Beatles almost recorded Revolver in America

[taxman]

http://www.pr-inside.com/beatles-almost-recorded-revolver-at-r384468.htm

THE BEATLES came close to recording their landmark REVOLVER album at soul Mecca Stax but security concerns forced the Fab Four to scrap plans to head for Memphis, Tennessee.

The group's manager Brian Epstein visited Stax's base on McLemore Avenue, where the likes of Otis Redding and Booker T & The MGs cut albums, in 1966.
But, when news of the plans spread and was picked up by the local media, the idea was scrapped and The Beatles recorded Revolver at Abbey Road in London.

Former Stax publicist Deanie Parker, who now runs the Stax Museum on the site of the studios, admits the Beatles even had a two-week session booked for 09 April, 1966.

She tells Britain's Mojo magazine, "I was seeing dollar signs. I talked to (Stax founder) Jim Stewart and said, 'If The Beatles do come, will you give me permission to take the carpet up, cut it into squares and sell it?'" Stax songwriter Johnny Keyes reveals even Elvis Presley got involved, offering to put The Beatles up at his nearby Graceland mansion for the duration of their stay in Memphis.

He adds, "It went back and forth, and Epstein left town because he didn't want to get in the middle of it. The session never happened." Booker T & The MGs star Steve Cropper, who actually met The Beatles briefly, muses, "Who knows what might've happened? Taxman could've been Staxman."

[KimFox]

Wow. I'd never heard of this before!

Thank goodness Revolver turned out as it did.

I wonder if they would have seen Memphis sessions as "playtime". The album might have turned out to be their first "Let It Be". :teeth1:

[lennonluvr9]

Paul mentions this on an interview disc I have. He said "if the prices comes down" they'd record in Memphis. When asked what was the matter with the price, Paul said he didnt remember the exact price but "it was some ridiculous price they wanted us to pay to record, it was about 4X what we'd pay in England. Memphis sound or not, we'll get the London sound. It's easier. And cheaper"

[raul]

this is from the book the beatles by bob spitz page 599/600

The Beatles had always gone all out to make great-sounding songs; now it was time, they decided, to make great-sounding records. If you listened to American records, they argued, there was a natural brilliance to them, an excitement emanating from the technical side that made the performances pop. Even on 45s, the bass sound was thick and rich, the trebles clear as chrystal. "The Americans seemed to be ahead of us in those days," admitted Norman Smith, the Beatles' crackerjack engineer. And it frustrated the Beatles no end. They had impeccable ears; they could hear the difference.

Listening, however, wasn't going to help matters. Abbey Road was still in the Dark Ages as far as technical practices were concearned. The four-track machines used to record every artist-from the London Philharmonic to Herman's Hermits- were regarded as dinasours elsewhere in the world. Microphone setups were outmoded. Engineers were advised against getting creative-executives called it tampering-with the equipment. There were still regulations, overseen by a tyrannical studio authority, about how bright the sound could be. "The Beatles ... were screaming for more sophisticated equipment, more flexible equipment, that could give better definition," Smith explained.

No one, however, was holding his breath. If their request for a better atmosphere in the studio was any indication, they were in for a long haul. "What EMI did for them was to put in special lightning," George Martin recalled, laughing, "...(which amounted to) three flourescent tubes-one white, one red, and one blue. What about Memphis? someone suggested. Those relentless, hard-driving rhythm sections, the punchy horns, that uninhibited, gospel-inspired groove recently reborn as soul-the high-voltage energy that came through on Bobby Bland's and Otis Redding's records under the auspices of Booker T and the MG's-all that plus a real studio. Without even discussing it with George Martin, the Beatles dispatched Brian Epstein to Memphis, Tennessee, the last week in March to "look over the recording studios" there and to cut a deal with guitarist Steve Cropper to produce the sessions. George and John were especially excited to relocate overseas. "It'll shake up everything," George insisted. "You don't grow as a band unless you shake things up, you know."

But getting a fair shake in the States came at too high a price. For all Cropper's attempts to accommodate them, it remained too much of a gamble. "They wanted a fantastic amount of money to use the facilities there," Paul recalled, and he suspected that it had nothing to do with overhead and everything to do with the Beatles. "They were obviously trying to take us for a ride." With that, the Beatles immidiately booked time to record at Abbey Road.