The Beatles - Sgt. Pepper Lonely Heart's Club Band Deluxe Edition

mart

Blueingreen said:

richardhomer said:

not_the_dj said:

Howard Goodall's docu on C4 now is jolly good indeed. 

Watching it too. Always thought McCartney was a great bass player - but watching this I've decided he might be the best ever.

The level of creativity they had never fails to amaze me....

I played bass exclusively for a good few years and that was my conclusion as well, at least for rock pop. No-one else so often did really unexpected things without making them sound merely experimental and clever. Instead he made them a natural, organic, unobtrusive part of accessible but great music. 

This. An amazing musician.

And then he went and did the bloody frog chorus. Sigh.

Wazmeister

not_the_dj said:

Howard Goodall's docu on C4 now is jolly good indeed. 

It is excellent, although I think it was on the BBC and you can see it on catch up...

starwarsnosebleed

Its on the BBC iplayer. Pretty good tis.

mudslide73

I've enjoyed both the remix and leftovers a lot more than I thought. The Howard Goodall programme is very enjoyable - he's almost a musical Brian Cox (but better imo) with his explanations of modulation and modal stuff. Macca's descending bass lines and altered bass notes are well covered too. A lot of the stuff is normal now but he does a good job in explaining what was so good about them. Macca paticularly comes out of it looking like a bonafide genius.

I'm also very much enjoying American Epic which shows similar levels of influence from the blues greats.

english_bob

Just had a first listen to this. I haven't done the forensic "spot the difference" thing against the old version yet, but I'd agree that the obvious impression is of everything being the same as before, only cleaner, brighter and more defined. Like running your tongue over your teeth after a scale and polish.

streethawk

RandallFlagg said:

streethawk said:

In related news, here's a little jam from the Let It Be sessions with Lennon playing a Jaguar, Ringo looking smashed out of his head and falling off his stool at the end. 

https://realtimes.real.com/s/0l43D2

That's not a Jaguar, it's a Fender Bass VI

So it is. 

Snap

Not my favourite Beatles album, but obviously brilliant. I think I prefer Revolver, White Album and Rubber Soul tbh.

Neil Young does and ace version of A Day in The Life, live. Mental.

also, this is the only song I know that mentions my hometown, Blackburn.

RandallFlagg

Snap said:

Not my favourite Beatles album, but obviously brilliant. I think I prefer Revolver, White Album and Rubber Soul tbh.

Neil Young does and ace version of A Day in The Life, live. Mental.

also, this is the only song I know that mentions my hometown, Blackburn.

Jeff Beck's version of A Day In The Life on the George Martin album "In My Life" is superb, as is Sean Connery's spoken "In My Life"

ICBM

So not only did I get the Deluxe Edition for my birthday, and it is truly wonderful - a fantastic remaster, which doesn't alter the original mixes noticeably, but does make everything clearer (with a possible exception for the end bit of Strawberry Fields, which doesn't sound quite right somehow) and includes some incredibly interesting bits on the Sgt. Pepper Sessions disc - but I've finally got around to watching the Howard Goodall analysis of it on iPlayer.

I have now reappraised my opinion…

It's not just the best Beatles album, it's a towering work of genius that is quite possibly the best album by any band ever. It more than justifies the hype, and even having it deconstructed in detail - which can sometimes be a mixed blessing - actually enhances it and makes it clear just how astounding it really is.

In some ways one of the most interesting is Strawberry Fields - which obviously isn't on the original album, but I've been listening to it on the Beatles 'Blue album' for the best part of forty years. I'd always known about the edit, but never really thought it was that obvious… but having heard the two original takes, not only do I think I prefer the original 'slow' take in its entirety, but that on the edited version, the edit is now blindingly obvious - particularly in how John's voice changes tonality - not in a bad way, in fact if anything it's better.

10/10 is not enough.

prowla

I popped into a Hi-Fi shop on the weekend and the chap there played the remastered gt Peppers; it was really good - really really good!.

(Abbey Road is my favourite Beatles album though.)

duotone

Pretty sure it's on Spotify/Google's latest.  Will have to check it out, cheers!

richardhomer

Just read @ICBM's post and am now quite irritated with myself. I picked a copy of the reissue up in HMV yesterday and subsequently put it back because I decided I 'didn't really need it'. Bugger....

stickyfiddle

I agree with @ICBM, except the bit about it being better than Abbey Road because that's just silly.

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

I agree with @ICBM, except the bit about it being better than Abbey Road because that's just silly.

I actually *prefer* Abbey Road, still - but I think Sgt. Pepper is a greater work. Arguably at least as much to do with George Martin as the band - the depth and creative thought that went into writing, arranging and producing it is on another level, even compared to the great songwriting on Abbey Road and the other later albums.

If you haven't heard the Deluxe Edition yet, do get it - the extra clarity will bring out stuff you've never really noticed before and I honestly think you'll end up liking it more too.

streethawk

Never been a big fan of 'when I'm 64' (in part due to having to suffer Points of View on telly when I was a kid). 

Just listening to the deluxe edition through decent headphones and noticed Paul singing in a slight Lancashire accent with a brief Scottish interlude. Chuckles. 

ICBM

streethawk said:

Never been a big fan of 'when I'm 64' (in part due to having to suffer Points of View on telly when I was a kid).

I wasn't really either, but I like it better now. I even like Lovely Rita now, a bit… which is definitely my least favourite track.

I like it a lot better than Maxwell's Silver Hammer, anyway!

streethawk

ICBM said:

streethawk said:

Never been a big fan of 'when I'm 64' (in part due to having to suffer Points of View on telly when I was a kid).

I wasn't really either, but I like it better now. I even like Lovely Rita now, a bit… which is definitely my least favourite track.

I like it a lot better than Maxwell's Silver Hammer, anyway!

I'm even liking get by with a little help from my friends. 

Spent far too long today learning Harrison's (Lennon's?) electric bits for Strawberry Fields. Baffling how much space he left - was actually getting stuck on the lack of notes!