Single with the new mixes
A new edition of the single “Free As A Bird” / “Real Love” has been released, with both songs in their new 2025 mixes and on milky white transparent vinyl. It is a limited edition, only available from the official Beatles online store and limited to 4 copies per customer.
Originally these were two separate singles in 1995 and 1996, but were combined into one single with the two A-sides in 2019 when a box set of Beatles singles was released, then with the old mixes of the two songs.
On the new mixes, they have made use of Peter Jackson’s team’s proprietary MAL software to better separate John Lennon’s voice from his original cassette demos. In addition, on the 2025 edition of “Real Love” they have now taken Lennon’s voice from two different cassette demos, not just the one that Yoko gave Paul, George and Ringo to work with.
Someone like Peter Jackson – a Beatles fan – would be aware of the fact that there were a number of demo versions to choose from. Obviously, Paul and Ringo didn’t pay any attention to the “Lost Lennon Tapes” radio series, and neither did George when he was alive. Yoko probably also didn’t think that there might be other versions of the songs on the cassette tape she gave them, which could have been better starting points for the songs in question.
Amateur music mixers have been playing around with the various mixes to create a better sounding version, here is one attempt.
I find it a bit amusing the other Beatles likely didn’t listen to the Lost Lennon Tapes. It was mandatory listening for me back in the day. Paul did do radio later with Oobuu Juubu. I wonder if he had heard about the series by then.
I’m sure Peter Jackson also knew Real Love had been issued on the Imagine late 80s soundtrack too.
……unfortunately John and George are dead, if they were alive they would never have agreed to these miracles with mixes……”supposedly” new songs etc………..
I think we can probably all agree that pretty much everything about the various mixes of Free As A Bird, Real Love, and Now And Then would be very different if John, erm, were still alive…
Es posible que George hubiera aceptado reconstruir ‘Now And Then”, pero en ese caso hubiera sido una canción diferente. Sospecho que George, por respeto a John, habría querido grabar con su propia voz (y quizás la de Paul) el famoso puente eliminado (Para mí que se quitó por la imposibilidad de Paul de cantarlo. Su voz ya no llega ahí) No sé si, como en los años 90, George hubiera impuesto a Jeff Lynne como productor. Tengo mis dudas. Pero sí sé que el sólo final hubiera sido con él más espectacular. Lo imagino del tipo de ‘Cheer Down’ o ‘While my guitar…’ Ahora bien, de lo que más estoy seguro es que jamás habría permitido la chapuza que se ha hecho con ‘Real Love’, que -entre otros despropósitos- se ha cargado buena parte de sus aportaciones con la guitarra. Un error y hasta creo que es un insulto.
“I think John would have liked Free As A Bird, In fact, I hope somebody does this to all my crap demos when I’m dead, making them into hit songs.” – George Harrison
Wow, $17 plus shipping. I remember when singles were a couple of bucks. Pass.
I like the new mixes and better clarity of the vocals of the new releases.
The cost of doing a limited run of specialized vinyl is much higher than a mass market single. Additionally, singles aren’t really sold much these days and the economies of scale aren’t realized. I bought this one and I am glad they still had some left.
Just FYI for everyone: here are some examples of recent releases and their prices:
Billie Eilish – “Birds of a Feather” (Translucent Green Vinyl): Around $15.00 USD.
Sabrina Carpenter – “Espresso” (Brown Vinyl): Around $13.98 USD.
Chappell Roan – “Good Luck, Babe!” (Red Vinyl): Around $13.98 USD.
Def Leppard – “Just Like 73” (Blue Vinyl), featuring Tom Morello): Around $16.98
Pearl Jam – “Dark Matter” : Around $11.99 – $18.00 USD.
Jelly Roll – “Liar” / “I Am Not Okay” (Each a separate single): Around $18.99 USD each.
I feel sad that I can’t keep up with my Beatles vinyl collection, but it’s just getting too pricey and I have the material on CD already. I have the other Anthology audio releases on vinyl but that was way back when. Nowadays it seems more and more like a fan ripoff. Isn’t it interesting that we were forced to abandon vinyl for CDs and CDs cost twice as much? A generation later, people are being told to abandon CDs and return to vinyl, and so naturally vinyl must cost twice as much as CDs while still having the same old limitations (shorter playing time, pops, scratches, and skips, requires bulkier playback system). Or we’re supposed to buy or rent downloads/streaming and not even own a physical copy. I feel I’m being manipulated as a consumer, and businesses want to keep us chasing our tails forever.
I feel like Kevin, we are being ripped of every time. The new Anthology is a rip off as only 13 new unleased tracks for the fans. Now And Then should have been the lead off track on the album and Free As A Bird and Real Love should have been remastered on Anthology’s 1 & 2 leaving side 6 for more material. The greed of the music companies is unbelievable but there actions have had an negative effect on me as I have not bought Living In A Material World box set, Let It Roll, the new Wings compilation, Mind Games Box set, Power To The People Box Set and the new Beatles Single, not because I can’t afford it just because I am fed up of being ripped off. however I did buy the Anthology Vinyl Box set which arrived damaged and I am still waiting for my replacement so I can’t even play it.
The thing is that it’s not really for you. It’s for new people.
No its for me and everyone who likes the Beatles
Also I would like to add that after the the improvement made using AI to the Red and Blue Albums they have chose not to do the same for the first 3 Anthology’s. Okay so they sound a bit better but who really wants to listen to mono recordings, you can hear the instrumentation and voices so much better. A chance missed by Apple to please the loyal fans, so in the future we will have an Anthology Box Set which has been AI’d. Well that’s another box set I won’t be buying.
John Lennon said that if you really want to know what the Beatles wanted to sound like, you should listen to the mono recordings. The Beatles weren’t around when the stereo mixing occurred, until Abbey Road, from what I have heard. He was actually quoted as saying: “You’ve never really heard Sgt. Pepper until you’ve heard it in mono”.
Engineer Ken Scott in his book “Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust“: “Paul explained to me whilst mixing the stereo version of “Helter Skelter” that it had to sound different from the mono version. Apparently fans started to buy both the mono and stereo albums and wrote to them asking if they knew there were differences between the versions, so Paul and/or the band saw this as a great way to boost sales.”
Corrected, thank you…up until the White Album, not Abbey Road.