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Beatles remasters--that McCartney guy is pretty good!

ajn

ajn

Sep 3, 2007
309
358
Now in the Heart of the Valley, Oregon
#1
I know there have been plenty of discussions on TalkBass about the merits of Paul McCartney as a bass player, and this thread is not really intended to start another one of those.

However, I've been listening today to some of the new Beatles remasters and--now that you can actually hear so much more of the bass lines in the recordings--I am completely re-floored by just how good and inventive a bass player that man was. When you consider what most rock and roll music was like during the early to mid 60s it is pretty astounding to me just how creative and complex his playing was. I would suggest to those who might be on the fence about his skill and his importance to the instrument, that you might take a listen to these new CDs.

I must admit that, as someone old enough to have bought every one of their albums on their original release dates, I have always been a huge Beatles fan, so I do come to the party with some bias. But I think these remasters are really worth a listen--even to those who don't quite "get" the Beatles.
 
#4
There's a box set of the mono mixes that's available now, too.

I picked up three of the remastered albums yesterday, those being The White Album, Rubber Soul and Abbey Road. I've only had a chance to listen to some of Abbey Road so far. And there's a noticeable difference between the 1986 versions and the remasters. "Here comes the sun" has a lot more breadth to it, and you can hear a lot more of the intricacy of the acoustic guitar parts. "Something" seems to breathe a bit more. "Come together" has some heft to it now. And overall there's some increased definition to McCartney's parts now.

Are these tracks perfect? Well, I heard some hiss on a couple of tracks, notably on "Come together" and "I want you (she's so heavy)", but it sounds like that may be from a guitar amp. And from what I've read, the goal of the remasters was to bring the albums up to date. Tape hiss and sounds from bad edits would be removed or cleaned up. But organic elements like breath sounds on vocals or amp hiss may remain. It gives me a feeling like I'm in the live room with the band.
 
#8
Crap, now I have to go buy some. I suspected the bass would be brought up in the mix more. Will they be rereleasing these on vinyl? I have all their stuff on CD and just cant bring myself to buying them all over again.

McCartney is one of my all time favorite musicians and bass player. I remember riding the bus home in 3rd grade listening to Magical Mystery Tour on my new cassette Walkman. I got teased by the other kids for not listening to Thriller. :smug:
 
#10
To be fair, this is the first major sonic upgrade of The Beatles catalog. Until this week all the Beatles CD's were from the original CD remasters from the 1988. I compared the new remasters to my original discs and the difference is astounding. The Stones have released at lest 4 different remaster sets in the last 10 years. I feel that The Beatles have justified me replacing all of their discs.
 
#11
ajn said:
I know there have been plenty of discussions on TalkBass about the merits of Paul McCartney as a bass player, and this thread is not really intended to start another one of those.

However, I've been listening today to some of the new Beatles remasters and--now that you can actually hear so much more of the bass lines in the recordings--I am completely re-floored by just how good and inventive a bass player that man was. When you consider what most rock and roll music was like during the early to mid 60s it is pretty astounding to me just how creative and complex his playing was. I would suggest to those who might be on the fence about his skill and his importance to the instrument, that you might take a listen to these new CDs.

I must admit that, as someone old enough to have bought every one of their albums on their original release dates, I have always been a huge Beatles fan, so I do come to the party with some bias. But I think these remasters are really worth a listen--even to those who don't quite "get" the Beatles.
Click to expand...

Paul was the first to bring a melodic feel to the bass and as for bass players, he brought a front man feel to it. So many of their things he almost played lead bass. I can tell you one thing, his importance as a bass player was never lost on the other three. Another thing, and I haven't heard the new remasters yet, that I think gets forgotten or at least marginalized is how good Ringos drumming was. I know he gets ridiculed for his drumming talent, but take a listen to how well Ringo and Paul locked. I think that was almost as important to their success as the song writing. Listen to the difference, if you can, between their very first releases. Love Me Do had a studio drummer on the Album but Ringo on the single and, IMO Ringo was so much better. Maybe its cause they were both left handed, who knows but they locked down the groove like few bassist/drummers can.
 
#16
There was an article in the Financial Times today about how EMI ( I think it's EMI) hopes to revive its fortune by re-releasing this old catalog; and, they will keep it out of iTune so as to force consumers to buy the entire box set if they want these new remasters.

I know this conduct by record companies is all old news, but then they wonder why people illegally share music
 

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