Monday, September 9, 2019

From Louisiana To Liverpool And Back


We are about three weeks away from the 50th anniversary release of "Abbey Road," featuring another new Giles Martin stereo mix and a host of unheard material from the Fab Four. In the new issue of Mojo you will find a track by track breakdown of the album, with a number of writers offering their thoughts, including David Fricke, who shares his feelings on "Oh Darling."

"To nail the rusted might and despairing finesse of his last, great-white-soul-singer moment on a Beatles LP,  Paul ran his voice through the wringer over four nearly-consecutive days in July of 1969: arriving at Abbey Road before the others dragged in, and repeatedly attacking the pleading simplicity in his lyrics and melody as if his boyhood gods, Ray Charles and Little Richard, were sitting there in judgement."

"Oh Darling" is certainly a highlight for me, and it became moreso once I discovered those amazing Swamp Pop singles from Louisiana so many years later. So imagine my excitement upon reading this last bit from Fricke:

"It's another one of those songs McCartney has never performed in concert--although it soon returned to its spiritual home when Jay Randall & The Epics, covered it on a 1970 single for the tiny Lanor label in Church Point, Louisiana."

I love music.


Jay Randall's almost 50 year old rendition from the swamps of Church Point up top and the new 2019 Beatles remix from "Abbey Road" below.

(And check out those background harmonies on the new mix. I mean, we all knew they were there, didn't we? But man alive, did we really know they were that good? Chills.)



8 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

Chills is right. It just hit me that's my favorite song on the album.

Chris Collins said...

killer!

daudder said...

oh my. the background harmonies are amazing...this band could go places...

M_Sharp said...

Sounds great! I like the Jay Randall version with the spoken part. That would be great if it were Elvis, or even Paul, doing an "Are You Lonesome Tonight"-type deep voice cover.

I'm very happy to see that aside from the probably very expensive vinyl or CD box sets, they're also releasing a single CD, a vinyl picture disc, and a single vinyl LP. I'll probably spring for the standard vinyl.

Troy said...

Love that new mix! Thanks for sharing!

Whattawino said...

LOVIN’ ‘EM BOTH!! What a treat the Jay Randell release is, as I’ve never heard of it before. And the new remix is whompin’ me! Wow! It had me at the drums! Those vocals though....Serious, dude!

cmealha said...

This was the first song I heard from Abbey Road when it first came out. I was hooked from that point and the hook just got stuck deeper and deeper with each cut. My favorite Beatles album and I can't wait to hear the new release.

Christine said...

I never thought about this song much--but now, after really listening to both versions, I see what I've been missing! Shame on me. Thank you for sharing. This is why we need you!