With the release of the remastered CD editions of their albums and singles the Beatles once more have broken new musical ground: giving fans the chance to experience updated recordings that sound dramatically better than the originals ever did.
As I did my listening marathon working my way through the stereo remaster collection, I kept thinking: “Hey, these guys really were as good as I thought they were.”
Back in the day, you never really could tell. A typical Beatlemania era concert was more about screaming crowds than the band’s music. The music systems of the ‘60s were primitive and stereo was then an innovation. (That’s why purists regard the mono collection as more definitive of the Beatles work.) George Martin, the Beatles’ justly celebrated producer, did great work with the technology of the times. But all in all Beatles recordings were a muffled mess and stayed that way through their march from LP disks and singles to tape to CD.
While their ‘60s rivals The Rolling Stones updated their CDs regularly to reflect updates in technology (and also stayed together as an act for all the intervening years), the Beatles catalog up until now has been frozen in time to the start of the CD era. The remasters for the first time use digital technology to restore lost frequencies, eliminate analog recording noise (such as tape hiss), and achieve proper stereo separation.
The result is a revelation.
For one thing, the traditional view of the Beatles -- great songwriters, but modestly talented singers and musicians -- is just wrong. Particularly on the early recordings which used to sound like a musical mush, the remasters now clearly define the four instrumental performances and vocals. Turns out, Paul McCartney and John Lennon had much more distinctive vocal styles than we realized at the time. (Come on, Baby Booomers, confess: you always faked it when you identified a song as a “John” or a “Paul” lead vocal.) Ringo did a lot more cymbal work and also played a wider range of percussion instruments than we ever knew. George’s guitar work was solid.
It is particularly fascinating to discover on the remasters that the Beatles accents were much apparent on their vocals than when we heard the originals.
Perhaps the biggest deal on the remaster is that their lyrics are now are crystal clear. If you work your way through them chronologically like I did, you can see them evolve from their early routine love songs with a rock beat into their later complex poetry with a sophisticated soundscape.
I periodically gripe that I have paid for the Beatles songs way too many times. But I don’t begrudge this investment. The Beatles never sounded better. Literally.
