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Refusing to Let It Be: The Beatles in Stereo
Washington Post ^ | September 8, 2009 | Matt Hurwitz

Posted on 09/08/2009 9:19:12 AM PDT by La Lydia

In the late '60s, with a little prodding from his sons, my father finally gave in and replaced his monaural Garrard turntable with a stereo one. Suddenly, Sgt. Pepper's band sounded so much bigger. And clearer. I could hear two distinct guitars playing, not just a generic guitar sound. Two decades later, in 1988, I finally broke down and bought a CD player and the first of many Beatles CDs -- now, that was a jump from what I'd been hearing on vinyl for years. There were so many more instruments I'd never noticed. And notes I'd never heard.

On Wednesday, things are about to change once again, as the sound of the Beatles' music takes another giant leap forward. Twenty-two years after the original release of the Fab Four's British catalogue on CD, the group's music will finally be reissued, the release bearing the fruits of a 4 1/2 -year project by engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios to remaster the entire catalogue...

So what's different from those CDs you already have? As any surviving Beatle will tell you -- and both are known to say it -- the Beatles were "a great little band" -- a rock band. What comes through on the new masters is the power and quality of the original recordings of that rock band -- the quality the Beatles themselves would have heard and intended when those recordings were created.

That means you can now hear John Lennon's raucous vocal in all its powerfully shredded glory...George Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" reveals the presence of a Ringo Starr kick drum that was integral to rock's greatest rhythm section, alongside Paul McCartney's bass -- a beat that drives the song with a robust heartbeat not heard before....

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: beatles; music; technology
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To: vetvetdoug

8 track tapes made good shooting clays and beer coasters for a while, but I’m all out now.


81 posted on 09/08/2009 10:56:10 AM PDT by angkor (The U.S. Congress is at war with America.)
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To: curth; La Lydia

I would contend that there are 4 surviving Beatles, the 4th being the “5th Beatle” Sir George Martin, who had indisputable influence on the band and was (in only one example) directly responsible for orchestral additions over several albums.


82 posted on 09/08/2009 11:01:26 AM PDT by angkor (The U.S. Congress is at war with America.)
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To: angkor

The White Album certainly has some gems, but it’s got some duds too.


83 posted on 09/08/2009 11:05:04 AM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: discostu
Vinyl has more low end

Hahahahaha....listen to Soul Vaccination Live by Tower Of Power on CD and try to convince me!

84 posted on 09/08/2009 11:09:45 AM PDT by NRA1995 (I'd love to see a Smart Car demolition derby.....)
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To: angkor

Don’t you mean 3?


85 posted on 09/08/2009 11:10:00 AM PDT by La Lydia
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To: La Lydia

Ping


86 posted on 09/08/2009 11:11:56 AM PDT by LaybackLenny (Sarah Palin can see the left's heads explode from her house!)
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To: La Lydia

Nope, 4.

Ringo, Paul, Pete Best, George Martin.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Best

Pete Best (born 24 November 1941) is a British musician, best known as the original drummer for The Beatles.

[snip]

Best joined The Beatles on 12 August 1960, only one day before they were to go to Hamburg to play a season of concerts. He was dismissed from the group two years later, on 16 August 1962, and was replaced by Ringo Starr. He was never given a full explanation as to the reason why. For this reason, he is known as the “unluckiest man in the world,” as he was denied years of huge international fame and wealth, and decades of remembrance.


87 posted on 09/08/2009 11:18:36 AM PDT by angkor (The U.S. Congress is at war with America.)
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To: Eric in the Ozarks
Or, the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band.

Good '60s stuff.
Did you know the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band performed one of their songs, 'Death Cab for Cutie', at the end of the Beatles' 'Magical Mystery Tour' movie? The Beatles were fans of the Bonzo Dog Doodah Band.

88 posted on 09/08/2009 11:21:06 AM PDT by Lancey Howard
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To: angkor

I always think about Pete Best like I think about Leif Ericson. Yes, he might might have been there first, but his accomplishment went unremarked, and he didn’t change the world.


89 posted on 09/08/2009 11:22:21 AM PDT by La Lydia
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To: All

I prefer to listen to the Beatles played on an old cassette tape player, on which only the left speaker works, from another room via a tin-can-and-string arrangement, while the cat bats at the string and my neighbor’s car alarm goes off. Say what you will about all these new-fangled digital gadgets, I believe I get a richer, fuller sound that way. Also, the Earth is flat and most diseases are caused by evil spirits.


90 posted on 09/08/2009 11:23:47 AM PDT by Sloth (Ted Kennedy's brain tumor has killed more people than my gun.)
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To: La Lydia

Rocks’ greatest rhythm section? That’s a stretch.


91 posted on 09/08/2009 11:29:40 AM PDT by printhead
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To: Paladin2
On a slightly different tangent, for those of you who have the vinyl “Something New” album in stereo (it MUST be stereo), if you throw the voice to the far speaker so it's in effect shut off, and play “Komm, Gibt Mir Deine Hand”, you'll get an complete instrumental version of “I Want To Hold Your Hand”!

I don't know if it works with any other songs they did (”Sie Liebt Dich”, German “She Loves You”, was, to the best of my knowledge, never released in stereo. I believe they were the only German songs the lads released.)

CA....

92 posted on 09/08/2009 11:30:57 AM PDT by Chances Are (Whew! It seems I've at last found that silly grin!)
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To: duckman

Try a modern CD recording through a McIntosh tube amp.


93 posted on 09/08/2009 11:35:51 AM PDT by Jeff Chandler ("People are idiots." -Thomas A. Caswell)
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To: EyeGuy

Billy Preston’s dead, but that makes a total of nine Beatles, if you include Shemp and Gummo.


94 posted on 09/08/2009 11:35:57 AM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
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To: angkor
How about Stu Sutcliffe?

Although he died a long time ago (early 60’s, I believe), he was the group's original bass guitarist.

Just for the record, and all that!

CA....

95 posted on 09/08/2009 11:36:52 AM PDT by Chances Are (Whew! It seems I've at last found that silly grin!)
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To: Lx

The biggest loss with vinyl going away is the album art. There used to be some terrific album art (plus some awful stuff) and now it’s gone back to the 50s & early 60s stuff of a portrait that could have been shot with a cell phone camera.


96 posted on 09/08/2009 11:42:23 AM PDT by Richard Kimball (We're all criminals. They just haven't figured out what some of us have done yet.)
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To: La Lydia
I never bought any Beatles music once Michael Jackson bought the rights

Does the estate still get the proceeds?

.

97 posted on 09/08/2009 11:49:30 AM PDT by Elle Bee
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To: ctdonath2

So sampling the level in two places on the waveform will result in a perfect sample?


98 posted on 09/08/2009 11:49:37 AM PDT by dfwright (The heart of the wise inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the left (Eccl. 10:2, NIV))
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To: Little Pig

CDs deliberately clip below 50Hz?

Got a link?


99 posted on 09/08/2009 11:51:56 AM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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To: CodeToad

He would be the first human to hear below 50Hz?

That’s ridiculous.

Bottom end for most people is around 20Hz. Or do you have different data?


100 posted on 09/08/2009 11:57:00 AM PDT by Petronski (In Germany they came first for the Communists, And I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist...)
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