It’s kind of wonderful, this worldwide wankfest over a 50 year old rock ’n’ roll album. All kinds of people, everywhere, getting all hot ’n’ bothered over THE BEATLES’ Abbey Road, the last album they recorded together but the penultimate release during their actual time together as The Fab Four. The cynical among us probably consider it another greedy cash grab, the romantic might think it’s a real sweet thing, and I’ve heard there are even those among us who don’t care! Whatever, I’m devoting some column inches to it (as they would’ve said in ’69), so I must care.
Once Giles Martin and his boys remixed Sgt. Pepper for its fifty year anniversary, all of us in Pepperland and beyond looked forward to the day when The Beatles’ other top-ranker would get its turn. Martin and co-conspirator Sam Okell have taken the highly lauded long player dad George Martin produced and given us another way to listen to Abbey Road. It was the last recording of the band’s career and the first in the modern multitrack era – you know, on a big whopping EIGHT TRACKS! – but was mixed the way they did back then, with exaggerated panning seemingly employed to prove it was in stereo. This time, the pans are much more nuanced, making more sense to our ears, and many of the instruments have been brought out in the mix. You can hear much more detail in the guitars (like on “Here Comes the Sun”), the organs (Billy Preston’s on “I Want You (She’s so heavy)”) and even the drums (listen for the actual hit of the snare or kick drum) in many of the songs. The vocals, especially the harmonies, are much sweeter, too. I’m not as impressed by any differences to the sound or prominence of the bass guitar, and as a matter of fact, find that sometimes McCartney’s playing (on “Something,” for instance) sounds more ad-libbed than is comfortable to me.
In terms of formats, well of course there are more than you can shake a stick at. You can get Abbey Road on single LP, double LP, picture disc LP, single CD (which is what I’m basing this post on), double CD, or the 3 LP and 3 CD/1 Bluray box sets (coming in the mail later this week!). As I’ve said in the past, what’s gonna work for you is largely a function of how big a fan you are. Take the guy on the left in the photo at left: he’s probably not going to get any of these, but was nice enough to play John Lennon to my McCartney (I couldn’t be bothered to take my shoes off, though) when we entered a Seattle area record store yesterday to pay our respects. But (his sister) Shirley there must be an edition that will work for you, so I suggest you get on down to Abbey Road at your earliest convenience and see what son Giles has done to dad George’s recording of The Beatles’s first or second greatest moment. — Marsh Gooch
I’ll be diving into the bonus tracks (called Sessions on the discs) next time… Right here.
4/5 (Apple/Capitol/UMe B0030901-02, 2019)
As if I don’t cover ROBYN HITCHCOCK & ANDY PARTRIDGE enough already, they go and put out a record together. I didn’t see that coming. Planet England is the name of their nascent collaboration, a 4-song 10″ and CD EP featuring the two elder statesmen of new wave/post punk playing a style of rock that’s a mixture of the typical sounds they’re known for, with a splatter of psychedelia thrown on top.
Fans of both Hitchcock and Partridge will be drawn to Planet England. It’s not different enough from either’s catalogs to turn off their fans, nor is it different enough to lure new recruits to the cause. That being said, if anything, it’s a great teaser for the rumored Beatles cover album they’re doing. I may not have seen this pairing coming, but now that I’ve witnessed it I’ll be sure to keep my eyes ’n’ ears open for their next outing.
NuDisc 