Comments on: Free As A Bird

By: MikeP

MikeP — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:37:23 +0000

newyorkjoe – I don’t know what you’re talking about (and I’m not sure you do, either).
Paul has said that one major reason they got Emerick to engineer was because he knew what Ringo’s drums should sound like. They aren’t going to sound EXACTLY like “Abbey Road” because of different studios and a 25-year-gap where techniques and equipment changed. (You do realize that AR was the first time Emerick had recorded the drums in stereo, don’t you?) But, they absolutely DO sound like Ringo’s drums.

By: MikeP

MikeP — Mon, 11 Mar 2019 14:29:01 +0000

Oh, the old “Jeff Lynne ruined it” silliness.
It isn’t a great song, the original wasn’t recorded well, yet Lynne – with the Threetles – got a good Beatley sound out of it. Martin would have made no appreciable difference other than the cleanup process may not have been as good as Lynne accomplished. Give it a rest.

By: Mihali Dellaportas

Mihali Dellaportas — Sat, 26 Jan 2019 21:05:59 +0000

Yes he would have agreed with Lynne, and in fact he praised Lynne in the 70s!

By: per

per — Tue, 03 Apr 2018 21:43:34 +0000

Paul sings “can we really live without each other” but George excludes that line. Maybe Paul could not live fully without his former band mates, but that was definitely not how George felt.

By: Dennis O'Dell

Dennis O'Dell — Mon, 22 Jan 2018 20:11:27 +0000

The vocals on Lennon’s original demo are poorly recorded and are inconsistent – sometimes very muted and disappearing into his piano part. And his piano part has some mistakes (it’s a thrown together demo after all) and in some places different chords than were used in the final song. So I think Lynne was trying to separate the voice from the piano as much as possible. I don’t know what exotic techniques he used to attempt this but from my experience with recording production I will bet it was very difficult.

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Thu, 04 Jan 2018 21:58:52 +0000

I’ve read in several, admittedly suspect, places that the cassette that Yoko gave to Paul was labeled “For Paul.” I don’t really believe it, as no reputable source has confirmed it. Has anyone else read this and can it be confirmed?

By: John

John — Wed, 07 Jun 2017 15:39:51 +0000

The drumming on this is very similar to Sexy Sadie

By: Michaelbearfella

Michaelbearfella — Tue, 16 May 2017 23:04:32 +0000

On this song, Paul sings a few more bars than George. George fills in with a guitar solo. He doesn’t need to to sing to get his point across. This solo says he wishes john was there. Powerful. Go George!

By: Jeff Carlson

Jeff Carlson — Sat, 01 Apr 2017 01:50:12 +0000

It’s also better than a lot of Paul/George/Ringo solo work!

By: alex

alex — Fri, 17 Feb 2017 08:32:09 +0000

The remixes of FAAB and Real love are better on 1+ bluray, and worth checking out. Real love sounds particularly better. FAAB uses different George vocal, etc etc

By: SaxonMothersSon

SaxonMothersSon — Tue, 08 Nov 2016 03:44:26 +0000

What a bunch of whiny whiners. As Paul would say, “Sod off.” For myself, it was my lads’ last session. It was a happy/sad occasion for me to listen to and watch. Loved ’em since ’64. Always will.

By: pat

pat — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 01:09:50 +0000

@Colin: The weird over processed sound of John’s voice could have been caused by excessive noise reduction (a post production tool used primarily to minimize tape hiss) – if you overdo it strange bubbly sounding artifacts can emerge. But considering Lynne is a pro (and in a perfect world pros never fuck up that bad, right) maybe he ran the vocal through a chorus effect or something similar to achieve a fuller sound. Nevertheless you are absolutely right, the unprocessed vocal in the original demo sounds way better than the final version and it’s beyond me that noone involved in the production seemed to have noticed.

By: Paul Dickinson

Paul Dickinson — Thu, 18 Aug 2016 01:56:39 +0000

terrible over the top drum production, ( never drink and drum ) and it might help to take those sunglasses off at least once a year whilst mixing a recording, that’s probably why john’s vocals sound’s so spooky, brilliant production on the bridge though, I must give him that.

By: Shea

Shea — Tue, 24 May 2016 21:32:24 +0000

What amazes me are the comments about Jeff Lynne. He did a great job on this and as far as people saying that the drums sound makes it sound like a Jeff Lynne record should go back and listen to the drums on Double Fantasy. Lynne has been a huge Beatles fan from way back and you can certainly hear their influence on him on Concerto for a Rainy Day and The Diary of Horace Wimp.

I love this song although it always reminds me of what was taken from us all.

By: BM

BM — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 14:31:02 +0000

Anybody knows wich models of acoustic guitars are played on this track?

By: DAN THE MAN

DAN THE MAN — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 18:15:18 +0000

I don’t know what you’re hearing to say the bridge/chorus is EXACTLY the same. Firstly the Shangri Las song is in a minor key, Free is in a major, so certain melodies and notes will only be available in a certain key, one melody that you can sing in a major key, won’t work well in a minor key. The Shamgs do have the ‘whatever happened to’ line. Maybe Lennon did steal it, i don’t know if he did, only he knows?…All i know is they don’t sound exactly the same…

By: Bongo

Bongo — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 21:29:56 +0000

First time Today, I noticed in the 2nd verse of “What ever happened too” was George singing it, not Paul, like in the first verse! Too bad, they couldn’t have thrown a line for Ringo to sing somewhere in it!!

By: Graham Paterson

Graham Paterson — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 11:58:54 +0000

Great song and I love the promo as shown on the Beatles Anthology. Extremely clever and poignant. Brilliant George Harrison guitar solo along with every thing else which adds to Lennon’s original 1977 demo.

By: BeatleKen

BeatleKen — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 18:08:29 +0000

hey this was the NEW BEATLES in the 90’s not the 60’s. they should sound different, yes it was a shame that John couldnt have been there in person to state his opinions. IT’S A GREAT SONG. it’s the bloody Beatles. now 2 are gone BE HAPPY.

By: Frank

Frank — Sat, 13 Dec 2014 02:58:41 +0000

If they did a third “whatever happened to”, ringo would have been great.