The Beatles on SACD

[the_pauley]

Sorry to get your hopes up!

But I thought that an e-mail to Apple Corps would be an idea, to see exactly what was happening with the number one back catalogue in the world.

typed in www.applecorps.com and got this.

Does anyone have a clue where we can petition / enquire about Beatles releases? The decision on what is released and when rests solely with Apple, not EMI, so we really need to contact Apple.

The way things are going with DVD and CD / SACD releases, there is a real danger of most of their original fans being dead before everything gets released!

Still not on DVD is "Help", "The Beatles at Shea Stadium", "Magical Mystery Tour" (apart from a disc of dubious origin) and "Let It Be", let alone any potential compilations of promo videos, concert footage, etc. To this day there has still been no CD release for the "Live At The Hollywood Bowl" album released on vinyl in the mid-'70s.

And that's before we've even addressed the issue of SACD releases of the back catalogue. Hell we'd even settle for ordinary CD re-masters if they were up to the standard of the "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" CD!

If anyone has any suggestions / knowledge of who we can e-mail, please let me know.

[Kenny Glasgow]

Pauley

Shea Stadium will be out on DVD this summer (40th anniversary);

The filming of the extras for Help/MMT/LIB were done at the same time as AHDN so it's only a matter of time. If you have seen the promo film for Get Back (when LIB...Naked came out) you'll know what a good job Apple has done restoring LIB. It will probably be better than it was first shown, just like Yellow Sub. You can get this on the DVD EPK

Abbey Road has been mixed into 5.1. When it will be out I don't know and if it will be Hybrid SACD, DVD-A or Dual Disc I don't know. Macca's new album is out in September so if Abbey Road is set for this year it will be after that. The rest who knows (I made CD versions of my Japanese 70's Apple stereo pressings of the first 4)

Hollywood Bowl may come out with the concerts from 1964 and 65 in full. (I have managed to make a good CD out of my vinyl copy). You can get bootlegs of both concerts complete so the mastering ahs been done. Whether it was in 1965, 1977 or more recently I don't know

You can write to Apple at Ovington Square. They are not as mysterious as they used to be and you should get a reply. Have you tried neil.aspinal@applecorps.com?..............................

[Kenny Glasgow]

Pauley

Should have added that Help and MMT were released on R1 DVD and the quality was pretty good. The soundtrack was DD 2.0 however. You can still get MMT from Australia. All these DVDs were officially licenced from Apple.

I watch them often and the kids love them

[the_pauley]

Thanks for that Kenny. Yes I hazarded a guess at an e-mail address for Neil. First attempt was bounced back as unknown, but the second got through.

Asked about DVD and re-mastered CD/SACDs. Let's see what the reply will be...

[Kenny Glasgow]

Let me know how you get on

[Kenny Glasgow]

Found this on one of the Beales fan sites......

While at Sterling Sound interviewing George Marino for my turntable set-up DVD, I heard some familiar music coming from Ted Jensen's room. I popped in to find him listening to the master tape of the American version of Rubber Soul, which some Beatles fans think is a better track list than the UK edition. Your choice. Jensen was working on a follow-up box set to the well received Capitol Albums Vol.1 4 CD set.
Jensen had the Rubber Soul, Help! and The Early Beatles tapes in his mastering suite, along with CD-R cut from first pressing vinyl so he could compare.

He also told me, rather casually, that EMI was working at Abbey Road on the long overdue remastering of the entire UK Beatles catalog.

Now, I hear you screaming "What about vinyl?" and I have no word on that but I do have a few interesting clues that I can pass your way:

1) a UK vinyl reissue label tells me all of a sudden the EMI catalog has "dried up" and is no longer available to him.

2)Classic Records's Mike Hobson holds a press conference at CES claiming it will be "the most important in the history of Classic Records," yet all he announces is a series of Everest titles from 35MM mag tapes and an extensive mono series including Billie Holiday's Clef catalog, and vinyl versions of the Mrs. Elvis Costello (Diana Krall) albums.

Now, does that strike you as "the most important" announcement from Classic compared to say, the RCA "Living Stereo" series, or the Roy Orbison catalog? It doesn't to me.

So what I was thinking is that Classic intended to announce The Beatles catalog but couldn't for some reason.

Then I hear that news from Ted Jensen.

And then I hear that Classic's Mike Hobson is out of town, traveling in the U.K.

Now you draw your own conclusions!

[Kenny Glasgow]

US Capitol Albums Vol.2 set fro release by Apple on April 11th

http://www.amusicdirect.com/products...-4&j=4141349&e

[Kenny Glasgow]

Heard over the weekend from my "contact" at EMI that a memo has gone out saying that no more of the current CDs are to be pressed..........

[the_pauley]

I'd noticed an unusually large amount of retailers offering unusually low prices on these and wondered were EMI having a clear out in preparation for a reissue series.

I hope if they're doing hi-res versions they go for SACD and not DVD-A.

[FeisalK]

I hope if they are doing hi-rez they go with DVD-A like they did LOVE. that way more people - anyone with a DVD player and a 5.1 system - can experience it in surround at least.

[Kenny Glasgow]

I've not heard yet how the albums will be presented but I would guess that if there is to be a hi-res release DVD-A looks like the current EMI option

With Love being on DVD-A and Bowie's Young Americans 30th Anniversary coming out as a CD/DVD double pack

Saying that the Genesis back catalogue will be on CD/SACD

With the deal now done with the other Apple, it looks llike the albums will be available from iTunes first before they come out on disc

Strongest rumour is that both mono and stereo versions will be available in the one package with new stereo re-mixes along the same lines as the Yellow Submarine Songtrack album

[the_pauley]

These albums were designed as two channel audio experiences as was the vast majority of albums re-released on to SACD and DVD-A. In my experience the surround versions on such albums, particularly '60s releases) tend to dissapate the original mix, with a resulting thinning out of the soundstage (bear in mind most of The Beatles output was recorded on 4 track recorders). The 2 channel mixes (hi-res and standard) invariably sound punchier and more dynamic, not to mention accurate.

Surround sound is great on movies but on music SACD/DVD it is an annoying gimmick. My first DVD-A (Flaming Lips "Yoshimi...") proved to be a pain in the neck to listen to, and with the constant panning of music (for no other reason than they could) became a major distraction. The CD gets played almost exlusively with the DVD-A dug out when people ask "What's that?".

A good quality, well balanced stereo hi-fi will give you an expansive 3D soundstage anyway, and a more accurate recreation of the original recording than adding another four speakers to the mix.

I'm equipped to play DVD-A and SACD, but my overriding gripe with DVD-A is that I hate having to switch on my TV in order to listen to music.

[the_pauley]

The mono and stereo mixes would be an excellent option.

A rarities disc would be nice too along the lines of the US vinyl release in the late '70s with the 'Penny Lane' trumpet tag, etc.

Wonder if they're planning the remastering treatment for the whole catalogue (anthology, etc) or just the original material released during the lifetime of the band?

[Kenny Glasgow]

Pauley

Up until Abbey Road the albums were mixed for a one channel experience with stereo as an afterthought!!

The first recordings were recorded on two and three track machines with four track coming in for A Hard Days Night. Some of the White Album is 8 track and Abbey Road (I think) may have been sixteen by joing two 8 tracks machines.

However that's only half the story. Even though 2/3/4/8/16 track recorders may have been used a lot of the instruments were "bounced down" from four tracks to one to allow more instruments to be recorded, so in theory you could get 4x4x4x4 etc etc. That's what was done big style for Sgt.Pepper.

Now the good thing from the Beatles recordings point of view is that all those takes, bounce downs etc were keept in the vaults with the exception of the first few bits and pieces up to around She Loves You.

What that means is that Apple/EMI can go back to the original recordings of each original track and put them onto a big HD and 256 channel mixer or whatever they have these days and re-mix.

That is what was done for Love and why it sounds so fresh and like it was recorded last week. Every single piece of tape was completed this way for the Love project and will be the basis of the new releases

This is for me what makes it so exciting but I only hope that as well as new stereo and/or multi channel mixes we still can have the original mono and stereo mixes (even though the original stereo mixes are "flawed")>

[the_pauley]

Yes, apparently The Beatles supervised all of the mono mixes up until Abbey Road and chucked the tapes to the engineers to do the stereo mix.

Apparently, the first time Lennon heard Revolution in stereo was in the mid '70s on the 1967-1970 album and was appalled at the mix.

If Apple are true to previous form I don't think we'll get all of the variants. Perhaps remastered mono and remastered/remixed stereo at most. I reckon we'll get something along the lines of the Yellow Submarine Songtrack, remastered sound with minor revisions (such as placing the vocal in the centre of the soundstage in Eleanor Rigby, etc).

I can quite live with those type of "improvements".