Part 3

Compressor clarification from Charlle :" In fact it was the (UA/Teletronix) LA-2A which I chose for the vocals.. The Altec did bass duty. Fairchild for overhead."

So, you see, I just make things up if I don't know. My only excuse is that the staircase up to the control room is awfully high and I was a bit light on oxygen by the time I got up there to look at compressors. Seriously, I bet those stairs really kept a lot of lippy artists from mucking up the production over the years. You have to really commit to an idea before you start that trek. Anyway, I think the Altec is the secret weapon in the Abbey Road mix. According to my (Roger's) Recording the Beatles book, everybody is always so crazy for the Fairchild that they overlook the Altec compressors that were used just as much. In my youth, I recall there being tons of old Altecs gathering dust in music stores, but of course now you can't find them for less than the cost of a good used car. The ones at Abbey Road were heavily modified by the technical staff in the early 60's and are still in working order.

Anyway, so it was time to do some of them pesky vocals. I had assumed that this would be the most time -consuming aspect of the session. I like my voice now, but I spent many years not really being able to control it and being insecure about it and those moments of self- doubt tend to pop up whenever I'm recording and hearing it back through cans. It's just such a claustrophobic, unnatural way to work and, if at all possible, I prefer to cut vocals without headphones and just use monitors in the control room, but I wasn't going to miss the chance to sing in the same room, on the same mics as the boys with the haircuts. So, as I say, I can get a little intimidated in a friendly casual studio, but imagine the possibilities of freaking out in the scenario I described. I mean, it's John Lennon's mic and I'm going to sing into it? The assistant engineer said that in the case of some of the mics, they could use the serial number to figure out which songs were sung on it. I was clear that I didn't want to know. I mean, don't tell me that it's the mic used on Happiness Is A Warm gun or something or I will be paralyzed. So, anyway, I says to Martin I says "This is no big deal, I'm just going to sing this song for a few friends, no trouble at all." and he agreed that I shouldn't be freaked out and should just do it. As it turned out, it was not a problem. I loved it, it felt fantastic. Charlie was very encouraging from on high and I sang two passes, he asked me to sing two spots over and comp'd a perfectly good vocal take in no time. I mean, what am I, Paula Abdul? I don't need hundreds of takes or anyone to sing my songs for me, I'll sing the fucker, right?

Just then, Ken Stringfellow's head appeared in the glass. I ran up to say hello (huffing and puffing) and thank him for coming down to visit. We spoke for a few minutes while Charlie tidied up the editing and by the time I asked ken if he would sing on the song, he has pretty much worked out a part in his head. He mentioned that he had to catch a train to Paris and only had a little bit of time, but he nailed his vocal in about 15 minutes. He's a real serious singer, sounds just like the guy who sang on all those Posies songs I listened to a million times. He really gets into his singing, waving his arms around and rocking on his heels- but with great mic technique. Total pro, super duper nice guy, made his train with time to spare.


Somewhere around this point, Darcey and Harrison showed up for a visit. they had been to the Museum Of Natural History to look at Dinosaurs and came to see what Daddy was up to. I was very happy to see them both and told Charlie that I'd like to wheel a bed into the studio for Darcey and mic it up in case she had any ideas or comments for the songs. The studio walls groaned at the memory.

Preposterous as it seems, my little monkey man got his chocolate fingers on every piece of gear he could reach. Martin was taking tons of photos the whole day (it will be a miracle if you can't hear his shutter on the vocal tracks, but let's just call that an homage to "Girls On Film") and he's got shots of Harrison moving faders on the Neve board (and at one point while I sang, Charlie stopped me to say "someone, someone very small, has just put your tracks in solo and I lost my place.") He had quite a good bash at the drums, too. Yes, it's an incredibly expensive studio, but if the wee man wants to play drums, what better place than Abbey Road? He also had a fine time pushing our effects pedals around and making car sounds. Martin's vintage Couloursound tone bender? Yellow car, according to my little friend. He gave me a good talking to for playing the guitar so loud, too. One of his shows, Pinky Dinky Doo, has a character named Bobby Boo, so I was happy for him to meet the real Bobby Boo. When it was time for Darcey to take H back to the hotel, I asked the front desk to call a car for them and a black Mercedes sedan showed up. Well, if you're gonna ride..

Earlier in the evening, we had turned off the white lights and put on the colored lights in the studio for more of a vibe. The old mics and the other gear really looked beautiful with purple backlighting. Also getting lit was dear Martin who had returned to the canteen for beers. I coaxed him out to sing some backgrounds and took some photos of him for a switch. Nobody makes me laugh as hard as him, I was howling at the one- sided commentary while tracking his vocal. He would sing a line and then yell "Should I sack it? Sack the vocal?" It's a Liverpool thing, he's explained to me that if you're walking down the street In L'Pool wearing a hat, rotten kids will yell "Sack the hat, mate" at you- or whatever it is about your appearance they can mock. Anyway, he's funny, trust me. He always has this thing that he's just an instinctual musician and not technically proficient, but I've seen him be very skilled and I call shenanigans on that idea. He laid down his backing vocal and doubled it in about 20 minutes and then we got Ed to sing his before he had to run off back to his lair near Primrose Hill. Trust me children, it's 1967 in Ed's trousers. I love him. In fact, I said to Martin "I love Ed. let's take him somewhere and just be with him."

By this point, we had two songs 90% finished with just a few instruments I'd like to add at home. There was about 40 minutes left, so I asked drummer Rob to track another song, "Sgt. Sunshine", a short XTC-ish number. We had a couple of bashes at it and once I said the magic phrase: "Teenage Fanclub", we were able to track basics for it and decided to call it a night. We all had one last stare at the studio and I thanked everyone profusely. It was a magical day for me, totally ruined me for recording anywhere else. I just want to record there every day forever. Martin and I had a wee cuddle on the front steps- I couldn't even find the proper words to thank him for putting it all together for me- and took a photo under the Abbey Road sign on the door. Then I clicked my heels together 3 times and woke up in Kansas. The band, not the state.