I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

Milton brings up "What's the New Mary Jane?"

In theory, I should love this piece, but I've listened to it over a dozen times, and it just isn't memorable at all.

I know "Carnival" is over twice as long, so the idea of it fitting probably figured most into its exclusion from the Anth series, but if the not that great "WTNMJ?" was accepted and "Carnival of Light" was vetoed, this doesn't really bode well, does it?... especially given that, if the piece were that great, it could have been released on an exclusive Anth bonus disc (alongside the now officially gone 27+ minute "Helter Skelter")

I'd rather hear the still-not-officially-released extended version of "Something" out of all of this.

I'd rather hear rad 14-minute crazy Beatles pretending to be Stockhausen than the 5,000th Mono closet mix of "And Your Bird Can Sing"

it would have been rad had it been released on Magical Mystery Tour as a bonus 12" disc back in 1967 (alongside the studio tracks that would end up on Yellow Submarine)

if they need a gimmick to sell the remasters i like this gimmick more than LOVE ... but yeah, sir paul should just put this out on 12". biggest selling avant-garde track EVER.

the anthology version of Something is slightly > the final version

I'd rather hear the still-not-officially-released extended version of "Something" out of all of this.

i have a 9min version of it...it must be the early stages because the guys were just making up lyrics as they went along, I can email it to you if you'd like.

I have the one on the "Abbey Road Anthology" CD. I don't think it's 9 minutes, but the missing "Something" coda kinda reminds me of that excellent coda on the single version of the Monkees' "Porpoise Song"

i heard a minute of what is supposedly carnival of light (just google) and it was pretty good.
apparently that's all there is out there. so i was pleased by this news.

if the not that great "WTNMJ?" was accepted and "Carnival of Light" was vetoed, this doesn't really bode well, does it?

Well, Harrison was the one who vetoed it -- Wonderwall Music aside, he's always been disdainful of the avant-garde. It wasn't vetoed because it didn't meet the standard set by WTNMJ.

Harrison had no problem with Electronic Sound being released - or contributing mucho babbled nonsense to "Revolution #9"

True, but 25-30 years on he apparently revised his view of their avant-garde leanings somewhat.

BUT WHAT DOES RINGO THINK
http://timesonline.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/ringo_starr.jpg

"PS - in England we do have amusement parks, but we call them carnivals!"

ringo probably only cares if he's going to make some money off it

sir paul should just put this out on 12". biggest selling avant-garde track EVER.

― tylerw, Monday, November 17, 2008 3:43 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest

HELL YES. I would totally buy this. Otherwise it's looking the other way...

And Electronic Sounds sucks because it is insanely boring. Maybe I need to re-listen to it with minimalism in mind, but it's really a horrible song.

My favorite lost "Beatles" track. Produced by George Harrison, its the Remo Four and it sounds like Circulatory System

The flip side of the Carnival of Light 12" needs an EYE remix

I'd rather hear rad 14-minute crazy Beatles pretending to be Stockhausen than the 5,000th Mono closet mix of "And Your Bird Can Sing"

― Whiney G. Weingarten, Monday, November 17, 2008 8:21 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark

^^^Truth bomb

And if there's nothing of that lying around, well, Paul, you better get off your ass right now and start making some gold avant-garde Beatles 'rarity'! Seriously, seeing this news being headlined all over the world gives me all kinds of diseases. We know already how they got their songs together, we know the works. There is no historic value in releasing all those mixes and takes on songs we already know, no other value than feeding the obsessive collector's of this world. If there's nothing there, if there's not this jam or song opening up some new idea about the Beatles getting it off when not recording an album: fine, but just say so. Don't bother. It'd save me and a bunch of others time anticipating that musique concrete Beatles masterpiece.

what I would like to see is them opening up their catalog to remixed...a pilooski re-edit of i feel fine, frankie knuckles doing a dadhouse rmx of lady madonna, the freemasons turning hey jude into a big stomper, etc. in general they need to lay off the litigation sauce and let people have some fun with their songs.

EYE remix of each album.

Wednesday 22 February 1967
The Beatles were especially keen to sit in on the remixes of `A Day In The Life', mono and stereo, and these were done next, utilising the two tape machines in sync, as invented by Ken Townsend on 10 February. But there was still some time left at the end of this session so the Beatles set about recording another of their experimental tapes. Ringo was to the fore in this one, the tape being 22 minutes and 10 seconds of drum beat, augmented by tambourine and congas. Quite what is was meant for is not clear. It was certainly never used, nor was it remixed.

Monday 20 March 1967
Also taped on this day was `Beatle Talk', another spoken word recording. Quite what was said is not known for neither the recording sheet nor the tape box are very revealing and the tape itself was taken away by George Martin and never returned.

Tuesday 9 May 1967
Studio Two: 11.00pm-6.15am. Recording: `Untitled' (take 1). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush.
A somewhat unproductive session: more than seven hours of instrumental jamming with little more than 16 minutes being committed to tape. Although the music seemed to lack any direction at least the Beatles knew how to follow each other, though whether this was pure instinctiveness or whether the "song" was preplanned is not clear. The instruments used — all well out of tune, incidentally — were an electric guitar, another guitar with a vibrato effect, drums and a harmonium.

Wednesday 7 June 1967
Studio Two: 7.00pm-2.00am. Recording: `You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)' (SI onto take 9, takes 20-24). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Richard Lush.
More crazy `You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)' recordings! After returning to take nine, taped — and at that stage overlooked — on 17 May, and overdubbing various bits and pieces, the remainder of the session was spent working out further ideas. These grew so far apart from the song in hand that the `You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)' title on the tape box has since been deleted and marked ` Instrumental — Unidentified' instead.

A study of the tape itself reveals almost 20 minutes of rhythm track recording, beginning with take 20 and consisting of an amateurish flute track (played, presumably, by a Beatle), electric guitar, drums, organ and tambourine. At one point Paul McCartney can be heard discussing the chord structure with George Harrison, suggesting the music was preplanned. But when the playing starts that is the last impression one receives.. .

All from the landmark Beatles Recording Sessions book. Do they make you salivate or nauseate?

And if there's nothing of that lying around, well, Paul, you better get off your ass right now and start making some gold avant-garde Beatles 'rarity'!

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/4101CMRT3EL._SL500_AA240_.jpg

^pow.

God, I loved the Recording Sessions book at the height of my teenage Beatlefandom.

mmmm.

What up for that "Something" 9 min version? Me too?

Bonus track on the 12-inch: "Commonwealth Song"

Yeah that something outtake is under 6 mins, not 9 minutes. It's on quite a few Abbey Road boots...

I have a 9 min version; like I said it's more of a lyrical jam to the melody than an actual song, but still.

woah. see all i know is the one that is pretty much an early take of the album version, then it ends and they just jam on 2 chords for a couple minutes is the 9 minute one different?

I know the one you're thinking of...the one I have they have the basic melody and some of the lyrics, and John and George are adding on dummy lyrics and instrumental pieces as they go. It's interesting to listen to just get an idea of how the songwriting process works.

C/D: burning purple chick cds for your dad's xmas present and the tags are fucked up and all the tracks are out of order.

sorry, just wanted to share

fuck all you lazy internet sloths ruining christmases across the galaxy

yeah i know, last minute, fuck you i'll trade my 2008 for yours

http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/here-comes-the-sun-the-beatles-finally-get-remastered/

Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music announced Tuesday morning that the Fab Four’s entire album catalog has been digitally remastered, and would be re-released on CD on Sept. 9. In a news release, Apple Corps and EMI said that the remastering effort, conducted at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London, took four years to complete, using a combination of modern-day recording technology and vintage studio equipment. The new CD releases, which include the 12 Beatles studio albums (the British versions) in stereo, as well as “Magical Mystery Tour” and “Past Masters Vol. I and II” (which have been combined into a single title) will feature the original UK album art, as well as original and newly written liner notes. On Sept. 9 (the same day that the video game The Beatles: Rock Band arrives in stores), Apple Corps and EMI said that two new Beatles boxed CD collections of the material would also be released, one comprising all 14 CDs plus a DVD documentary collection, the other consisting of 10 albums’ original mono mixes plus two additional CDs of mono masters. In a statement, the two companies added: “Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time.”

Sept. 9 (the same day that the video game The Beatles: Rock Band arrives in stores)

Uh.

Re-mastering the Beatles catalogue

The re-mastering process commenced with an extensive period conducting tests before finally copying the analogue master tapes into the digital medium. When this was completed, the transfer was achieved using a Pro Tools workstation operating at 24 bit 192 kHz resolution via a Prism A-D converter. Transferring was a lengthy procedure done a track at a time. Although EMI tape does not suffer the oxide loss associated with some later analogue tapes, there was nevertheless a slight build up of dust, which was removed from the tape machine heads between each title.

From the onset, considerable thought was given to what audio restorative processes were going to be allowed. It was agreed that electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and bad edits should be improved where possible, so long as it didn’t impact on the original integrity of the songs.

In addition, de-noising technology, which is often associated with re-mastering, was to be used, but subtly and sparingly. Eventually, less than five of the 525 minutes of Beatles music was subjected to this process. Finally, as is common with today’s music, overall limiting - to increase the volume level of the CD - has been used, but on the stereo versions only. However, it was unanimously agreed that because of the importance of The Beatles’ music, limiting would be used moderately, so as to retain the original dynamics of the recordings.

When all of the albums had been transferred, each song was then listened to several times to locate any of the agreed imperfections. These were then addressed by Guy Massey, working with Audio Restoration engineer Simon Gibson.

Mastering could now take place, once the earliest vinyl pressings, along with the existing CDs, were loaded into Pro Tools, thus allowing comparisons to be made with the original master tapes during the equalization process. When an album had been completed, it was auditioned the next day in studio three – a room familiar to the engineers, as all of the recent Beatles mixing projects had taken place in there – and any further alteration of EQ could be addressed back in the mastering room. Following the initial satisfaction of Guy and Steve, Allan Rouse and Mike Heatley then checked each new re-master in yet another location and offered any further suggestions. This continued until all 13 albums were completed to the team’s satisfaction.

A friend already said he's ponying up for both the mono and stereo versions. I have no idea about the video game.

Oh yeah, I'll buy it all without hesitation. Apart from the game.

Remastering the Beatles catalog
http://www.boomcity.biz/librarybooks/resources/scientists.jpg

I'll get the game. Plus Abbey Road. The old cd is really "hissy".

Good good good.

Awesome I cant wait to pay 18.99 for each CD all over again.

How does that mastering process sound to you, Nick?

Does this mean there will be an upsurge of non-remastered Beatles CD's in the "used" section in the future?

It sounds pretty fine; it would be stupid to use no limiting at all, but they sound as if they've been very careful with it; I'm not against limiting per se, I'm against people using it clumsily and unsympathetically. Not using de-noise (apart from 5 mins out of 512) is a big plus, too. I love how the Love thing sounded, and I imagine this will be equally as good.

Yeah, Love sounds amazing.

cool

any word on new vinyl pressing???

it's getting pretty spendy to get really nice copies of the old originals...i can't imagine they wouldn't make bank on some nice 180g shit pressed at RTI

Sounds promising. I will be going for the stereo ones (actually have never owned the originals of the first four because I am a stereo freak) while I leave buying the mono set up to the reactionary anti-sound-quality lunatics only.

You mean like Brian Wilson?

Who you callin' reactionary? (xpost)