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

especially 'I Am the Walrus'. The ending sounds like Cabaret Voltaire in acid freak-out, meltdown mode, or take 'She Said, She Said,' with its schizoid lyrics and swirling, disoriented nearly post-punk sounding guitar twists and turns.

well, you know. sounds *a lot better* than shitty post-punk records tbqh.

The Beatles were always more than cheery 'Love Me Do's' and mop topped "Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs." There is a lot of paranoia, bitterness, and dark shadows to the music.

Sometimes, yes, but I would say the former is what they do better.

Plus some of their followers have managed to copy the paranoia/melancholy to a full extent too. Crowded House, for instance....

Well, I don't know if copying's the right word. Beatles didn't exactly corner the market on depression. CH had a couple of nervous breakdowns and a manic/depressive drummer in the mix, paranoia & melancholy are bound to rear their heads sooner or later. But they certainly had a lot of Beatley qualities, I'll grant you that much.

One thing that puzzles me when listening to "Beatles For Sale" is how it sounds like the reverb on the "No Reply" vocal is occasionally falling out, and then coming back again. I am pretty sure it wasn't like that on the older copies I have been familiar with. Is this a mistake in the current remasters, or just details that haven't been possible to hear on previous versions?

anyone?

Mano-a-mono, dude.

Well, I am speaking of the stereo version obv ;)

Lengthy BBC Radio piece here with George Martin and all kinds of discussion concerning the remasters and the technology behind them: http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=297

Just checked online, local library has the Lewisohn 'Beatles Recording sessions' book on the shelf. YOINK!

I may need a 12 step program if this keeps up.

Thanks for the BBC George Martin link. Really good show!

You should snag that Lewisohn book - I think it's out of print. (x-post)

Yeah, I looked it up on Amazon and they're only selling used copies atm. To the library! Huzzah!

Damn this BBC thing is derailing my work day.

Really good shew.

i'm probably not the first to notice this but hearing "drive my car" for the first time in years it sounds like PIANO HOUSE!

i mean....! when the piano comes in on the chorus it sounds like it's being just pasted in, totally a sample. the rest of the song is pretty basic dry, reverbed beatleswelt, but that piano is warm and intimate, like it was recorded a half inch away from the strings. plus the chords are just dumm, up and down. like a house vamp. the beatles even invented piano house for god's sake, all is futile!

OTM

bits of "Blue Jay Way" remind me of mid-90s trip hop

It's All Too Much is the other one that's way ahead of its time.

Two of those three are George tunes.

I listened to It's All Too Much a few times last night. Hadn't really paid much attention to it before. It's quite freaky, it could fit onto Isn't Anything quite easily.

"with your long blonde hurr... "

That fucking mad ribbitting sound in the right channel before the horns come in, WTF?

Beatles get high and all bang on random percussion while they dub their vocals.

I probably shouldn't bring this up, but I have a megaupload link with the mono box set. 676MB. If this is too improper, let me know. If anyone wants the link....

I dunno, are you a COP?

http://www.gonemovies.com/www/MyWebFilms/Drama/TaxiDriverNiroKeitel.jpg
"I'm hip"

No, not in the least. I'm somewhat of a regular here. I found the link on a forum I frequent.

er, i would like that link. not going to download anything, i'm just a link-collector. ;D

Send me a email if you're interested. I don't want to post it here. I wouldn't want any trouble.

Leonardo it!

What does that mean?

Jacob, you are a gentleman and a scholar. I don't feel too bad since I own all this stuff in multiple formats and will certainly spring for a vinyl box set if they put one out.

"bits of "Blue Jay Way" remind me of mid-90s trip hop"

― Adam Bruneau, Tuesday, September 22, 2009 6:37 PM (4 hours ago)

The end of 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' invented shoegaze and sludge metal!!!

"Piggies" invented Sufjan Stevens!

Btw. that podcast linked above is really great. Haven't been able to listen to all of it, but what I've heard is fantastic.

Now that they have managed to dig deeper into the recorded tracks than before, Eagle Vision should gather together George Martin, Geoff Emerick and the two surviving Beatles and create a "Classic Albums" episode about "Revolver" or "Sgt. Pepper".

yeah, it's weird how reticent george martin has been about his role in the beatles.

I think Norman Smith and (especially in the later years) Geoff Emerick had more of a direct impact on recording techniques and studio trickery which people tend to solely credit George Martin for.

Geoff Emerick's book "Here There And Everywhere" may retell some of the same stories you've heard a million times over, but it gives a good depiction of the hierarchical setup of the Abbey Road studio staff.

.. while bigging up some of the things he may or may not have actually done.

There was a George Martin "Classic Albums" special where he played with a multitrack...

There's a short documentary on the Anthology DVD boxset, which is pretty interesting.

The bit in the interview about the violin players walking out on Hey Jude is great.

It's interesting to me the way they describe the remastering process. They weren't remixing per se, but taking elements from the master tapes and selectively mastering individual instruments on combined tracks is definitely pseudo-remixing. It certainly explains how they were able to separate the vocals and bring out the drums and bass though.

I think with all the bouncing they did, it's criminal not to properly remix this stuff.

That'll be the next thing they release in 20 years.

I love how Emerick starts "Here There And Everywhere" with recording "Tomorrow Never Knows". His first day on the job as engineer and only 19 years old! Lucky little bastard. Dude has some weird mancrush on McCartney though.

That'll be the next thing they release in 20 years.

I doubt they will bother releasing anything in 20 years, considering the copyrights run out from 2012 until 2020.

I hope they open-source the original tracks someday. That would be too plethora.

Also, apologies for writing those two pseudo-Newspeak sentences above. Something's wrong with my brain today.

There's just no way those copyrights are going to run out without a fight...my money's on 2066 or somewhere around then.

Seriously. This is going to be the new Disney as far as copyright goes- the day Mickey Mouse or Sgt. Pepper are public domain, our great-great-great-great-grandchildren will be too busy fighting cannibal mutants for gasoline to care.

There's just no way those copyrights are going to run out without a fight...

That is an interesting thread on its own, I guess. But that could not possibly happen for The Beatles alone. Either the EU changes the copyright rule for recorded music to 95 years in Europe in general (which would also mean that Edith Piaf, Vera Lynn and Marlene Dietrich would be no more public domain for a few more decades) or The Beatles, Stones i.e. will have to put up with the same rules as other European acts.

Reiterating comments upthread, that BBC George Martin interview is excellent. O_o at the version of 'Love Me Do' with Pete Best. Great stuff. Thanks for the link, Pancakes!!