Both these sets have been expanded into triple LPs with Giles Martin remix versions.
Red is a triumph for Peter Jackson’s MAL technology that can pick apart the individual elements from recordings made on very few tracks. The first two Beatles albums were recorded on two tracks, upgrading to four by 1964. Abbey Road was slow in introducing eight until 1968. MAL has enabled Giles and his team to remix the 1962-1966 period in stereo. The results are spectacular. The band really rock in the early days, becoming increasingly sophisticated by 1965. The Rubber Soul songs are absolutely beautiful, light and airy. The big winner throughout is Ringo but all the elements, vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards sound so much better. The strings on Yesterday are gorgeous. She Loves You is the only one that isn’t so good, but that’s more likely due to difficulties finding a decent source to apply MAL to. You can quibble about song selection. If I was breaking Allen Klein’s original no-covers rule, I’d choose Twist & Shout, Long Tall Sally (this EP is not otherwise represented) and Act Naturally (Ringo should have two songs on a set this big, and it suits his character perfectly). With The Beatles and Beatles For Sale should have a couple of original songs as well. On a triple album, double CD, there is plenty of room for more. Nevertheless 1962-1966 flows really well and is a wonderful listen from beginning to end.
Blue is largely made up of recent remixes, since the 1 collection 2015 version. Clean edits of Within You, Without You, A Day In The Life, Back In The USSR, Dear Prudence and Don’t Let Me Down, so they begin and end without blending into something else, are most welcome. The brand new remixes of The Magical Mystery Tour tracks and a couple of B sides were much anticipated and have caused some controversy. My suspicion is that they didn’t use MAL on these but remixed in the way they did up to Revolver last year. I may be wrong. The second half of I Am The Walrus is very different and the drums are distorted but more prominent. The whole thing is even more psychedelic. Revolution still has the guitars on the right but far nearer the centre and everything else is better distributed. It still roars out of the speakers and gives the listener a good kicking but without such a hard pan. Hey Bulldog is also better balanced yet retains its aggression. The Fool On The Hill is wondrous and Magical Mystery Tour really rocks as though they found an extra guitar to underpin the sublime horns. Old Brown Shoe is also an unusual mix, however the bass is tremendous and the fun they seem to be having is infectious, especially over the fabulous guitar solo, one of George’s best IMV. George recorded his lead vocal facing away from the mic because he wanted to sound odd. My hope that I could remove Maxwell and slot this seamlessly onto Abbey Road has been dashed. It remains a crazy, uplifting companion to The Ballad Of John And Yoko. These new remixes bring out elements I hadn’t noticed before and are full of surprises. I look forward to listening to them for the next fifty years. Track selection is debatable. I’ll be removing Within You Without You, I Want You and Now And Then, replacing with When I’m 64, I’m So Tired, Because, Two Of Us and I Got A Feeling. Now And Then really doesn’t belong here.
Listening to 1962-1970 is an amazing experience. What a band they were! Paul McCartney was 20 in 1962 and just 28 in 1970. What a life he has had! Silly old goat that I am, I’m sentimental about them from beginning to end but All You Need Is Love is the song I keep going back to. I didn’t like it in 1967 and positively hated it from 1973 when blue first came out. Now, I get emotional from the opening bars of La Marseillaise. By the coda of strings and the “yeah, yeah, yeah” refrain, I’m a wreck.
In conclusion. MAL is magic. Giles is doing a great job. Keep going. Complete the catalogue asap please. Why not do them in pairs, starting at the beginning?
You always like the new versions 😉
How did you listen to them?
Posted this on the other thread
He suggests (and proves) that many or most tracks are digitally brickwalled on CD and most streaming services (Atmos seems better). As I said vinyl would be the way to go but very expensive for songs I already have 5 or 6 times and they messed up the order of the songs and included rather poor packaging.
Have only so far listened to some of the red album on Spotify, did not blow my mind as of yet. As for blue, putting Now and Then on it is ludicrous especially as lead off track on LP 3. Shoddy stuff. Like you say most of those remixes are not new. I like some of them on the previously released versions
However later stereo is better and I think I will always go back to the originals. I think for the early albums the stereo will have been improved, but mono is the way to go at least up to Help! I think especially as the new stereo versions appear to be brickwalled (lacking dynamic range)
Track selection is very strange, I think the whole idea of these red/blue reissues is misguided and kind of pointless. If they are doing all the other albums then this will be seen as what it is, a money grab taking advantage of a “new” Beatles record and it seems rather rushed and somewhat unprofessional
And we now have all these versions to compare with
Originals 1973
First CDs early 90s
Remastered versions 2011
Remixed and expanded 2023
And they all look the same.
I also think All You Need is Love is one of their weaker efforts, it’s all relative though 😉
I streamed via a DAC, an amp and some rather wonderful Elegia headphones.
I think Giles best remixes are those of the Spectorised Let It Be tracks. Quite a lot of Beatles stereo is very difficult to listen to under headphones, right up to Revolution. I can listen to all of these quite easily.
All You Need Is Love is a simple song but very effective.
I think Pepper, MMT and White sound amazing in original stereo, also Abbey Road of course
Rubber Soul had arguably the worst original stereo mixes of them all, basically instruments in one speaker, vocals in the other so much room for improvement there. George Martin had a go in 1987.
Have to correct myself and say that the Beatles For Sale stereo mix was good (especially on the 2009 remasters), but those tracks not really featured here, maybe for that reason.
I think All You Need is Love was perfect for its purpose (heard across the world in first satellite broadcast) and in current times it possibly does resonate just as much or more
Sorry @dai, I can’t agree about Pepper. The original mono was my go to version up until the remix, but the new stereo version has now largely supplanted it. The original stereo is awful. However, certainly from the White album onwards I think the original stereo mixes are just fine – although I am happy with the remixes of those, I don’t think they add over much. The Revolver remix…well, I’m still not convinced about this. I think the original mono is so much ingrained into my brain that I can’t help but prefer it.
I think a lot of my reaction to all the remixes is purely because of the familiarity with the originals that I bought (mono up to Pepper and then stereo). Yes, you can hear more….but…but….!
For Pepper I like both mono and stereo, but it happens to be my favourite remix.
Fascinating reivew Tiggs, thanks. Will be interesting to see how they sound on streaming sites.
Must admit I am with @dai on the expanded track selection. The original Red and Blue albums are immensely important releases which helped sustain and grow the Beatles audience in the decade after they broke up, and for many, me included, they were the first Beatles albums they owned. So for all that the song selections are deeply flawed, I don’t really want to hear expanded versions of records whose track sequence I know as well as I do the sequences of any of the orginal albums.
That said, OF COURSE, I will have a listen….
I suspect that’s the purpose this time, to expand The Beatles’ audience once again. These sets are now effectively playlists to dip into from streaming sites. Here Comes The Sun is the most popular with the kids (it seems). Physical sales are almost an afterthought. The sequence on CD is sequential. On vinyl, the first two LPs are the same as the original 1973 with a third LP of ‘bonus’ material, which you can always ignore.
It’s good to know that the sequence on CD is sequential. I might buy them now. 🙂
On CD, the ending of Back In The USSR and the beginning of Dear Prudence are separated.
Well, I stand by my comment: I DEFINITELY might buy them now! 😁
I suspect the purpose this time as it is every time ad infinitum is to keep some folks buying the same old music over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over…
I think that is mainly the case, and get them to buy them again before they expire. All the tracks are readily available in one format or another on streaming services anyway and I doubt youngsters much care which mix they are playing if they indeed are interested in playing this material.
Yep. It may be a little time consuming to make a playlist but as there are already more than enough playlists of The Beatle Band across the two streaming platforms I use and I can only assume all the others I don’t think it can be readily construed that yet another physical re-release of the very same material that has already been released over and over again can be excused as a way of engaging a “new” generation of prospective fans. It’s about opening wallets not hearts and minds.
Edit: I’ve just checked and there are twenty six Beatles playlists available on Tidal and fourteen available on Qobuz. Including playlists allegedly made by McCartney and Ringo.
Which is a bit strange as they followed each other on the White album. Guess they did a standalone mix for the vinyl and then punched that into the digital track order.
Rumours are that the 3rd disc was a late decision after the first 2 discs had been pressed Hence the ridiculous track order and the odd decision to have discs 2 and 3 sharing a sleeve. The video above shows it doesn’t then close properly.
Here Comes the Sun shows up on hundreds of hundreds of playlists celebrating (or missing) summer it’s popularity has become self perpetuating.
My grandson, aged 6, was taught to play it on ukulele at school.
Now, you can create your own playlist, say ‘songs about economics’, with Dear Prudence but not Back In The USSR. If you want them to blend, you can pick them from the White Album.
Good for him!
True
‘On vinyl, the first two LPs are the same as the original 1973 with a third LP of ‘bonus’ material’ – ah, I hadn’t clocked that – that is how I would want it to be in the (highly unlikely) event that I was going to buy a copy. As you say, that apart, it is largely a streamed playlist and I guess we can all make our own version
Well I’ve tried both Red and Blue albums using my Bluesound Node streamer and my AKG K550 headphones connected to my Rotel amp and the detail, particularly on the Red album is extraordinary. I would say that the Tidal version just outshines Amazon Music HD but the difference is minute. Spotify sounds very weedy in comparison.
I’m told that listening on AirPods with spatial audio is great too. However, my old AirPods don’t have that but there’s always Black Friday……
As I understand it Spatial Audio will work with any set of headphones or in ears as long as you set Atmos to “Always On” in the settings tab of Apple Music. I haven’t tried it but I intend giving it a whirl on Qobuz when I actually remember to get around to it.
Works great on Sony MX4 1000’s. via Apple music. I haven’t listened to the Red and Blue albums that way but I did listen to the new Steven Wilson in spatial and it sounded great.
Annoyingly, the compatibility varies a huge amount depending on the streaming service and the devices being used. I don’t like Apple music as it insists on interfering with my iTunes library, but Tidal doesn’t support spatial on any other headphones except for Apple !
As mentioned I haven’t tried this out yet on Qobuz but I intend doing so purely out of curiosity. I’m resolutely a two channel kinda guy when it comes to music but I do use Atmos processing over my gaming headset where it works very well indeed and is decidedly helpful in certain games. Typical of Tidal who make some positively mystifying decisions about kit compatibility from time to time. Don’t get me started on their downright odd rollout of hi-res Flac. I suppose they will have technical reasons for it but despite sending them more than one email on the matter and to be fair their prompt replies I still have no idea what is going on.
Ainsley, I tried Apple Music with my Sony MX4 1000s and tried Atmos – to my ears, it sounded a bit lacking in oomph, although there certainly seemed to be more space in the Red album. I turned off atmos. Is this some sort of problem with my Sonys?
I suspect it’s more to do with the fact that sound quality is as subjective as musical taste, rather than being anything technically wrong.
Like mikethep I found that turning the Atmos on, just gave a lot more space around everything which I really enjoyed. Mind you, I didn’t enjoy it enough to want to shell out £11 a month to get it!
@ainsley-2 I dealt with the Apple Music/iTunes problem by abandoning iTunes and moving over to Roon. Works for me, although I sometimes feel that Roon isn’t intended for mere civilians like me.
I’ve tried Roon trials a couple of times and really want to love it but found that the undoubted benefits just don’t warrant the additional cost.
Yes I was reasonably flush when I signed up, less so now…
I’m giving it a go on Apple Music Atmos with my AirPods Pro2, and it sounds sensational. It’s the separation of instruments more than anything else that blows my mind – you can hear what anybody’s doing at any given moment, and I found myself thinking, Oh yes, there’s Ringo over there. Next best thing to being there.
I just had a listen to a few THX Spatial cuts on that there Qobuz and I agree that the effect on staging is interesting. It’s subtle though. I also thought it gave the overall presentation a feeling of being hollowed out. It sounded less immediate, lacking body.
It’s ok but it’s not a gimmick I feel a desperate desire to listen to again. My curiosity has been sated.
Well, without it I would never have known about the extraordinary outbreak of bongos in the Hard Day’s Night verses, so there’s that.
I should clarify that I didn’t listen to The Beatle Band. The stuff I listened to didn’t have a bongo flurry anywhere in evidence so maybe this kind of witchery is bongo dependent.
Whenever bongos are mentioned, I expect a comment from Saucecraft to follow quickly behind…Pavlovian, I suppose…
Re the HDN Bongos (TMFTL).
Mrs Moose said it sounds like Hong Kong Phooey is driving his car around the studio.
You know I feel… pannnnnnrific!
I don’t know what any of this means.
Me and all. I have cloth ears these days so am a bit jealous of those who can hear very well.
Plus I’m a bit of a technophobe.
I don’t hear that well nowadays either Freddy but my excuse for indulging in audio tech is that the improvement in SQ helps to mitigate the loss of hearing.
I’ve recently become a fan of quiet listening, turning the volume down, I find it encourages me to lean into the music more and pay it more attention. I don’t listen so quietly that I need to strain to hear the music I just seek out the sweet spot on the volume pot. I’m the opposite of a technophobe, I’m like my dear old Dad a bit of a gadget junkie.
Morning!
I have never been a fan of headphones for some reason, can’t really say why if I’m honest. And I struggle to find the time and space to listen to stuff these days. I really have to be in the mood.
Some of these techy threads are completely beyond me but interesting nevertheless! I suppose we all have our skill sets!
Bore da Freddy. I had headphones thrust upon me out of consideration for my downstairs neighbour. I only use them for early morning or late night listening sessions but I’ve grown to love and appreciate them. They lend music a flavour that’s distinct from speaker listening but I enjoy both tbh. I am as obsessed with chasing after sonic thrills and spills as I have ever been. The tech is a means towards that end but I must admit I do enjoy a good bit of audio gear. I even get excited by cables! I blame my Dad.
We all blame our dads, @pencilsqueezer.
For everything.
I didn’t read your review Mr Tiggerlion but I have no doubt it is excellent. I have both the CD and vinyl editions of the 2023 Red & Blue albums and have drawn my own conclusions. They are obviously the only ones that matter to me
I do not consider the CDs to be ‘brickwalled’ although I haven’t run DR analysis A) because I don’t have the equipment B) life’s too short. I go off what my ears tell me and playing the CDs is a pleasurable experience IMO
In comparison to the vinyl I prefer the vinyl although what the CDs have going for them is correct chronological order of the songs. When it was decided to include extra tracks and Now And Then both the CD and vinyl editions had already been manufactured. It was too expensive to repress the vinyl but cost effective to redo the CDs in as already stated chronological order. As we know the extra tracks for the vinyl edition were placed on LP 3 on both Red and Blue
Edit, I have just read your review Mr Tiggerlion and I agree with everything you said, a marvellous review obviously. Jackson and his team have done wonders with MAL
Just a couple of points. The packaging, there is nothing wrong with it in fact it is very good. Two LPs in one sleeve, what’s the problem. If that guy in the video can’t fold the gatefold properly he must have pushed an LP in too far, this is easily done with gatefold sleeves. I say this because I have no trouble folding the gatefolds on my Red & Blue sets and I have added audiophile inners for all the LPs thus increasing the thickness
Track selection, you will never please everyone. There’s always someone who’ll ask what’s that thing doing on why isn’t this on instead. Now And Then the first track on Blue’s LP 3, that’s a right cock up, I agree it shouldn’t be there at all or maybe on an EP with Free As A Bird and Real Love
Cash grab? Of course it is, aren’t all SDE releases the same? This release is obviously aimed at older fans (me) I can’t see kids paying £44 (Asda price) for the Red & Blue CD editions, £135 for the vinyl sets? Forget it, not while streaming is available.
I will play the 2023 mixes from now on
My old Red & Blue LPs & CDs they currently are living in a local charity shop. I doubt they’ll be there tomorrow
I don’t have a copy but, yes, you can get 2 LPs in a gatefold if designed for that purpose. I have many doubles like that (e.g. The River) My understanding was this was designed for a single LP so it is a tight fit.
It’s not really an SDE release, if it was it could be more attractive with an Atmos mix and maybe some videos on a Blu-ray.
And I have learnt not to let go of original mixes/masterings. Sometimes there is a novelty value in hearing something new that wears off after many plays.
Like you say Mr Dai you don’t have a copy but your understanding is it’s a tight fit. I do have a copy of each 3 LP set. I have added audiophile inners thus creating more to put in the gatefold sleeve. LPs 2 & 3 fit easily in one of the gatefold sleeves.
Whether or not these are SDE releases I couldn’t care less.
Regarding donating the original Red & Blue editions to charity, I have all the songs on the original albums, some both mono and stereo.
“Sometimes there is a novelty value in hearing something new that wears off after many plays” That’s a matter of opinion.
Audiophile inners.
Oh yes. Good move.
Out of curiosity, do you mean anti-static inners? I don’t think inner sleeves can improve sound quality, but lack of a poly liner can make for more clicks and pops.
I assumed Nagaoka inner sleeves…
You mentioned SDEs not me.
All is my opinion regarding novelty valuem . I doubt the Parlogram guy is lying but will take your word for it. He also mentioned the inners were of poor quality compared to the originals
I don’t want to fall out over SDE or not. My LP sets came in a thick, sturdy outer box that was referred to as an SDE set. But who wants to be a pedantic? Not me, you win
Yes that’s better anti-static, thank you Mr Fenton I’d seen them referred to ‘audiophile’
The printed inners on the Red & Blue sets are a bit abrasive on the inside although I think the inners on the originals were the same. Was the guy who doesn’t know how to slide LPs into a gatefold properly simply nitpicking?
I see a bit of humour in your comment Mr Duco others may see it more as a droll comment not I
I was taken aback about how old some of these remixes are. I still listen to Revolver and Sgt Pepper in mono but when I listen in stereo, which is most of the time, I always listen to the remix.
Love all the attention given to the Beatles. That’s my payback for not buying any of it.
One thing…
I Want To Hold Your Hand / This Boy came out ‘after’ With The Beatles, but they’re both before the With the Beatles’ tracks.
The original 62-66 track listing was overseen by Allen Klein, who as an American, would have known the tracks via “The Beatles Second Album” which was released after the single.
He was also a big fan of Rubber Soul, hence the appearance of 6 tracks on the original Red.
The main comment I seem to keep seeing about Giles Martin’s remixes (on these new Red and Blue albums, but also the other remixed albums) is that he has “improved” the stereo separation by getting rid of most of the hard panning which (allegedly, m’lud) made the original stereo mixes such a chore to listen to, “especially on headphones” (they say).
Wellllll… I might be on my own here, but I think when it all boils down to it, my main beef with all the remixes (since the Yellow Submarine Songtrack album in 1999 to be honest) is that I kinda quite like the old school hard panning. Maybe because the Beatles (in stereo, mainly on CD) were the first real band I got seriously into, I always thought the extreme panning sound picture was a statement of intent that made their music stand out a bit more, and I never found it difficult to listen to at all.
And in some specific examples (Flying cramming everything into your left ear with only the lead guitar line swimming into your right ear as the song progresses, Paul singing “Got up, fell out of bed…” in A Day In The Life sounding as if he is right beside you whispering in your ear), the hard panning gave a delightful, trippy effect. I also loved being able to “remix” the tracks at home on the fly just by turning the pan knob from left to right and hearing different instruments coming through (especially on the early albums, where you can almost create karaoke versions or acapella versions, depending on which way you panned). It all added to the charm.
So no, I don’t think I’ve been really bowled over by any of Giles’ new mixes, and I certainly don’t see this as an automatic improvement over the original stereo mixes. I’m maybe just a hard-panning masochist/fetishist, but I thought it was worth bringing up my view on this!
I like the YS Soundtrack release so maybe I am less keen on Giles than some. It should also be mentioned he doesn’t work alone Sam Okell is also involved.
My ex used to turn the balance knob on the car radio on the early songs so that she could hear vocals only or instruments only (she would then sing along karaoke style)
Yes, I am your ex. Mowah hah hah (evil laugh). How is life these days?
Better now you and I are no longer together 😉
I have to agree with “woke up, fell out of bed…” but nothing else, Arthur. Mind you, my first listening experience was all mono up to The White Album.
My parents had (and have!) the mono white album so it wasn’t until I bought the CD in 1992 that I discovered that Ringo had blisters on his fingers.
I’ve never met a hard-panning masochist/fetishist before. Does it get lonely on Saturday night?
Hey Bulldog is the best track here. That is all.
Difficult to build a case against this.
It’s brilliant but I always go with Strawberry Fields and A Day in the Life as their studio years peaks
I’ve not bought these because I just can’t justify to myself owning multiple copies of the same album
(which is a bit a rich when I consider the 13 versions of Never Mind The Bollocks, 5 versions of 30 Something, and many duplicates on CD and Vinyl)
Pleased to see the expansion to cover additional key tracks (particularly the Revolver tracks), but I still firmly believe that if Now & Then is tacked on to the Blue, then they should also be including Free As A Bird and Real Love
Am I the last AWer standing who hasn’t heard N&T?
Nope. Me neither
Thirded.
Fourthded. But only because my ears are both deranged and demented.
If I hadn’t decided I wanted to hear it I wouldn’t have heard it either.
I haven’t heard Free As A Bird either and I didn’t know about the existence of a song called Real Love until this thread. I expect I shall be cast further into the outer darkness for such social misdemeanours.
The new release from Anenon is rather lovely…anyone? No? OK then. Just me.
I shouldn’t worry too much Pencil. I listened to about a minute of the new song and was seriously unimpressed I shall join you in the outer darkness.
I’ll budge up. I have whisky and sandwiches and a rug I can share.
Ah yes, one of my favourite topics.
When did the time come when a person could genuinely claim not to have heard a big hit. For example, Taylor Swift, Ed Sheeran, Coldplay… I’ve never heard any of them, but I couldn’t (unfortunately) claim to have not heard Madonna or Phil Collins.
Clearly, the mid-1990s, at the very least, judging by the comment above about Free As A Bird, a comment I don’t doubt for one minute.
Was Live Aid the tipping point, or the number of TV channels going from 4 to 500 overnight? Or people simply having more recorded music on their shelf than they would hear on the radio?
If it’s on somewhere while I’m out and about I’ll give it a listen, but what I’ve read doesn’t inspire me to the point where I’d go out of my way to hear it
I’ve never knowingly heard Ed Sheeran either. Most chart bothering pop music isn’t to my taste so I don’t seek it out. The most likely place I may hear it would be when I’m limping around my local supermarket and only then on the rare occasions I don’t have a pair of iems in my lugholes burbling into my head the music I do want to hear. I rarely listen to radio and on those occasions it’s specialist stuff. Mostly Jazz, dub, ambient, classical and those places they intersect. I don’t want or require an intermediary feeding me the music they think I should be listening to. I listen to what I want to hear when and where I want to hear it. I guess the point at which I stopped bothering with most pop and rock etc was during the 90s. I just fell out of love with it. As for The Beatles I don’t feel the need to play them anymore. My interests have moved elsewhere.
It all depends where you live, of course, but I wouldn’t know where to go to chance upon Now and Then. The only times I’ve heard it, I’ve accessed it myself.
And if Ed Sheeran is playing in your local Co-op, how would you actually know it’s Ed Sheeran?
I wouldn’t know him if he was stood outside the supermarket busking tbh. The last time I was in the place I was sans my iems and I noticed that Love The One You’re With was playing. I doubt anyone but me noticed or cared. I’m not entirely sure that I cared either now I come to think of it.
@deramdaze
He’d presumably be standing in the biscuit section with the rest` of the ginger nuts
Presumably you don’t have children of a certain age? My daughter takes control of the radio in the car and chooses a satellite station broadcasting current hits or oldies or connects Spotify to it. A lot of hits seem to come originally from something called TikTok in her case or YouTube
I have heard no end of good recent stuff this way, I wouldn’t include Sheeran in my favourites though
* She also plays older stuff from 60s or 80s and on (Beatles, Smiths etc)
My wife and I never had children. Donna’s shaky state of health made that decision for us. I am alone in the world now since Donna died. I would have dearly liked to have been given the chance to be a father but it wasn’t to be. Consequently my decisions about music I have to take full ownership of for good or ill. You’re a lucky man but I guess you know that.
Sorry that part of life didn’t work out for you, am sure your relationship was very rich in other ways though
At times, as a mostly single parent of a 17 yr old girl it is pretty tough, but, you are right, I am lucky @pencilsqueezer
Diolch @dai
I would bet a large amount of money that you lot have heard Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift multiple times, but just maybe haven’t realised.
(I was going to be nasty and say they are both generically bland and forgettable… but I feel bad saying that, even though it’s true, so I won’t :))
Now and Then is different I think – I think you would have to seek it out to hear it.
(I was going to be nasty and say there that I wouldn’t bother seeking it out if you haven’t already as it’s not worth it… but I feel bad saying that etc etc)
Oh I’ve deliberately sat down on more than one occasion to listen to Taylor Swift thinking that I should see what all the fuss was about. That’s how I know that I really do not need to bother ever trying to see what the fuss is about ever, ever again. Ms Swift obviously brings joy to a lot of people and all power to her for doing so but I am not amongst them.
The others I have zero curiosity about
With you guys on TS. On the basis of the rave reviews here, I actually bought 1989 (the original version) a couple of weeks back. Not really aimed at me, but I can see why it might appeal to those who it is aimed at.
Mrs JG bought an Ed S album she played once and gave up on as soon as I did. Unlike TS, couldn’t see why people were so fussed about him or his music
There’s only one TS – and that’s TS McPhee…
I listened to about a third of it.
@fitterstoke you obviously forgot TS Elliot.
I was thinking TS Eliot but then I do tend to be a bit of a Hollow Man.
You obviously score quite highly on Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon though
The other thing I have noticed, listening under nice headphones (thank you, you-know-who-you-are 🙂 ), is that the Sgt Pepper tracks on Blue sound smoother and less bass heavy than on the 2017 SDE.
Is that new mastering?
Yes, that’s new mastering.
One of the jobs of a Mastering Engineer is to take material from multiple sources and make them of a piece. Given the decade and rapid changes in recording technology between the oldest and youngest tracks, this could be quite a challenge.
There are five Abbey Road engineers credited with the mastering, with all six LPs half-speed cut by Miles Showell.
As many have already said, the work of Giles and co is to be applauded. Apart from Pepper I have never preferred his mixes to the previous versions but they’re always interesting and fun. To me the great leap forward was made with the 2009 releases – the stereo PPM in particular absolutely blew me away.
As for the way it’s been released and expanded it’s a right dog’s breakfast. I love the original albums – grew up with them – and I feel the way they’ve done this tarnishes them somewhat.
The “new” track will join Free as a Bird and Real Love in the dustbin of history. Let it be, boys.
Welcome back.
The 2009 issues were re-masterings rather than remixes but I agree that they did a good job in general. Pride of place in my record collection is, however, the Beatles in Mono vinyl box, it’s magnificent
Another fan of the 2009 mixes here. Came out 3 days after my wedding and a bought the lot on CD with a cash gift I received from a mate. Quite keen on getting Red and Blue on vinyl but not at £75 a pop
Another big welcome back from me to Sir Moose of Mooche
Ta. I have the Red on vinyl, 2010(?) version which is a lovely thing. Mes parents have both from 73 or whenever, the blue sounds bloody good – I think the Pepper tracks in particular sound better than the old vinyl album.
What I like on Blue is going from the apocalypse of Day in the Life to the rebirth of All You brilliantly.
I think the first 11 tracks on the Blue album is pretty much as good a summation of Beatles 1967 as you can get. Extra points for having Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane in release order rather than placing them almost a year later with the MMT stuff. Can still remember the first time I heard Strawberry Fields when my dad played it on our cassette deck through large speakers ca 1978 (taped by a mate at work naturally). Mindblowing
PS. The new version of I Saw Her Standing There absofuckinlutely SLAPS. I don’t think I’d noticed how fast Ringo is here – he’s justly acclaimed for his waiiiiit-for-it phrasing a la Sinatra, on ISHSST he is almost out of control.
To me this was always most egregious omission of either of the original albums so I think honour is served.
The blue one could have been really good if they’d put Rain on it as the first track instead of that reject as the last track.
Rain was released in 1966 not 1967. 😀
That’s just nitpicking…
Yes I know that.
It remains my opinion that it would have made the blue album (call it 1966-1970 if you like) a much better overall collection of tracks. Rain’s omission from the double set is, in my view, a glaring one.
Also – I’m not a Beatles Band expert, but I don’t believe Now and Then was released between 1967 and 1970 (inclusive). 🙃
Remove Now and Then, add Rain – job done!
The original Red lasted 62:34 minutes and Blue 99:40. The expanded triple Red is 94:42 and blue, excluding NAT, 130:36.
There has always been plenty of room on 1962-1966 for Rain and more.
The thing that makes me laugh about Red is that you get six tracks from Rubber Soul plus (quite reasonably) both We Can Work it Out and Day Tripper.
So…..
EIGHT OF THE 26 TRACKS WERE ORIGINALLY RELEASED ON THE SAME DAY.
Amazing (and a hamper)
And, yes, Rain absolutely should be on the Red album, certainly one of their best 20 tracks IMHO
You have to remember that Klein’s original idea was populist. He wanted to collect together the most popular songs, according to his taste. Yes, there were oddities. Just one each from With The Beatles and Beatles For Sale? Old Brown Shoe, anyone? However, it explains the paucity of Revolver tracks and the absence of Rain. He obviously regarded them as a bit weird.
It was commercial (hence no covers to maximise Fabs income) and political (hence the inclusion of Shoe and Octopus). I think Red is very much aimed at mums and dads hence the absence of Rain and TNK.
Allen Klein was 41 in 1973 – a mum and dad age.
Word. The grimmest moment in Get Back was Lennon rhapsodising about Klein. As cynical as John might have appeared, by God he couldn’t get enough snake oil. If he was alive he’d probably be into crypto and AI.
Anyone know the respective sales figures for the original releases back in the 70s?
Would imagine the 67-70 would have sold the most
Think it did sell more. Most probably bought both though
In the US, the market that really counts, Blue sold 1,294,896 LPs by 31 December 1973 and 5,850,026 by the end of the decade. In the US, Red sold 1,215,338 LPs by 31 December 1973 and 5,475,942 by the end of the decade.
I think this differential, not much but in favour of Blue, was reflected worldwide.
Blue does represent better value for money.
Cheers, T
Given the age of a potential purchaser of Now and Then and/or Red and/or Blue, might it not be a good idea, especially in the lead up to Christmas, to, oh, I don’t know, have one or all of them available at, say, W.H. Smith?
I suspect Apple have lost out on as many sales as they’ve actually had by not having the product on the High Street.
Ah the halcyon days when everything was available in WH Smiths. I think you underestimate how many people order things on line these days, even people in their 80s do it. You can probably find these CDs in Tesco, but most people will be streaming them anyway these days even @Tiggerlion is doing it
No.
I know that those in their 70s and 80s do order online, but music will be a very low percentage in that equation.
Vast swathes of the UK public have simply been given no physical product to purchase – a state of affairs which has coincided with the vinlys farce – and so, ‘spoiler alert’, they don’t buy it.
I’m one of them. We do not think, “… where is that thing I used to get? Oh, I’ll get it online”.
For every sale, I reckon they’d have had at least two.
I have bought both sets of CDs. Online.
Once my new Nigerian online penpal transfers all of his wrongly jailed uncle’s millions into my bank account, I’ll be doing likewise
Felicitous Greetings Mr Sir Jaygee!
Not sure if Smaug’s still sell records or CDs.
Be surprised if larger branches of Tesco, Asda, etc
weren’t selling them as heavily discounted loss leaders
in the same way they do books