1[Blu-ray]

Description

The Beatles' 1 has sold 32 million copies worldwide. Fifteen years after its initial release, the videos for all 27 songs have been collected together for the first time ever. All videos have been meticulously restored. Audio has been remixed for all tracks from the analogue masters and boast new 5.1 surround sound and a new 2.0 stereo mix. Packaged in an Amaray. Review: The Beatles in 5.1 Surround - This review is for "The Beatles 1+" 1 CD/2 BluRay set. There is a lot to cover here, so please bare with me. I was not expecting a lot of advancement from the 5.1 audio due to the past history of the Abby Road studios. All through the Beatles recording history, all they had was a 4 track tape recorder in the studio. They did all of their takes and mixes from that 4 track machine. So mix-downs would be limited. But over the years, they did a pretty good job of mixing each track to give us spectacular stereo and effects. Giles Martin is the son of George Martin, who produced most of the Beatles music since the beginning. Most of the orchestral music you hear behind the Beatles is George Martin's orchestra. George also had a lot to do with the original editing and mixing of the Beatles music. Giles Martin took those 4 track master tapes and went to work. He was able to come up with some amazing 5.1 surround mixes of original Beatles recordings. There are a few song titles that did not offer much to mix down, so Giles did his best and made it work. Needless to say, most of the titles on this album have a pretty good and noticeable 5.1 discrete separation mix. Let me give one good example of a remix. The song "I Want To Hold Your Hand" had an original stereo mixdown with the music on the left channel, and the boys voices on the right channel. That was a popular mix back when stereo records were still new. The new Giles Martin mix has a Guitar on the front left, a different guitar on the front right, the voices are in the center with background ambiance of the voices and drums in stereo on the rear left and right. The audio is offered in super clean Dolby 2.0 Stereo, DTS HDMA 5.1 surround, and Dolby TrueHD 5.1 surround. As usual, my favorite is the DTS HDMA 5.1 mode for surround sound at all times when available. 0% compression, and much wider dynamic range. Before you begin to listen to this album, keep in mind that the volume level is higher than most discs and volume levels should be turned down much lower than normal to begin, at least until you find your own preferences. But they are still super clean. First... about BD Disc #1 Some real fans may be a little disappointed to find that 6 of the titles are not the original studio versions. They were taken from live BBC TV performances and enhanced for the 5.1 stereo effect. The first 3 songs, 1. Love Me Do, - 2. From Me To You. - and 3, She Loves You, were not available in stereo so the live TV versions was used for this album. They have an acceptable fake stereo effect that is pleasant to listen to. The video portions are what they used to call, Promotional films. Before the days of cable and MTV, they used to make a video of the band in a TV studio or the music studio, and they would lip-sinc to the actual recording. Then they put them to together to send to radio and TV stations as a promotion of a new song or a TV show audition. Most of the videos on this album use those promo films. But they are all remastered, cleaned up and look fantastic. There are performances you have never seen before. Then there are songs numbered 5. Can't Buy Me Love, - 6. A Hard Days Night, and 11. Yesterday, that are also taken from Live TV performances and do not have a good stereo mix. To be honest, I would rather have heard the 2 channel stereo studio mix of these three songs. They were much better. One real disappointment was the live TV version of #21. Hey Jude. It is not even in stereo. Number 22. Get Back is the live rooftop version. The studio version is on BD disc 2. Songs 26. Let It Be, and 27. The Long And Winding Road, are the song clips from the Beatles "Let It Be" movie, but they are good 5.1 versions. The rest of the titles on Disc 1 are the original studio tracks remixed expertly by Giles Martin for real 5.1 mixes. Here are the titles on Disc 1. By the way, the 1 CD is the same as the BluRay disc 1. 1. Love Me Do... (Live BBC TV) 2. From Me To You... (Live BBC TV) 3. She Loves You... (Live BBC TV) 4. I Want To Hold Your Hand... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 5. Can't Buy Me Love... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 6. A Hard Days Night... (Live BBC TV) 7. I Feel Fine... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 8. Eight Days A Week... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 9. Ticket To Ride.... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 10. HELP... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 11. Yesterday... (Live BBC TV) 12. Daytripper... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 13. We Can Work It Out... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 14. Paperback Writer... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 15. Yellow Submarine... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 16. Eleanor Rigby... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 17. Penny Lane... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 18. All You Need Is Love... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 19. Hello Goodbye... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 20. Lady Madonna... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 21. Hey Jude... (MONO Live BBC TV) 22. Get Back... (Live Rooftop Version) 23. The Ballad Of John & Yoko... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 24. Something... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 25. Come Together... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 26. Let It Be... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 27. The Long And Winding Road... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) And now for BD Disc #2 Disc 2 is a bonus disc with titles that may not have been #1 hits, but should have been. It also includes a few alternate video versions of titles on Disc 1 Like the studio edited version of "Get Back". Number 21. "Don't Let Me Down" is the live rooftop version. There is even an Ed Sullivan Show performance. There are two titles on Disc 2 that you should pay special attention to. Number 12. Strawberry Fields Forever, and 14. A Day In The Life. Giles Martin and crew went all out to give these two songs the royal treatment. You have never heard these songs like this before. The 5.1 surround mix is absolutely awesome. As an example.... "A Day In The Life" begins as a normal stereo mix on the front channels. Then the orchestra comes in majestically on the rear channels in discrete stereo, hitting you like a blast of cold air. It gets your attention. The small solo by Paul is mostly on the rear channels but moves around slowly to all speakers. It is an audiophiles dream. And of course we have the 2 reunion Beatles songs from 1995 with the 3 live Beatles (Paul, George, & Ringo), and an edited in John Lennon, doing 2 original Lennon songs. Songs number 22 and 23 are "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love". They are both the original videos and music introduced on the ABC TV Beatles Anthology special back in 1995. And the 5.1 remix is breathtaking on both videos. The titles on Disc 2 are as follows........ 1. Twist And Shout... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 2. Baby It's You... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 3. Words of Love... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 4. Please, Please Me... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 5. I Feel Fine... (Alternate VIDEO Version) 6. Daytripper... (Alternate VIDEO Version B) 7. Daytripper... (Alternate VIDEO Version C) 8. We Can Work It Out... (Alternate VIDEO Version) 9. Paperback Writer... (Alternate VIDEO Version) 10. Rain... (Alternate VIDEO Version B) 11. Rain... (Alternate VIDEO Version C) 12. Strawberry Fields Forever... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 13. Within You Without You... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 14. A Day In The Life... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 15. Hello Goodbye... (Alternate VIDEO Version B) 16. Hello Goodbye... (Alternate VIDEO Version C) 17. Hey Bulldog... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 18. Hey Jude... (Alternate Mix Live BBC TV. Still in MONO) 19, Revolution... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 20. Get Back... (Alternate Edited Studio Mix) 21. Don't Let Me Down... (Live Rooftop Version) 22. Free As A Bird... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) 23. Real Love... (ORIGINAL STUDIO 5.1 REMIX) No matter what you think about these 50 Beatles remixed video versions, keep this in mind. The 32 original studio remixed titles are heard here in flawless DTS HDMA 5.1 96KHz/24Bit surround sound. No Beatles CD or MP3 could ever try to compare to that. It is well worth the price to own a priceless collection of Beatles songs in awesome 5.1 surround. And the videos are worth it as well. Some we have never seen until now. Review: Beatles Heaven Again!: Sonic Ear Candy - I'm a bona fide Beatles fanatic, as well as an audiophile. They've been my favorite band for almost 52 years now: ever since the "Ed Sullivan Show" in February 1964. Even so, I admit to a measure of skepticism that another product of Beatles music could offer something all that new. The key here is being a "remix" rather than just a "remaster." Once I heard that, I knew this would be special, and it is: pleasurably exceeding all my expectations. It's a sonic "grand slam" and easily a five-star rating. If desertcart had ten-star ratings, I'd give it that. I bought the "Deluxe" version with two DVDs. The videos are uniformly excellent, with stunning remastered picture quality. Since I don't have a surround sound system, however, my review will be restricted to the CD and devoted mostly to comparisons with earlier versions of Beatles songs. In a remix (for those not acquainted with this notion), songs are improved in terms of different parts (tracks) in relation to each other. So, for example, a vocal that was on the left or right side might be brought into the "middle" (equally loud on both channels): which is now standard practice. Many have been critical of too many "unbalanced" ; uncomfortably "left-right" Beatles songs in stereo, and I'm one of them. I was especially looking and hoping for more drums in the middle (which I highly favor, as giving a rock song more power and drive: as many mono mixes do) and rectification of some of these balance flaws, and was happily satisfied to see significant improvements along these lines. There haven't been many remixes of Beatles songs. The main complete remixed album up till now was the 1999 "Yellow Submarine Songtrack". In my opinion, every song on that release was sonically superior (often vastly so) to any other versions: including the 2009 remasters. Today I listened to the CD through speakers and then later with headphones, making a track-by-track comparison to what I considered the existing best-sounding tracks. I think that 19 of the 27 tracks on the revised "1" are now the best versions available. It's quite significant for Beatles fans to have (if one follows my opinion) 19 of their best songs improved to a level beyond anything heard previously. I didn't include "Let it Be" and "The Long and Winding Road" in my analysis of this album (compared to earlier product), strictly because of my personal musical taste. I've always greatly preferred the album version of "Let it Be": with it's alternate superb George Harrison guitar solo: overdubbed in early 1970: one of the last tracks (if not *the* last track) recorded for the original Beatles corpus. And I like the "de-Spectorized" version of "The Long and Winding Road" because the schmaltzy embellishment was detested by Paul McCartney (though not by John Lennon: which violates the exaggerated stereotypes of the two musicians). The superior version is available on "Let it Be ... Naked" (2003). Since the songs on "1" were all singles versions, it could hardly have included these other versions. That said, only six of the remaining 25 songs are superior in earlier versions: "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (I always write it that way!), "Day Tripper", and "We Can Work it Out" are better in the 2009 mono versions (mainly because of lack of drums in the middle in the stereo versions). "Yellow Submarine", "Eleanor Rigby", and "All You Need is Love" are better on the "Yellow Submarine Songtrack" (though not by much). I noticed that "Yellow Submarine" in the 1999 album had (uniquely) ocean sounds that appropriately go from right to left and back. In no case was a 2009 stereo version better than these new remixes. One thing I noticed was that vocals often sounded significantly better: going from a slightly "tinny" sound in some cases, to sounding as if the singer is literally in the room, heard without going through any recording process at all. Some remarkable new technology was evidently utilized in this regard. As another general observation: the drumming sounds sharper, clearer, and with more punch (as it should be). Ringo's wonderfully distinctive snare drum sound has never been better. Again, it seems like he's right in the room and heard equally with all the other tracks of the songs, rather than (as too often) relatively buried in the mix: adding a new excitement to several of the tracks. A third general improvement is Paul's bass, which has less of the annoying "booming" quality that it sometimes takes on in Beatles recordings. "Natural" is the descriptive word for all three of these factors. The guitars aren't left out in the improvements, either. They are clearer, and can be heard more precisely as separate parts (lead and rhythm). I think that seven songs in particular (out of the 19 new "gold standard" ones) are "very notably improved" from previous versions. "Can't Buy Me Love", "Paperback Writer", and "Hello Goodbye" have moved the drums to the middle: thus maintaining the rock drive of the mono versions while retaining the more "interesting and ear-catching" stereo touches, too, and a brighter, more appealing sound. They're much better than the mono versions (my previous favorites) and also the stereo 2009 remasters. "Penny Lane" was one of the songs that I immediately was struck by, listening through speakers. In this instance, I liked the 2009 stereo the best prior to this album: which gives the song a more charming, catchy ambiance, similar to the three songs above, but also, perfectly in line with its fundamental character as a "bright" or "sunny" song. The famous high trumpet part also moves to the center. The drums are about half-again raised in volume and sharp as a bell. This is a fairly major change (in the "remix" sense), yet it doesn't sound *innovative*; rather, one feels that the song should have *always* been this way. That observation is generally true of the entire album. The improvements are more striking and noteworthy than the 2009 remasters (great, overall) were, compared to the good ol' 1987 remasters, without altering what we might call the sonic nature or essence of any song. "Get Back" is incredibly catchy in the new remix: again, in line with the nature of the song as one of the most immediately appealing, irresistible rock riffs and grooves of all time. I recall that I first obtained this song in a cereal box (!): a flimsy plastic little record. But it played fine on our old mono record player! Here we find, most notably, a clearer (thus, all the more striking) John Lennon guitar track (true also of "Come Together"). Lastly, I'd like to give special mention to two songs that are arguably most improved of all: "Lady Madonna" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko". Ironically (apart from the boring, mediocre "Love Me Do"), these are my two least favorite cuts on the album. But (subjective tastes aside), they receive such a "fine-tuning" in the remix that my prior basic impression or perception of them was almost entirely changed: from fairly mundane, conventional, not very original pieces (I dare say!), to almost "thunderous" rockers. That's how good these new mixes are. "Lady Madonna" in particular had a very muddy bass line in the 2009 stereo version. Now it sounds great, and takes on a sort of (for lack of a better description) "swamp rock" character heard also in "Come Together". "The Ballad of John and Yoko" also receives quite a power boost: especially in the vigorous McCartney drumming (only he and John played on this track). It's a wonderful experience to be so struck by songs heard hundreds of times (and some of the least favorites of one's favorite band), due to such significant sonic "facelifts." As I have noted, this was true of many of the tracks: leading to a most remarkable listening "adventure". I think this album delivers all it possibly could (far beyond expectations: at least mine, anyway), and will be regarded as a model of the "remix genre." It has made *this* devoted Beatles fan very happy, and I'm sure that will be the case with many thousands, if not millions more of our large tribe.