So why do it? Remix Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, 50 years after the album's original release? Giles Martin (above), son of Sir George and the man behind the new remix, said the answer is simple. Because the original tapes are in pristine condition we can.
And then there's the all-important context: record labels need something to sell. And after all we are talking about the Beatles here. If there is anything like a sure thing, a guaranteed hit, in the music business, it's John, Paul, Ringo and George.
Better face it now Beatles fans: we are all going to be buying "new" Beatles reissues for the rest of our time upon this mortal coil. When it come to the Beatles, and the trove of unreleased outtakes, alternate takes, and live tracks still in the vaults, it's best to just admit we want if not need it all. And now that the sonics are said to be improved, price is really no longer an object. Think about the coming reissues—nothing has been announced, but rest assured there's a plan—of the The Beatles "White Album" and Abbey Road with outtakes, alternates and a fresh remix. I will pay, within or without reason, whatever they ask.
That said, the new remix of the Sgt Pepper's is a welcome freshening that drew a standing ovation out of the assembled crowd at the World of McIntosh Townhouse in SoHo, NYC on Friday morning, April 28. A crowd that included Elvis Costello, who came in black cowboy boots and brown, gentlemanly cowboy hat, heard the band anew, 24 years old again, bursting with creativity, and given new vibrancy and life by this fresh remix. While all the ingredients from the original mixes were still there, these new sonic recenterings, this portraits from a slightly different angle, felt exactly right.
Martin does beautiful, spot-on impressions of his father— "John had an obsession, as my father used to say, (Giles downshifts into George), with `screwing up his voice'"—that added quite a few laughs if not authenticity to the packed listening session.
The new remix, by Martin and engineer Sam Okell, is in stereo but in a way, according to Martin, that captures what the Beatles initially liked about the original mono mix. Martin says his father and "The Boys" treated the original stereo mix almost as an "afterthought. " He played several of the 34 unreleased outtakes and alternates that are the main catnip for collectors and one, of the foursome trying to do a vocal mix of the chord that ends "A Day In The Life," was a hoot to hear. Needless to say, it did not quite work.
Beyond a certain freshness and buoyancy to the overall sound, the drums sounds in the new remix seem clearer and father forward in the mix than ever before and some of the panning choices are a bit different. But again, this is only a first impression from a single listen and I'm sure once we're all given time with the new mixes, other differences will make themselves heard.
Although the new mix of "With a Little Help from My Friends," has already been serviced to radio, these new Pepper mixes, will be released on May 26 as a two-CD set of the original record remixed and some outtakes, a two-180gm LP set of the same material, or as a super-deluxe, four-CD/DVD/Blu-ray set that includes the original mono mixes, the 1992 documentary The Making of Sgt. Pepper, and Giles Martin's 5.1 surround-sound mix and high-resolution stereo, 24-bit/96kHz files of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band plus "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane." Crucially, "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane," which were a single released just before the Sgt Pepper's came out, but not included on that record, are included as outtakes in all these sets.
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