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One of our producers got an early listen of the remastered music
By Dave McCoy
MSN Entertainment
The first time I listened to all of the Beatles albums was 1987. Like all humans, I obviously had heard the boys' stuff since I was child, but this was the first time I really dug in and became obsessed. My high school history teacher lent me his collection of cassette tapes. They were all out of order and sounded like they'd been recorded from the LPs from his bathroom... on the second floor. What made them sound "worse," was the crappy boom-box I played them on... or worse, the apparatus that some would call a "car stereo" in my crappy Honda Prelude. And yet...
It was the Beatles. Despite the quality, the heavens opened and enlightenment poured over me. I was sixteen and sound quality didn't really matter. What mattered were those harmonies on "You Won't See Me," the killer guitar solos on "The End," the haunting beauty (and a personal foreshadowing) of "She's Leaving Home," the creepy insanity of the "White Album"... and on and on.
View photos: In Focus: The Beatles
When I bought the Beatles' CDs a few years later, it was like an awakening. It's as if I was hearing them for the first time. It was like a magical cleaner had descended and lifted the grime and dirt off the records. I heard guitars I'd never heard. I was able to follow Paul's complex bass lines for the first time. The lyrics popped. It was a revelation; one that I thought could never be duplicated.
Until about two months ago, that is.
On June 2, I was invited over to legendary Capitol Records in Hollywood to have breakfast with the Beatles. EMI selected a few lucky journalists to come over and, for the first time, hear cuts from the remastered Beatles CDs, both Mono and Stereo versions (I am going to assume you have heard of this project by now; if not, move along). Also in attendance were two Abbey Road engineers, Guy Massey and Allan Rouse, who, for the last 4 painstaking years, lead the remastering process, where they tried to create the ultimate, authentic Beatles product using the most state of the art equipment. The plan for the morning? Spin some tracks, allow the music journalists have mental/emotional orgasms and then take their questions... all with bagels in front of us. Heaven!
So, about 10 of us crammed into Studio C and show began. For the first 10 minutes or so, 20-30 second clips of songs were played. First up were the versions that exist on CD now, which were immediately followed by the remastered version. The compare/contrast method was mind-blowing. Jaws hit the floor. (Watching other journalists respond to the music was almost as much fun as hearing it). We started with "I Saw Her Standing There," moved into "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver" and finished with "Come Together." The mid-to-later material revealed the biggest difference. A layer of murk has been lifted from these songs. You can hear fingers hitting strings. Lyrics pop in ways I've never heard. Each musical instrument seems to both occupy its own space and yet completely coalesce into something whole and astounding (you can following certain riffs in ways you never could before).
Related: My Son, the Beatlemaniac
This was followed by a few bits of Q&A with the engineers. I'm no audiophile (half of what came out of their months sounded like calculus to me and I suck at math), but the biggest thing that struck me was their approach to remastering. Usually "remastering" means turning up everything in the mix much louder. But Massey was quick to point out that they wanted to keep the dynamics in place and cranking up the volume was not the point. Mission accomplished.
The real fun began after the Q&A. The engineers said "What do you want to hear?" and requests flowed for about 45 minutes. We heard "A Day in the Life," "My Guitar Gently Weeps" and a handful. The highlight was the entire second side of "Abbey Road." Simply put, it's stunning. The way the bass rumbles in on "You Never Give Me Your Money" has never sounded so threatening, nearly angry. It turns the classic into a different song, adding new emotions that seemingly were never there. And that is just one example of hundreds. (Note: I received the stereo CDs this week. If you can't afford the entire box set, at least get "Revolver." It shimmers.)
I walked in to Capitol and thought "Do I really want to spend $250 on this new set and replace my old CDs?" Midway through the second or third clip, I had my credit card ready. And on 9/9/09, so should you.
Are you going to shell out the money for the Beatles remasters? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com.
Dave McCoy is a Senior Producer for MSN Entertainment.
View photos: The Beatles: Rock Band
