Abbey Road 50th contents, outtakes and sound quality thread .. only

I'm happy with the SDE, but for those who bought the vinyl, I have a question.

Given what y'all got, would you rather have had it come in a double gatefold like Mono Masters (instead of a box) and had them knock off about $20?

Looking on Discogs, I discovered that there is more from the SDE book in the 2CD book then there is on the 3LP insert. What's up with that?

 

You mean UK first pressing vs. the new remastered CD? Come on, this is rhetorical, right?

 

I'm warming up to it, having listened to it four times. Got some Worcestershire Sauce for that crow? ...

I've heard Abbey Road so many times (got it for Christmas in 1969) that I know it practically from memory. So, a bit of extended listening to the new mix was required. I quite enjoyed it in the car today -- driving around in the Indian Summer we've had the last couple of days. The clarity is more evident to me now and the tonal balance seems more natural. Go figure. I didn't even mind the slapback-less "Oh! Darling" vocal, but the drums on "I Want You" still sound off somehow.

Still, this wins a spot on my CD shelf as a nice 'alternate' listen. I'll listen to the '87 CD tomorrow just as a reality check ...

 

Got the SHM-CD.... wow, why the japanese reissue sounds better than the standard remix pressing? Unbelievable!!!

 

I'm not particularly fond of the double gatefold though I do think the sessions discs could do with a gatefold.

As for the CD booklet I guess it's easier to cram more stuff into it than it is to get all the stuff onto the folding insert they've been sending with the deluxe record sets.

 

Interesting to see that Liam Gallagher's album made number 1. Somehow I think Liam won't mind too much being displaced at the top by the Fabs

 

He played just a small audio section from what was already published on a magazine in the 70s

 

Exactly. Particularly on side 1.

 

I hear the clicking on Because on the 2nd CD. I too thought it might be defect. Or a metronome. It made me stop listening to the CD at that point. Time to regroup and restart my listening. The outtake sound quality generally is very good.

 

Really? That’s interesting. I am also waiting for my Japanese SDE to arrive. I ordered it because the European edition had a defective blu-ray disc, which was infuriating. I’m sending it back and thought the Japanese edition might be a safer bet. Let’s see, but what you have reported definitely ramps up my excitement.

 

Some people like it, some people don't. I'm enjoying hearing from both camps.

 

Me too. This is an audiophile Forum. I don’t regard people assessing sound quality as “joyless” people just trying to prove how smart they are. Goodness.

 

To be fair to us... none of us are getting these for free. And I'm sure I've spent at least $75.00 over the years on this title... so just as I complain to upper management at Denny's when my watered down diet Coke doesn't have enough ice in it.... the suits at APPLE won't be too put out if we offer our two cents on some mixing choices, will they? I mean they gave their approval for the books and configurations... but we fans have given our hearing and our nervous systems...and that's a lot harder to give!

Also all the millennials and Gen Z's they are courting can't believe we are all here FIFTY YEARS LATER to lay down $100 bucks for an album we own 5 times over. After all.. these same younguns aren't eager to pay for that raft of Justin Bieber streams(his PRE gospel era) and they'll be hitting US up for extra cash when they want some of those SONOS speakers Giles is supervising. So, when they get through suing the downloaders and uploading Taylor Swift's rerecorded remasterings to their servers, they can track us all down and are free to sue us if our bellyachin'(or is it butthurtin' nowadays?) about another CD or two of outtakes is disturbing the atmosphere which all of us breathe. I know the world's CD and BLURAY(and SACD) pressing plants are besieged with people buying all they can churn out!!!

Now I can't complain! I am grateful to Giles for his time and attention to these remasters and making them happen. I applaud the whole team of professionals for their careful work and putting these together. And we have some very nice selections that we couldn't have dreamed of a year ago. But as we are all so often reminded in our lives...we are but an errant chunk of iced jet airliner toilet waste falling out of the sky from our own moment where we shall pass into memory and there's gotta be 1000 Japanese engineers at JVC Victor who would REALLY go to town on this stuff and get us Who Slapped John?, photos of John & Yoko getting stitched up, and Paul & George's drunken rendition of Something played on ukelele's in discrete ATMOS so ... MY socks...MY sandals...MY $79.98!!!!

 

I don’t know how many others here have made the comparison for themselves, but I bought both super deluxe edition’s so I could hear both the 5.1 mix on the Blu-ray, and the vinyl in stereo. And let me tell you, the stereo album sounds so much better than the stereo CD (after a side by side listen) it isn’t even funny. They pushed the CD mastering too far as usual, it’s much harsher and louder on that CD.

 

Euro copy here. Don't mind the remix, far better than the misguided PEPPER.
But, Bluray faulty. On a 2 year old SONY, grinds to a halt 1/2 way through GOLDEN SLUMBERS and locks out the final tracks totally. The same fault occurs at the same point on a 10 year old Panasonic.
At $175 Oz dollars, not good enough.

 

I also have a hard time believing that it is Paul on drums on "Old Brown Shoe".

But I also have just as hard a time believing that it is John on piano on that song. Because if Paul is on drums, then it is NOT Paul on piano. And the piano-style sounds, to me at least, like something Paul would play.

 

There is lots of stuff in the book that has surprised me. There is no John vocal on Carry That Weight? Well alright then. Paul does all of the harmonies on The End? Wow! I have no reason to question it but even having read Revolution In the Head, I am not sure I realised these things before. I must have a proper look and see how much of the album contains three Beatles or fewer. I do however like George & Ringo's reactions to not being involved with The Ballad of John & Yoko.

 

Me too.

Though there are only 3 people on the recording. If all 4 were there, then what happened to John's rhythm guitar (which is what he played according to previous accounts), unless he IS playing the piano instead.

And though Paul has claimed he can't play a shuffle, I'm not sure I'd call the beat on OBS a standard shuffle type beat. But some of the fills seem quite tricky.

So I don't know...

 

I find it so odd that no one ever mentioned this for over 50 years. Especially since Ringo has commented about not being the drummer on "Ballad Of John & Yoko". You'd figure that he would have mentioned also not being on the B-side ("Old Brown Shoe") as well, if the topic came up.

The tapes will undoubtedly be able to reveal the presence or absence of Ringo. I just wonder if the compilers of the info in the Deluxe book somehow screwed up, or if Ringo indeed was not there.

 

I'm curious about "Maxwells Silver Hammer" - i've always loved that song probably because we were taught it at Primary school (the music teacher was obviously a Beatle fan). The anthology version is Take 5 and the A R 50th is Take 12 but the beginning of verse 3 on both has identical vocals where Paul forgets the words and laughs after an exaggerated "Oh". So either Take 5 is an Outfake or Take 12 is - with vocals flown in - or the "comedy vocals" could be from a different take entirely. Nobody else probably cares

 

Thanks for this info which I wasn’t aware of.

So, if I wanted to correct the pre-emphasis on my amp, what would you recommend: bass +1 treble -1 or -2?
Even though I am not that much of a purist, I know that any change to the tone controls of an amp (which by hi-standards should operate in “line straight/direct” mode) will impact the purity of the signal. I suppose the end result will still be better than the pre-emphasised mastering?

Or do I need software for that? In that case I might as well create my own remaster...
Or listen to the 2009 remaster and the 2019 remix!

 

It's Ringo.

 

Mazzy...some thoughts: the original recording and mix of Abbey Road is wonderful...and I have no complaints about it. In fact, there are many things that I truly love about the original (the gently drifting guitars on Sun King, for one... the introduction of the cellos at the sane time as the vocals in Here Comes the Sun for another ).

However, I also am really enjoying the new mix. A casual Beatle listener would probably not notice much of a difference. It’s still Abbey Road. Your comment that the new mix “didn’t feel right” might have to do with how deeply the original is imbed into our DNA. Remember the first time you heard the U.K. Revolver mix if I’m Only Sleeping? It, too, didn’t feel right.

The thing I really enjoy about these remixes is the ability to listen to a well loved recording with fresh ears.

 

Might have to blame Thomas Dekker for that one: Cradle Song by Thomas Dekker

Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise ;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,

 

I thought it was ska instead, and that the bridge was a shuffle...