No Escaping Your Love
July 23, 1968
Trident Studios, London
producer: Tony Visconti
These session outtakes have been made available to the public after 40 years thanks to a bootleg release called, "Revolution Take... Your Knickers Off!" which is a 2-CD collection, the second disc of which is all Iveys outtakes, including this session. 26 takes of "Come And Get It" are also included. The Iveys outtakes on this bootleg appear all in mono. The mono single mix does not match the rough bootleg mono mix of take 11. A study of the only available stereo remix, made by Ron Furmanek & Mike Jarratt, and released on CD in 1992, make it possible to hear which overdubs were added.
This song, written by Tom Evans, was one of the many demos submitted to Apple Publishing in early 1968. The demo is one of many that was pressed onto acetate disc. On this date, The Iveys' first session for Apple Records, the group started to record songs in an attempt to come up with a debut single. [As a side note, on this same day, The Beatles were busy in Abbey Road Studios, Number Two completing the song, "Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey" and remixing "Good Night" for mono.] Although the session yielded a finished track, the song was left in the can unissued, rejected as part of their first single release, until a year later when some countries where "Maybe Tomorrow" was successful, demanded a follow-up single from Apple. When "Dear Angie" was chosen, a B-side was needed, so this recording was rescued from obscurity to fit the bill.
Trident Studios had an eight-track tape faciltity, unlike Abbey Road, which was still using four-track. In addition to The Iveys, Trident Studios was used to record most of the Apple artists, including: Jackie Lomax, Mary Hopkin, and James Taylor.
The basic track was recorded in 10 takes, with the following line-up:
Pete Ham: piano
Tom Evans: rhythm electric guitar, scratch vocal (off mic-not recorded)
Ron Griffiths: bass guitar
Mike Gibbins: drums
Most likely, the basic tracks would have used up four of the eight multi-tracks, leaving spare tracks for later overdubs. Mike Gibbins counts-in to four on his hi-hat and The Iveys have begun their recording career for Apple Records...
Take 1 (2:20) - A false start begins the session followed by a complete take.
Take 2 (0:47) - Initially, the take doesn't get going when Mike makes a noise during the count-in, as noted by Tony Visconti: "We got a little squeak just before you started. Let's be quiet when we start. Here we go." This is followed by a false start that ends at the beginning of the first verse when Tom stops playing guitar. He makes some kind of comment about the chords, with Visconti responding, "I really don't notice the difference."
Take 3 (1:36) - Pete Ham missing a few notes on the piano intro. This take breaks down when Mike gets lost during the bridge.
Take 4 (2:25) - A complete take followed by a comment from Mike, "We're taking this all again so I can get it, you know..." This is followed by Tom scat singing the melody and playing the song's guitar chords.
Take 5 (1:22) - Another breakdown where Visconti stops the take and comments before the next take, "Okay, watch the tempo."
Take 6 (2:16) - Ham hits a wrong note while switching from the lower to the upper end of the piano during the intro. Gibbins varies the cymbal parts a bit here. The Iveys manage to get all the way through the song, and end with a bit of "Shave And A Haircut!"
Take 7 (2:19) - Announced by Visconti as "simply seven". This is a complete take which is starting to sound more polished. Mike is starting to play his drum fills and cymbal parts with more confidence.
Take 8 (2:18) - Another complete take, slightly better than take 7.
Take 9 (1:22) - Another breakdown. The drums are not as loud as before. Visconti may have noticed the change in the drum sound since everyone stops playing and he says, "Hold on. Mike?" Mike responds, "Yeah?" and then the tape cuts off.
Take 10 (2:19) - This is the take where the backing track was good. At this point, there are overdubs that were added to the basic tracks. There are handclaps, an additional rhythm guitar, a sped up piano solo, and at the end of the song, a tambourine added.
At this point, the eight tracks from take 10 would have been mixed down into four tracks of an eight-track tape copy, called take 11, where the final overdubs were added.
Take 11 (2:18) - The master take, with no fade out, including the addition of double-tracked lead vocals by Tom, and double-tracked backing vocals by Ron.
background information from Mark Lewisohn's "The Beatles Recording Sessions"
and Dan Matovina's "Without You, The Tragic Story of Badfinger"
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