It is strange to hear Roy do this one. It was not one of his great songs and not one that he ever played much. It was recorded at Abbey Road but left on the shelf as it was considered to be not too worthy. Roy didn’t rate it.
But in actual fact it has some nice words and some musical moments not dissimilar to some of the other tracks on Flat Baroque and Berserk. I quite liked it.
What do you think?
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or
537 Essential Rock Albums Pt. 1
Opher’s tributes to Rock Geniuses
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Happy Reading!!
First posted onto youtube in 2012
Yes – I’ve just discovered them. Really interesting stuff.
I agree it is not good enough for Flat Baroque, but it is nice enough, and I am glad it finally got airtime on CD. But then Roys worse is often betterror than others best.
No. It would have fitted in but it wasn’t up to the standard of the others. It was outshone! I still enjoyed it though.
It’s studio version is an outtake from Come Out Fighting, 2 albums earlier – at least that’s what Roy indicated in the ‘Today Is Yesterday’ sleeve notes.
Originally titled ‘The Garden Of Gethsemane’
I don’t think that is the case. The sound and production is totally different. Besides, I think I can remember him recording it at Abbey Road during the FBB sessions.
Roy : “(It’s Tomorrow And) Today Is Today” , was a single contender which didn’t make the cut.
‘Zaney Janey’ , didn’t make the final selection for ‘Folkjokeopus’ in 1968, which makes it the youngest of these 17 songs!”
So, what are we supposed to conclude here?
Well Zaney Janey and Spirit of a Songwriter both made the US version. But they were very poor.
I don’t think Roy was very good at producing singles. His heart wasn’t in it. He saw them as commercial sell-outs and was never happy with what he had produced. It’s a shame that some of his great tracks weren’t released as singles. He didn’t have to do a special trite one for Top of the Pops (like Home). (It’s Tomorrow And) Today is Yesterday’ was nowhere near one of his best. He tried to do things which weren’t controversial and then got pissed with them.
Quite. But do you notice that this recording doesn’t have the quality of the FBB tracks? Which kind of suggests that it really doesn’t come from the same FBB master reels – which it would have been on, whether selected for the album or not.
Do you know why these 2 songs were stuck onto the US record?
Answer = The US record industry (back then) did not like LP’s with any less than 10 songs on them. 8+2=10!
That’s the truth.
I hadn’t noticed that. It’s not one I’ve really paid a lot of attention to. I’ll have another listen.
I’d never realised that was the reason for the US album. It was a strange choice. I don’t think Roy had much say on it. He said that talking to Liberty was like going into an empty room and addressing a monolith.
I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Black Ribbon publishers? They seem keen on publishing the Harper book and some of my others. Helter Skelter are not replying to me. I might give it a punt.
No, I haven’t. And why not go with them? Never bite the hand that feeds!
We’ll see what they come up with. They like what they’ve read. Who knows?
Reblogged this on Opher's World and commented:
Good to hear the man in his pomp.