| Direct link to this article here: http://tinyurl.com/theyshouldhaveknownbetter Remember to click on the photos and album covers to find tons and tons of Beatles products and rarities in Gemm.com itself.  THE REMASTERS: THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER
by: Joseph Tortelli
 | It's hard to complain about the recent release of The Beatles' remastered catalog. It certainly marks a welcome update and improvement of the recordings' digital sound. Still, had these reissues been expanded editions, they would have added far more to our appreciation of the songs within the context of their 1960s origins. The Beatles' records were just that: seven and twelve inch vinyl discs. They were the best format available at the time, but today's remasters need not be limited by the restraints of past technology. Yet, that is just what has happened with the re-releases which precisely replicate the vinyl LPs. Or do they? Well, not exactly. They largely follow the primary British releases, over which John, Paul, George, Ringo, and George Martin exercised some control. But that control was circumscribed by the constant need of record labels for more product, by the amount of music that fit onto a vinyl disc, and by that disc holding music on two separate flip-sides. |
| The content and song order was influenced by this fact: The first and last songs on each side of an LP were considered the critical building blocks to developing an overall album. With all these limits in mind, there are still some glaring discrepancies between the remasters and the favored British releases. First, The Beatles pressed Magical Mystery Tour as an EP, not an LP. If the goal is to be exact, shouldn't the remastered Mystery Tour also be EP length? Additionally, the 1960s Beatle canon never included anything titled Past Masters. Doesn't the Past Masters compilation alter the group's vision? Would they not have put it together in 1970, had they wanted something like it? |  |
 | Finally, The Beatles themselves hardly considered Yellow Submarine part of the canon, which is why they spared the LP soundtrack only six of their songs: the title cut and "All You Need Is Love" had been previously issued, while the four new songs were regarded as ill-fitting a "real" Beatle album. Most importantly, The Beatles original discs were issued far differently in America than in Britain. The British LPs offered a more generous serving of 14 tracks; the American releases were usually reduced to 11 songs, but their quality was enhanced by including singles like "She Loves You," "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "I Feel Fine" and "Strawberry Fields Forever." For reasons specific to both markets, American labels preferred to add hit 45s to punch up album sales, but British labels frequently isolated their singles from their albums. |
Because of the gigantic scale of the American teen market in the 1960s, it's safe to say that U.S. sales far outpaced British sales. Simply put: More kids bought and heard the American adaptations of Beatle records. By sheer volume, this legitimizes the American practice of mixing singles into albums. And it codifies American releases as essential aspects of Beatle history. This is not to argue that the American records are necessarily superior; that's a matter of taste. But it does shine a beacon that should have ignited the remastering of the 14-song U.K. originals AND expanded CDs showing the music within the context of American Beatlemania. With the added time afforded CDs, the two traditions could easily have been accommodated by including singles and other extraneous tracks on "deluxe" editions. Here's a list of album titles along with some songs that would have enhanced the listening experience and historical memory of each CD. PLEASE PLEASE ME |  | | To the original 14-track U.K. release, add the British No. 1 singles "From Me To You"/"Thank You Girl" and the all-time Yeah-yeah-yeah smash "She Loves You"/"I'll Get You." Expanded edition tracks: 18 |
 | WITH THE BEATLES - Supplement the British album with "I Want To Hold Your Hand," which opened Meet The Beatles and started it all in America. "This Boy," the Brit B-side of "Hold Your Hand" and the third cut on the Meet LP surely belongs. It's easy to make a case for the single version of "Love Me Do," which reached No. 1 in America four months after "I Want To Hold Your Hand" (even though it was their debut hit in the U.K.); plus the similar-sounding LP session recording is on the Please Please Me disc. The rock 'n' roll screamer "Long Tall Sally" and "I Call Your Name" both filled key spots on The Beatles Second Album in America but were relegated to an EP in Britain. (And, by the way, what happened to that extraordinary George Harrison four-note guitar figure that was so prominent in 1964 and on the Meet The Beatles version of "I Want To Hold Your Hand"? It sounds buried in the remastered mix.) Expanded edition tracks: 19 |
| A HARD DAY'S NIGHT - Easily accomplished. In the U.S., the LP Something New complemented (and duplicated some of) A Hard Day's Night during the summer of 1964. "Matchbox," "Slowdown," and "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand," were on Something New, and just to complete the German-language lesson, bring aboard "Sie Liebt Dich." Expanded edition tracks: 18 |  |
 | FOR SALE - Add to the U.K. album one of the Beatles' greatest two-sided singles, "I Feel Fine"/"She's A Woman." Because these tracks opened The Beatles '65, the American LP has the edge over its U.K. counterpart. Expanded edition tracks: 16 |
| HELP - Another soundtrack that was cut badly in the U.S. Still, the superior Brit version would benefit from the inclusion of the rollicking "I'm Down" (B-side of "Help" single); "Yes It Is" (B-side of "Ticket To Ride"); and "Bad Boy," the foursome's last rock 'n' roll cover song, and a good one it is. Expanded edition tracks: 17 |  |
 | RUBBER SOUL - "Day Tripper" and "We Can Work It Out" were issued virtually simultaneously with this album, and later put on the American butcher-cover extract titled Yesterday And Today (not exactly these Colonies finest hour). Expanded edition tracks: 16 |
| REVOLVER - Here's another easy one: "Paperback Writer" and "Rain" belong for sure. Because it was a lesser played B-side, John Lennon's "Rain" has been deprived the popular acclaim it has long deserved; as an LP track, it will shine on. Expanded edition tracks: 16 |  |
 | SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND - This one is to important to add to or subtract from. Plus it was the first LP issued exactly the same in the U.K. and the U.S. Of course, one could make a case for "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields," which were issued as an earlier single due to demands from the record label for a fresh 45. |
| MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR - It's George Harrison's turn: "The Inner Light" is his delicate, brilliant, sitar-drenched B-side that belongs here, along with "Lady Madonna." Another nice fit would be "You Know My Name," the oddball B-side to "Let It Be," which was spawned in recording sessions back in 1967. Expanded edition tracks: 14 |  |
| YELLOW SUBMARINE - In re-imagining the underwhelming original LP, the remasters might take a page from Magical Mystery Tour. In addition to the title song and EP-length quartet of new tracks on the LP, the CD should include the songs that fill much of Past Masters disc two. "Hey Jude," "Revolution," "Get Back," "Don't Let Me Down," "The Ballad Of John And Yoko," "Old Brown Shoe," "Across The Universe," and "Let It Be." Admittedly, this is not as snug a chronological fit as the others, but it maintains and improves the catalog title. (Alternately, the four songs from the LP could be spread across other albums, particularly the psychedelic Magical Mystery Tour.) Expanded edition tracks: 13 |  |
Some final thoughts: Another reason to leave in tact Sgt. Pepper, The White Album, and Abbey Road is because they routinely outsell the rest of the catalog. Most recently, this happened when the remasters dominated the album charts. The "big three" topped those charts, while the earlier "Beatlemania" era albums, along with Yellow Submarine, lagged far behind. Adding songs to them will provide twin benefits: First, the new songs will significantly beef-up sales, revitalizing those important titles; second, the added tracks will allow listeners to enjoy The Beatles' recordings as they were enjoyed during the 1960s on BOTH sides of the Atlantic. Why not the best of both worlds?
Remember to click on the photos and album covers to find tons and tons of Beatles products and rarities in Gemm.com itself. Gemmzine's continuing coverage of all things Beatles for the upcoming BEATexpo2009 (see below) Direct link to this article here: http://tinyurl.com/theyshouldhaveknownbetter
Other Beatles articles in Gemmzine: http://beatlesdirectory.blogspot.com/ Peter Calo does more traditional takes on instrumental Beatles: http://tinyurl.com/calobeatles R Stevie Moore actually remasters his own Beatles collection: http://tinyurl.com/rsteviemooredoesbeatles More Gemmzine Beatles articles: http://beatlesdirectory.blogspot.com/ GEMM on Twitter: http://twitter.com/GemmMarket
Celebrate the Music & Magicof The Beatles @ LiverpoolProductions BeatExpo 2009
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