Friday, October 5, 2012

New York Talk



John Lennon spent the first half of October, 1974 in pre-production for the Rock And Roll LP. Having retrieved the tapes from the late 1973 Phil Spector sessions, he spent several days in the Record Plant listening to the material, remixing and editing and overdubbing (for instance, replacing his drunken lead vocal on "Just Because" with a fresh take that referred to the New York studio).

After celebrating his 34th birthday, John took one final lap in the Walls And Bridges promotional marathon. On October 10th at Capitol Records' New York offices, he spoke with Jim Ladd for the syndicated radio series Innerview. The finished broadcast includes plenty of Lennon and Beatles songs, and finds John reflecting on broad topics such as peace, philosophy, drugs, meditation, charity, and art. Another recording dated October 10th circulates, labeled Rock World, that mostly overlaps this one (which may indicate Ladd's interview was used in other shows); here is a unique bit from the alternate source.

On October 11th at the Record Plant, John took a phone call from Australia (showing up late to the 2PM appointment). This interview, with John O'Donnell of Melbourne's 3XY Radio, was more prosaic than the Innerview, basically describing each song on Walls And Bridges track-by-track. The interview exists in two forms: a very good quality (but heavily truncated) broadcast with O'Donnell's original questions, and a lesser quality (but complete) airing on Sydney's 2SM, with disc jockey Ron E Sparks dubbing in the questions. I've combined both sources into a full composite; John also read a station ID for 3XY, plugging "Rocktober".

3 comments:

  1. Another great day of Winston O'Boogie! Man oh man, your research astounds me! And thanks for doing these composites and edits so we don't have all this repeated stuff! Not to mention that this entire blog is virtually a Beatles book! One of the best actually!!! Always enjoy reading a little John Winn while I listen to my John Lennon!!!

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  2. It's funny, John seems to be getting a little talked-out by the Jim Ladd interview! Hopefully Ladd wasn't as pompous during the actual interview as he was during the overdubbed questions!!!

    Ah, alas whatever will become of the Fabs! Will George's tour be a great success?? Will Paul keep that hideous mustache? Will Ringo record his ultimate masterpiece? And is John going to give Yoko the heave-ho and marry May Pang? There's only two ways of finding out! One is to get a way-back machine...the other is right here! So stay tuned Beetlepeedles!

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    1. Just listened to the interview. I actually gave John O"Donnell a copy of the tape cos after 3xy folded, a lot of stuff went missing. When i taped the interview i cut out the songs as i just wanted to listen to the interview. I already had the album anyway. So, im just wondering if the tape that i have just listened too is the same tape that i had given John O"Donnell.. I have the original tape somewhere at home but it does sound like the one i did. Just asking....All the best.... A J.L Fan.

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