Amph The Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (or Beatles) thread

I'm saving up for the whole remastered box set. And also waiting for the price to drop a bit further (it was about £170 two months ago on Amazon.co.uk, a few weeks ago it was already £140).

 

I was gonna get the whole boxset nearer release, but then realised the price will drop, and I do have them all anyway. Just a matter of time though...

 

The Plastic Ono band is reforming.

[image=http://www.whereseric.com/sites/default/files/article-images/Plastic%20ono%20band%20BAM.jpg]

http://www.whereseric.com/eric-clapton-news/303-yoko-onos-plastic-ono-band-brooklyn-academy-music-16-february-event-features-o

What?

 

Could be cool.


Also, Zemeckis is remaking Yellow Submarine.

Will definitely not be cool.

 

I already expressed my profound disgust in the Amph thread.

I mean, 3D mo-cap? Are they trying to digitally re-create the Beatles? And I shudder to think what will a CGI Pepperland look like...

 

They did it fine in Rock Band.

 

Did I mention that I received the remasters boxed set from Rhonda for the Holidays?

I was afraid that I was going to have to replace each album one long while at a time and whatnot.

 

Yes, but that was animation and a bloody good one. And not a remake of an existing thing. This is supposed to be 3D mo-cap, so apparently they're trying for a realistic portrayal (at least that's how I understand it), and THAT I just know is going to suck.

Although, why do they want to remake YS is beyond me. The charm of the original was in the jokes and the wonderful, original and unique animation. The story, let's be honest, is rather simple and a bit silly. If they change the visual style in the remake, I fear it's going to fall flat...

 

YELLOW SUBMARINE 3-D: THIS TIME, IT'S PERSONAL

 

You lucky, lucky bastard... [face_envious]

I plan to buy it, of course, but I'm still waiting for the price to drop a bit.

 

Ringo Starr's new single (feat. Paul McCartney)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c68v6WIZeRI

 

She loves you, yeah yeah yeah...

Couldn't resist.


And since few folks commented on it earlier... I bought about 7 of the remasters (the middle years' stuff from Beatles For Sale thru Magical Mystery Tour, plus Past Masters). The remastered sound does sound better than my previous CDs, though only by a little to my ears. I'm not that much of an audiophile, but I'll always choose remastered versions if they're available. I think part of the problem is that the Beatles recorded their stuff on Abbey Road equipment that was already considered antiquated back in the `60s.

So in a way the master tapes were probably already hampered by that fact from the start. There's probably only so much cleanup the remaster engineers could do without damaging the integrity of the original sound. So while they do sound improved (I really noticed it on Help), their remastered sound just doesn't quite amaze me like Zeppelin's remasters or AC/DC's remasters did. YMMV.

 

I'm actually finding that the earlier albums (Please Please Me through Help) are actually quite improved. Even though the original CD releases are in stereo, there really wasn't much mix separation of the instruments, so the songs had a central/mono quality to them. They've really gone back and panned the instruments "wider" in the new mixes and the separation of the instruments really makes the songs sparkle. I love it.

I was at work today thinking of an old interview with George Martin where he is speaking about the The Beatles (White Album). He wanted the songs trimmed down to create one great album, instead of the double album, and I started thinking about what that would've been like with their old early album formats of 14 songs with John and Paul getting the lion's share, George getting his usual two songs and Ringo getting his lone tune. I came up with this, but it's only by each Beatle with no real album order yet:

John's
Dear Prudence
Yer Blues
Cry Baby Cry
?
?

Paul's
Back In The USSR
Ob La Di Ob La Da
Blackbird
Helter Skelter
?

George's
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Long Long Long

Ringo's
Don't Pass Me By

I thought these were the strongest, but man, I'm having one helluva time picking from most of John's tunes. This wouldn't have been easy back in 68.

 

Revolution 1, for sure.

 

No Happiness is a Warm Gun or Glass Onion?!?!

 

Yeah, I would say both Revolution 1 and Glass onion for John's and Mother Nature's Son for Paul.

 

I like Don't pass me bye and all, but how can you not put Goodnight as the closer? The sheer levels of crazy in that song are awesome.

 

Yeah, I was thinking that about Good Night too.

And the thing about Revolution 1 is that there is already the single of Revolution out there. I like Everybody's Got Something to Hide, Sexy Sadie, Glass Onion, Happiness Is A Warm and can't see leaving one of them off for Revolution 1.

I could just go ahead and add a third George song with Not Guilty, which would leave John and Paul with five songs apiece. That song was great and I think it was a mistake to leave that one off the album for something like Revolution 9.

I see no one else is coming up with their own lists.

 

Well I love the album just the way it is, so...

 

That's no fun!

 

We're nearing the end of January and no new DLC for Beatles Rock Band.

 

I'm going to see Paul McCartney at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff in June!

YAY!

 

You're a sorry excuse for an England supporter.

 

The two don't clash.

 

Oh, nice.