История записи альбома из книги
Eight Arms To Hold You
Chip Madinger and Mark Easter
'Ram' sessions
Columbia Recording Studios, A&R Recording Studios - New York, NY
Sound Recorders Studios - Los Angeles, CA
November, 1970 - April, 1971
Produced by: Paul and Linda McCartney
Released: February, 1971 and May, 1971
Perhaps as a reaction to the criticisms of the austere nature of McCartney, Ram was conceived from the start as a full-blown production effort. After some swift writing sessions (during which thirty songs were composed; of the eleven chosen for the LP, 'Heart Of The Country', 'Monkberry Moon Delight', 'Eat At Home', 'Long Haired Lady', 'Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey' and 'Dear Boy' were collaborations with Linda), Paul and Linda traveled to New York in November of 1970 to audition players for the LP. Out of nine drummers who tried out for the slot in a New York cellar club, Denny Seiwell was chosen as the man for the drum stool. The guitar auditions were conducted in a loft on 45lh Street over three days, under the auspices of it being a "jingle session"; when the participants arrived for the auditions, they found out whom they were actually auditioning for! David Spinozza, another session veteran won the guitar position. The sessions began the following week after some rehearsals at an uptown New York rehearsal hall, but due to a lack of booking definite dates, they were erratic in nature. Spinozza, who had been hired for four weeks, got tired of hanging around and took some other jobs (much to the dismay of Linda). However, his work is in evidence on 'Another Day', 'Oh Woman, Oh Why?', '3 Legs', 'Eat At Home' and the Ram leftover 'Get On The Right Thing'. Session guitarist Hugh McCracken was then drafted in to play on the remainder of the tracks; no tracks feature both Spinozza and McCracken.
The sessions began at Columbia Studios Studio B, with the general method of recording taking the shape of Paul, David (or Hugh) and Denny rehearsing in the morning, breaking for lunch and then recording in the afternoons and evenings. Paul. Denny and the individual guitarists would record their parts, would sometimes overdub additional guitars, then Paul would overdub bass onto the track. These basic tracks were laid down every weekday during a two to three week period during November and December, followed by a Christmas break. Work then began again in New York during the second week of January 1971 (with only Paul and Linda in attendance by this time, basic tracks having been completed) for overdubbing of violins, cello, and horn sections. Phil Ramone's A&R Studio was used for these purposes as well. While working on songs at A&R, such as 'Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey', 'Long Haired Lady' and 'Back Seat Of My Car', members from the New York Philharmonic joined in the recording process, as did jazz musicians Ron Carter and Richard Davis, who would jam with the members of the regular recording crew.
In February, the first taste of the sessions reached the public, the non-LP 45 'Another Day' backed with 'Oh Woman, Oh Why?'. The same month, the action moved to Los Angeles for mixing, final vocals and instrumental, working from 5pm to midnight at Sound Recording Studios on Yucca Blvd. The group stayed there for over a month while completing these tasks, though not every week was a working week. While in LA, Paul and Linda were on hand to accept the Beatles' Academy Award on April 15th for Let It Be's "Best Musical Score". By the end of April, work had been completed, and the couple returned to England.
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