by stewy » Tue Feb 06, 2007 6:03 am
I've spent a good deal of my life in recording studios,
managed bands and presented stuff on radio.
I'm currently remastering a lot of music at home
using Cool Edit (some of you may know this as Adobe Audition).
Using this or any of the other toys (Soundforge, Garageband or even ProTools if you can afford it), if we ALL had access to the Fabs multitrack masters and a few weeks to do it in, then I think a lot of us would be able to do a much better job than George & Giles Martin have on 'Love,' if only by including some unreleased material alongside the famous stuff.
For me, this is a massively pointless release.
Seems to me that they felt they had to put it out because it was the soundtrack to the bloated, pretentious, bland dance event in the U.S.
And of course, more cash could be squeezed out of EMI's biggest earner one more time.
I was given the CD by someone for Christmas (I hadn't asked for it!!) and of course gave it a listen, five or six listens actually just in case my first impressions might be somewhat hasty.
But no.
I was right the first time: although the EQ etc might be very crisp, and you get a few spoken snippets, we have ALL ALREADY GOT THIS MUSIC.
And I HATED hearing the riffs and vocals stuck beside/over/under others.
One of the reasons the Fabs albums have lasted so long with the legend and quality control untouched by awful outside hands is that Apple have kept the material away from the nasty people (advertisers, compilers, remixers etc).
Perhaps this is now about to change...
And anyway, this has been done before you know; The Residents (obscure, bizarre American avant-garde act) included a track called 'Beyond The Valley Of A Day In The Life' on one of thier albums (1978 I think) which is a mini-version of 'Love', and done much better.
The fact that George, Paul, Ringo, and Yoko approved of 'Love' perhaps says a lot about wanting to keep the process of immortalisation going.
But they don't NEED to - the music has ALWAYS been immortal.
Here's what thier engineer on so many of thier classic albums, Geoff Emerick, said recently in an interview:
Netscape: How about the recently released 'Love'?
Any thoughts on the mix-and-match approach to the Beatles catalog?
Emerick: I won't listen to it.
Netscape: Not a single note?
Emerick: People have told me about it.
Look, the four artists were present when we did the mono mixes of the original records.
And the recordings were fresh in our minds when we did the stereo mixes:
even if the Beatles weren't present, they were involved.
It's their record--and now it's been messed around with.
Netscape: So you can live without the mash-ups and recombinant mixes.
Emerick: The original records are iconic, they're pieces of art.
Would you go and repaint the Sistine Chapel?
You don't.
Just leave it alone.
Why don't they release more relevant things instead, such as 'Let It Be' on DVD with extra footage;
ALL the 'Get Back' jamming etc as a six-disc box set; the Christmas Fan Club Flexis as a CD;
and I have over twenty tracks that weren't even
issued on the 'Anthology' CDs (with tracks such as 'Sour Milk Sea', 'Carnival Of Light', 'Circles' and early acetates).
If EMI don't have these then the remaining Fabs
must have, or could pay to get them.
'Love' is a dreadful idea and realisation.
In my opinion.
I sold my copy!
I've been a Macca fan since 1965, and I'm 48 now...so it's been a long time.
He's a Mozartian genius. Wings singles like
'Hi Hi Hi', 'Junior's Farm' & 'Helen Wheels' are immortal, killer rockers...
napalm glam with melody!
