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

The NPR interview with George Martins kid goes into Lucy In The Sky. Great interview.

I A/B'ed the new "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" with the Yellow Submarine Songtrack version twice, once in headphones, and I have to say that I like the latter quite a bit more. It's much more radical.

I like this:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/sgt-pepper-at-50-inside-within-you-without-you-w483668

Me too, thanks!

Listening to the new mix now, it's weak as hell. Every element positioned and EQd for maximum clarity, what's missing? oh yeah the song. Opening track and "Getting Better" particularly bad, the latter missing its manic acid-bright clang chords, the fuzz on "Fixing a Hole" smoothed out in favour of pointless b/g vocals. The idiosyncrasies of the original blanded out.
Must say I am surprised at how reactionary-old-man I am in response to this. For all its flaws the album has an otherness which is clearly due in part to its crammed, breathless mix. Oh fuck, now "She's Leaving Home" sounds like a tent should be put up around it before a compassionate shot to the head.

I'm listening to disc 2 and it's bits. They nice. I like the clarity of the vocal takes, and the instrumental versions (effectively) of "She's Leaving Home" and so forth are amazing.

Having said that, will the new mix make those clear vocals seem incongruous within the overall sound picture of the album, proper? We shall see...

WELL WHAT DO WE THINK OF THE REMIX?

will the new mix make those clear vocals seem incongruous within the overall sound picture of the album, proper?

I don't think it does. They're not cleaned up any more than anything else is cleaned up. I think the efforts to make it still sound like a period album are basically successful. I have a few minor gripes but a lot of this is just really gorgeous and cool to hear.

i def don't understand what matthewk is talking about

Well, at the time I was listening I felt the elements of the new mix failed to gel into a cohesive "sound". I appreciate the clarity but maybe there is something about the mono mix which sticks it all together. I have listened to the remix again "from the next room" which is sometimes better for getting the feel of the musicality, and didn't mind it as much - maybe on first listen my attention was drawn by the new detail and thus I forgot to enjoy the songs. All so subjective (and I'm aware I sound like a dick in these descriptions).

glad giles took the hit and left steven wilson free to do the much more important work of remixing jethro tull's "songs from the wood" into 5.1

i think this the best anyone could've hoped for with a new stereo mix of Sgt. Pepper. it wasn't meant to be in stereo, the mono mix is already perfect. i'm three songs into the new stereo mix and it's great, really cool, certainly better than the old stereo mixes (although i always preferred 'Getting Better' in stereo).

I miss the acid-high abrasive top end on the guitar in "Getting Better", it takes it from a pop song into a weird shrieking drone, with the Indian percussion nod acknowledging that at the end.

glad giles took the hit and left steven wilson free to do the much more important work of remixing jethro tull's "songs from the wood" into 5.1

― Cyborg Kickboxer (rushomancy), Sunday, May 28, 2017 3:21 AM (eight hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

All the Tull stereo remixes have been great so far, the early ones especially really *cough* benefit from a little bit of punch and clarity, however this new Sgt Pep mix isn't really making me think that I've been missing out on any detail or heft, I'm not particularly cynical wrt back catalogue reissues, my wife works in this field so I know what goes on, but it does seem like a bit of a transparent attempt to squeeze money out of poor old £50 guy, just put Let It Be out on Blu Ray already.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0542hyn

Loving Ringo on the new remix. He thunders on GMGM.

Cosign on getting better getting worse by losing its trebbly tang.

I don't think the guitars sound particularly different on that, but the one in the right channel is maybe not as loud and more electric piano. Have to say, that was the one that drew me in. I love the separation, clarity, fullness and wider stereo field, vocals sound amazing.

"Good Morning Good Morning" has got to be the most radical one - what a racket!

Yes the super compressed drums on Good Morning Good Morning are an absolute riot!

I think they did a great job with the remix.

I know it's been widely available anyway, but Take 26 of Strawberry Fields Forever is an absolute mental recording. I love John's scouse "forevah" on the first chorus.

I like Getting Better take 1 but these outtakes are p disappointing, a lot of the great stuff like Good Morning Good Morning was already on Anthology, or bootlegs. Still psyched on this reissue, mostly because seems like The White Album reissue will be properly insane and amazing.

Giles Martin said no white album reissue/remix would be happening. In a way, it's a shame, given how much unreleased stuff there is (which is to say, most of the Esher demos). But unless there's something as brilliant and revelatory as "Revolution Take 20," I suspect we've already heard the best of it.

I was referring to http://www.spin.com/2017/05/the-beatles-white-album-reissue-giles-martin/, but I just saw this.

Fuck

Really like the remix.

Not bothered about the outtakes; though I found the instrumental Penny Lane actually very unpleasant to listen to and had to curtail it.

There was a review where it mentions "Strawberry Fields" take one, having 'unobtrusive' slide guitar from George Harrison.

Now, I've had a version of this on bootleg for a long time, and I'm sure its anything but unobtrusive. Is this a new mix as well?

i think this is a new mix. or at the very least its from the original tapes and not nth generation tape dubs w all sorts of added EQ and tape compression. the SFF Take 1 from boots was always pretty rough, the backing vocals in particular kind of coming in from nowhere and very loud. the new mix sounds really nice. imo they have mixed out a lot of guitar from George on this song and the deluxe package throughout. When I'm 64 outtakes have guitar suddenly appear for the last 8 bars.

just now listening to the 2017 remix. the bass feels a lot heavier. again the backing vocals feel very clear.

guitar on Getting better feels way lower now than the bass. no surprise; the Beatles is still the Paul show.

man this album rules. listening to "She's Leaving Home" rn. loving this colorful (via John's cynical generation war backing vocals) 60s pop chamber drama. great songs all around.

harmonium is way low on Mr. Kite wtf

also did they double John's original backing vocals for "Of course Henry the Horse" this sounds messed up. prefer the original mix of Mr. Kite. this is all drums and bass.

Within You Without You sounds good until the very end. for some reason the laughter is delayed. When I'm 64 has fucked up phased backing vocals.

Good Morning Good Morning is so noise rock

watching the skirt you start to flirt now you're in gear. very Eno-esque

i like the mono mix. the outtakes are the real stars for me.

i love the Getting Better outtake w the fuZZ bass and keyboard. the keys played by George Martin accordion to Lewosohn, making this "Take 1" only feature Ringo and Paul? again where is George? the Paul show.

Within You Without You outtake of George talking with the Indian musicians is pretty wonderful. it is neat to hear him using the terminology and stuff.

no surprise; the Beatles is still the Paul show.

Oh come on. The real difference is the louder elec. piano. Right channel guitar is a little quieter, yes.

I mean, yeah, bass is louder. It should be! It doesn't sound very good on the original stereo!

I don't even know if it's louder - it's MUCH fuller.

And call me crazy but the harmonium on "Mr. Kite" sounds a little louder on the new mix to me but in the context of everything else being louder as well.

Fixing and Hole and Getting Better outtakes nice but piano and bass no guitar =(

they've cut them talking about acid in the water on the Mr. Kite outtake. still a little exclusive treasure on the Anthology 2.

i really like Sgt. Pepper Reprise Speech w/ Take 8. what the hell is going on at 00:28? is that Ringo? it almost sounds like an early drum machine, maybe it is on the organ George Martin is playing.

Someone drumming their hands on something?

I've been listening to this a bit more (just the version on spotify : did you guys buy the boxset ?)
it does sound great (I have no problem with it being in stereo since... I have never heard the mono version !).
indeed, the rhythm section is on fire from start to finish (even Good Morning, which is by far the song I like the least on the album, is - a bit - redeemed by its riotous drums/bass).
I don't really hear the difference/issue with the guitar intro on "Getting Better", though ? (but the outtake revealed how easy and fun to play on the piano that song is !)

Highlights for me are hearing Paul working out how to sing Fixing a Hole at the end of the song and the early takes of Getting Better and Lovely Rita. Has anyone heard disc 3?

I'm just listening to streaming versions of this unless I can find the other discs from the box to download; not throwing out $150 for this since I don't do 5.1 and that's overpriced anyway. I like the stereo remix fine though; it's interesting, but it's not going to supplant the 2009 remasters (stereo and mono) or my old vinyl. nice, but not necessary

I haven't heard all of the new mix, but I just had a listen to the new 'A Day In The Life' mix and thought it sucked.

For one, I fucking loathe the compression that seems to have been applied to the drums, and the orchestral cacophony actually loses something when you can hear what the players are actually doing - it works better as a slab of noise. MatthewK kinda OTM.

To be fair to Giles Martin, his stated objective was to create a stereo counterpart to the mono mix because of the Beatles' direct involvement in that mix. And since the latter is compressed heavily, he recreated that in the remix. What maybe happened was that the compression was originally applied to the mono mix as a whole, using analogue gear - for cutting purposes I presume - whereas maybe the elements of the stereo mix were individually compressed, and maybe in the digital domain?
Also - given the much greater bottom end emphasis of the remix, and the higher bass and drum placement in the mix, the overall effect of any applied compression can't help but be different, since the energy is distributed across the frequencies differently. If the low end is EQ'd out of the drums, it has no effect on the signal level the compressor sees, but if it's present it will have an effect and the compressor will compress differently. Would be a reason to compress the individual elements rather than the mix, and then you'd lose the "smearing" effect of whole-mix compression. Probably a case of good intentions undone by conflicting goals: recreate the mono mix + rebuild elements from first gen pre-bouncedown + make it "higher fidelity" = songs don't cohere.
I'd like to hear a remix using the original stems, from scratch by a producer with a good ear and musical intuition - presumably Nigel Godrich has the right kind of aesthetic, for example. Giles is there because of his name, if these results are a fair indication of his ability.

It’s no surprise, then, that the Beatles’ shift toward a more respectable and artistic branding meant shedding their sex appeal. The “Sgt. Pepper” album cover features the Fab Four dressed in goofy-looking uniforms

*dejectedly flops billy shears sex pillow into dumpster*