Glass Onion – 2018 mix
A couple of days ago, The Beatles published a teaser for the new “Glass Onion” video, which at the time was accessible only from Apple Music. Yesterday they published the video in full on YouTube.
Rather a clever video, based on the white album poster. So, what do you think about the new stereo mix of the song? As a bonus, here are some other versions:
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| This request was posted on The Beatles’ Facebook page today. |
I have a question for Giles Martin: When are you going to stop brickwalling releases from The Beatles?
John's voice is way too low on this mix. It sounds lousy. I hope it is not an example of what the box is going to sound like. The Beatles did not need remixing, certainly not like this.
My questions to Mr. Martin would be: 1) You based the Sgt. Pepper remix on the original mono version, which is quite clever and makes totally sense. So why have you based this 2018 remix on the original stereo version – as far as I've heard from interviews? It doesn't seem coherent and, above all, philological.
2) If these are contemporary remixes for contemporary people, why should we still hear the drum lost in the left or right channel – as 2018 Helter Skelter does? Why can't we just assume the Ringo's work always in the central channel as modern music standard (and common sense)? I do believe the central drum should be a given, regardless what Beatles/George Martin would have thought/done in their era. Thank you.
Stupidity at its top! Nobody really needs these "remixed" versions; they don't change at all the original versions from 1968; they don't sound better than the 2009 remastered versions; and the "demos" and "unheard" discs are not unheard at all! I believe that every beatles fan owns a copy or more copies of these acoustic demos! And there's not the 27min long "Helter Skelter", neither that mystery track "Etcetera". Garbage.
I think the mix is decent, overall, except that the strings are bit too loud.
Where can one find the 27 minute version of Helter Skelter please?
As far as I’m concerned, a few points :
1 – The stereo White Album always did sound bad, plenty of hiss, no dynamics…
so to have a great stereo remix is what I’d die for for years.
2. What we’ll have is 6 CDs full of new music / remixes. Even if some parts were available before, we’ll get new things here and there. Probably 95% of the tracks would get a “core collection” in the 910.
What we’ll have never was on bootlegs, including the demos which we only had in mono from an off-line recording, and in alternate versions in quite a few cases at that.
3 -. Who knows if the voice is that low in the mix or not on the session tapes?
Back to the Anthology days, there has been much wizards made with the tapes given to us. But it seems the more recent releases are more faithful to what’s in the Abbey Road vaults.
I for myself am grateful to have the boxset as is. Of course, I’d rather have had the complete unaltered tapes in a 70 CDs boxset with 7 CDs full of Not Guily takes, and as many for Sexie Sadie.
But let’s go back 10 years ago, all we had on cd was the stereo album original release, non remastered.
C’mon Beatle people, it’s being unfair to complain about something that surpasses everything we would have dreamt of a year ago
🙂
JB
Yes right‼️ from Tokyo
There's never a Beatles release which a section of 'fans' don't loudly deride as awful, unlistenable, a terrible travesty, or, as above, "stupidity". It must be greatly frustrating to Giles Martin and his team, when he spends a vast amount of time trawling archives, selecting material cleaning up the sound and so on – only for people to roundly condemn him for levels, or where he positions something in the stereo picture.
He puts drums to the side – people complain as it's not the norm. If he puts them centre people would complain about messing up the original. If he puts them half to one side, people would cry that they've been lost in the mix. Lennon's voice too quiet? That's bad. Louder? It's too brassy, not subtle. And don't forget every expert will insist that stereo is the devil's work, and only mono counts (conveniently forgetting the Beatles and indeed the world ditched mono completely in the 1960s, as it's quite obviously inferior, as everyone knew before Apple's 2009 marketing offensive.)
I love what I've heard so far. If anyone thinks they already have the Esher demos and don't need this release, play your bootlegs side-by-side with this and you will immediately see why you need this. As for all the outtakes and rehearsals – heaven. Bring them on.
By reading some of these comments, you might be tempted to believe that Beatles fans – some of whom are more than happy with the 2009 remasters, or for that matter their 1960s vinyl – are being forced to shell out hard-earned money for these releases. Fortunately I can say that that's not the case – it's actually completely voluntary.
As for me, I have preordered the "Super Deluxe" box and the double vinyl. I was very, very pleased with last year's Pepper anniversary, and expect to enjoy the White Album one as well.
of course, nobody on earth could ever FORCE the fans to buy new material…but they keep asking money undirectly since 1995…Anthology books, dvd's, cd's, vynils; then it came Let it be naked (was it REALLY necessary?); then Love (was it REALLY REALLY necessary??); then Yellow Submarine songtrack; then the 2009 remastered albums (the only NECESSARY release for fans); then Sgt Pepper altered version, but without CArnival of light included (^it was not so good" is the answer!); now this White Album with a lot of things heard before in millions of bootlegs; next year there will be "Abbey road" in 10 disc version plus the book I suppose! The only thing the fan really want is: CARNIVAL OF LIGHT, ETCETERA, REVOLUTION 9 LOOPS SEPARATED, A DVD/BLURAY VERSION OF LET IT BE FILM. Nothing more.
Simply, if you want to buy, buy it !!! If you think that 1987 remasters are good enough, or 2009 remasters are unbeateable, or dr. ebbetts, mirror spock mixes bootlegs, or your original mono and stereo 1968 vinyls are best thing you have, don’t buy it !!! If you don’t like Giles Martin’ Work, like mainly Peppers last year and if you suppose think that you have everything in home, you don’t have everything. Nobody in the world have. Simply. Don’t buy it. People asking : Where is the Helter Skelter 27 minutes version ? One version is in the Abbey Road vaults, another one Paul made a copy and is located in his studio in Sussex. Oh, Giles used/bases the Stereo version of The White Album to make his remaster/remix, he should/must to use the mono version. What a bullshit !!! 🤦🏻♂️ Another question : Where is the “ full of mystery “ song etcetera ? Etcetera is a song that Paul gave to a group Called The Black Dyke Mills Band that recorded the song in 26/08/1968 with the name “ Thingumybob “ with permission from Paul. At least, if you think Pepper 2017 remaster/remix by Giles Martin isn’t the definitive Pepper version, definitively, don’t buy this Definitive White Album version. I’m just waiting for mine. Counting the Days. #Peace. Att, Thiago Trota.
So we got fans guessing that the box set would have the stereo remastered, mono remastered and a couple of discs for the outtakes/demos. Instead we got a remixed version (good, something different), a whole disc of demos (vast STEREO UPGRADE of what we mostly had in a offline mono recording), and more outttakes.. YET we get people complaining about Glass Onion (which we never had an outtake – ever). I guess we are at an age of complaints. "I'm not gonna buy because of this". I've spent plenty of money on bootlegs just to hear something new. Apple is finally releasing box sets of the albums and we are getting complaints. I hope this sells well. I want a Abbey Road box set, I want Let It Be (fully restored plus a re-edit version of the movie) plus box set. Copyrighted material will be a mess on that release, but let's hope it's sorted out. I do hope and wish for a deluxe on every album.
Well said
we never had an outtake? I can remember at least an Anthology 3 version and a few demo bootlegs! 🙂 ETCETERA has NEVER been heard by anyone; never read in any of the million books I have or in any interview that it was just "Thingumybob" with another title! So these are lies, nothing more than lies! I keep on thinking that it's just stealing money from a band dissolved 48 years ago!
My Dear friend. It’s simple. Don’t buy it. You are free. ✌️#Peace
My dear friend, it's simple: don't tell lies, don't invent stories that don't exist. I won't buy these albums because there's nothing new. After 50 years I believe that the world fans deserve a better treatment.
beatlesbible.com/songs/etcetera/ If ALAN BROWN, BARRY MILES and MARK LEWISOHN are liars, you must don’t believe in anyone. The three above are true “ storytellers “, Att, Thiago Trota. #Peace ✌️ #Love ❤️
What's new? Have you bothered to read this Rael?
wogew.blogspot.com/2018/10/the-beatles-white-album-super-deluxe.html
Please don't buy it!
I'm not buying it. McCartney has been asked recently about ETCETERA, and he never mentioned that song for the Black Dyke Mills, neither MacDonald in his famous book. Lies, everywhere.
Opinions and tastes vary, of course. As for my own:
Anthology: The "Anthology" albums were a magical experience. The first (officially released) outtakes ever and the first "new" Beatles songs since 1970. Sure, they could have taken the time to make proper stereo mixes of the songs taken from the "Sessions" project, they could have reconsidered some crossfading and other mixing choices. And John could have been alive to make it even better…
Yellow Submarine Songtrack: Sure, one might question whether a compilation of (almost) all songs featured in the movie was necessary. But this was also the first release of remixed Beatles songs, and to me it felt like no less than a revelation. Not only did it sound good to my ears, but the remixes revealed details I had never previously noticed. And some songs, e.g. "All You Need Is Love", sounded vastly better than the old, "official" mixes.
Let It Be… Naked: To me this was an absolutely necessary release! I am a great fan of the "Get Back"/"Let It Be" music and history, but the original album, "as reproduced for disc by Phil Spector", left a lot to be desired, and I had been hoping for a proper, "as nature intended" Get Back/Let It Be album for ages. I do disagree with some of the choices the producers made (like the abrupt fade of "Get Back" and not including the coda, and cutting and pasting two rooftop versions of "Don't Let Me Down" rather than simply using the take from the single), but there'll always be details to argue about. All in all it was a quite joyful experience, though.
Love: I actually didn't expect too much from this, but it has ended up giving me more joy than probably any other Beatles release since their original catalogue. The mashups and remixes and choices made along the way made "Love" seem like a completely new Beatles album to me – something I didn't expect at all. My first reaction when I first heard the album was simply "Wow!"
Along the way there have been books and films that I've also enjoyed, the absolutely necessary and long overdue remasters in stereo and even better mono, on CD and even better vinyl, the long awaited (for me, anyway) Christmas records, the "live at the BBC" albums, the Hollywood Bowl album, and now the Pepper and White Album anniversary releases.
I enjoyed the Pepper "super deluxe" box immensely – both the new remix and all the studio outtakes. I enjoyed the remix enough to warrant buying the single vinyl edition when it became available a few months later. I remain fairly confident that I will enjoy the White Album anniversary releases as well.
I too want to see the release of "Carnival of Light", the 27 minutes long version of "Helter Skelter" and all the "Revolution 9" loops (though I can guarantee that there would be a lot of screams about "ripoff" if those are released!). And yes, a new release of the "Let It Be" film is scandalously overdue (but don't we all have bootleg versions of it? 😉 ).
Is some (or all) of this stuffy overpriced? Oh, certainly, particularly for the most elaborate editions. But if you only want the remixes and/or a smattering of bonus tracks, then there are of course cheaper editions available (and no, you don't need to have them all). And if you're not interested in any of them… well, good for you – that's money saved!
I'm certainly not saying that it shouldn't be "allowed" to complain about the way someone chooses to conduct their business. However, in the case of the Beatles releases there is a market, there is considerable interest and the releases are generally well received. And it boils down to this: If you feel you have everything you need and have no interest in this, then simply don't give them your money.
Well said
Excellent post! I agree with most of what you say. The points where we disagree are down to our different tastes (I do prefer the roof version of "Don't Let Me Down" to the studio take. The roof version has a spark of energy I found missing on on the back of the "Get Back".
I'm sure one of the main reasons for "Let It Be" is the gloomy tinge that the group could no longer escape, and as relationships between all factions of the Beatles family are better than ever, and nobody wants to see that break down. As releases these days are based upon anniversaries, will we see a similar release of the "Get Back"/"Let It Be" material?
Then there's the earliar albums…
One person shouting "garbage" and "stupidity" is just that, one person shouting.
Move on, and put The Beatles on!
db, fo
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I HAVE BEEN A BEATLES FAN FOR MANY MANY YEAST:
DEAR GILES I REALLY APPRECIATE THE 2017 REMIX OF SGT.PEPPER`S ESPECIALLY IN 5.1 SURROUND SOUND WHICH ENHANCE`S ALL THE INDIVIDUAL INSTRUMENTS AND VOCALS I AM ALSO LOOKING FORWARD TO THE WHITE ALBUM IN 5.1 AND HEARING THE ESHER DEMOS.SINCE I HAVE ONLY HEARD A COUPLE ON BOOTLEG (WHICH WAS IN VERY POOR QUALITY) SO THIS WILL BE GREAT. NOW TO MY QUESTION .. WHAT WOULD YOU THINK JOHN AND GEORGE WOULD SAY ABOUT THE 5.1 REMIX THAT TAKES THEIR MUSIC RIGHT UP TO AND IN TO THE 21ST CENTURY?!!
Some perfect comments, NOBODY IN THE WORLD have everything about Beatles material, included you die-hard collector of bootlegs and official material, EMI/Universal/Apple don’t have, bootleggers don’t have, and it’s funny find some fans, truly, there are so much fans that think that have everything and think that they know everything.🤦🏻♂️😂…..Oh, poor fans, poor people that think that knows more than Beatles producers and official Beatles researchers and writers licensed by them. I repeat : Waiting, Counting the days for my box knock the door from my home with full of material unheard and unbootlegged ever. Everybody is free to not spend your money in this fantastic release, unfortunately I must say that your collection will stay more incomplete and losing a mega super core box. Att, Thiago Trota. #Peace ✌️ #Love ❤️ and #SuperWhiteAlbum2018 #GodBlessYouAll ��
@James Peet I really hope that the movie will be released in DVD and BluRay with lots of extra footage included!
Rael you speak many correct things but in very wrong way like a child that do not simply have a right knowlege
1) Let it be will never be released in BlueRay quality because: The original film was shot in 16mm (standard TV 4×3 format). And it was planned for TV not for cinemas. However, when the film was released, they cropped the 16mm print by chopping off parts of the top and bottom and blew it up to 35mm widescreen ofcourse keeping poor quality. So you could blame director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg that he flopped in 1968 and did not forseen BlueRay release in 2018.
The best you could have from Let it Be is already seen in Beatles 1+ with noisy blur picture.
2) What you plan to do with REVOLUTION 9 LOOPS SEPARATED? You want imagine yourself as John Lennon in 1968 spinning tape loops on the penciles and everyday remaking your version of Revolution No.9?
3)About outtakes. Now it is the fact – magic door as Giles say into Beatles universe that was a bit opened 20 years ago (by the way not by the Beatles themselfs) is closed forever. Now you will never again have all 12 takes of Help, all takes of HDN or She's a Woman.
It is different thing you should talk. 50 outtakes for 30 song album is really not enough. Reasonable is 4-5 outtakes per each song. Noone ask for all 107 outtakes of I'm not Guilty, but chewing endlessly take 102 is of course not right. Even Lennon's Imagine 2018 rerelease has more.
About you "already heard everything", it is not true. White album bootlegs maybe only Blackbird has a dozen of takes released, all others are 1 or 2 not more. 50% nothing released and you could hear it now for the first time and it is a great fun.
Another important thing is spoiling the track by editing, that was heavily done by Giles Dad. When I heard new Take2 (2018) of Helter Skelter I have the question what the hell you have done with Take2 in Anthology??? What was it? Take2 or some illusion of George Martin.
Another important thing that Giles was not limited on quantity of outtakes, he was only told "You have to stop somewhere…." So Giles stopped too earlier.
4) CARNIVAL OF LIGHT is blocked for release by two Georges. Nothing is changed, Paul told sometime ago that it is possible to release it , why not. But according to Giles and his bosses current philosophy it is not real.
5)ETCETERA, The song was recorded as a demo during the same session of "Mother Nature's Son" and "Wild Honey Pie". McCartney recorded one take of the song while waiting for session musicians to arrive. After the take was recorded, the tape was taken away by George Martin's assistant, Chris Thomas. The recording is said to have lyrics, a bridge, and an introduction that is reminiscent of "Here, There and Everywhere".
McCartney himself has stated that "it's a bad song" and that he's "glad it died in a tape bin". youtube.com/watch?v=M3miBteFXb8. That is answer to your request. It will never be released, only possible leakage in case it still exist.
Ok Mike, apart of your poor english, I agree with 90% of the things you said; the only mistake you made is about Let it be. We have a thoussand of movies prior to Let it be that have been released and "cleaned" to be sold as BluRay, so the problem about 4:3 letterbox is none! They can keep it 4:3 or adapt it to 16:9 without problems, enhancing the quality as for many other movies (I'm thinking about old Hitchcock movies) that deserved this new release! So they CAN do it next year or in 2020, but it's important knowing if they WANT to do it!
English is not my native language, you are right.
The post is too long, sorry, I didn’t check it very well.
The problem is not in format 4:3 16:9, oh, I was afraid that you would focus on that.
The problem is in too small image size of 16 mm, much closer to the amateur 8 mm.
In fact, you need to resample and get a new resolution and clarity from a non-existent substance. Sharpness enhance tools will not work, giving more noise.
No one knows what will be after 100 years, maybe StarClub records will be restored to sound quality of White Album now.
And you are right, the question is also in WANT or NOT. I think you know the answer.
Let It Be is already on an unofficial blu-ray. Also, the quality of the film is best seen on the Anthology DVD series, as the footage on "1" seems inferior to that. Remember, McCartney released "Rockshow" a few years ago, which was also filmed on 16mm film. Yeah, it's a bit grainy, but we'll live with it.
Sorry Roger, the people call me killjoy.
You all talking from emotional point of view. And maybe comparing with first DVD and laser disc issues.
Wise man said: some people listen to distortion level and others listen to music.
Some people measure noises and pixels/inch other people enjoy film.
You're right we'll live with it and will enjoy the Beatles.
But from technical point of view. It is late night, but I pick out my Anthology DVD copy, Beatles 1 Blue ray and start to watch.
No magic happens Let it be fragments on Anthology are low quality. They are cleaned and color is balanced, but they are far away from HD quality of Blue Ray. It is easy to see in transfere from I've Got a Feeling or Let It bBe fragments to George Harrison interview. Picture improves highly, you could see all hair details of George while Let it be film is blur.
Beatles 1 picture of Get back and other clips from let it be is much better than Anthology DVD in sharpnes and resolution, but more grainy. It is matter of taste.
Let it be (shot on 16mm) will never reach quality of restored Help, HDN, MMT, Hello Goodbye, Strawberry Fields Forever clips and old Hitchcock because they were all shot on 35 mm films. With resolution approx 5 times better than on 16 mm.
To get Let It Be quality in HD you need artificial intellect machines to resample image, but our contacts with Alliens are not established well yet.
Of course it could be released on Blue Ray format, but really not matching HD standards
Roger you're wrong again. The "MMT" bluray is not the highest quality, it is 60p rather than 24p (as full hd bluray should be), for example! I have the "1" bluray too: half of the videos are 24p and the other half is 60p!
So they can do the same exact thing with Let it be.
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Rael, I'm not Roger, I'm Mike
60 p and 24 p you are talking about, is frames rate per second (called fps).
Change of frames with frequency 60 fps is invisible to eye, at 24 fps some people see the flickering effect of changing frames. FPS is also connected with NTSC or PAL color systems, I don't remember if Beatles 1 is released in different color formates, need to recheck. Maybe because it is collection of different clips.
But FPS has NO RELATION to picture resolution (in common words sharpness).
I think we better stop discussing technical issues and enjoy the beatles music and films in all formats.
While there are naturally limits to exactly how good it can get because of inherent limitations of the original material, I think the "Let It Be" scenes in "Anthology" look great, and I'd very happily take a DVD/BD release in that quality. I'd happily take a whole lot of bonus material too. There is certainly more than enough material available to make a brand new, great documentary. (And of course, a documentary about a documentary would be funny in itself).
The most important thing is to get it released at all. I do understand that there are still some bad memories involved, but it is after all a matter of history now. Heck, in two months it'll have been 50 years since the events took place!
To the subject of the day:
Without much hesitation, I shelled out good money for the "Super Deluxe" and the 2LP editions of the "White Album" anniversary release. After now having listened to them for eight days, I remain very pleased. At first "glance", the new mixes don't seem as different from the original as last year's "Pepper" remixes did, but a comparison reveals a (IMHO) considerable improvement. As for the Esher demoes – besides the few tracks on "Anthology 3", I have never heard them sound this great (I never found all the offline bootlegs very interesting). And then there are three discs of outtakes – most of which I had never heard – to top the experience off.
My sole complaint is that I think they could have afforded to put the 4-page "booklet" in the 2LP edition as well, and not just in the 4LP one (they did include it in the single LP edition of "Pepper" last year). But naturally, I do have all the essays and information in the rather splendid book from the "Super Deluxe" edition, so it's a minor point to me personally. I imagine that the people who only buy the 2LP edition might have enjoyed it, though.
I admit that last year's "Sgt. Pepper" brought me even more joy – but then again, I have always considered that my favourite Beatles album.
Your mileage may vary, as they say – and that's fine. But the "White Album" anniversary release was certainly worth my money.