Almost every year since 2017, The Beatles, through their Apple label and Universal, have been rolling out multi-pronged 5oth anniversary reissues of such albums as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be. There has also been the Peter Jackson Get Back series, a Revolver reissue program and the Singles Collection box. This year fans were anticipating a possible Rubber Soul reissue series, similar to the one for Revolver. With the track “Now and Then” finally complete and the 50th anniversary of the Red and Blue just released, fans will still have to wait for Rubber Soul.
Much of what has driven the Red and Blue reissues and the release of “Now and Then” is the new demix/remix technology developed by Peter Jackson’s team. The technology allows for audio tracks to be separated and remixed anew. This is particularly handy technology to have with 4-track recordings where so many sounds are mixed together and with low-fi, mono or stereo cassette demos.
Of the two vinyl sets, the Red release has easily been the more anticipated as we get to hear many tracks newly remixed from 2023. The three albums here are very much a mixed bag. While many tracks don’t sound all that different from previous releases, some are quite different. Of the 38 tracks, all of the tracks are new 2023 mixes except for seven that were prepared for the Revolver reissue.
There are several tracks (“I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “All My Loving,” “Michele,” “Eleanor Rigby”) that seem to suffer from what appears to be wildly fluctuating volume. This wasn’t just a case of the benefits of welcome vinyl dynamic range, but instead appears to be due to random volume gain boost. “And I Love Her” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand” are a bit dry-sounding. On “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,” the signature tambourine that is a subtle key to the instrumental arrangement is sometimes almost inaudible. On “Nowhere Man” the drums are too low and the guitars are buried in the mix.
At the other end of the spectrum, throughout almost the entire three albums, the vocals sound excellent and on some tracks are better than on most other reissues of these tracks in the past. While some have complained that the addition of the third disc of tracks from throughout the ’63–‘66 period that wasn’t on the original Red set seems out of place and should have been interspersed chronically throughout, like on the CD reissues, for me it worked well as a bonus addition over the original release. In fact, these tracks almost uniformly and consistently sound quite good with little to criticize.
It’s understandable that some feel these tracks should have been interspersed chronologically, like on the CD reissues. Having them cordoned off on the third disc, however, keeps the original running order of the 1973 releases intact. Overall, to hear these earlier tracks from the group mixed without the hard panning right and left of vocals mostly on one side and instruments on the other was a revelation. Now, for the most part, vocals and drums are centered, making for a much more pleasing listen and a stereo sound that is closer to the excellence of these tracks, in the often superior, mono mix, which was how the Beatles intended them to be heard.
Some have argued that the inclusion of cover songs was a mistake. However, the three covers offer the perfect examples of the group’s major early influences. In the case of “Twist and Shout,” their cover became one of the most important early tracks from the group and a significant staple of their touring years. The cover of Smokey Robinson’s “You Really Got a Hold On Me” is a startling example of just how excellent the new vocal mixes are on this set. There is an intimacy and presence here that makes it sound like John Lennon is right in the room directly singing to the listener. “Roll Over Beethoven” places the importance of Chuck Berry among their early influences of the group front and center.
As for the songs written by The Beatles, there are some real winners, and, in some cases, surprisingly so. On “Girl” there is a presence to the vocals that creates a wonderful intimacy. Tracks like “She Loves You” and “Paperback Writer” are tastefully balanced. The harmonica on “Love Me Do” here is very soulful. “From Me To You” has some exquisite guitar detail.
The Blue albums are a very different affair, as we have already heard many of these remixes, from the White Album, Abbey Road, and Let It Be box sets. Also, after listening to the Blue album’s third disc, it further concludes that the extra disc, and the extra disc on the Red set, sound the best. Perhaps these albums were worked on first and great time and care went into making them just right. Of course, that is merely conjecture, but they do consistently sound the best of all the six albums.
While there are some real clunkers on the Blue set, overall the sound quality uniformly is better than on the Red. However, because there is so much here that we have already heard, at this time the Red offers more fresh new mixes to check out. As a result, with only eight mixes from the 2022 Revolver series previously released, the Red set offers more value for the money. The Blue only offers six new mixes of the 37 tracks.
“Penny Lane” has some wonderful subtleties with some sounds on “Hello Goodbye” brought out a bit more, and “The Fool on the Hill” and “Lady Madonna” offer slight differences. “Hey Bulldog” has an echoey, whooshing drum part brought to the fore and “I Want You” has some lovely guitar sounds, but the organ in parts sounds a little muted. The track is the last on the Blue set and, interestingly, the track that John Lennon wanted to end the Abbey Road album with, which of course didn’t happen. Thankfully, “Hey Jude” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” my two favorite tracks from the group, have been mostly left alone.
The only new track included here, “Now and Then” really is lovely and sounds great. While it does start off sounding more like a John Lennon track, it becomes more Beatlesque as it goes along. Ringo’s drums really make this a Beatles track in more ways than his playing is being given credit for. Starr has lost no luster on his impeccable chops as a drummer who serves the song, not his ego.
As most people know by now, the song began as a John Lennon home demo from the late-’70s. It was worked on around the time of the Anthology project by Paul, George, and Ringo in the mid-’90s and finished in 2023. “Now and Then” does seem out of place on these Red and Blue reissues and really would have been a more appropriate inclusion on a reissued Anthology release, but no doubt updating and reissuing that audio and video release is probably only going to happen quite some time in the future, maybe in 2025?
“All You Need is Love” lacks a little punch, “Magical Mystery Tour” has some harsh vocals, “Revolution” is missing something and is a little too boomy, and “Back in the U.S.S.R.” is missing the heft of the brash guitar attack. “Old Brown Shoe” has always been a great song, despite being recorded in a very idiosyncratic way per George Harrison’s instructions. Here it sounds even worse than on previous mixes.
“I Am the Walrus” has probably been the most contentious remix here. The biggest bone of contention is the part of the song where the BBC radio recordings were used. In this version, they are brought up very loud and it’s quite jarring. It also sounds a little thin in spots and a bit muddy, with some parts buried and some harsh vocals.
The Red and Blue sets can be purchased separately, on CD, and can be streamed in Dolby Atmos. This review was drawn from the black vinyl six-LP set, which includes the two three-album sets housed in a white slipcase. There is also a colored vinyl version of this box. Although two extra albums have been added, these packages remain gatefolds and not trifolds, which is a shame. There is a double-sided one-page insert in each of the two sets with photos and liner notes by John Harris.
The 180-gram vinyl was cut at half-speed and pressed in Germany, making these very high-quality records. As has been the case on nearly all of the reissues from The Beatles since the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band 2017 box, these stereo recordings are cut from digital files and not the original analog tapes. What makes this particularly interesting in this case is that the original Red and Blue albums, reissued many times over the years, in various formats, configurations and editions, were reissued on vinyl in 2014 and the UK/European editions were all cut from analog masters.
What is most significant about this is that the stereo tracks on the two sets in 2014 are in some cases the last time stereo versions of tracks are available on vinyl cut from the original analog tapes. Given the lack of complete albums cut from the original analog masters reissued on vinyl, including the 2009 releases, a stereo box set from analog tapes on vinyl being issued remains at the top of the wish list of many fans and audiophiles.
The new mixes here for tracks from Rubber Soul and Magical Mystery Tour create even more uncertainty of what the next reissue program may be from The Beatles. At this time next year, it will most likely be one or the other, but tomorrow never knows.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
The Beatles, 1962–1966
B
The Beatles, 1967–1970
B-
