The Beatles: Remastered 9/9/09

[Fritz Chrome]

Originally Posted by James

Also, George's "You like me too much" from 'Help!' sounds EXACTLY like a song by a recent Brit Band and i really can't remember who it is now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rmo4Y6Bgzjo

[James]

Thank you Fritz! Wow, they really are quite similar.

[gravedigger]

I'm really waffling on whether or not to pick up the mono box set. Amazon says they'll be able to fill all orders even though they're currently out of stock. I think this would be a much easier decision if it was "only" $200.

[Eyeball Kid]

I had little to no interest in the mono set until I went back and listened to the 'All Songs Considered' podcast where they talked to the guy who did the liner notes for these sets, and they played some Sgt. Pepper's stuff stereo/mono back-to-back. Man, I really want that extra flange-y "Lucy in the Sky" now. But I just can't justify that price.

[gravedigger]

Yeah, I pulled the trigger on it. It's a lot of money but my wife just got a raise!

BTW, your avatar is horrifying.

[Jeb]

Originally Posted by Eyeball Kid

I had little to no interest in the mono set until I went back and listened to the 'All Songs Considered' podcast where they talked to the guy who did the liner notes for these sets, and they played some Sgt. Pepper's stuff stereo/mono back-to-back. Man, I really want that extra flange-y "Lucy in the Sky" now. But I just can't justify that price.

After listening to that show, I figured out what was particularly grabbing me about the stereo remasters: the mono excerpt he played is definitely the effect that John wanted us to hear... but the stereo one is John himself.

And that's what I get over and over: I grew up with the mono, but these new stereo remasters are so incredibly intimate and lifelike that I become aware of listening to the individual Beatles as much as (or more than) the actual songs.

Which, of course, isn't the best first approach to music like this. But when you've lived with it all your life, you're willing to fudge a bit on the lads' "mono only" stance to get that feeling of being there while it's being created.

[gravedigger]

Amazon tells me I'll be receiving this on November 17th, if anyone else is thinking about ordering the mono set.

And thanks for the heads up on the NPR podcast, Eyeball. I listened to it today and even on my shitty standard iPod earbuds (yes, I know I need to upgrade) some of the differences are quite striking.

[RyanC]

Since I can't afford all the stereo remasters I might want right now, I've only bought Sgt. Pepper's, The White Album and Abbey Road so far. I've only opened and listened to Abbey Road at this point. The only improvements I really notice in the stereo remaster compared with my old copy is a slightly crisper sound overall and Paul's bass guitar received a lift in the mix. Any other noticeable differences on Abbey Road in particular? I'm trying to decide if I should continue upgrading my old discs or not.

[Paul755]

I would upgrade them all but at your own pace. If you want to skip any, skip Yellow Submarine. They are worth it alone for the crispness of the sound.

And back to Paul filling in for Ringo on the drums...I don't think McCartney misses a beat on "The Ballad of John and Yoko" in fact if I hadn't known better I never would have known any difference. It's a pretty good song too. I still think the White Album would have been so much better with it, the Paul/George fast version of Revolution and Daytripper.

[MrMushnik]

Originally Posted by RyanC

Since I can't afford all the stereo remasters I might want right now, I've only bought Sgt. Pepper's, The White Album and Abbey Road so far. I've only opened and listened to Abbey Road at this point. The only improvements I really notice in the stereo remaster compared with my old copy is a slightly crisper sound overall and Paul's bass guitar received a lift in the mix. Any other noticeable differences on Abbey Road in particular? I'm trying to decide if I should continue upgrading my old discs or not.

I've heard some people comment that Abbey Road actually benefits the least from the new remasters because it was so well produced/mixed to begin with, so rather than bring new details out, the new CD just makes everything a little crisper. I can't say if that's true or not since before getting the new CD it had been 20 years ago since I heard the album.

As for the Mono set, it's fantastic. I've been working my way through the albums over the past few weeks since I got it and I was really impressed--especially by Sgt. Pepper (which I have heard more recently than Abbey Road); in mono it sounds much more chaotic and crazy than any version I've heard before (plus it's got a really nice low-end thump).

[Trav McGee]

Amazon originally told me my mono box would arrive around 11/10. Instead, it arrived today; I just opened the package and, gotta be honest, am feeling a little short of breath. On to PLEASE PLEASE ME!

God, the packaging is simply beautiful in its care and detail.

[Dragon Ma]

As I'm unable to afford the mono version boxset I've been getting the stereo remasters instead. So far I have, Please, Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Days Night, Beatles for Sale and Help. The difference in sound is most notable in the beatles first couple of albums but start to get better from Hard Days onwards.

What's really impressing me is the amount of quality songs they were turning out, there are some really great gems on each album.

"I'm happy to dance with you" has this weird thump during the verse, it's really kind of distracting.

"And I love her" "No Reply" "Act Naturally" and "I'll follow the sun" are all such brilliant pop gems. The Beatles bang out a great version of "Rock'n'Roll Music. My personal favorite though is "I've just seen a face", I briefly heard it in Across the Universe but here it's absolutely wonderful in it's simplicity.

[RyanC]

I love The Beatles, but I'm not sure that the differences in these remasters are worth spending a lot of money on. Especially if you already have the 1987 versions. I've still only got a few of the stereo remasters, so maybe my opinion will change after I pick up a few of the early albums that I don't own at all. Sure I'd like to have them all, but feel like I should take my sweet time about it now.

[Eyeball Kid]

I never picked up the '87 CDs so it was kind of a no brainer for me. Borders STILL hasn't shipped my stereo box though. May have to cancel and just pick these up one at a time. Grr.

[Paul755]

Originally Posted by Eyeball Kid

Borders STILL hasn't shipped my stereo box though. May have to cancel and just pick these up one at a time. Grr.

I've seen the stereo box set at a best buy around here a few times recently (I check whenever I'm there just in case a mono set pops up outta nowhere). So if you keep your eyes peeled you might still be able to find one.

And I've got the '87 CD's and I can tell a definate difference all the way up to Abbey Road and Let it Be. By those two the difference are a bit harder to detect.

[Dragon Ma]

I'm just curious about something, was the song 'She Loves You' a B-Side? It was one of The Beatles greatest hits and I'm just puzzled as to why it's not included on the album 'Please, Please Me'.

[Fat Elvis]

Back in those days, singles were often separate from album releases.

I mean look at Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane-both left off Sgt. Peppers!

It would have been nice to include the appropriate singles as bonus tracks, but alas then they couldn't sell us the Past Masters set.

To answer your specific Q, it was the A-side

[Jeb]

It also dates from a later recording session than Please Please Me; the album it might have been included on would have been With The Beatles.

In the U.S., it was the last song on The Beatles' Second Album. Almost all of the Beatles' singles were added to LP releases in the States, which resulted in a lot of odd mixing and matching compared to the UK releases.

[Dragon Ma]

I figured it was recorded somewhere in between those two, thanks guys.

[LisaNY]

Originally Posted by James

Also, George's "You like me too much" from 'Help!' sounds EXACTLY like a song by a recent Brit Band and i really can't remember who it is now.

Another great reason for me to get off my butt and pick this up - "You Like Me Too Much" is probably one of my favorite George songs.

[James]

Well I have the stereo sets but out of curiosity I downloaded FLAC's of the Mono set just to compare...and I kinda think I made the wrong choice.

First off, I still think that Magical Mystery Tour and the White Album benefit more from stereo, and in all honesty there's not a lot of difference between the 2 mixes. But the earlier albums definitely sound better to my ears in Mono. The best example is Sgt Pepper's. For the first time I realised the reprise to Sgt Pepper has an awesome bassline running through it, and this time I can almost make out what Paul is shouting at the end. Everything just sounds...better, and surprisingly the mono mixes have a lot more detail than the stereo ones.

I think if a genuine overhaul and remix of the songs were done (A la the ones from 'Love') then it would be even better. But the Mono set for me just holds more detail, as opposed to the poorly separated stereo versions.

[Jeb]

If you haven't got round to picking yours up yet...

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are pleased to announce the worldwide release of a limited edition of only 30,000 Beatles Stereo USB apples on December 7 (December 8 in North America).

The exquisitely crafted, apple-shaped USB drive is loaded with the critically acclaimed re-mastered audio for The Beatles’ 14 stereo titles, as well as all of the re-mastered CDs’ visual elements, including 13 mini-documentary films about the studio albums, replicated original UK album art, rare photos and expanded liner notes.

A specially designed Flash interface has been installed, and the 16GB USB’s audio and visual contents will be provided in FLAC 44.1kHz 24 bit and MP3 320 Kbps formats, fully compatible with PC and Mac.

$279.99 US.

[dudalb]

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

Back in those days, singles were often separate from album releases.

I mean look at Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane-both left off Sgt. Peppers!

It would have been nice to include the appropriate singles as bonus tracks, but alas then they couldn't sell us the Past Masters set.

To answer your specific Q, it was the A-side

They came out a few months before Sgt.Pepper, and were never intended to be part of the album,although they are certainly in the style of Pepper.

Singles and Albums were, in the UK, considered quite seperate releases, unlike in the US,probably because teenagers in the US had a lot more spending money and did not mind duplication of material. Pocket money in the UK was generally tighter, and customers resented having to pay twice for the same song and expected all new material on a album.
If a cut from an album became very popular, then it might be issued as a single,but for the most part in the UK and Europe, singles and albums were different animals. In the US, on the other hand, albums were expected to have at least one song on it that was already a hit.
That is a reason that the US and UK Beatles albums were often different in content; Capitol would siphon off the song most likely to be ahit and release it as a single before the album came out so the album would have a Hit on it.
Sgt.Peppers was the first Beatles album to have the same exact content in both the Uk and the US, because it was the first album in a new contract, and by that time the Beatles were big enough that they could control how their material was released..the first group incidently big enough to be able to demand that.
Beatles Discography is a complex subject,and hard core collectors spend a great deal of time tracking down the variant versions that sprang up.

[Fat Elvis]

Actually, yes, they were.

Thematically, they were the (concept album) centerpiece.

[machiav]

Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane were definitely recorded with the intention of being on the album that eventually became Sgt. Pepper. The working "concept" of the album was their childhoods. When Brian Epstein told George Martin that they needed a single (hadn't released one in a long while by Beatles standards), Martin said the group had just recorded what he believed were their greatest recordings yet. To this day, Martin regrets excising those songs from what became 'Pepper'.

Incidentally, the song recorded after Penny Lane was a A Day In The Life.

If you were to look at the Beatles creative journey as a graph, that three song recording stretch has to be percieved as "the peak".

[Jeb]

This is my favorite news story of the week, simply for introducing me to the concept of "psycho-acoustic simulation."

Judge Halts Online Sale of Beatles Songs

A federal judge on Thursday ordered a Santa Cruz company to immediately quit selling Beatles and other music on its online site, setting aside a preposterous argument that it had copyrights on songs via a process called “psycho-acoustic simulation.”

A Los Angeles federal judge set aside arguments from Hank Risan, owner of BlueBeat and other companies named as defendants in the lawsuit EMI filed on Tuesday. His novel defense to allegations he was unlawfully selling the entire stereo Beatles catalog without permission was that he — and not EMI or the Beatles’ Apple Corp — owns these sound recordings, because he re-recorded new versions of the songs using what he termed “psycho-acoustic simulation.”

[D.S. Randlett]

What's the status of Magical Mystery Tour within The Beatles' canon? Was it conceived as an album, or is it a collection of tracks from singles of that period? The reason I ask is because I think it's one of the band's tightest albums in terms of narrative. We start with this grand, "magical" track which ends up becoming ironic in that the rest of the album seems to be obsessed with modern ennui, aspiration, and disappointment.

It's a wonderful record and I can't help but wonder if it was conceived this way or if it just kind of fell together.

It's probably my favorite album by the band, come to think of it (alright, maybe tied with Abbey Road). It's definitely the one I come back to the most.

[Jeb]

Originally Posted by D.S. Randlett

What's the status of Magical Mystery Tour within The Beatles' canon? Was it conceived as an album, or is it a collection of tracks from singles of that period? The reason I ask is because I think it's one of the band's tightest albums in terms of narrative. We start with this grand, "magical" track which ends up becoming ironic in that the rest of the album seems to be obsessed with modern ennui, aspiration, and disappointment.

It's a wonderful record and I can't help but wonder if it was conceived this way or if it just kind of fell together.

It's probably my favorite album by the band, come to think of it (alright, maybe tied with Abbey Road). It's definitely the one I come back to the most.

It was released in England as an EP with only the songs from the rarely-seen (and genuinely boring) film. The US release adds the two uncollected singles: "Strawberry Fields Forever" / "Penny Lane" and "All You Need Is Love" / "Baby You're A Rich Man".

So, yeah, the US LP does have some of the band's best work ever. The British EP is less strong, but it's still got "Walrus", "Fool On The Hill", "Blue Jay Way" (which I love in a perverse sort of way), and the title song. It does tend to get underrated-- partly due to the pall cast on it by the slagging the British press gave to the film, but also because, coming between Pepper and the White Album, it does feel slight (particularly so at the time, since most of the best songs on the album had been hit singles long before the LP was actually released).

[D.S. Randlett]

I realize that I'm coming at the album late, but I feel that MMT is a step up from from Sergeant Pepper in a lot of ways. It may be because all of the songs you mention are stronger than a lot of what comes on Pepper, and by some miracle they come together quite well, and I feel that what emerges is a stronger concept album than Pepper.

Although, I guess I can see if you were there for it, it could have been disappointment. From where I'm standing, it's a great album.

Oh, and Blue Jay Way is great

[gravedigger]

Holy smokes, the packaging on the mono set. They really went all out with this stuff. I made copies of all the discs right away because I wanted to leave everything in the box.

I've only listened to the first couple albums so far. Considering I've only ever heard most of the songs on the radio, the sound quality really impresses me. It's like the tracks were recorded last week.

[DaveB]

Originally Posted by D.S. Randlett

I realize that I'm coming at the album late, but I feel that MMT is a step up from from Sergeant Pepper in a lot of ways. It may be because all of the songs you mention are stronger than a lot of what comes on Pepper, and by some miracle they come together quite well, and I feel that what emerges is a stronger concept album than Pepper.

Although, I guess I can see if you were there for it, it could have been disappointment. From where I'm standing, it's a great album.

Oh, and Blue Jay Way is great

Not a perfect comparison, but it's sort of like the Amnesiac to Sgt. Pepper's Kid A. It has a few songs that definitely couldn't have made the cut on Pepper ("Flying," for sure; arguably "Your Mother Should Know," "Baby, You're a Rich Man," and, yes, "Blue Jay Way"), and it feels patched together as an album, but the high points are impossible to dismiss.

[Fat Elvis]

I'll take "Blue Jay Way" & "Flying" over "Within You Without You" (my least favorite George song), but that's just me.

Have you gotten around to any of the remasters, Dave?

(An aside, almost every review i read lists Beatles for Sale as one of the least improved, but i've found the warmth and clarity even on it astounding)

[Jeb]

The thing about MMT is that several of the tracks from the film feel like a deliberate revisit to Pepper (another "introductory" title song; "Your Mother Should Know" as the bonus ball to "When I'm 64"), though not as strong.

But any Beatles album that features both "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "I Am The Walrus" has to be regarded as a serious contender.

[Fat Elvis]

And "Penny Lane"!

[Fat Elvis]

"Hello Goodbye" always seemed slight to me. Remember reading McCartney bragged he could write a song in 3 minutes, and polished it off while sitting on the toilet. However, the infectious joyfulness has made it come alive for me. On remasters especially, harmonies shine through.

[DaveB]

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

I'll take "Blue Jay Way" & "Flying" over "Within You Without You" (my least favorite George song), but that's just me.

Okay, I'll give you "Blue Jay Way" on that, if not "Flying." I always tune out a bit on George's sitar showcases.

Have you gotten around to any of the remasters, Dave?

Nope. I've been listening to the old copies a bit, though. I'm finding my need to hear new music trumps my need to indulge the nascent audiophile urges I felt when the re-releases were announced.

(I should also add that I do about 50 percent of my listening at work these days on a shitty speaker setup that only plays one channel through both speakers for some reason, so the thought of getting the stereo remasters with all of the hard panning would just frustrate me, and the mono box is cost-prohibitive.)

[Jeb]

I enjoy both "Within You Without You" and "Blue Jay Way," actually.

[DanielRoffle]

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis

"Hello Goodbye" always seemed slight to me. Remember reading McCartney bragged he could write a song in 3 minutes, and polished it off while sitting on the toilet. However, the infectious joyfulness has made it come alive for me. On remasters especially, harmonies shine through.

There's a pretty clear tendency for some of McCartney's songs to become slighter and sort of sing-a.ongish in a very kids-around-a-campfire way post Sgt.Pepper's... (something which goes doubly for his solo carreer, of course); playing Rock Band really hit home for me that, for all the talk of the group leaving behind the simple love song lyrics of its early days, there's some pretty fucking weak writing in their latter phases.

[DaveB]

Originally Posted by DanielRoffle

There's a pretty clear tendency for some of McCartney's songs to become slighter and sort of sing-a.ongish in a very kids-around-a-campfire way post Sgt.Pepper's... (something which goes doubly for his solo carreer, of course); playing Rock Band really hit home for me that, for all the talk of the group leaving behind the simple love song lyrics of its early days, there's some pretty fucking weak writing in their latter phases.

Lyrically, that's pretty true for McCartney, but I'm not sure it goes for his music. He seems to go back and forth in terms of complexity, and he just might have been more adept at hiding the tricky stuff than Lennon was.

I'm no theory expert, but the progressions on "The Fool on the Hill" and "Penny Lane" sound fairly unpredictable and very well thought-out to me. And while I'm a lot more fond of Lennon's stuff on the White Album, I'm not sure that McCartney's is musically simpler there - some of it's probably more complicated in subtle ways, actually. I was always amazed at the time changes and twists on "Happiness is a Warm Gun" when I first got into the White Album, but it wears its weirdness on its sleeve - in a way, that's kind of easy. "Blackbird" sounds really simplistic by comparison, but there's some pretty strange stuff going on there, too.

And, of course, Lennon got even more simplistic and sloganeering than McCartney in his solo career (right off the bat, actually - Plastic Ono Band's really straightforward, though it avoids slightness through sheer nerve). Not that that's necessarily a bad thing - it's just that certain songs demand simplicity and directness.

[Fat Elvis]

Originally Posted by DanielRoffle

There's a pretty clear tendency for some of McCartney's songs to become slighter and sort of sing-a.ongish in a very kids-around-a-campfire way post Sgt.Pepper's... (something which goes doubly for his solo carreer, of course); playing Rock Band really hit home for me that, for all the talk of the group leaving behind the simple love song lyrics of its early days, there's some pretty fucking weak writing in their latter phases.

"All Together Now" is the worst offender of this. Wow, is that lame!

I agree with Dave though on McCartney's genius being more subtle. I'm not sure I'd take "Strawberry Fields" over "Penny Lane". And for every "Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Bla" you get a "Helter Skelter" and "Hey Jude".

That's not even to mention,Abbey Road, perhaps a bigger Paul triumph than Sgt. Peppers.

I have a theory that the backlash to his rigid perfectionism--recording of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was esp. notorious--and sense of betrayal and isolation from his mates ("BackOff Boogaloo") led to a post-break up nervous breakdown. There's a sense of retreat, sadness, and melancholy that permeates McCartney I. Also, almost willful unpolished and incompleteness in production.

By the time he got his creative juices flowing again, around Band On The Run, lazy habits and lack of constructive counterbalance for his more whimsical instincts had dulled the genius, sabotaging Wings from ever rising to not just the Beatles height, but level of Plastic Ono Band and George Harrison.

[Paul McCartney]

I'm obviously a Macca fan, but he really did pull his own weight from PEPPER onwards, picking up the slack left by an obviously less engaged John. I mean, who wants to listen to shit like BEING FOR THE BENEFIT OF MR KITE? On ABBEY ROAD, Paul is so far ahead of John that it isn't even funny. And for the record, PENNY LANE is better than STRAWBERRY FIELDS.

And the final 40 seconds or so of HELLO GOODBYE ("Hela, heba helloa!") is among the finest 40 seconds of music ever recorded!

Paul, you are entitled to your gay mannerisms, Chuck Taylors and creepy facelift. You've earned such decadent luxuries.

[Dragon Ma]

I've been able to listen to the mono remasters, Please, Please, Me sounds much crisper and tighter than the stereo version, there's a weird effect on the title track of the stereo version, during the chorus, it sounds like they tried to mix in the drums on the right side of the speaker and it has this reverb type effect, it's off putting. From No Reply onwards, I have to say I prefer the stereo versions, I haven't listened to the stereo versions of Sgt. Pepper, The White Album or Abbey Road yet. It seems like there's more space being used in the mix, that's not to say every track sounds perfect in stereo, it's taken me awhile to get past the channel separation.

I've found that the mono remaster of Sgt. Pepper contains alot more detail, although it get's overshadowed by 'A Day in the Life' 'She's Leaving Home' is just as affecting, I instantly thought of the film 'An Education' while listening to it.

[DanielRoffle]

Yeah, I was talking mostly lyrics, and it's not an all-applicable rule by any meas; as I said, it's a tendency. Lennon's solo stuff was cloying in a very different manner, tho (celebrity confessional vs general tweeness.)