presentation that was to be used during the Summer '83 public tours of Abbey Road Studios. This included new (though partial) stereo remixes of takes 1, 7 and 26 (Disc Two, Tracks 17-19).
For the 1987 television special celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, George Martin pulled out the old four-track masters of some of the sessions and played them back while isolating individual tracks to demonstrate how the songs were constructed. Since "Strawberry Fields Forever" was originally slated for release on the LP, its recording marked the actual start of the album sessions, and Martin played back portions of takes 1, 7 and 26 (Disc One, Tracks 26,35 and 38 ).
The Anthology 2 CD collection, produced in 1995, presented two new remixes of "Strawberry Fields Forever." First was Take 1, stripped of many of the overdubs (including the harmony parts) (Disc Two, Track 21). Also included was a new remix of take 7 edited with the end of take 25 (Disc Two, Track 22).
PENNY LANE
Work on Paul McCartney's still-untitled contribution to the single began on Thursday, December 29th with the recording of takes 1-6 of the basic piano track, played by Paul (the others weren't present on this day). Onto track two of take 6 he added another piano, this time played through a Vox guitar amp with added reverb. A tambourine and yet another piano went onto track three, recorded at half-speed so it would sound faster on playback. Onto track four went a harmonium, also fed through a Vox amp, plus cymbals and other percussion. Rough mono mixes RM1 and RM2 finished the night's work.
The next day, December30th, take 6 of what was now known as "Penny Lane" received a reduction mix into take 7, clearing up three more tracks. Onto track four was overdubbed Paul's lead and John's back-up vocal, taped at 47.5 cycles to again sound faster on playback. Once again rough mono remixes were made, redundantly called RM1 and RM2, for cutting to acetate.
They returned to the song on Wednesday, January 4th, when John added a piano part and George his lead guitar onto track two of take 7, while onto track three went another McCartney vocal. The next day a new McCartney vocal replaced the one taped on the 4th.
January 6th saw even more overdubs, with the addition of Paul on bass, John on rhythm guitar and conga drums, and Ringo on drums - all heavily limited and again taped at 47.5 cycles. Take 7 became take 8 through a reduction mix from four to two tracks, and onto it they overdubbed handclaps, John and George Martin on piano, and John, Paul and George scat singing the parts where the brass would later be added. Another reduction mix took them from take 8 to take 9.
The brass parts were added to take 9 on Monday, January 9th. Flutes were played by Ray Swinfield, P Goody, Manny Winters and Dennis Walton, while trumpets were provided by Leon Calvert. Some of the same musicians also added two piccolos and a flügelhorn. John Lennon made his own tape of part of this day's sessions, adding various studio effects (Disc One, Track 40). Rough mono remixes RM5 and RM6 were then made.
The next day, January 10th, saw the addition of more scat vocals and the hand-bell that's heard at each mention of the fireman or his fire-engine. Two days later, January 12th, the second group of classical instruments were added to take 9. Trumpets were played by Bert Courtley and Duncan Campbell, oboes and cor anglais by Dick Morgan and Mike Winfield, and double-bass by Frank Clarke. The session concluded with the production of mono remixes RM7 and RM8 (Disc Two, Track 3).
Further listening convinced Paul that the recording still wasn't what he wanted. On January 11th he'd been watching a performance of Bach's Brandenburg Concerto Number2 on BBC2 television, and was enchanted with the sound of Dave Mason's trumpet. On January 17th Mason came into the studio and added his B-flat piccolo trumpet to take 9, recording the part in just two takes. "Paul sang the parts he wanted," Mason recalled, "George Martin wrote them out, I tried them." More mono remixing produced RM9- 11 (Disc Two, Tracks 5-7), and a copy of RM11 was hurried off to America, where a few promotional copies of the single were pressed and distributed to radio stations before the decision was made to try further remixes.
Final menu remixes RM12-14 of take 9 were produced on January 25th, with the last, now missing Dave Mason's final trumpet figures, called "best." Fhe UK release of RM14 (Disc Two, Track 15) is a note longer in the beginning than the version on the US Magical Mystery Tour LP (Disc Two, Track 14), which starts cold with the vocals. A stereo remix (Disc Two, Track 16) wasn't produced until November7th, 1967, for use on the German Magical Mystery Tour LP (and eventually on the CD). It includes an ascending trumpet part after the line "it's a clean machine" that's missing from the mono remix.
In 1982 engineer John Barren was given the assignment of producing the soundtrack for the multimedia presentation that was to be used during the Summer '83 public tours of Abbey Road Studios. This included a new stereo remix of "Penny Lane" (Disc Two, Track 20).
The Anthology 2 CD collection, produced in 1995, also presented a new remix (Disc Two, Track 23). This featured many of the overdubs heard on RM8 but mixed out of the final version of the song.
Disc 1: Demos and Sessions
Strawberry Fields Forever - Santa Isabel Demos
1. George Martin on "Strawberry Fields Forever"
2. warmup
3. take 1
4. take 2
5. take 3
6. take 4
7. take 5
8. take 6
9. rehearsal
Strawberry Fields Forever - Kenwood Demos 1
10. electric guitar overdub rehearsal
11. electric guitar overdub
12. playback and chat
13. double-tracking vocal
14. playback
Strawberry Fields Forever - Kenwood Demos 2
15. take 1
16. take 2
17. take 3
18. take 4
19. take 5
20. take 6
21. take 7
22. take 8
23. mellotron/vocal overdub rehearsal
24. mellotron/vocal overdub onto take 7
25. tape loop and backwardspeak
Strawberry Fields Forever - Sessions 1
26. take 1 with George Martin
27. take 1
Strawberry Fields Forever - Sessions 2
28. George Martin on remakes 1&2
29. take 2
30. take 3
31. take 4
32. take 5
33. take 6
34. take 7
35. take 7 with George Martin
Strawberry Fields Forever - Sessions 3
36. George Martin on remake 3
37. take 25
38. take 26 with George Martin
39. take 26
Penny Lane - Sessions
40. overdub sessions
Disc 2: - Remixes
Tracks 10 to 13, 15 to 17 and 22 to 24 are not available to download as these versions have already been commecially released.
Early Remixes
1. Strawberry Fields Forever take 7, RM3
2. Strawberry Fields Forever take 26, RM9
3. Penny Lane take 9, RM8
4. Dave Mason on Penny Lane
5. Penny Lane take 9, RM9
6. Penny Lane take 9, RM10
7. Penny Lane take 9, RM11
Released Remixes
8. George Martin on finishing "Strawberry Fields Forever"
9. Strawberry Fields Forever edit of takes 7 & 26, RS3
10. Strawberry Fields Forever edit of takes 7 & 26, RS'71
11. Strawberry Fields Forever edit of takes 7 & 26, RM12, US version
12. Strawberry Fields Forever edit of takes 7 & 26, RM12, UK version
13. George Martin and Paul McCartney on "Penny Lane"
14. Penny Lane take 9, RM14, US edit
15. Penny Lane take 9, RM14, UK edit
16. Penny Lane take 9, RS'71
John Barrett Remixes
17. Strawberry Fields Forever take 1, RS'82, partial
18. Strawberry Fields Forever take 7, RS'82, partial
19. Strawberry Fields Forever take 26, RS'82, partial
20. Penny Lane take 9, RS'82
Anthology Remixes
21. Strawberry Fields Forever take 1, RS'95
22. Strawberry Fields Forever edit of takes 7 & 25, RM'95
23. Penny Lane take 9, RS'95
Front cover
Back cover
