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SOME BUMPS IN MOSTLY
EXCELLENT NEW 'ABBEY ROAD'---
COURTESY OF GILES MARTIN'S JUDGEMENT
by Rip Rense
(copyright Rip Rense,
The Rip Post 2019, all rights reserved. May not be reproduced without
permssion.)
“Abbey Road,” when it was released in fall of
1969, was a sonic superhighway. It is fair to say that a portion of the
album’s impact derived from the luxurious, detailed, warm sound of the
record, something Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick attributed to, in part, a
new solid state eight-track recording console.
Fifty years later, Giles Martin and Sam Okell have
oh-so-carefully widened that superhighway with a superb, though not radical,
remix---but that is not to say there are not a couple of bumps here and
there, notably in the choice of outtakes and alternate versions in the 50th
anniversary boxed set.
Overall, “Abbey Road” now has a gigantic breadth and depth,
with greater detail, larger orchestral presence, and certain instruments
dramatically more evident, resonant (like the synthesizer on “Here Comes the
Sun”) than before.
And by “before,” this means: the original (British
pressing) LP, the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab “Original Masters” version, the
original 1987 CD version of the album, and the 2009 CD remaster. All of
these releases (except, curiously, the rather flat “Original Master”) have
their winning aspects, and stand as viable versions of “Abbey Road,” but
none approach the sweep and scope of the 50th anniversary remix.
And as many a reviewer has noted, the drums---as
resonant and full as
they have always sounded on this album---are now just magnificent. Ringo’s
legendary, reluctant solo (on his then-new calf-skin heads) feels as if it
is being played in your room, about twenty feet away. (Credit still goes
substantially to perfectionist Emerick’s careful miking of each part of the
kit.)
| Yet not all the changes are so innocuous or
logical. Giles Martin’s repositioning of the guitar solos of
McCartney, Harrison, Lennon in “The End,” was, to borrow his own
word, “presumptuous” and, in my view, reductive. |
It is obvious that Martin had the greatest respect for the mix done by his
father, Sir George, and that is as it should be. The important differences
between the (still compelling!) original LP and the 2019 remix are general,
for the most part---a matter of overall picture as opposed to specific
revelation. Think: brighter, warmer lights on a loved painting. Yet there
are some interesting new details. A few:
*More Lennon vocals audible in the final seconds of “Come
Together.”
*George Martin’s gorgeous orchestration in “Something” is
mixed higher.
*Ringo’s vocal in “Octopus’s Garden” is louder, to these
ears distractingly so.
*Harrison’s inspired guitar improvisation at the end
of “You Never Give Me Your Money” goes on significantly longer, but is still
faded too soon for my taste. If you’re going to expand the solo, as Giles
Martin did, then why make it difficult to hear?
*The astonishing chorus of vocals on “Because” is somehow
more lush. Perhaps this had to do with Giles Martin and Okell slightly
staggering the start of each individual vocal (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison
layered three different takes) a trick to subtly imbue the proceedings with
more of a natural feel. (Just as Emerick slightly staggered the entrance of
the horns when doubling them on “Got to Get You Into My Life.”) Does it
diminish the precision with which John, Paul, and George sang? Not that I
can tell.
*The drum solo (edited together, by the way, by Emerick and
McCartney from various Ringo takes), now sounds absolutely huge, but without
sacrificing any of its charm or lyricism.
*The effusive, almost Brahmsian orchestral parts written
by George Martin for “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End” are more
present, and the album ending (prior to the “Her Majesty” tag) is distinctly
more symphonic in feel than the original mix (though not as much so,
interestingly, as the remix of “The End” done by George Martin on “Anthology
3.”)
Yet not all the changes are so innocuous or logical. Giles
Martin’s repositioning of the guitar solos of McCartney, Harrison, Lennon in
“The End,” was, to borrow his own word, “presumptuous” (context: some
fans will object) and, in my view,
reductive. Where the solos previously had exactly the same center position
in the mix---deliberately getting “equal time” in the
spotlight---Martin has said in interviews that one is now left, one center,
and one right. Incredibly, he was unable to remember which was which! (See
Daily Variety, Sept. 26, 2019.) For the record, it’s McCartney (left),
Lennon (center), and Harrison (right)---but. . .on my stereo, it is very
clearly McCartney and Lennon on the left(!), no one in the
center, and Harrison on the right. This kills the equal spotlight factor,
which is especially degrading to Harrison, now shunted to one side. Bad
move, in the realm of crackpot tampering. What’s more, it eliminates the
amazing factor of all three solos sounding of a piece, as if composed to go
together---instead of improvised on the spot, as they were.
| Here is Giles Martin's quote: “They know this
is going to be their last album. You can tell they’re going to make
sure it’s a good one, and that everyone’s songs are going to get
equal attention.” This is simply untrue. |
Which brings up the other bumps in the new “Abbey Road.”
Sometimes the sumptuousness of the new mix takes a little bit of the edge
off The Beatles’ performance. Perhaps this was unavoidable, as it is also
something that Emerick said was the case on the original release(!), due to
the new transistorized recording equipment. Another perhaps minor
observation: as with Giles Martin’s mixes of “Sgt. Pepper” and “The
Beatles,” some of the character and prominence of McCartney’s bass is simply
not there. I can’t say this unequivocally, but it is as if the work Emerick
did to make Paul’s bass more integral to the arrangement has been muted,
some character lost. It sometimes rumbles where it once sang.
Then there are the outtakes, the embryonic versions of songs on the two
“Sessions” discs. Martin’s choices are, in the main, good, yet sometimes
predictable and uninspired. And some things simply aren’t there, the most
obvious missing-in-action item being George’s unusued electric
guitar solo in “Here Comes the Sun” (that Giles apparently discovered, as
can be seen in a video where he played it for his father and Dhani
Harrison.) If his concern (or the Harrison Estate’s) was that it might
replace the existing version of the song---or create confusion as to which
is definitive---then just a brief excerpt containing the solo could have
been included.
Another item not included sounds fascinating, if not
a must: the first formal take of “Something,” from April 16, 1969, with this
remarkable line-up: Harrison (guitar), George Martin (piano), Lennon (bass),
and McCartney on. . .drums! What a curio that is---much more intriguing than
Harrison’s solo demo (which is included in the “Sessions” discs on the 50th
anniversary package.) How many more such peculiarities were rejected, or not
considered at all? I mean, why three---three---outtakes of “Her
Majesty?” Gasp!
Among the good choices, though (disc 1):
Billy Preston’s fabulous organ solo on “I Want You,” which
maybe defeats the minimalism that Lennon was after, but is so damn good you
wish they’d put it on the final version; Ringo’s busier drumming on “Oh
Darling!” much more interesting than McCartney’s vocal; Music Director
McCartney giving directions to Ringo and George at the start of “Maxwell’s
Silver Hammer’; In “Here Comes the Sun,” you can actually hear that point
where Ringo works out what he’s going to play on the “sun sun sun” breaks;
“Ballad of John and Yoko,” where John and Paul call each other George and
Ringo (who are absent); “You Never Give Me Your Money” and other songs in
the medley in early stages, because it shows how much they worked and worked on
them; Paul singing “Golden Slumbers” without the screaming rock ‘n’ roll
voice (I prefer this); of course, great to have Paul’s demo of “Goodbye,”
though long bootlegged.
| George Martin’s composition for “Something” is
so opulent, so empathetic to the song that one wishes to hear a
version with only orchestra and Beatle vocals (and George’s guitar
solo.) |
And (disc two):
Standout feature is the “Big One,” an early edit of
the medley that included “Her Majesty” between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and
"Polythene Pam"---and suggests that Paul worked out
the entire “Golden Slumbers/Carry that Weight/The End” alone, including the
“Money” reprise (as opposed to collaborating with Martin); an early drum
solo attempt by Ringo, much more drawn out, with fewer fills; Music Director
McCartney telling George to save his best guitar work for later in
“Polythene Pam” because otherwise “you give away all your best bits”; a
curious moment in “Pam” where Lennon laughingly tells Ringo his drumming
sounds like Dave Clark (of the Dave Clark 5)---which calls into question
Emerick’s memory of the matter in his memoir. (Emerick said that Lennon
criticized Ringo’s “Pam” drumming as being like Clark’s, and said that
Ringo and Paul stayed up very late working out the drum part that was
finally used. Yet Lennon’s quip is not critical on this outtake, but made in
jest, and Ringo’s drum part is the same one used on the final version. A
mystery!); the two George Martin orchestral compositions used for
“Something” and “Golden Slumbers” etc. are a great treat; Martin’s
composition for “Something” is so opulent, so empathetic to the song that
one wishes to hear a version with only orchestra and Beatle vocals (and
George’s guitar solo.)
Perhaps the biggest bump in this “Road,” however, was not in
the album content or mix, but in Giles Martin’s astonishing rewriting of
history. Here is his quote, repeated in many an interview: “They know this
is going to be their last album. You can tell they’re going to make sure
it’s a good one, and that everyone’s songs are going to get equal
attention.” This is simply untrue. Perhaps his father left him with this
impression, as he has said, but there are no interviews where any of The
Beatles said that they thought it was their last album, while they were
doing it. None. And they are on the record as saying that no one thought
this to be the case.
What’s more, peerless Beatles authority Mark Lewisohn
made the news at the time Giles was making his claim, revealing a tape of
Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison (made for Ringo, who was not present) in
which Lennon planned their next album after “Abbey Road,” as well as
a Christmas single! Now, everyone---even an official Beatles
producer/curator---is allowed a mistake. But Giles Martin did not exactly
admit the mistake:
“To be honest, there’s no indication that they were thinking
‘Abbey Road’ was their last album on the session tapes,” he told
ultimateclassicrock.com. “My hypothesis is that maybe they’d intended ‘Abbey
Road’ to be their last album, but it was a good experience, versus the bad
one they’d had on ‘Let it Be.’ So they decided to have a meeting about doing
another album. But I think there’s no doubt that they all had a sense that
it was coming to an end. . .So I think the likelihood is that they felt that
if it wasn’t going to be the last time, it was pretty damn close to it.”
“My hypothesis” is well and good, but it does not
serve the interests of historical accuracy. This, coupled with Martin’s
questionable judgement of outtakes on “Abbey Road” (and the “white album”),
and a couple of oddball mix calls on “Road,” makes me wonder about his
overall judgement. His insisting that, despite irrefutable evidence to the
contrary, they “had a sense” that it was the end, is just unbecoming.
Other than that. . .love you. . .love you. . .love you. .
.love you. . .
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