Well, of course they are not, really, back. They split four decades ago! Only two still move about the face of the earth, the other two consigned to that place the Righteous Brothers call "Rock and Roll Heaven".
Every once in a while there is something to stir the soul of those of us who grew up to the tuneage (as Bucky Katt would doubtless say) of the Fab Four. Last time, it was that "Love" CD, that captured the cleverly edited soundtrack to the Cirque du Soleil show in Vegas. Before that, maybe it was the anthologies. And all along, Paul has managed to pump out some quite credible stuff. OK, even really GOOD stuff, as is the case of his last couple of records, in my humble...
But, ever since neighborhood buddies Tom and Gerald wore me down and convinced me that this was good stuff, and actually before that, when I bought my first pop music "45", "I Want to Hold Your Hand" b/w "I Saw Her Standing There", these four mop tops have been constant soundtrack among all the more transitory ones.
So now there are new remasters of the entire oeuvre. I needed a piece of this, and bought a remastered Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, and Abbey Road. I have not even had time to properly listen to these, upstairs, with my '60's vintage Dynaco speakers, but just having them is quite an elixir, another sip from the Fab Fountain of Youth.
Well, time is moving on, and at this point Paul may wish he could return to the day when he WAS 64. But, armed with these remasters, the old becomes new again as I seek out the subtle and sizeable differences in the new mixes. And for me, in my life, that's something. All I've got to do is dig it, any time at all. Listening to their music, four and a half decades after I was introduced to it, I feel fine.
The End.
10 comments:
I was alone, I took a ride, I didn't know what I would find there.
Oh I'm sorry. I should just let it be. Just keep on the long and winding road.
Number 9, number 9 number 9...
WIXY, feel free to comment, or ask me why, any time at all!
Whadya mean, "Paul may wish he could return.."? I thought Paul is dead.
I still love the Beatles...and even *gasp* liked Paul with "wings."
Slight correction from a geek who cares: These are remasters, not new mixes. "Yellow Submarine" was once remixed, but that's all. And the UK mixes of the early stuff do vary from the original crappy USA mixes. I'm waiting for the remixes, which should come around 2020, maybe in surround sound, on some digital file format that hasn't been invented yet. CDs will be dead, but hopefully Paul and Ringo won't.
I had pointed that out to someone. As I understand it, and as I hear it, they boosted some things, eliminated noise, but did not mess with the pan.
By 2020, you'll get it in some virtual 360 degree format with holographic Beatles in your living room...
..and I used the term "remaster" advisedly.
Yes sir. BTW, has the City of London finally restored the Abbey Road crosswalk and lane stripe to its rightful historic status instead of that dumb revisionist zigzag? They should also permanently park a VW up on the curb with a "28 IF" license plate. This is the biggest municipal musical parking opportunity since Winslow, Arizona failed to put a flatbed Ford on the corner.
Winslow does have a sign on the corner, but alas, no flat bed Ford. I know; I have stood there.
Thank you for that incisive on-location reportage from Winslow, AZ as we have grown to expect from streetpolo.
Better than the falsehoods I reported which should be corrected: "Let It Be" was indeed remixed a few years ago under the name "Naked" and the "Help" movie has been remixed for 5.1 channels, presumably to the same high standard as "Yellow Submarine".
And the new relases of the first four UK Beatles albums are now in stereo for the first time ever on CD. I headphoned "Hard Days Night" (best pre-"Rubber Soul" Beatles album IMHO) at my local B+N the other day using their scanning device. Aside from the crappy MP3 sound used with those scanners, the stereo mix sounded pretty darn good, with the vocals panned right down the middle. I then went home and listened to my old vinyl "Something New" in "Capitol Full Dimensional Stereo", which was the closest thing to a domestic version of the UK "Hard Days Night". The mix sounded similar, but with that ridiculous reverb that the old US versions were known for, which was also reportedly kept for that dumb USA version boxed set.
I'm happy to say that the reverb on the new "Hard Days Night" CD is kept at a reasonable level. So I don't know if this is a new mix or not, but it's new to CD and a great improvement over the old mono CDs.
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