MEETING THE BEATLES AGAIN...
...or, Past Masters re-mastered forever and ever...
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Blogger's note: This is a way-too-long post that you'll probably have to read in shifts.
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Last year, all of The Beatles' British-edition albums were made available in Remastered form. Those, plus the re-mastered "Past Masters" 2-disc set, contain All of The Beatles Songs. "Re-mastering" involves mixing the sound, perhaps bringing more top and bottom range to the music and fiddling around with it until the Engineers are done fiddling with things. I'm not so sure the Remasterings sound all that much different unless you play them through a really sophisticated sound system. They didn't sound all that different to me. I was bound and determined not to buy them because I had all the albums in original LP (and CD) form. I maintained that resolve until the Beatle Collector in me capitulated and bought 'em. What can I say, I'm a Beatles Collector. I think I must be a 'record hoarder' (?)
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Well, once again, Apple Corps, the Beatles' licensing/business entity has found a way to keep that Brand New Beatle Product comin' at ya. The RED and the BLUE albums (you know, '62-'66 and '67-70) have been released, you guessed it, in Remastered Form. These are basically the Beatles' Biggest Songs, and both albums were initially released in 1973. I've read that since some of the songs had never been issued in Stereo in England, those songs dating back to their early days were re-mastered, re-processed, mixed into stereo, what have you, in order to fit the concept of Shimmering Stereo which was featured on Original Red and Blue albums.
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In short, for these re-mastered CD's, the songs which were featured on those albums which were re-mastered way back in the '70s evidently have been re-mastered again for current release. So, the 1973 re-masterings have now been re-mastered. Re-re-masters. Huh? What? And...there are three songs on the "Red" album which were issued in Stereo on the 1973 "Red" album which are now in MONO on the currently-remastered CD's you see here. The re-gressing of technology. Confusing? You Bet It Is.
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The "Stereo" effect, which is how "Love Me Do", "Please Please Me" and "From Me To You" were originally issued on the original Red and Blue albums has long since disappeared. For some reason, the original multi-track tapes ceased to Exist in the Record Company vault and as such, "True Stereo" versions of these 3 songs weren't available. You can mix a stereo recording down to mono, but it doesn't work the other way around unless you use an "artificial stereo" mix, which includes emphasizing High Frequencies in one channel and Low Frequences in the other. This is yer basic "Mono Reprocessed For Stereo". For instance, I have an "Artificial Stereo" version of "Love Me Do" on my copy of "Early Beatles" album (issued 1965) which still sounds great. So now, with all this high-tech available, it's Back To Mono for these 3 songs? Some things I just don't understand. Phil Spector, the Prince of Mono, must be splitting a gut over this in his prison cell!
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When these Red and Blue double-albums came out in the '70s, a lot of fans felt cheated because the Red Album is So Short. These are the older, shorter, under 3-minute Beatlemania songs. Total song time for the Red Album is somewhere along the lines of 65 minutes. You'd think all that could fit on one CD. But noooo...Apple Corps has issued both the "Red" and "Blue" re-masters on Two CD's each, just like when the vinyl sets first came out, on 2 LP's each. All of the Red album could've been squeezed onto one CD, and the leftover space could've featured some of the Blue album, since that's a longer album. Gosh, they've gotta be makin' money hand-over-fist on this deal. Two Short CD's per album. Lots of wasted disc space. Hardly a great deal. In the '60s, the Beatles tried to give fans more bang for their buck (witness the "White Album" which is Achingly Long). I guess those days are over.
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The justification for these re-master releases, so says Apple, is that a lot of younger fans first became aware of The Beatles in the early '70s by hearing these albums; so now the albums are important enough to Buy All Over Again. Of course, if you Follow The Money, the Record Company seeks to put out more product for the "Holiday" Season; get 'em on the shelves NOW! They make great stocking-stuffers!!! Be the first on your block to own one...or two...or... So What's happening next? Well, it turns out that Apple Records artists besides The Beatles, are also going to be issued in re-mastered form. I'm lukewarm on this deal. Sure, many others recorded (briefly) on the Apple Label, including Doris Troy, Mary Hopkin, Badfinger, Billy Preston, James Taylor and the Radha Krishna Temple vocalists (that last one is obviously a George Harrison signing, he being the mystic one, after all.) I'm probably not going to buy these. Emphasis on the word "Probably". A case of me needing Wiggle-room there. (I almost forgot: All of John's, Paul's, George's and Ringo's solo recordings will also be, if they aren't already, re-mastered and if not currently available, they soon will be at a big-box store near you).
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So, it's a case of re-meeting The Beatles all over again. And again. And so forth. Re-mastering the re-masters into Infinity. Remember back in 2001, The group's "1" album was such a big hit? Hint: That CD, if you can find it, is a really sweet deal, going for around $12, and it's loaded to the gills with music, unlike the Red and Blue album re-masters, which both feature enough empty space to park yer average SUV in. If you're not a Beatles' collector who has to have everything, you can re-master any record or CD you have. Just tweak the Treble and Bass buttons on your unit; perhaps even add some extra Bass at low volume by hitting the Loudness button.
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As I'm typing this, I'm listening to the remastered version of "Here Comes The Sun" on the re-mastered "Blue" CD and it sounds the same to me, and believe me, I'd know if one note was tampered with. I was gonna say, "You Can't Fool Me", but that's not true. I bought these CD's, after all. Please help me. I can't stop...