Beatles Remasters

This September will see the release of newly remastered versions of the Beatles' entire catalogue, after many years of gripes from fans all over the world about the 1987 issues on cd. A few thoughts have occurred and seeing as the net is full of mindless, meandering ponderings...why not add one more pondering?

Personally, I found that the Beatles' music was pretty good in almost any form, apart from the dire and frankly risible U.S. mixes for "I Feel Fine" and "She's A Woman". These two being the exception to the rule, or rather, my rule, that you can do many things to Beatlemusic but spoiling it it practically impossible. I would say that, as we're now nearly half a century into the Fabs' story, there are several generations of Fabheads around and they all have their preferences as to how the Beatles should sound, almost to the point of being quite pernickity and anal about it. I suspect that this September's fun and games will be a matter of racecourses for racehorses.

I include myself fully in this obsessive club, but cannot settle myself exactly on just what is the best way to hear the Beatles is....each way has good and bad points.

I love to hear an original pressing of, say, "Strawberry Fields Forever", for the dark and nightmarish sound and the crackles add more to the intrigue. It is in mono too, which puts across a more compact sound that is due to all the various sounds being piled onto each other. The negative is that it's not suitable for peering beneath the surface of the song, due to its' "mono-ness", but that's not what I'm using vinyl for. A stereo mix on vinyl is obviously better, but lacks the clarity of cd.

I also love to have a pristine digital copy in order to study and listen more intently. It's also very pleasant to hear the Moptops sound very clean and crisp.

Maybe I'm lucky in having the music on more than one format...

The point I'm making is that I don't have a single favourite way of listening to those four lads who shook the Wirral.

I understand that the new cds will use original stereo mixes made in the 1960s as the basis for their remastering project which has taken four years to complete. I'm so pleased that these original mixes will be re-released and in the best sound quality possible for one simple reason. Part of the Beatles' charm comes from how they sounded, so to make a new mix of their music would not be giving a faithful representation of how they sounded. Remember that these cds will become the standard editions of the catalogue, meaning that these have to cover several bases instead of the diehard Beatlehards.

Tinkering with the sounds is worthwhile, using modern mixing standards to bring vocals in the centre and fill out the sound more as two examples. This is, however, not the place for such projects, which are down to the particular quirks of whomever the mixer is and they are purely subjective. Of course, it'll be another excuse for EMI/Apple to peddle yet more cds of the catalogue for the audiophiles clinging on for 5.1 surround sound mixes (how you can achieve this on 2 track masters, as in the case of the earliest material, is beyond me), but nobody is forced to buy. Me? Why I'm sure I have a fairly good idea as to my decision....Amazon or Play.com?

Let's stop whinging about Apple and how they've "got it wrong again".... It's been said by those who have heard these tracks that fans will be stunned. I'm quite happy and excited to be stunned again by the Beatles. Roll on the 9th of the 9th!

Number 9...Number 9....Number 9