“On Wednesday — 9/9/09 — remastered versions of the Beatles catalogue will be released, giving listeners what the remaining members of “The Fab Four” say is the closest reproduction ever of how their music sounded in the studio,” Doug Gross reports for CNN.
MacDailyNews Take: Which is what we heard when they first released their stuff on CDs, too. And then again when they offered “remastered” CDs, too.
Gross reports, “The same day, the video game “The Beatles: Rock Band” is set to be released by Harmonix… And on top of that, there’s rampant speculation that a planned “music-themed” announcement by Apple Inc., also scheduled on 9/9/09, could involve the supergroup.”
Gross reports, “The Beatles are one of a handful of groups whose music has never been approved for sale by Apple’s iTunes, and the timing of the announcement has fueled speculation that could finally change — or even that specialized Beatles iPods, like the ones sold in 2004 loaded with U2’s music, could be in the works.”
MacDailyNews Take: Okay, back on August 18th we were one of the first to speculate on the 9/9/09 deal involving The Beatles, but after Apple sent out invites headlined with a lyric from The Rolling Stones (“It’s only rock and roll, but we like it“), we began to have serious doubts.
Gross continues, “Research shows that more than 40 years after their last public performance, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr’s music remains as interesting to young people now as it ever was. A Pew Research survey released last month showed that 81 percent of respondents between ages 16-29 said they liked The Beatles. Eleven percent said they dislike the band and only 4 percent said they have never heard of them.”
MacDailyNews Take: Which of course means that people already have The Beatles on their iPods and iPhones already. We ripped our Beatles CDs to iTunes eight (8!) years ago. It’d have to be something unimaginably amazing, probably on the order of involving multiple instances of reanimation, for us to buy stuff from The Beatles yet again, however “remastered” they may be.
Gross continues, “EMI, which will be releasing the remastered recordings, has been famously protective of The Beatles brand and music. Digital reproductions like MP3s have lower sound quality than albums or compact discs — one of the reasons they’ve been slow to embrace iTunes.”
MacDailyNews Take: Slow? Slow?! Sheesh. Glacial is more like it. Mountain ranges erode into plains faster. And iTunes Store doesn’t sell dinosaur MP3s, they sell its successor, the superior AAC, so MP3 specifically isn’t the problem, it’s the labels insistence on compression limits. EMI, don’t blame Apple, just allow iTunes Store to sell The Beatles in lossless. Problem solved.
Gross continues, “Walter Everett, professor and chairman of music theory at the University of Michigan, said that, even with all of the news expected Wednesday, the Beatles music will no doubt remain popular for decades to come — meaning more new wrinkles are almost certain. ‘There’s still more that can be done,’ he said. “‘Who knows where technology may be in another 10 years? We may have holographic images.'”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: The Beatles! Remastered (yet again)! Now, with holograms!
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Rob” for the heads up.]
Three observations:
1. The Rolling Stones lyric was a clear signal that this event was not to be Beatles releated.
2. It’s “only rock and roll” is Apple’s apology that there is not to be a Beatles announcement.
3. Someone will have to re-master my audio system before I can hear any difference in the new Beatles releases.
I read an article a couple of months back about the Mono and Stereo recordings of the Beatles.
The fellow talked about how all the work was put into the Mono version. The Stereo was almost an after thought. He said the Mono version sounded incredible compared to the Stereo. Stereo was new, people were just starting to “play around” with it.
@ Wish I Was Here–
Yup. I got that email too. I specifically noted that it did indeed say, “On CD Only.”
NY Times reviewed Rock Band: Beatles and paraphrasing: Best Video Game EVER.
More apt: Best Multigenerational Video Game Ever + Huge Projected Sales (easy prediction to make).
So, if Sir Paul is all about royalty maximization, this game is going to stir up interest that they will want to capture. Youngsters will not be running out to Best Buy for the CDs.
That said, I cannot imagine Apple Corps agreeing to let the unveiling be headlined under a Glimmer Twins lyric
EMI can deride MP3 for its loss of information all they want, but they, unfortunately for us, already lost too much information when the recordings were mixed down to two or four tracks.
If they could restore the original sounds before they were mixed down, then there’d be a chance that I’d buy again.
Steve will introduce Jagger, then Jagger will introduce Paul and Ringo.
09/09/09: “number nine….number nine… number nine” or “Turn Me On Deadman”
Damn, now I’ll have to buy another copy of the white album!”
Agent Kay (Tommy Lee Jones) in Men in Black
Predrag
What, no reel-to-reel?
Elcaset?
http://users.bart.nl/users/pb0aia/cm/elcaset/index.html
Actually, the best sounding Beatles recording I ever had was a reel my dad brought back from ‘Nam that apparently was a British release with “Hey Jude”, “Ballad of John and Yoko”, “Don’t Let Me Down”, and others. Only Beatles I had on reel. Incredible audio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Jude_(album)
All I can say is that is makes absolutely no sense for the music of one of the most influential bands in history not to be available at the world’s biggest online music store.
@John Paul George Ringo:
Don’t embarrass yourself, retard!
@ishkabibble:
Another moron chimes in!
@Jose:
The fact is, all of the original multitracks still exist, safely preserved by EMI. There have been some releases already in recent years that utilized them by producing newly mixed masters from the original sources. And yes, the difference in the sound from the initial “official” CD releases more than 20 years ago is stunning.
I was privy to an advance listening of much of the newly mastered material and they are, in a word, pristine.
As far as the mp3 issue…who uses that format anymore and why is it even an issue? There are much better lossless or nearly lossless alternatives. The reality is that going from analog to digital, compressed or not, is in and of itself a sonic loss.
now, come on … are we really surprised that our beloved Steve would be enough of a prick to schedule the event to one-up the Beatles on their big day? After all they’ve been though together? ABSOLUTELY!
I love The Beatles but any release by them would be largely irrelevant, being so late to the game. iPods are new, cutting edge, not a rehash of old content. I’d bet on The Beatles showing up in a Zune release. That’d be much more appropriate.
@wannabe
“Also, I think it’s sort of dumb to assume that the Stones lyric means anything at all — the date is much more significant, and it’s sort of obvious that there will be Beatles news at the event.”
I disagree – the lyric selection is intentional. That is precisely the type of detail on which Apple spends time and consideration. The only thing that is unclear at this point is Apple’s intent. There is no way that Apple would use a Stones lyric for a Beatles announcement unless the Stones are also involved in a major way to cover for a surprise announcement.
That’s enough on this event, MDN. Wait five days and report on the result.
“There is no way that Apple would use a Stones lyric for a Beatles announcement unless the Stones are also involved in a major way to cover for a surprise announcement.”
Or the fact that if it’s “only rock n roll”, there will be no tablet.
Just music. And iPods.
and maybe TV.
and an iTunes update.
But definitely no tablet.
(well, maybe)
Why the bitterness over remastered CDs, MDN? You don’t think there have been any advances in digital sound quality since tThe Beatles’ CDs were first released? You’ve never upgraded your own hardware since 1987?
While many people have ripped the Beatles, or pirated the Beatles, if Apple were to get online exclusivity to the new remasters and release as lossless, it would be really huge.
Of course if they were doing this, a better line would’ve been “Come Together”
Wow all these people ragging on The Beatles!
We PROMISE not to dis your Miley Cyrus and Jonas Brothers collections in 40 years! HONEST!
Oh, but by then, you’ll all be deaf…
listening to crappy low-res sampled music through shitty headphones at ear-bleeding volumes. So, will it even matter?
The 80s Beatles releases were crappy sounding, as were most of the first CD re-releases from the early 80s to early 90s of older analogue recordings. That was when record companies thought you could play a tape, hit RECORD on your DAT machine, release a CD and go to the bank. It took quite a few years for engineers to figure out how to convert analogue recordings to digital and make then listenable on decent hi-fi equipment.
That’s why all the major music labels have had second digital re-releases of much of their analogue catalogues (classical, jazz and pop) to repair the grievous sonic damage caused by the original digital re-releases.
Stereo recordings were available from the early 50s. There are some orchestral recordings from the mid to late 50s that still sound incredible (RCA Victor, Mercury Living Presence)… all done with 2 or maybe 3 mics and NO multi-tracking! These have been re-released numerous times as technology and recording techniques have improved. They even sound great in SACD format, which I hope the Beatles re-releases use.
The Beatles probably had some influence popularizing stereo recordings. And yes, they DID pioneer multi-tracking and stereo effects on the mass music level.
ie: Number 9, Number 9, Number 9.
Sorry but listening to 128kbps Limewired music samples on $20 earbuds just doesn’t cut it. Unless you’re tin-eared, deaf or both.
Who cares?
I already have all my favorite Beatles songs on my iPod. And I’m not even a huge fan.
Anyone who really gives a shit will have downloaded every song in their digital collection a long time ago.
“Which is what we heard when they first released their stuff on CDs, too. And then again when they offered “remastered” CDs, too.”
Ha. what a joke. I’ll bet next they’ll try to convince people that technology keeps advancing. (Yeah, right.)
@ Mr. Reeee,
You got me to thinking about the RCA Victor Red Label and Mercury Living Presence CDs in my collection. I hadn’t listened to them in quite a while. I agree, there are some amazing recordings from over 50 years ago that are still a treat to listen to today.
I just put in the MLP recording of ‘Hi-Fi A La Española and Popovers’ by Frederick Fennell and the Eastman-Rochester Pops. Recorded in 1957 and 1959 with three mics and recorded on three track half inch tape, and supervised from three to two channel conversion by Wilma Cozart Fine, the original recording director.
A fairly natural soundstage without that middle of the head sensation when using headphones. Quite enjoyable.
Thank goodness the digital revolution happened and enabled the preservation of these recordings.
EMI can be unhappy about the loss of information when going to mp3’s, but I’m vastly more concerned about the loss of information when going from reality to media reports.
I’m betting the Beatles will release their remastered songs on wax cylinders for use with grammophones.
Can’t wait!