Just got through looking at this video in time to receive a very nice reply from the host, Rob Taylor. Some of what he mentions in his e-mail is more significant than almost anything I might have said had I written a review before reading his message-- so I'll start with a few things that came directly from the source.
Volume 2 is laid out in a similar fashion to Volume 1, which is a good thing. It's a longer video with a few more musical goodies and accompanying historical tidbits.
RE: John's Rickenbacker 325's-- all models @ 5/8 scale---
The "Miami" model he talks about is John's second Rick 325. The model seen on Sullivan for the first time was his blond 325 1958 Capri painted black with amber pick guard. The guitar was falling apart, and the following week when Sullivan did the second broadcast from Miami Beach, John was shown (and bought) the thinner 325 with a white pick guard-- used on the second Sullivan broadcast for the first time and soon after used in the film "A Hard Day's Night" which began shooting just weeks after the Sullivan appearances.FRODO: Did you find the Rickenbacker 325 particularly problematic to play? The chord fingerings seem as knuckle twisting as they did in Lennon's hands. Is it easier to play? Harder?
ROB: Sort of. Not particularly problematic. I find the neck a bit small for my liking. That goes for the Miami and the C58. I don't mind playing them for the DVD's for obvious reasons. I actually prefer the Miami over the '58 because for me, it just seems to be more versatile tone-wise. They are cool guitars but I'd probably go for a full length neck for my personal choice.
The full-length version Rob speaks of is the 350 model.
Lennon's Ric 325 collection:
Capri 1958-- blond, then painted black
"Miami" 1964-- black
325-12--- black (Beatles For Sale sessions and limited live performances)
325 fireglo with f-hole (also called the "Beatle Backer")
It was remarkable to learn that while John *might have* laid a track for the song "Help!" with his J-160, the character of the acoustic guitar for that tune is the result of his using his Framus "Hootenanny" 12-string acoustic. I never gave this much thought until it was mentioned-- then it hit me-- "of course, there's a 12-string in there!".FRODO: What were the other acoustic guitars you used on volume 1 besides the 160E (nylon and 12-string)? I kept thinking [you had the] "Ramirez and Framus, but no way....". Way?
ROB: I can't recall the nylon on V.1. I didn't own one at the time and borrowed that from a buddy of mine who owns Motor City Guitar. The 12-string used for V.2 on Help! was actually a Taylor, again borrowed from MCG. The six string in I've just seen a face was an Epiphone Texan that I borrowed from another buddy.
small epiphanies = much joy
So, George's Ramirez Guitarra de Studio was replaced with an unknown nylon. The Epiphone Texan was spot on with Paul's Texan, and John's 12-string Framus "Hootenanny" was substituted with an unspecified Taylor. I mention this because the guitar models contribute so much to the authenticity of the sound....
In some case where the acoustic guitars are concerned, replacements seem to work just fine. In other cases there remains a hauntingly familiar character with the actual guitars the Beatles used that may be hard to substitute. In Volume 2, for example, Rob formally introduces the Gibson J200, which was the guitar George used primarily on "Here Comes The Sun". There was no getting around the sound of it capo'd very high. Once again, it was spot on accurate. Once again, Paul's Texan for "Yesterday" and his Martin D28 on "Blackbird" and "I Will" are more exposed than, say, the acoustics on "I've Just Seen A Face", and using other instruments may be a small but a clearly informed decision.
Other instruments formally introduced in volume 2 were:
-- Epiphone Casino tobacco sunburst. This was casually used in one or two demos in volume 1, but not formally discussed until volume 2. Rob explains the differences among the three owned by Paul, John, and George-- which had the Bigsby vibrato and which had the stock "trapezoid" tailpieces. Both Casinos in the video had stock tailpieces, but I was eager to find an example of the Bigsby in use.
--Gretsch DuoJet. This was George's first and allegedly favorite Gretsch electric. Any Gretsch heard prior to "She Loves You" was the DuoJet-- and can be specifically detected on "Roll Over Beethoven", "I Saw Her Standing There", and "From Me To You".
--Gretsch 6119-1963HT. Like the Casino sunburst, this appeared in volume one, but was not discussed until Volume 2. Taylor mentions its appearances in the film "Help!", but doesn't cite distinctions between it and the similar Country Gent 6122 model. Upon hearing the demos, one notices that for all their similarities there are important sonic differences that contribute one again to the character of the songs on which they were used respectively in the studio. For live performances it might have made less of a difference, except for the important "signature look" these instruments lent to the group's image. This would be particularly true when one considers that few could actually hear them in a live concert, including the Beatles themselves!
--Fender Strat. Rob explains that two "sonic blue" strats were purchased by John and George and used for the first time in the studio double-tracking the "Nowhere Man" lead. Rob thought it would be interesting to have the painted "Rocky" model for the video, but he stresses that they were still solid "sonic blue" when they were first used and not painted until the Pepper-Mystery Tour-All You Need Is Love era.
--Fender Telecaster-- rosewood, ca. 1968. This was the dark brown Tele that George used on the last 2-3 albums and can be seen most prominently in the "Let It Be" rooftop concert. This is not to be confused with Paul's tobacco sunburst Tele "Esquire" model used on the "Revolver" sessions as well as "Helter Skelter" and "Good Morning".
Used, but not formally introduced:
Gibson SG Standard-- another one of George's faves.
Noteworthy Moments from Vol 2.
I like the fact that Rob is not doing each video album by album but is using overviews from early to late periods. It really becomes more obvious how and why the Beatles' sound changed.
For example, it is known that Donovan was in India with the gang just before the "White Album" was recorded. Suddenly, you see Paul's acoustic picking style changed from his characteristic thumb and index finger only to something much more complex on "Blackbird" and "I Will". This was the result of Donovan imparting finger picking secrets to both Paul and John.
In the case of John, one particular picking style appears in two incarnations. Who would have thought? But listen to "Julia" and then listen to "Dear Prudence". It's the same multi-finger picking at times on each-- which was not at all characteristic of John's strumming before that time.
Taxman and the solos on The End were particular favorites of mine. Boy, do I have a lot of homework to do! I also loved the breakdown of the opening chord to "A Hard Day's Night". In addition to all the guitars used, did you know they also used a piano to pull this off?
The "Roll Over Beethoven" solo breakdown was a major plus!! Wow.
There was also a bit of discussion of an octave pedal being used to accomplished one effect. I can't remember which song at the moment, but apparently John used it with it set to double an octave lower, forcing him to play an octave higher-- which at one point put him at the very end of the finger board.
Edit-- the tune was "Dear Prudence" for the solo- and it was actually done on Volume 1.
There's not much else to say that hasn't already been said about the DVD itself-- Volume 2 is a great success.
But Rob fed me a little interesting teaser:
No mention of what tunes are being included, but who cares? I'll take it--We're chipping away at V.4. We've got a ways to go yet but it's coming. Cheers!
Also--
Interesting that he offered this tidbit without being asked! I found certain minor aspects of Volume 2 production value a little better. The video was clearer and it became obvious that the "hazy" quality was intentionally done to give the video a certain 60's antiquity. The sound, of course, was great.Upon completion of V.4, I'm toying with the idea of 'updating' 1 & 2. That's quite a project and it will take a while but I hope to have everything down to a science by then.
I suspect Volume 3 will be even better than its predecessors-- and from the preview vids I'm eager to see the addition of the realtime fingerboard graphics not included in the first two volumes. There are chord changes and tab shortcuts in real time on all volumes, however.
This is good stuff.
Volume 3 review to come...
First one is next week.
