I imagine the color is noticeably faded on the original 1968 collage, so rescanning the stored away original wouldn’t produce favorable results. Using Hamilton’s own 2007 reproduction was the best choice.
So, the collage was reassembled from scratch in 2007, is that the deal? How does one do that? A lot of those pics look like one of a kind photos, like the Polaroids.
I believe the actual collage done in 1968 was copied to another piece of paper before being disassembled. The posters in each and every version of the White Album since 1968 have come from that copy or any copies made of it, causing massive generation loss. In the digital age, all Hamilton had to do was find the original polaroids/negatives and assemble them on a template before making a digital copy. With this digital copy, you have no generation loss.
Giles Martin is supposed to be in studio remixing Abbey Road, maybe he's finished that and is working on Let It Be. One thing that's mystified me. Sgt Pepper set a precedent with adding something inside the record sleeve ie w/Pepper ..fool inner sleeve, cut out moustaches. TWA ( poster/4 photos ).Let It Be big box, inside vinyl photo book...even The Beatles Christmas LP came with a poster( well my sent copy did in 1970). But not Abbey Road...a postcard would have been nice.
For me, neither should be the reference mix. The stereo is generally preferable, but I think that they messed up the stereo mix of “Back in the U.S.S.R.”: the plane noises make sense in mono where they sound like a guitar effect but they are way too prominent in stereo and, for me, almost spoil a great song. More than any other Beatles album the White Album is one where every song should be taken on a case-by-case basis, to the extent that Martin should have given himself the freedom to remix quite radically where appropriate and be very conservative where that produced the best results.
You mean the one album you haven't got is "Well The Beatles"? It was a good one. Released by Capitol as "The Beatles 3rd Sensational Fabulous new album from London, England in Full Dimensional Duophonic"
A thought on the cover of the deluxe box set. Maybe the pic what we saw does not feature the box with the dust jacket? Pepper had one. And the pick we have showcases just the box, but I do not see the dust jacket. Maybe it will be all white, but the cover, under the dust jacket - with the pics?
People will always associate tracks in different ways. For some a track is indelibly linked to the album on which it first appeared. For others it may be the era when the session was. For me personally, ATU (Wildlife) has more of a White Album feel than a Let It Be feel. Stripped of Spector's choir and orchestration it sits better with the WA. And while it wasn't actually part of the WA sessions as such, it's certainly closer in time to them than the LIB sessions. To each their own, but while we're each putting in our ten penworth, thought I'd add mine
Is Richard Hamilton still alive? If so, I wonder if Paul at least contacted him. Maybe Mr Hamilton had a say in the designing of the new deluxe set.
About the cover: It’s 2018 and it’s understandable that this reissue will benefit from having their four faces on the front. The Beatles Inc. always is going for maximum popularity, and as wonderful as I think The White Album is, I don’t think it has the same place in the general popular consciousness that Sergeant Pepper does or even Abbey Road. Especially when it comes to the cover art. Thousands of people who have never owned a Beatles album would identify Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road in a line-up. The White Album tends to fall between the cracks here. The blank white sleeve was a huge statement in November 1968, that statement doesn’t need to be made today. Your pre-2018 copy will not suddenly have an image on its cover (although it would have been impressive if Magic Alex could’ve pulled *that* off). It still remains the white album and as someone else has pointed out, it is actually called The Beatles; If an image has to be on the outside then these portraits are the appropriate response. Sgt Pepper made it to number one in the U.K. last year, and while I don’t expect the White Album reissue to achieve the same feet, Apple and the Beatles are always out to be popular, to appeal to a broad base, to sell the most copies. If that means putting their four faces on the cover of the reissue, then so be it.
Don't worry. If and when there is a LET IT BE deluxe set, "Across The Universe" will again be featured. There is no rule at Apple forbidding a song, or different variations of a song, from being repeated again on various box sets. I have a bootleg with about a dozen different versions and/or mixes of "Across The Universe". The version on the White Album box might be the version from Anthology 2, or it might be the Hums Wild mix, or something else. In the future, on the Let It Be box, it could be a different take or mix. And maybe one day (although doubtful), Apple will follow Dylan's path and release EVERYTHING from certain sessions. Right now, Bob is going to release the full sessions for the Blood On The Tracks sessions (6 CDs) in his Bootleg Series. Wouldn't it be great to have the Full February 1968 sessions? We'd get every take of Lady Madonna, Hey Bulldog, Across The Universe, and The Inner Light, plus any other jams/oldies that they might have snuck in.
The Let it Be demo - two random thoughts: So, Paul's "This is gonna knock you out, boy" (or whatever it was) intro on Anthology 3, which sounded like the song was about to be 'premiered', was perhaps snipped off from the WA version and tagged onto the later Get Back sessions (Jan 25th) run through? Why was a song so obviously major as Let it Be, not pounced upon by all concerned and finished up for the WA? (Perhaps it was introduced too late to the party? He said, attempting to answer his own rhetorical question).
I just checked the link to Amazon Japan and ￥ 18,208 for the 6CD/Blu-Ray set comes down to €137,-. Does this look like a reasonable price?
It probably was in a basic, primitive form, likely without full lyrics. The band already had over 30 songs. They had more than enough, regardless of how good "Let It Be" was. Also, my inkling is that Paul was already getting the idea for the Get Back/Let It Be project into his head before the White Album sessions ended. And maybe he kept back "Let It Be" on purpose, for use in that future project. I also don't think that Paul woke up in December 1968 and said let's do a whole film/new album/concert project, due to start in January 1969. The Beatles may have started thinking about it much earlier, and making plans for it (they did have to hire a film crew, rent Twickenham, schedule other various things, etc.), and this likely entailed a good amount of start-up time.
