The Beatles albums remixed by Giles Martin

[Pohjolas Daughter]

It reminds me of a related incident from some months before. I was a student at Columbia College in upper Manhattan and, for some reason, decided to walk from campus to Grand Central Terminal, rather than taking the subway. Walking past then Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5th avenue I saw a camera crew filming a bizarrely dressed woman dancing down the steps of the Museum followed by a cohort of followers, as an unfamiliar song played on a sound system. I stopped to watch, and a production assistant asked to borrow a book I was carrying, and she gave it to one of the performers to film a scene in which she was sitting on the stepsreading the book but decided to joint the procession.

Later, I saw the video on MTV. It was Cyndi Lauper and they were filming the video for "Girls Just Want to Have Fun."

The scene with my book didn't make it into the video. The scene on the steps of the Met appears briefly at about 2:48 in the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PIb6AZdTr-A

Cool story!  Do you recall what book you had lent her?

PD

[Elgarian Redux]

If there are people out there that want to hear Beatles albums remixed, why not? But I find myself more interested in the sources produced when all four Beatles were present to approve the result.

That's how I feel about it too. Do as many remixes as you like, but I can't get very interested. I did try the Abbey Road one, but I've only listened to it once. Maybe I'm too old: I want my Beatles to sound like the Beatles I grew up with.

But reading about the remixes did send me back to my original albums, particularly Sgt Pepper. I've always liked to listen to it with eyes closed, imagining that I'm in a theatre where a series of events are unfolding on stage, and this time I wondered if I might be able to make a kind of model Sgt Pepper Theatre, using the album cover, but making it into a 3-D construction in a box.

I printed out a dozen or so copies of Peter Blake's marvellous LP cover and started cutting, working from the back, forwards, glueing each layer on top of the last, with spacers in between. (This of course is a sort of undoing of the photographic process that originally created the cover design from a real three-dimensional arrangement.) When it was done I put a fake stage with a set of fake seats and curtains in front of it as a kind of mount, and then framed and glazed the whole thing. I covered the back of the box with 'brick wall' patterned paper, and stuck a copy of the Mr Kite poster on it, so it looks like the back of a theatre. I keep it propped up on top of a bookcase, where it radiates lots of colourful Pepperised fun.

Unfortunately a lot of its 3-D qualities get lost in a photo (the box is about 3 inches deep, but it looks shallower than that in the photo). But this, below, is the best I've got. It may be true to say that if the remixes had not been 'in the air' at the time, I might never have thought about doing this.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

That's how I feel about it too. Do as many remixes as you like, but I can't get very interested. I did try the Abbey Road one, but I've only listened to it once. Maybe I'm too old: I want my Beatles to sound like the Beatles I grew up with.

But reading about the remixes did send me back to my original albums, particularly Sgt Pepper. I've always liked to listen to it with eyes closed, imagining that I'm in a theatre where a series of events are unfolding on stage, and this time I wondered if I might be able to make a kind of model Sgt Pepper Theatre, using the album cover, but making it into a 3-D construction in a box.

I printed out a dozen or so copies of Peter Blake's marvellous LP cover and started cutting, working from the back, forwards, glueing each layer on top of the last, with spacers in between. (This of course is a sort of undoing of the photographic process that originally created the cover design from a real three-dimensional arrangement.) When it was done I put a fake stage with a set of fake seats and curtains in front of it as a kind of mount, and then framed and glazed the whole thing. I covered the back of the box with 'brick wall' patterned paper, and stuck a copy of the Mr Kite poster on it, so it looks like the back of a theatre. I keep it propped up on top of a bookcase, where it radiates lots of colourful Pepperised fun.

Unfortunately a lot of its 3-D qualities get lost in a photo (the box is about 3 inches deep, but it looks shallower than that in the photo). But this, below, is the best I've got. It may be true to say that if the remixes had not been 'in the air' at the time, I might never have thought about doing this.

Oh, how fun!  And clever!  What did you use for the curtains and the seats and the stage?

PD

[Spotted Horses]

That's how I feel about it too. Do as many remixes as you like, but I can't get very interested. I did try the Abbey Road one, but I've only listened to it once. Maybe I'm too old: I want my Beatles to sound like the Beatles I grew up with.

But reading about the remixes did send me back to my original albums, particularly Sgt Pepper. I've always liked to listen to it with eyes closed, imagining that I'm in a theatre where a series of events are unfolding on stage, and this time I wondered if I might be able to make a kind of model Sgt Pepper Theatre, using the album cover, but making it into a 3-D construction in a box.

I printed out a dozen or so copies of Peter Blake's marvellous LP cover and started cutting, working from the back, forwards, glueing each layer on top of the last, with spacers in between. (This of course is a sort of undoing of the photographic process that originally created the cover design from a real three-dimensional arrangement.) When it was done I put a fake stage with a set of fake seats and curtains in front of it as a kind of mount, and then framed and glazed the whole thing. I covered the back of the box with 'brick wall' patterned paper, and stuck a copy of the Mr Kite poster on it, so it looks like the back of a theatre. I keep it propped up on top of a bookcase, where it radiates lots of colourful Pepperised fun.

Unfortunately a lot of its 3-D qualities get lost in a photo (the box is about 3 inches deep, but it looks shallower than that in the photo). But this, below, is the best I've got. It may be true to say that if the remixes had not been 'in the air' at the time, I might never have thought about doing this.

Cool. Reminds me a bit of a special feature that was included with a Bluray edition of the original King Kong. They recreated the special effects techniques used to make the original film, and did things like paint scenery elements on multiple panes of glass, which were placed in front of and behind the King Kong figure to create a 3D effect.

[Karl Henning]

That's how I feel about it too. Do as many remixes as you like, but I can't get very interested. I did try the Abbey Road one, but I've only listened to it once. Maybe I'm too old: I want my Beatles to sound like the Beatles I grew up with.

But reading about the remixes did send me back to my original albums, particularly Sgt Pepper. I've always liked to listen to it with eyes closed, imagining that I'm in a theatre where a series of events are unfolding on stage, and this time I wondered if I might be able to make a kind of model Sgt Pepper Theatre, using the album cover, but making it into a 3-D construction in a box.

I printed out a dozen or so copies of Peter Blake's marvellous LP cover and started cutting, working from the back, forwards, glueing each layer on top of the last, with spacers in between. (This of course is a sort of undoing of the photographic process that originally created the cover design from a real three-dimensional arrangement.) When it was done I put a fake stage with a set of fake seats and curtains in front of it as a kind of mount, and then framed and glazed the whole thing. I covered the back of the box with 'brick wall' patterned paper, and stuck a copy of the Mr Kite poster on it, so it looks like the back of a theatre. I keep it propped up on top of a bookcase, where it radiates lots of colourful Pepperised fun.

Unfortunately a lot of its 3-D qualities get lost in a photo (the box is about 3 inches deep, but it looks shallower than that in the photo). But this, below, is the best I've got. It may be true to say that if the remixes had not been 'in the air' at the time, I might never have thought about doing this.

Great dun, indeed!

[Elgarian Redux]

What did you use for the curtains and the seats and the stage?

PD

I scoured the internet for images using search terms like 'theatre stage', 'stage curtains' and the like, and selected the bits I could use to make a mount: the sort of thing you'd use if you were framing a watercolour before putting the glass on. Having adjusted the bits to the right size using Paintshop Pro, I printed them and stuck them together to make a flat mount. The curtains and seats are actually flat against the glass, but the stage does fold inwards to give some real (as opposed to perpectival) depth.

It is indeed a lot of fun having a gateway to Pepperland in the house.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

I scoured the internet for images using search terms like 'theatre stage', 'stage curtains' and the like, and selected the bits I could use to make a mount: the sort of thing you'd use if you were framing a watercolour before putting the glass on. Having adjusted the bits to the right size using Paintshop Pro, I printed them and stuck them together to make a flat mount. The curtains and seats are actually flat against the glass, but the stage does fold inwards to give some real (as opposed to perpectival) depth.

It is indeed a lot of fun having a gateway to Pepperland in the house.

Nice!  Again, well done! 

PD

[Brian]

That artwork is so great! What a project. 

[Elgarian Redux]

That artwork is so great! What a project. 

Hi Brian! Good to see you!

I took a photo of the back of the theatre yesterday, and here it is:

[Brian]

Brilliant! Also: I have bumped the Wodehouse thread to the top for you.

[Elgarian Redux]

Brilliant! Also: I have bumped the Wodehouse thread to the top for you.

You, Sir, are a Gentleman and a Scholar! Thank you.

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Tomorrow Never Knows.

https://youtu.be/O58ouPdjgo0


Alt. version of Got to Get You Into My Life.

https://youtu.be/azvE5dh2f1A

[Karl Henning]

Tomorrow Never Knows.

https://youtu.be/O58ouPdjgo0


Alt. version of Got to Get You Into My Life.

https://youtu.be/azvE5dh2f1A

Nice!

[vandermolen]

That artwork is so great! What a project. 

+1 and I speak as someone who saw the Beatles twice in concert (with screaming)

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Nice!

The new mix of Dr. Robert sounds excellent!  Paul's bass is big in Tomorrow Never Knows. 
Is Eleanor Rigby Dorian minor, rather than Natural?

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

The video of I'm Only Sleeping looks so cool and the remix sounds sick and dope!


https://youtu.be/5XwXliCK19Y

[j winter]

I've listened to and mostly enjoyed all of the Giles Martin remixes so far.  For me personally they'll never be true replacements for his father's original mixes -- there's simply no overcoming a lifetime of listening.  But I think it may be something more than just nostalgic association at work.

My pet theory... if you listen to the Beatles early records, and then compare them to records from the same period of the Stones, Kinks, Who, Animals, etc., what immediately jumps out is that in most cases the Beatles just plain *sound* better, leaving matters of artistic merit aside -- even in mono, they sound clear, not muddy or murky, you can follow George's or John's guitars with ease, and the vocal harmonies blend beautifully.  They don't sound harsh, unless the harshness is part of the intended effect, like in Twist and Shout.  I think a primary reason they sound like they do is because they lucked upon George Martin as a producer, who was used to recording *classical* artists for EMI, not pop stars -- his expertise was in capturing the sound of a string quartet or piano trio in a natural sounding acoustic, making each part audible but also knowing how to blend them together.  He applied that expertise to the Beatles, and the original records are thus in a totally different world sonically from their peers. 

Some of that difference has been buffed away in more recent years through many, many remasters/remixes -- the early Stones singles sound worlds better now than they did in the 60s or in the 80s/90s on early CDs.  But they're still not up the Beatles standard sonically, and they never will be:  there's only so much you can do to the master tapes.

Getting back to Giles Martin's new mixes, I think what he's lacking is precisely his father's classical background.  If there's a problem with his mixes, it's that they sometimes sound too clean -- through digital wizardry he's able to separate out the various parts of a multi-track recording until each instrument and voice "pops," and when it works well it can really bring out details and add another dimension to familiar recordings.  It worked very well indeed on parts of Sgt. Pepper IMO, removing as in paintings a coat of varnish from an old master and revealing the true colors underneath.  But sometimes it's too aggressively done, and as a result the instruments and in particular the vocal harmonies don't blend together the way they should.  I'm sure that in some instances Martin Sr. folded in some of the various parts due to the limitations of the technology -- he only had so many tracks to deal with, as they were literally developing the technology as they went along, and also he knew that the music would often be replayed on cheap plastic mono speakers in cars, etc.  But in some cases I think he was following sound musical ideas as well -- you generally don't record a string section of the orchestra by placing an individual mike on each violin, you place fewer (or even a single) mike in an appropriate acoustic space, to capture how they blend. 


Some folks like that cleaner, more separated sound; it arguably sounds closer to a "modern" recording, and if that's your thing, I wish you a lifetime of happy listening!  The differences are very small, and the Beatles artistic influence is vast -- there's room for both, and I freely admit that I like listening to the new mixes now and then, as a fun alternative approach.  But the original mixes, preferably in mono, are what shook the world back in the 60's, and they deserve to be preserved and cherished forever.


Rather like George Lucas' original prints of the Star Wars trilogy, but that's another thread... 

[Spotted Horses]

I've listened to and mostly enjoyed all of the Giles Martin remixes so far.  For me personally they'll never be true replacements for his father's original mixes -- there's simply no overcoming a lifetime of listening.  But I think it may be something more than just nostalgic association at work.

...

I can relate to your reaction. I have the Beatles albums in the stereo versions that were mastered at Abbey Road a decade or two ago. They are fine and similar to what I had on LP in various forms. At this point, I think I'd prefer to have the mono mixes, but it seems that is an expensive purchase at this point, more than I'm willing to pay for the Beatles.

[Karl Henning]

Interesting, gents, thanks!
For me, the 2-CD Revolver edition was the right dosage of Giles, and a good curio.  I feel that overall, esp. with the mono box, my Beatles requirements are fulfilled.

[j winter]

Interesting, gents, thanks!
For me, the 2-CD Revolver edition was the right dosage of Giles, and a good curio.  I feel that overall, esp. with the mono box, my Beatles requirements are fulfilled.

Yes, the mono box is a beautiful thing.  I have to admit I prefer the White Album in stereo, since that's how I grew up listening to it, but for everything Pepper & before, I tend to prefer the original mono.  The Rolling Stones put out a mono box shortly after the Beatles did, and it's also the way to go IMO....