On my favourite Beatles song: Rodriguez describes Tomorrow Never Knows as the greatest leap into the future that the Beatles had yet taken. The groups innovation in the recording studio reached its apex with the Lennon composition, which was an early example in the emerging counterculture genre of psychedelic music, and included such groundbreaking techniques as reverse guitar, processed vocals, and looped tape effects. Musically, it is drone-like, with a strongly syncopated, repetitive drum-beat played over a single chord. The lyrics were inspired by Timothy Learys book, The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on The Tibetan Book of the Dead. The title was inspired by a Ringo Starr malapropism. The songs harmonic structure is derived from Indian music and is based upon a high volume C drone played by Harrison on a tamboura. Much of the backing track consists of a series of prepared tape loops, stemming from Lennons and McCartneys interest in and experiments with magnetic tape and musique concrète techniques at that time. According to the Beatles session chronicler Mark Lewisohn, Lennon and McCartney prepared a series of loops at home, and these then were added to the pre-recorded backing track. This was reportedly done live in a single take, with multiple tape recorders running simultaneously, some of the longer loops extending out of the control room and down the corridor. Lennons processed lead vocal was another innovation. Always in search of ways to enhance or alter the sound of his voice, he gave a directive to EMI engineer Geoff Emerick that he wanted to sound like he was the Dalai Lama singing from the top of a high mountain. Emerick solved the problem by routing a signal from the recording console into the studios Leslie speaker, giving Lennons vocal its ethereal, filtered quality (Emerick was later reprimanded by the studios management for doing this). youtu.be/7xL1ffMlzKY
Posted on: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 09:10:19 +0000
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