Beatles "white album" deluxe edition / remix

eviltimeban

Anyone else get this / streaming it? It sounds pretty amazing I have to say, they did a great job on it. You can really hear the seperation in the instruments and everything is much clearer.

The outtakes are pretty great too, including all of the "Esher demos" - a full set of demo tracks recorded in George Harrison's house before they went into the studio.

Arghus

I've flicked in and out of it. There's an absolute ton of music there. A 13 minute version of Helter Skelter - Janey Mac.

Love The White Album. It's just such a mad all over the place listen. I'd agree with the view that it's their best - you get quality and quantity.

The Nal

Enjoying some of the mixes. Won't be coughing up for it though. The Esher demos have been available for years and most of them are on the anthology.

Martins son is talented though no doubt. It sounds terrific.

noby

Only properly started listening to The Beatles in the last couple of years, so for me this is not something I will be rushing out and buying - endless hours of outtakes and demos is probably more for the completist, tbh. Plus it's not cheap. I'll probably give the demos a listen at some stage.

I read a good review during the week, which praised the album, and this re-issue, but with one caveat which basically summed up to :" The dank, Moe! The dank!"

When Sgt. Pepper came out last year, instead of buying it I got a 1968 mono repress (to go with my more recent stereo reissue). I'm sure Giles Martin is an amazing talent, but I'd like to listen to what was great about these recordings for the last fifty years (warts and all) before I progress on to these versions.

eviltimeban

noby wrote: »

I'd like to listen to what was great about these recordings for the last fifty years (warts and all) before I progress on to these versions.

I'd argue that you, and other relative newcomers to the Beatles, are the ideal candidate for the new remixes. The original stereo mixes will sound strange to the modern ear, as in those days stereo was as much a novelty as 3D is / was in cinema now. So you'll get things like drums / bass and even vocals hard panned to the left or right.

These new mixes fix that by not only panning them in a more modern fashion (usually, drums, bass, and main vocals in the middle) but also increasing the fidelity of the instruments, vocals, and orchestrations. The bass is much better and the tracks really hit home.

A good example is Helter Skelter. In the original stereo mix, the guitars are quite distant and the bass is really loud, and off to the side too. It sounds weird if you're listening on earphones. In the late '60s most people with stereo equipment listened on speakers, so it wasn't as noticeable. And the majority only had mono equipment.

The other reason to discard the old stereo mix is because the Beatles had nothing to do with it. They oversaw the mono mix (as they did with Pepper) but left the stereo to the engineers. Sure, they signed off on it, but it was for a smaller market in those days, so it didn't matter to them as much. It was only a year or so later that stereo became the norm, and the first album they worked on the stereo mix was Abbey Road, ironically the last album they recorded.

With Pepper, Giles Martin said he used the mono mix as his guide with regards to the prominence of the instruments. That stereo mix is phenomenal, with only one or two small gripes. The "white album" is the same - everything sounds better and fuller, and more modern compared to what else you might be listening to.

As for the extra tracks, there's nothing really essential besides the acoustic demos: The studio version of "Not Guilty", the version of "Good Night" with the harmony vocals, and Paul doing "Los Paranoias" (how he makes those sounds with his mouth I'll never know).

noby

eviltimeban wrote: »

I'd argue that you, and other relative newcomers to the Beatles, are the ideal candidate for the new remixes. The original stereo mixes will sound strange to the modern ear, as in those days stereo was as much a novelty as 3D is / was in cinema now. So you'll get things like drums / bass and even vocals hard panned to the left or right.

Yep, I'm aware of the limitations of the original stereo mixes, that's why I went with more recent stereo mixes, and with Sgt. Pepper a mono mix.

If I was starting over (as opposed to a couple of years ago) I would have liked to have gone with the recent mono mixes, and over time I might replace what I have with these.

(Sorry, I know I'm derailing the topic a little.)

eviltimeban

^ there was only ever one set of stereo mixes: Made at the time, in the 60s. The 2009 versions are remasters, not remixes.

Same with the mono releases - they didn't make a new mono mix, they just remastered the original mono mix. Sure, you can argue those original mono mixes are the "true" mixes, but that was before stereo became the norm.

The only "recent" stereo remixes that have been done (besides what is on the Anthology albums) are what we are listening to now, as well as:

Yellow Submarine Songtrack (1999)
Let It Be...Naked (2003)
Love (2006)
1 (DVD version) (2015)
Sgt Pepper deluxe version (2017)

If you can seek out Yellow Submarine Songtrack (*not* the Yellow Submarine album) do, because you get great remixes of things like Hey Bulldog and It's All Too Much, plus a remix of every other song used in the film (including the Rubber Soul and Revolver tracks used).

noby

You're right, of course. I meant remaster, not remix.

fryup

number 9 number 9 number 9

Len_007

This caught me by complete comprise on Amazon Music. Only have the dying minuets of my lunch break to get a quick listen of select tracks. But, my goodness, 50 years ago never sounded so recent. The bass line in "While my guitar gently weeps", who knew that was even there?! Not me. Got me in the gut, so good.

eviltimeban

It does indeed sound like a lot of modern "indie rock". Or, more accurately, a lot of modern "indie rock" sounds like the white album.

It's all about the mood though. The white album has this uneasy, insular, sort-of-creepy mood that casts its shadow as the album goes on. I always feel like it starts in sunlight, bright and happy, and then moves on to night and darkness. Cry Baby Cry is a very creepy song if you think about it; it could be a ghost story, and it taps in to that weird nursery rhyme genre.

It's very much the Beatles looking inward, rather than outward. As Ian MacDonald put it, an album of "locked doors", childhood memories, and rooted in their own lives (besides Ob La Di Ob La Da ).

This mood, the diversity of the material, and high standard of writing and performance, makes it what it is.

The Nal

A few interesting articles on it today.

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20181121-why-the-white-album-is-the-beatles-greatest

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/the-beatles-white-album-tracks-ranked-paul-mccartney-john-lennon-george-harrison-50-anniversary-a8643431.html

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/beatles-white-album-50-anniversary-deluxe-edition-release-vinyl-myths-a8646511.html