"Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition" by THE BEATLES featuring Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr and (Guests) Billy Preston on Keyboards with George Martin on Production and Keyboards (27 Sept 2019 UK and EUROPE Apple Universal Music Group International 4-Disc "Anniversary Edition" Box Set with 3 Audio CDs and 1BLU RAY Audio – Giles Martin, Sam Okell and Steve Rooke Remixes and Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

  

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THE GROOVIEST 1960s MUSIC ON CD 

Your All-Genres Guide To 

Exceptional Reissues and Remasters 

"...Here Comes The Sun..."

The 50th Anniversary of 1969 has certainly proven a lucrative 2019 tap for reissue companies. It seems that everything issued in that end-of-decade pivotal year is getting the bells and whistles – some rehashing what's already been available for years with supposedly new remasters. So for those sceptics amongst us, both lifetime fans and newcomers alike may look at this half-century vaults-trawl of the magical "Abbey Road" album by THE BEATLES with a nagging feeling that Universal Music Group sure does know how to milk a cash cow (check out the endless format list below for starters).

But make absolutely no mistake – having lived with this sucker for a few weeks now, this 27 September 2019 reissue of "Abbey Road" in its 4-Disc "Anniversary Edition" form is a proper Bobby Dazzler - a genuine treasure in their awesome musical back catalogue. There's a huge amount of info and multiple formats to wade through, so take off your shoes, come together and let's scoot across the world's most famous zebra-crossing once more...

UK and EUROPE released, Friday 27 September 2019 - "Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition" by THE BEATLES on Apple/Universal Music Group International 0602577921124 (Barcode 602577921124) offers 4-Discs - 3 Audio CDs and 1 BLU RAY AUDIO all housed within a 12" x 12" Hard Card Outer Case with a 100-Page LP Sized Hardback Book. It plays out as follows:

CD1 "Abbey Road" 2019 Mix (47:29 minutes):

1. Come Together [Side 1]

2. Something

3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

4. Oh! Darling

5. Octopus's Garden

6. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

7. Here Comes The Sun [Side 2]

8. Because

9. You Never Gave Me Your Money

10. Sun King

11. Mean Mr. Mustard

12. Polythene Pam

13. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

14. Golden Slumber

15. Carry That Weight

16. The End

17. Her Majesty

Tracks 1 to 17 make the album "Abbey Road" – released 26 September 1969 in the UK on Apple PCS 7088 and 1 October 1969 in the USA on Apple SO-383. Original artwork in both countries famously didn't credit "Her Majesty" (the short acoustic ditty by Paul McCartney that ends Side 2) on the rear artwork at all. Labels - American copies credited the song on the label whilst many original UK copies didn’t (some did in later re-pressings). For the sake of showing everything that's on "Abbey Road" 50 years later – that 'hidden track' of old is now superimposed in on the CD card artwork and credited on the label too.

CD2 "Abbey Road Sessions" (52:24 minutes):

1. I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Take 32 with Billy Preston Organ)

2. Goodbye (Home Demo)

3. Something (Studio Demo)

4. Ballad Of John and Yoko (Take 7)

5. Old Brown Shoe (Take 2)

6. Oh! Darling (Take 4)

7. Octopus Garden (Take 9)

8. You Never Give Me Your Money (Take 36)

9. Her Majesty (Takes 1-3)

10. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight (Takes 1-3/Medley)

11. Here Comes The Sun (Take 9)

12. Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Take 12)

CD3 "Abbey Road Sessions" (55:23 minutes):

1. Come Together (Take 5)

2. The End (Take 3)

3. Come And Get It (Studio Demo)

4. Sun King (Take 20)

5. Mean Mr. Mustard (Take 20)

6. Polythene Pam (Take 27)

7. She Came In Through the Bathroom Window (Take 27)

8. Because (Take 1 - Instrumental)

9. The Long One (Trial Edit & Mix - 30 July 1969)

10. Something (Take 39 - Instrumental - Strings Only)

11. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight (Take 17 - Instrumental - Strings & Brass Only)

Disc 4 "Abbey Road" BLU-RAY AUDIO

With its larger storage capacity, the BLU RAY offers a further 5.1 Surround Mix of the whole LP (96 kHz/24 bit DTS-HD Master) and a Dolby ATMOS Stereo Mix too (96kHz/24 bit high resolution).

Sourced directly from the original 8-track sessions tapes, GILES MARTIN (son of original producer GEORGE MARTIN) has returned with SAM OKELL, STEVE ROOKE and a team of other Audio Engineers who've been involved with all of these Beatles' and Apple label reissues at Abbey Road Studios and remixed the Stereo Tapes into a new version. Across 40-tracks in the SUPER DELUXE version we are dealing with - CD1 houses the original 17-track STEREO LP whilst CD2 and CD3 offer up for the first time a mouth-watering 23 outtakes called "Abbey Road Sessions" that include selected previously unreleased material, studio chatter, a version of the stand-alone 45 "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" also released in 1969, a version of the White Album track "Goodbye" and sweetest of all - "The Long One" - an unheard early version of the 8-song medley that made up most of AR's Side 2.

The LP-sized box (12" x 12") features a truly beautiful 100-page hardback book with contributions from Giles Martin, Paul McCartney, a new appraisal of the album and its legacy by noted writer, author and former head bod at the Mojo Magazine DAVID HEPWORTH, song-by-song breakdowns, articles and unpublished photos on the iconic artwork, vast reissue credits and so on. Let’s get to the content...

Lennon's Timothy Leary song "Come Together" (a slogan tune that was supposed to depose the actor Ronald Reagan then running for Governor of California) opens proceedings with an audio wallop. The Bass, Drums and grinding guitar join Paul's vocals and that break at 2:03 minutes after 'right' - it all suddenly sound startling. Harrison's gorgeous "Something" feels luxurious and even more beautiful while bang-bang "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" now features that piano and Moog Synth combo to amazing effect (John absent entirely from that track). Producer GEORGE MARTIN gives it some additional piano on "Something" and also plays Electric Harpsichord on "Because" and Organ on the combo of "Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard". Like GM's subtle but significant contributions - "Something" also features the first of three uncredited album appearances by keyboardist BILLY PRESTON - the other two being "Oh! Darling" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". Preston's mere presence seemed to inspire the band during those July 1969 sessions. 

Speaking of inspiration - with John and Paul on duelling guitars and Harrison joining in on those three-guy harmony vocals - the power of "Oh! Darling" is shocking (the lyrics are tastily reproduced on Page 33, scribbled on Portland Club headed paper). Then of course Ringo gets his moment in the sun with the silly but enjoyable "Octopus's Garden" - Paul and George giving it some great harmonies as Ringo sings with that child-like wonder only he has (Take 32 was the master). Side 1 ends with the monster "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" - a brilliant and seriously accomplished piece of recording - Preston adding tasteful organ. If ever one song in this remaster was to show off the combined brilliance of the band - it's this brooding beast - the Bass playing - Lennon's seriously aggressive guitar attacks and that crescendo ending - it's not overwrought to my ears as some have suggested – it's bloody genius.

In direct contrast to the menace and brooding of 'heavy' - Side 2 opens with the literal sunshine of "Here Comes The Sun" - Harrison's second moment of glory on the album. The story goes that he was due to be at an Apple business meeting - Lawyers, Bankers, Accountants and various other money-men winding up the legal mess - when he just couldn't stand the idea of it and bunked off to Eric Clapton's home 20-miles south in Ewhurst, Surrey. Sat in the garden with acoustic guitar in hand, the tension-releasing melody to "Here Comes The Sun" popped into his head and out onto his fingers. The song was later finished on a holiday in Sardinia. The track also features eight woodwind players and with Electronic Music and its machinery still in its infancy – the Moog Synthesizer. The machine was a beast and is pictured on Page 42, a tangled wall of jack leads, knobs and modulators galore. The Middle Eight of "Here Comes The Sun" is also described by Harrison as "Son Of Badge" on the Lyrics repro’d on Page 41 - "Badge" being the Cream tune he had co-written with EC. George uses the Moog again on the gorgeous Lennon song "Because" – a perfect instrument counterpoint to the three dreamlike Lead Harmony Vocals (the Remaster here is superb). And on it goes to that fantastic guitar battle in the final segments before Paul gets all acoustic ditty on her indoors supping on a jug of wine.

The two CDs of outtakes are a strange brew of fabulous insight and slightly underwhelming noodle. It opens with an engineer at Abbey Road telling the boys that the neighbours have complained about the 'loud' session and could they tone it down - to which Lennon caustically preambles the take with "...last chance to be loud boys..." on his seven-minute moody rocker "I Want You..." And as you listen, you hear how Billy Preston's keyboard presence in the background elevates everything (such a smart move) giving that guitar crushing dominance some almost Yes Prog Rock organ melodies. Mary Hopkin would put "Goodbye" up at No. 2 for Apple Records in April and May 1969 - here we get Paul's demo that is pretty but hardly essential. However, we're then hit with both Harrison and Lennon on accomplished songwriting form with their Demo versions of "Something" and "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" - one man in love - the other angry and wanting to batter everyone. Both feel like genuine early-song magic - "Something" beautiful even in this stripped down form and "Ballad" with lyrics that hurt even now (fifty years after the press intrusion). Neither Harrison's "Old Brown Shoe" or Ringo's moment on "Octopus's Garden" leave much of an impression but Take 36 of "You Never Give Me Your Money" is a whole different ballgame. Recorded by a weary band at 2:30 a.m. - it still offers up five minutes of brilliance - more melodic guitar ideas than you can shake a stick at and must surely be one of their most underrated songs. And then "Golden Slumbers..." with its gorgeous piano makes you appreciate the finished cut with renewed wonder.

The Badfinger hit "Come And Get It" is presented on Disc 3 as a Paul McCartney demo that already has the song's winning arrangement fully in place but "The End" is sadly way too short and one of those instances where you wish it were six or seven minutes. However, the big draw is "The Long One" - an early edit of the Side 2 medley that slaps "Her Majesty" in the middle of the song-cycle instead at the tail end of the album and adds in some Liverpudlian shouts for "Polythene Pam" that were wisely edited out later. The piano refrain too is beautiful as it ends. Best of all are two 'string' versions of songs - "Something" and "Golden Slumbers" that feel like they were recorded for a project 40 years after 1969. They remind me of that "Eleanor Rigby" strings-only out-take on "Anthology 2" that blew so many away. For sure Discs 2 and 3 are very much for the fan and many may feel they'll never return to them again (so buy the single disc and leave it at that). But as someone who’s cherished this band and this long-playing record for so long, I'm psyched to hear them any old way.

To sum up – I had always expected to be impressed by this 50th Anniversary 2019 edition of "Abbey Road" – but what I hadn’t expected was to be so moved by it. And in the end (if the Fabs will forgive the pun), isn’t that the best recommendation of all. Half-a-century on and here comes the sun again...

PS: 

With a dizzying array of issues to pick from, I've provided a format list below. But fans will notice that although selling sites are not surprisingly trying to differentiate between editions for befuddled customers, the titles on each of these 50th Anniversary releases doesn't actually say DELUXE EDITION or SUPER DELUXE EDITION or even 50th Anniversary anywhere (the sticker ‘titles’ can be a wee bit confusing). And the only way to get Disc 3 of the outtakes on digital is to buy the 4-Disc "Anniversary Edition".

FORMATS (all released 27 September 2019)

1. "Abbey Road: CD Anniversary Edition" - Apple/Universal Music Group International 0602508007439 (Barcode 602508007439) – a single CD version in a foldout tri-gatefold card sleeve with a new booklet – 2019 Remix by Giles Martin and Steve Okell based on the 2009 Stereo version

2. "Abbey Road: 2CD Anniversary Edition" - Apple/UMGI 0602577915079 (Barcode 602577915079) – a 2-CD Version where the second disc offers 16-tracks, a mixture of outakes from the "Abbey Road Sessions" featured on CD2 and CD3 in the Super Deluxe Anniversary Edition. CD2 tracks...

1. Come Together (Take 5)

2. Something (Studio Demo)

3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer (Take 12)

4. Oh! Darling (Take 4)

5. Octopus's Garden (Take 9)

6. I Want You (She's So Heavy) (Trident Recording Session & Reduction Mix)

7. Here Comes The Sun (Take 9)

8. Because (Take 1 - Instrumental)

9. You Never Give Me Your Money (Take 36)

10. Sun King (Take 20)

11. Mean Mr. Mustard (Take 20)

12. Polythene Pam (Take 27)

13. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (Take 27)

14. Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight (Takes 1-3)

15. The End (Take 3)

16. Her Majesty (Takes 1-3)

3. "Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition" - Apple/UMGI 0602577921124 (Barcode 602577921124) – A Super Deluxe Edition with 4-Discs, 3CDs and 1BLU RAY inside a 12" x 12" Hard Card Outer Case with a Hardback Book 

4. "Abbey Road" - Apple/UMGI 0602577915123 (Barcode 602577915123) - Single 180 Grams Remastered VINYL LP, Limited Edition. As in keeping with the original 1969 release, neither the rear sleeve nor the label on this 2019 reissue registers "Her Majesty" as a track. EMI have even aligned the APPLE Logo correctly beneath the Side 1 track list. The Giles Martin and Sam Okell Remix and Remaster is based on the 2009 Stereo version

5. "Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition Picture Disc" - Apple/UMGI 0602508048883 (Barcode 602508048883) - a Limited Edition that comes in a die-cut sleeve with the album picture disc artwork showing through, no booklet

6. "Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition" - Apple/UMGI 0602508007446 (Barcode 602508007446) - a Triple VINYL LP DELUXE EDITION in a Box. LP1 is the 2019 remix of the album, LP2 and LP3 carry all 23 of the CD2 and CD3 outtakes from the "Anniversary Edition" DELUXE BOX SET

7. "Abbey Road: Anniversary Edition" - Digital and Streaming Versions with 40 FLAC Files offering all of the Super Deluxe Edition (no catalogue numbers)