The Beatles: Abbey Road (3-LP Anniversary Edition)
Apple Corps/Universal Music Group 0602508007466 (3 LPs). 1969/2019. George Martin, orig. prod., Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald, orig. engs.; Giles Martin, reissue prod., Sam Okell, reissue eng.
Performance ****½
Sonics *****
Here are seven things you need to know about the three-LP, newly remixed—by Giles Martin and Sam Okell—and remastered version of Abbey Road, all of said re-ing done in honor of the album’s 50th anniversary:
1) According to Universal, the remix was done from the original eight-track master tape, not from digital files made from that tape; inscriptions on the lead-out areas of all six sides suggest that these new LPs are the product of half-speed mastering. All surfaces on my review copy were noiseless.
2) Listening to these new mixes, the dominant impression is one of increased articulation. The equalization isn’t drastically different from that of the original mix.
Apart from that, Giles Martin’s work has no single overarching characteristic; he did not simply go in and turn up the bass and treble on all the tracks—although I did get that impression from two cuts in particular: “Oh! Darling” and “Here Comes the Sun.” The former gets a piano sound that’s crunchier on top, and the latter gets a less limber bass line—compared to my 1970s UK import LP—and are in my opinion the least successful of the reissue’s tracks, sonically. The rest sound very good indeed.
3) But forget all that: What Martin apparently tried to do was to remix the album in a manner that brought out more of the performers’ individual characteristics, vocal and instrumental—and in that I believe he succeeded handily. The distinctions of all four singing voices are laid bare to a previously unheard extent. Paul’s piano in “Octopus’s Garden” is transformed into a mini-orchestra of color and musical inventiveness. And the number one thing I came away with: John Lennon was a quite decent guitarist, certainly better than he is sometimes given credit for and good enough to make me all the sadder that, in his last solo recordings, he didn’t play much guitar at all, leaving that to comparatively characterless session aces. (Can you imagine how much better Walls and Bridges, Mind Games, or even Imagine would have been if they had been recorded with the same musicians who made John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band?)
4) But forget all that: The things that make this set indispensable are the two LPs—labeled Sessions—filled with outtakes. There’s a charming and near-perfect version of John (guitar and voice) and Paul (drums) taking a stab at “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” There’s the full orchestra-only track for “Something” that’s indescribably lovely. And there’s a fascinating early attempt at mixing and joining up all the numbers that form the side-two suite—identified here as “The Long One”—that proves what we Beatles bootleg freaks have been saying for years: “Her Majesty” was originally a part of that suite (but taking it out was a very good idea). But none of them beat the set’s alternate version of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” which features some astonishing Hammond organ playing by Billy Preston. (He also played on the version that made the cut, but most of his soloing is buried under the wind-like white noise added to the original mix.)
5) The very nice packaging for the three-LP set includes an authentic-looking recreation of the original’s jacket; a separate jacket for the two outtakes LPs, the cover of which is an outtake from the famous photo session; and four pages of notes, all in a nicely done box. The notes, though not as expansive as the ones that accompany more expensive versions of the 50th Anniversary reissue, are pretty good. The only error I noticed was a reference to the personnel on “Something” that suggests George played the piano. (It was John—who can be heard on a bootlegged outtake leading a post-song jam by pounding away on the closing chord in double time.)
6) As recently as one month ago as I write this, most references to Abbey Road could be counted on to include the notion that the Beatles saw the album as their last group effort, as did producer George Martin—and so they pulled together, personally and musically, for their final masterpiece. But in August of this year, a piece in The Guardian described a tape-recorded meeting between John, Paul, and George—Ringo, for whose benefit John made the recording, was in the hospital—laying out tentative plans for their next effort. That has a lot of pundits guessing their best “What if?” guesses, myself included. The only thing I know for sure: It wouldn’t have sounded anything like Klaatu.
7) You need this record.—Art Dudley
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