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Christopher Scapelliti

Guitar World Member For: 5 years 31 weeks
Total Posted Content: 118 Articles
Total Posted Comments: 3 Comments

Posted Content

'Yellow Submarine' Sails Again: Director/Animator Bob Balser Recalls the Making of the Classic Animated Beatles Film

Posted 05/14/2012 at 11:07am | by Christopher Scapelliti

In 1967, American-born animator Bob Balser was working on a project in Spain when he received an invitation to fly to London and try his hand at designing animated characters based on the Beatles. The project? A full-length cartoon feature film called Yellow Submarine. “They had to get started quickly, because they had a screening date set for July of the following year,” Balser recalls. “They had just one year to do an entire feature-length animated film.”

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "Hey Bulldog"

Posted 05/02/2012 at 11:09am | by Christopher Scapelliti

In The Beatles’ catalog, “Hey Bulldog” is a bridge between the psychedelic excesses of 1967 and the rock and roll revivalism they would pursue on the White Album and Let It Be. Written by John Lennon, the song is a straightahead rocker featuring a seductive boogie-style riff and some excellent aggressive lead guitar work.

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "Taxman"

Posted 04/27/2012 at 1:58pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

George Harrison’s withering indictment of Britain’s progressive tax system was chosen to open the Beatles’ most progressive musical effort to date. Opening with a rasping cough and a droll count-in, “Taxman” kicks off Revolver in startling fashion, demonstrating both Harrison’s growing sophistication as a songwriter and Emerick’s budding talent for sculpting guitar tones.

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Guide to the Recording Equipment, Songs and Instruments Featured on The Beatles' 'Revolver' Album

Posted 04/19/2012 at 12:48pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

Revolver is the album that made the Beatles recording artists in the absolute sense of the term. Their previous six albums had demonstrated John Lennon and Paul McCartney's increasingly ambitious songwriting skills and the group's competence with a range of musical styles. But the productions, while strong, were undistinguished.

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "Good Morning Good Morning"

Posted 04/11/2012 at 12:27pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

One of the hardest-rocking songs on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "Good Morning Good Morning" is also one of the album's most complex productions. As the song developed from The Beatles' basic rhythm track, the recording was fleshed out with horns, layers of backing vocals and a litany of animal noises, requiring that the four-track tape be bounced down twice in order to open more available tracks.

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "I Am The Walrus"

Posted 04/10/2012 at 4:35pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

No song in The Beatles' catalog features as many literary and social references in its lyrics as "I Am the Walrus." In writing it, John Lennon drew inspiration from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland (the walrus), a playground nursery rhyme that he and his pals sang as children (the line beginning with "yellow matter custard") and the traditional song "Marching to Pretoria."

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "Let It Be" (Both Versions)

Posted 04/09/2012 at 1:11pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

Attentive Beatles fans who purchased Let It Be when it came out in May 1970 noticed something very different about the album version of the title track: The guitar solo was markedly changed from what they'd heard on the "Let It Be" single released two months earlier.

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "Here Comes The Sun"

Posted 03/27/2012 at 4:12pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

It's unlikely John Lennon had much of anything to do with recording Harrison's second Abbey Road contribution. He was still out of commission from his July 1 automobile accident when work began on this Harrison track on July 7 in Studio Two.

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Song Facts: The Beatles — "Something"

Posted 03/26/2012 at 1:15pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

"'Something' was written on the piano while we were making the White Album," George Harrison explained in 1980. "I had a break while Paul was doing some overdubbing, so I went into an empty studio and began to write. It didn't go on the White Album because we'd already finished all the tracks."

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Review: Crescendo DS-11 Earphones

Posted 03/26/2012 at 12:47pm | by Christopher Scapelliti

Personal audio products have made earphones ubiquitous, but they've also raised the potential for hearing loss and nerve damage. Crescendo wants to change this. The Miami-based company has made hearing protection something of a cause, such as with ear plugs that allow performing musicians and their audiences to enjoy the show without blowing out their ears.

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