Deconstructing Back In the U.S.S.R. - The Beatles (Isolated Tracks)

First demoed in May 1968 at George's house in Esher, the song was brought into the studio August 22nd, 1968. During this session Ringo walked out quitting the band due to Paul constantly sitting in on the drums as he wanted a particular pattern. As Ringo explained in the Beatles Anthology, "I felt I wasn't playing great, and the other three were really happy and I was an outsider. And so, you know, I came to this decision, ''F*ck it, I'm leaving.'" Paul explained that, “I'm sure it pissed Ringo off when he couldn't quite get the drums to 'Back In The U.S.S.R.' and I sat in. It's very weird to know that you can do a thing someone else is having trouble with."

After Ringo walked out they recorded the basic track of the song. The basic track had Paul on drums, George on electric guitar, and John on a Fender VI bass strumming chords. At 7pm the next day the three remaining Beatles returned to EMI completing the song with additional drum, bass, guitar, and piano overdubs. The track's tape speed was raised sometime during this process leading to a higher tempo and pitch. I think that the guitar and piano overdubs were done at the same time. In every mix of "Back In The U.S.S.R." the piano and guitars are stuck together. So that means George and John were on guitar while Paul was on piano. This opens up the possibility that it was George who played the guitar solo as well. Paul then recorded his lead vocals with John and George providing harmonies. These harmony vocals were reminiscent of the Beach Boys who the song was an parody of. John doing the low "da" vocal harmony with George doing the high harmony. They then double tracked some of these vocals with Paul joining in with Georges harmony at the end. Hand calps were also done during this overdub. The last order of business was adding in the plane sounds.

For these isolations I used the 5.1 atmos mix, 5.1 Love mix, and original stereo mix. I isolated them at the original slower speed which seemed to create better stems. For me I think there are at least 3 basses with a high possibility of at least four. John's strumming bass, and I hear at least three other basses

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Intro (0:00)
Drums (0:12)
Overdubbed Snare Hits/Hand Claps (2:42)
Basses/Galloping Guitar (5:09)
All Vocals (7:44)
First Tracked Vocals (10:07)
Second Tracked Vocals (12:32)
Airplane Sound Effects (14:08)
Electric Guitars (16:50)
Piano (18:47)
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Paul McCartney - Lead and Backing Vocals, Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), Possible Lead Guitar (1964 Fender Esquire), Bass (1964 Rickenbacker 4001 S), Piano (Hamburg Steinway Baby Grand), handclaps
John Lennon - Bass (1961 Fender VI), Rhythm Guitar (1965 Epiphone ES-230TD Casino), Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), backing vocals, handclaps
George Harrison - Lead Guitar (1957 Gibson Les Paul), Bass (1966 Fender Jazz Bass), Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), tambourine, backing vocals, handclaps
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