OT: It Was 50 Years Ago Today!!!

[Danny O]

Srg. Pepper is 50 years old! Producer Giles Martin(George's son) and team re-mixed and re-mastered the album, taking all the bounced tracks and laying them all out, re-aligning them and mixing them in true stereo. It's still absolutely Srg. Peppers, but has been compared to cleaning an old painting, suddenly the colours jump out at you. In the deluxe addition, the most remarkable achievement is Penny Lane(one of my all time favorite Beatle songs) is in full stereo. The only recorded tracks that are not in stereo are drums and piano, which were often recorded in mono, but George Martin for the most part recorded orchesrtas and string parts in stereo, unfortunately when bouncing down to gain more tracks, these were often combined to mono, now there in true stereo.

Being a big Beatles fan, and having listened to the album, many many times over the years, and I give the re-mixed and re-mastered version 5 stars. I am usually not happy with re-mastered recordings and I didn't like most of the 2009 remastered Beatles albums, but I highly recommend this one. I got my copy a couple of days ago, but I'm not sure it's released in the US yet...should be?

Ringo said of that time in 1967.."THE WORLD WAS TRYING TO CHANGE, IT DIDN'T QUITE MAKE IT, BUT IT MADE A SMALL MOVE"....be nice if the album issued in the 'summer of love' again.

[Dave Labrecque]

Srg. Pepper is 50 years old! Producer Giles Martin(George's son) and team re-mixed and re-mastered the album, taking all the bounced tracks and laying them all out, re-aligning them and mixing them in true stereo. It's still absolutely Srg. Peppers, but has been compared to cleaning an old painting, suddenly the colours jump out at you. In the deluxe addition, the most remarkable achievement is Penny Lane(one of my all time favorite Beatle songs) is in full stereo. The only recorded tracks that are not in stereo are drums and piano, which were often recorded in mono, but George Martin for the most part recorded orchesrtas and string parts in stereo, unfortunately when bouncing down to gain more tracks, these were often combined to mono, now there in true stereo.

Being a big Beatles fan, and having listened to the album, many many times over the years, and I give the re-mixed and re-mastered version 5 stars. I am usually not happy with re-mastered recordings and I didn't like most of the 2009 remastered Beatles albums, but I highly recommend this one. I got my copy a couple of days ago, but I'm not sure it's released in the US yet...should be?

Ringo said of that time in 1967.."THE WORLD WAS TRYING TO CHANGE, IT DIDN'T QUITE MAKE IT, BUT IT MADE A SMALL MOVE"....be nice if the album issued in the 'summer of love' again.

Ushered in?

I'm a big fan, too, Danny. Can't wait to hear the new stuff. Interestingly, the Beatles themselves always thought stereo mixes were weird, and had little interest in them. I, OTOH, love the chance to hear the separation of parts. Less about the stereo-ness than about the same kind of fascination I have with isolated tracks, I suppose. I just want to hear everything in as much detail as possible. :rolleyes:

I've often thought many of the original mixes (going back to vinyl) had harsh-sounding elements. Unfortunate distortions, annoying EQ choices. I'll be interested to see if any of that got massaged in these remix/remasters. I know that the LOVE (Cirque) show sounded amazing, so I'm hopeful. :o

[Richard Rupert]

The Beatles are my all-time favorite band, and this interview with Richard Lush is very interesting. It's all about Sgt. Peppers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbg8Feyx9Lg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dbg8Feyx9Lg)

Note his opinion (prior to the 50 anniversary release) of stereo. I remember being a bit put-off when I first heard the 60s stereo mixes after being familiar with the mono versions. As Dave says, it was great to hear the separation from a technical perspective, but as musical presentations they didn't hold up like the mono mixes.

[Richard Rupert]

Here's another interesting interview regarding Sgt. Pepper... this time with Geoff Emerick. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5caf6mAACA
He also comments on the mono/stereo issue.