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

thought this revive would actually be about the news that the mccartney catalogue is being remastered and re-released on concord sometime this year. also, three giant collections of mccartney outtakes leaked this week on the internet, but they are pretty underwhelming.

Edited for clarity.

Could be said about any of their solo catalogs, to be honest.

solo Beatles get a bad rap imho tho all are inconsistent

Really don't need more than a greatest hits for any of them.

eh I disagree but I've become something of a completist recently, mostly because there were so many things I discovered that I loved that weren't on any greatest hits comps (Lennon's "Crippled Inside", or Harrison's "Don't Let Me Wait Too Long" or "Cheer Down", to name a few examples)

I have trouble sorting through the dross, unfortunately. I'm sure I'd find some gems, as you have, but I haven't found the inclination to start.

"Crippled Inside" is great.

it's kind of hard to conceive how any of them could have done anything that outshone their Beatles material - the pressure and the expectations crushed all of their solo careers in one way or another, they didn't have any room to maneuver really. While they may have had more or less unlimited financial resources, just assembling decent musicians to work with who weren't going to fuck things up in one way or another must have been a daunting task. Everybody involved must have been second-guessing themselves at every step of the way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D9JuiJNizw

always thought this was a remarkably pretty song. tbh it's too bad Spector didn't get his hands on it, not hard to imagine what he would have done with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7v0O8M5vKc

really it's no wonder these guys turned to Spector in the wake of the Beatles - he was one of the lone figures in the industry who could be relied upon to understand where they were coming from in terms of fame, money, and isolation and also make consistently great aesthetic decisions

Spector was probably one of the only people around at the time who you could conceivably say didn't NEED the Beatles in any way, career-wise. He was already richer than God, and with a secure legacy.

(x-post)

The cool thing about some of the Spector stuff like ^^ is how UN-Spector it is. Clever productions and quiet, small combo bombast.

Now that I think of it, that probably only applies to the Lennon stuff. ATMP is pretty massive.

yeah Spector went minimalist with Lennon, maximalist with Harrison

played to their strengths in each case, imho

(also that's George playing slide on "Crippled Inside", in case it wasn't obvious)

Really nice guitar tones on that one--reminds me of Big Star.

The first two albums that Lennon did in the 70s after he stopped trying to be Stockhausen or John Cage, Plastic Ono Band and Imagine are both pretty solid.

there is a reason 'imagine' is one of the most highly regarded solo records, and it's not just because of the title track.

i honestly prefer "all things must pass" and "plastic ono band" (both of them) to a lot of the beatles records

Yeah, I actually think that "Imagine", the song, might be the weakest track on the album, Imagine. Although, it might be due the fact that it has been just overplayed for me. I hear it in pharmacies, supermarkets, covered by inferior singers, etc.

Last year I got "Mind Games" - some mid-period Lennon - and was actually kinda shocked at how much of it was really good. A couple stinkers, but plenty of really amazing and wonderful tracks aside from the title song that always shows up on comps.

Tbh, Yoko Ono's first two albums (+ "Feeling the Space") are on par & sometimes better than the individual Beatles solo albums. Which is great cos the Beatles are all over those....

I think Mind Games is the lone Lennon solo album I don't have, actually

I love me some McCartney but I find his solo career to be the most impenetrable, or at least, the least immediately engaging.

walls and bridges is, imo, the great overlooked classic solo record. I'm still not sure why it doesn't get loads of love while people still jizz all over nilsson.

(not to knock nilsson, i'm just saying I think it's as good as a nilsson record)

I was doing this solo Beatles quiz. I thought 23/70 was poor at first, but I didn't actually miss out too many classics.

Here are some of my favorite songs from "Mind Games" (that aren't the amazing title track!)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJSMvVyRVZ0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J6HXbUXbSA&feature=fvw

"Walls & Bridges" is pretty wonderful, but I kinda like the laid-back sound of Mind Games more.

LOL heh John Kerry

Here's some more fav obscure solo tracks while we're at it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GeiKNWcCtw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0g4LXHvB_e4

eh I got 29/70 but it wouldn't take some of my answers for some reason (what, did Uncle Albert have to be capitalized?)

Had to get both parts of the title I think - wouldn't let me have it either

Got 39/70. Who knew Ringo had so many top ten hits???

I thought he had the most, actually!

but McCartney's just released more so he won by attrition

Hey hey, John's getting remastered too.

Double Fantasy ... Naked. because if paul does it yoko has to do it too.

had it up to here waiting for this pizza to get reheated

dunno if I care about the remasters (I have almost all of this stuff on vinyl, with the odd exception of Mind Games and Imagine). probably no decent outtakes or extras

I think they've let out most of the usable stuff already in his Anthology box and the two 80s outtake lps (I did notice Menlove Avenue missing from that press release). I imagine Yoko doesn't want to put out "A Toot and A Snore" or any other unreleased coke doodlings.

I wonder when they'll do some new Ringo remasters.

is the 2000 mix of imagine much different from the original?

I find it unlikely that Lennon's catalogue is possible to get to sound much better than the remasters a few years back did.

McCartney hasn't done the job since 1993, so probably a bit more to gain there, in terms of sound.

in terms of brickwalling

15 Apple Catalog lps to get remastered in October too

Badfinger - Ass, and it's about fucking time!

Haha, you said "Badfinger - Ass".

That's all very nice, but Apple really should get to a Singles box set, with the rarities etcet.

That Frank Sinatra one, the Brute Force one, and so on...

Bought the Mono box yesterday: It was an impostor box, all recordings in stereo, a couple jackets inside out/falling apart, CDs missing. Beware anything too cheap to be true--it probably is. I returned it okay, but am waiting on the real thing still.

How bizarre.

I still don't regret spending £150+ on that mono box.

unlike people who dropped £200+ on a plastic apple.

(I'd still be interested to hear those 24bit recordings though)

I tell you what!

That beatles mono box is going for around £50, consistently, on ebay.

Got one for meself (yesterday), obv it's not arrived yet.