The Beatles - Remasters

No matter what your opinion may be, but for Guy Massey, Simon Gibson, Sean Magee, Sam Okell, Steve Rooke, Paul Hicks, and Allan Rouse, they both either did an amazing job or the most magnificent to be more precise. For Allan Rouse, who was an assistant engineer, joined in 1971 at EMI studios, did a painstaking process to complete the re-mastering and the EQ quality of one of the most influential rock bands to come out of Liverpool, released 14 albums in Stereo and only 11 in Mono, recorded at the Abbey Road Studios to be revamped for the September release for fans to sink their water into. But for these seven guys who worked tooth and nail to get it right, and there’s no argument to mess with the works to destroy the four men created a beauty. Well shall I give an Amen on that, this is pop music right here!
September 9, 2009 was the day that Apple and Capitol Records released the reissues of the Beatles recordings in a new digipak re-mastered CD edition with the record label of the Parlophone to the Apple label in these brilliant conditions while the Beatles Rock Band video game became a successful classic to be a part of the lads.
But here, there are two situations you must know. This is not a new 5.1 stereo mix and no bonus tracks, this is the real deal of the ‘60s revolution (even though Help! and Rubber Soul which are the 1986 remix sound that George Martin worked on) Here are the Beatles work that we love and know from an older and new generation of fans, but to get a new plastic surgery for a big operation. What I have are the Stereo mixes on CD. The first four albums are finally released on Stereo, (except Love Me Do and PS I Love You are on a Mono mix). But the Stereo mixes from what I’ve heard so far are so destined to have a huge jump for joy when the fans are listening to the music on their iPod or considering them the Desert Island Discs when they’re stuck on.
For me, being a huge Beatles fan (still am to this day and considers A Hard Day’s Night, Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, and The White Album as close to home when the team of Lennon/McCartney come to singer-songwriting), I had the pleasure of buying Sgt. Pepper very early before the 9.9.09 release date. While I was listening to this album in its glorified sound of Stereo, I can definitely hear a lot of the bass guitar, drums, guitar compositions, and the warmth from start to finish and I began to think – Jesus Christ! This is fucking amazing!
Although, it turns out to be, rather than just a waste of time, the finish line became a championship, it was almost as if we’ve never heard it before. Respecting the quality of the Beatles work in a new edition are following the true faith to what is now on the tapes since Vinyl. The Re-mastering from what I’ve heard in this new technique, is a little bit elusive, but with a vivid impression on my part – the songs and the music are right on and rich, not only as a tribute to George Martin and the Beatles, but to pay tribute to the late Hurricane Norman Smith and of course engineer of the Beatles, Geoff Emerick. When you listen to these new Re-masters in a new sound either Stereo or Mono, its like learning to cook a delicious Apple Pie with all the ingredients you need, and never in my wildest dreams, has the music still continue to influence us to this day.
The whole process of re-mastering these classic albums was a painful process, but it’s mind-boggling. There were a lot of things on what needed to be fixed or bring the sound in front, and lot of discussions on what to put in from the re-mastering engineering team, along with Allan who’s been there since day one and these guys are die hard fans of the fab four. In a lot of research, the positive treatment, getting rid of pop noises from the mic, and the attention bringing the project to the table is almost that could give the Beatles catalogue a music history lesson to receive.
Now I know some of you are going to ask me; ‘But Zack, I’ve already got the CD albums that were issued in the ‘80s, and they sound like dog shit, what should I do with them?!’ Well, I ain’t going political with that bullshit and the difference of the ‘80s masters of the analog version of the Beatles sound, it does sound like dog shit when they first came out except the ‘86 remix that George Martin did a good job on. This is a good question: a lot of the CD quality where the original tapes that the masters were used, example with the Beatles albums, so the with the old and the 21st century sound of the Compact Disc are both the same. Which means that in what you’ll hear, in a different quality, and the work they did to make the tapes move from one place to another tape sound, and as we are in the future, the engineering team used a digital higher sound from the analogue tapes to a much better futuristic quality that was much better than the quieter sounds of the ‘80s.
The huge effort that the team worked on, was to stay positive to the true sound of the original mixes that were released during that time period, so these new editions may be the perfect soundtrack than the ‘80s masters and the sound quality itself for the Beatle fans like its Beatlemaina 2.0 all over again. The ‘60s soul tribute to Smokey Robinson and the Miracles of You Really Got a Hold on Me has more intelligible technique when you hear the backing vocals of Paul and George coming in. The double-vocal arrangements done by John on the Stereo version of the balladry with If I Fell, but here you can tell the band were having a good time, the cowbells and the upbeat sounds of John and George’s guitar zoom on with You Can’t Do That, The homage to Mia’s sister of Dear Prudence is more of a sudden wonder with Paul’s bass work coming in front while Good Morning, Good Morning section with the horn brings a standstill, making the quirky number creating magic in a tour de force that you won’t believe your own ears to listen to. The clapping rhythms on I Saw Her Standing There, No Reply, I'll Follow The Sun, Back in the U.S.S.R. along with And Your Bird Can Sing rage with excitement, making those two songs in a different sound that you’ve never heard before, and the tambourine shining with the eerie avant-garde psychedelic rocker of John’s Tibetian book of the dead period, Tomorrow Never Knows.
Now, on the re-masters, it comes again with a digipak with an amazing fold-out featuring rare photos of the band, along with a booklet with an essay by Beatles Historian Kevin Howlett, Mike Heatley, and Mark Lewishon who did an introduction essay for the Sgt. Pepper re-issue. In the essays, it deals with the recording sessions, and how the re-mastering was done. Also, it includes a mini documentary which features excerpts from the award-winning emmy of the Beatles Anthology which was aired in 1995. It features never before seen photos, and rare audio recording sessions with studio chat while they were making the albums and narration from the fab four along with George Martin.
If there was one concept with the re-mastering that might be in the works hopefully in which I want to see happen next, even though they gave the Deluxe Edition works on The Who Sell Out, Brain Salad Surgery, Kind of Blue, Ah Um, Tommy, Who’s Next, or Bitches Brew. I always imagine they might re-work on these albums for the near future, but for right now, if you love the way the digipak smells beautifully and wonderous work of the mastering quality of the Beatles work, then don’t faint or collapse for god’s sake, this is a must have in your collection. The music of course, still kicks fucking ass!