And Speaking of The Beatles...

The latest buzz is that all of their original albums are finally on course for a re-release; apparently some guy has been remastering them for a few years now, and now that they finally settled the lawsuit against EMI, The Beatles (or to be more exact, Paul, Ringo & the widows) are looking to have the new and improved albums out later this year.

Remastering old material can have various benefits; sound recording technology has improved so much in the last few decades that there is no denying the overall sound quality can be improved in amazing ways, and it also gives you the ability to improve glitches and so forth. The Cure have been slowly working through their back catalogue for the last few years, and very much to fans approval. And I also have the entire Queen catalogue digitally remastered, which again I will say suits the music in many ways (especially given how revolutionary they were in the studio).

But when it comes to The Beatles, did this really need to happen? Yes, the remastered Yellow Submarine Songtrack released many years ago showed a huge improvement in the sound quality, but there was one major difference to that album: George Harrison. Harrison was completely in the know when it came to this technology, and as such oversaw the complete restoration of that album, as well as his first solo album All Things Must Pass. He had planned to remaster his entire catalogue, but sadly, passed away before he could complete any more.

It just seems that since he’s been gone, there is no longer anyone to stop Paul McCartney and his ‘vision’ of what The Beatles should have been. George died, and 2 years later we got the tackily titled Let It Be… Naked – purely because Paul had always hated the original mix of the album, blaming Phil Spector for turning the album into something that “didn’t sound like The Beatles”. John and George of course had no problem with the album, with John once stating "He was given the shittiest load of badly-recorded shit with a lousy feeling to it ever, and he made something of it." And so I am left asking, what will become of The Beatles’ music? Will we lose the fun little nuances and things that made them so special?

I don’t know, maybe I’m just cynical and stuck in my ways, but I don’t see much point in giving Paul McCartney more money just so I can have music I already own, without as much character. Maybe it’s just the idea of the pointless and self-rewarding project that was Let It Be… Naked being repeated on all The Beatles albums that came before it. When I think it about it a little – and I ignore a little bit of history and just focus on Yellow Submarine – then I begin to think that maybe this could be a good thing.

There is no denying that The Beatles suffered greatly due to the lack of technology (although, Wikipedia actually dares to call to Abbey Road “state of the art” during the recording of Sgt. Pepper’s – even though it was constantly criticized by The Beatles for being completely behind the times; they were still having to use a 4-track recorder, while studios in the states were starting to use 8 and 12 track recorders) and because of that, their music does lack something. I will even admit that I would kind of like to hear a remastered version of Abbey Road, just to hear it in all its splendour and glory. And the original mono mix of Sgt. Pepper’s is apparently very different from the stereo version we hear today, as it was the only mix that was overseen by The Beatles, and therefore more what they wanted from the album, so using this as a tool to present the music the way they wanted could be good. Although, what do you think the chances are of someone releasing an album in mono in this day and age?

I guess I’m just not really convinced yet; The Beatles were recorded in analog, the early recordings will sound like that regardless – a sound which I think they suit, being old rock’n roll songs that should be played on vinyl - and I don’t see much need for a 24-bit digitally remastered recording of From Me to You. Unless the improvements in sound quality are vast. And Paul McCartney keeps his ugly old mug out of the mixing room. And if I see a single song credited as McCartney/Lennon, I am personally going to fly to London and beat Sir McMarketing with a remastered limited edition of my microwave!