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He Said He Said
The immeasurable legacy of the Beatles, part one
By Joe Sorren and Bodie Dennis
Published on 10/01/2009
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Fab two: Flag musician Bodie Dennis (left) and artist/musician Joe Sorren argue the finer points if the Beatles' remastered debut album Please Please me. Photo by Kyna Mallery.
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Editor’s note: Below is the first in a series of columns written by two notorious local Beatle freaks: artist Joe Sorren and musician Bodie Dennis. With the Sept. 9 release of the band’s newly remastered catalogue (both mono and stereo mixes), a total frenzy ensued in the music world and here we have our own resident experts to examine the newly found depth in the legendary music.
Joe:
In 1987, AppleCorps began to release the Beatles catalog on compact disc. I remember being so excited because until that point I had a spotty collection of American cassette versions (Beatles Rock and Roll Music anyone?). I would finally be able to get a hold of the British releases, with each album containing all the songs intended in order, the way the Beatles meant for them to be heard. The Beatles’ arrival on digital media began with Please Please Me in Feb. ’87 or so. They would release one a month which was very smart. It allowed me the time to drink in and savor each recording without the rest of the catalog’s siren calls of, “… nooo, listen to meee.”
So flash forward 22 years and here comes a re-release of the entire Beatles catalog in compact disc format … again. But this time it was all released at once, with both stereo and mono versions to boot! It’s all too much!
So in light of this over-stimulation, we have decided to review each album individually, comparing both the stereo and mono versions, as well as to the original ’87 release, starting with the Beatles first release, Please Please Me.
OK, here we go. Hi Bodie, what are your initial thoughts of the re-released Please Please Me?
Bodie:
Well, one thing that is often lamented by Beatle-philes is that this little combo was never captured they way they truly sounded. Thumping. Pounding. Rattling. As it turns out, the engineers at EMI studios captured much more sonic information than anyone thought. We just had to wait 46 years to know it.
So what took so long? For starters, the state of consumer hi-fi in the early 1960s imposed some limitations. The most practical and non-negotiable among these was the fact that excessive, transient bass could make a listener’s stylus jump right off of the record. The rough mixes of “Paperback Writer” that surfaced in the ’90s definitely reveal the boys’ frustrated desire for more low-end attack, but the age simply didn’t allow for it.
And of course, the sensibilities of your average mixing engineer were probably touchier in those days. So isn’t it unfortunate that decades later, after years of well-represented rock ‘n’ roll recordings, the Beatles’ catalog would be queued for remastering in the mid ’80s? That’s right. Just when some of the weirdest trends in audio production were at their pinnacle, Please Please Me was re-rendered to a shiny new format that was still in its Neanderthal stages. Fab!
No matter. This 2009 version actually left my room with a faint odor of ozone and warm vacuum tubes. It’s sad to me that the wiry attempt at clarity in the earlier issue got in the way of so much finely rolled grit. Suddenly, this album doesn’t seem merely cute to me anymore! I don’t hear four bobble-headed dress-up dolls, I hear a raunchy rock band fresh from the Reeperbahn.
Joe:
I know, for years I heard how sick John was that day of recording, and finally I can hear him pushing his vocal through his cold. Check out his singing on “Anna.” It is some of the most underrated and guttural vocal performances we get from young John. Sometimes I try to listen to this album from an early ’60s point of reference, and wonder if the thump and edge came across. It just must have blown people away.
Bodie:
The 1987 release was remastered from the monaural mix (as were With the Beatles, A Hard Days Night, and Beatles For Sale), and even though the newly remastered mono version is a definite improvement, Please Please Me in stereo is the real treat. The arrangements open up like tall French doors. Immediately after Paul’s brisk count-in, you find yourself walking among the group, but the separation of instruments is never disjoined.
Joe:
I actually completely disagree. The stereo is a novelty, and I only find it interesting because it has not been available until now. But it strip-mines the power of the band. It also feels too bright. George’s guitar warmth and John’s crunch interplay in mono perfectly, where as in stereo it feels weaker, as if they have been strip-mined by Mimi. The only way to listen to this album is the way the Beatles meant for it to be heard: in mono and loud!
Bodie:
Sorry. The mono version is just flat to me. In stereo, the newly revealed crosstalk of ambient signals gives the group much greater cohesion, and it adds a sense of vast dimension. Just listen to “Chains”—the way John’s guitar grinds away below the vocals on the right. It’s a guitar part that I’ve never even noticed until now, but it’s critical. It not only elevates George’s handy work onto a much higher pedestal, it also foreshadows an overdriven thickness more associated with Mick Taylor-era Stones albums.
Well, since we’ve successfully disagreed on this one …
Joe:
We’ll dig into With the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night and Beatles For Sale next week.
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