I stumbled across this photo on the internet and thought it was interesting. It was taken during the "All Things Must Pass" sessions. In the photo from the left is Pete Drake, George Harrison, Ringo Star, Billy Preston and Peter Frampton (who played acoustic guitar on the the sessions). The steel looks like a Show Bud, one that was or maybe is still on display at (I think I saw it at) Ernest Tubb's Record shop. I could be wrong about the guitar, I just thought the photo was great, I never saw a steel guitar anywhere near the Beatles. I think John Lennon played a little bit of lap steel on one of George Harrisons songs on the "Let It Be" album. Later in life George Harrison became a proficient slide player, playing it on the song "Free As A Bird" amongst others in the late 90's.
I was literally looking at the exact picture earlier! I live for
You is the one you wanna hear. Such an amazing combination of people! Feampton taking the talk box from Pete is also another changing of the guard! Thanks for
Reminding me of this.
George mastered slide guitar as early as My Sweet Lord in 1970. he overdubbed harmony parts and that sound, along with using Pete Drake on steel, really helped him stand apart from his work with the Beatles.
I posted this a couple of years ago ---> here is an interesting Demo of "Behind That Locked Door" featuring Pete, George. This must have been a practice session or maybe an unused take. Pete's steel is very prominent in this mix.
Scott,
Most Harrison fans missed this...The intro is composed and played by George Harrison. Its brilliant plus Eric played it as well so I am not sure who we are listening to on the final mastered version of the intro...Only Spector knows.
The story I heard was George and Eric were having a tough time getting such an innovative slide part in tune to please Spector. Now listen to the solo starting at 2:38...you should notice a completely different tone from the intro plus the harmony is nailing the phrasing as one player does due to feeling the exact same as he stacks the harmony. The intro is not as precise and sounds like a guitar....
Pete told me they asked him if he would like a shot at the solo...And what you hear at 2:38 is Pete...Check it out.
Such a sweet piece of music and history. Back then I never gave a second thought to the process behind the music. Now that my ears are more finely tuned, I appreciate the effort involved in creating this masterpiece. Even better to learn that Pete was a big part of the process.
