Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The Beatles - Kinfauns

Label: Silent Sea Productions, SS004
Release Date: 1998

1 Sexy Sadie 2:24
2 Rocky Raccoon 2:39
3 Polythene Pam 1:24
4 Mean Mr. Mustard 1:57
5 Piggies 2:02
6 Bungalow Bill 2:48
7 Junk 2:32
8 What's The New Mary Jane 2:41
9 Blackbird 2:28
10 Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey 3:02
11 While My Guitar Gently Weeps 2:36
12 Glass Onion 1:48
13 Back In The USSR 2:56
14 Happiness is a Warm Gun 2:12
15 Not Guilty 3:04
16 Dear Prudence 4:44
17 Honey Pie 1:57
18 Yer Blues 3:30
19 Mother Nature's Son 2:19
20 Child of Nature 2:35
21 I'm So Tired 3:17
22 Obladi Oblada 2:52
23 Cry Baby Cry 2:34
24 Circles 2:14
25 Julia 3:48
26 Sour Milk Sea 3:27
27 Revolution 4:05

KINFAUNS was George's comfortable little one-story house in Esher, outside of London. It was there that the Beatles fathered sometime during MAY 20-29 of 1968, using George's four-track Ampex reel-ro-reel to tape acoustic group demos of the many songs they'd written while at the Maharishi's ashram in Rishikesh, India.

During their stay at the Marahishi's ashram in Rishikesh, India in the early spring of 1968, the Beatles had written an unprecendented number of new songs. While late April and early May were busily spent launching Apple, the first sessions for their new LP (later to become known as "The White Album") were looming.

All of these acoustic group demos were recorded sometime during May 20-29, 1968, when all four Beatles gathered at Kinfauns, George's comfortable little one-story house in Esher, not far outside of London. Derek Taylor's name is mentioned during the sessions, and he may have been running George's FOUR TRACK AMPEX-REEL TO REEL, on which these historic performances were preserved.

Four sources were used to compile this release: the CDs "Anthology 3" Apple/Capitol 34451, "The 1968 Demos" Genuine Pig 094, "Unsurpassed Demos" Yellow Dog 008 and the LP "Lost Lennon Tapes no. 9" Bag 5081. Each track and painstakingly (and digitally) pieced together by the Silent Sea engineers, using whichever speed and volume-corrected sources produced the best and most complete finished track.

The illustration on the front cover is by Roy Williams.

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