And in a brand new (2024) fan-produced stereo mix that's guaranteed to make you, in John Lennon's immortal phrase, dance around your room in wild abdomen.
Seriously, if that doesn't get you happy for at least a couple of minutes, consult your physician. And Beatles purists can, frankly, bite me.
Meanwhile, because I love you all more than food, I'm also including a record that we know, definitively, inspired "IFF," -- i.e. it's been documented to have been in John's personal record collection at the time. I refer, of course, to Bobby Parker's wonderful 1961 hit "Watch Your Step."
This has several layers of irony, first of all because Parker's record is pretty obviously inspired by Ray Charles "What I'd Say." The folk process in action, ladies and germs.
Secondly, as I've mentioned in these precincts on previous occasions, in Max Weinberg's wonderful 1984 book The Big Beat -- a collection of interviews with some of the greatest rock drummers of all time -- r&b session guy extraordinaire Bernard "Pretty" Purdy claims that he overdubbed and replaced the original drum tracks on several Beatles records, including "I Feel Fine." When pressed by an incredulous Weinberg, Purdy insists that Brian Epstein brought Beatles master tapes to New York City where the overdubs were done, and that Epstein hushed the whole thing up, thus explaining why Purdie never got the credit he felt he deserved.
This is, to put it charitably, a rather dubious claim for all sorts of reasons, including the fact that the recording technology of the time would have made it extremely difficult to have achieved the substitution with the requisite level of seamlessness.
That said -- if anybody can listen to the newly mixed "IFF" above without concluding that the drum performance is the work of one Sir Richard Starkey, I have some bridgefront property in Brooklyn I'd like to discuss with you.
6 comments:
Def not a Beatles purist, but what makes this "fan" remix different (better?) than the official 2023 remix found on the recent "Red" album reissue?
Nothing. I was just being snarky.😎
Purdy's claimed to be the Beatles' "secret drummer" for decades.
Sad.
It's nice to see how songs evolve. Thanks for pointing this one out.
Bernard Purdie, the "Carol Kaye" of drummers. I think it's been sorted that he did overdubs on Beatles cash-in records on Atco.
I discovered some great Jeff Beck live recordings from the Blow by Blow era and was surprised Purdie was his drummer. He's pretty great btw.
One other thing I'm sure Beatle fans know is how John nicked the intro of Richie Barrett's "Some Other Guy" for his "Instant Karma".
Bob in IL
That's right at the top of the Greatest Drumm Fills of All Time list. Ringo made the Beatles.
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