This is a cash grab. Just in time for Christmas…
Let’s start with the new stereo version. For the first time in his Beatles remix history, Giles Martin has come up with a final version very similar to the original product. I was stunned, as I find all the other remixes in this series sacrilegious, execrable, I think they should all be destroyed, lest they become the norm in the future. Alas, this is not a problem with “Revolver”.
And the mono CD doesn’t sound as big as Giles’ remix, but it’s totally faithful. What I mean is that some instruments are accented beyond the original in the stereo remix. Like the cowbell in “Taxman” that I heard earlier. Again, how do people listen to these records, if you use headphones does that make a difference?
And I turned on the big device just because it has the only CD player I own. And I must say that the sound was impressive. But how many people have the equipment to reproduce this sound? And let’s be clear, it’s something we feel as much as we hear, we’re in the sound, and it’s an experience that has been familiar to us since the 70s and that today’s generations may not know. – to be completely. With pumping bass and clear treble… Now that we have hi-res streaming, does that mean people will be incentivized to buy better playback systems? No, unless the listening becomes fetishistic, like vinyl. You know, where you listen and that’s the only thing you do. The music took a back seat, but when “Revolver” came out, it was positively front and center.
And I was amazed that there was no vinyl record included in the package, with the aforementioned fetishization. And one thing we do know is that vinyl sounds different, even if it’s not as pure as the original digital production. But “Revolver” was cut to analog and listened to via vinyl, the tape wasn’t even a thing, so maybe that would be the definitive product.
Wait a second, there is a vinyl version, but they didn’t send it to me, because the vinyl production is saved and the costs are higher and the $199.98 package is sold out. Once music was for everyone, now it’s for the chosen few who probably won’t even listen to it more than once, if that’s the case. While “Revolver” was cheap when it was originally released, and we played it endlessly, the discs showed wear, scratches, fingerprints, dust. The music remains the same, but the world has completely changed.
But, again, the remix is a change.
And if you want the original experience, check out mono. It’s a bit flat, but it will remind you of what you were addicted to in the first place. And the weird thing that probably no one involved in that production realizes is that by the time “Revolver” came out in mono, it was ancient history in America, we all bought stereo albums. After it was learned that our heavy tonearms would kill stereo records, mono records were made for the same price, not a dollar less, and the industry gave up on this wear and tear problem and soon mono records were gone. .. why can’t we get the original stereo mix?
Although in many cases we listened to our original albums on mono systems.
As for the extras in this package… It’s not a big deal anymore, especially after the documentary and those multiple CD album packages from thirty years ago. Curiosities.
So the revamp of “Revolver” is not really relevant, EXCEPT…
EXCEPT WHAT?
The CD is no longer the norm. Remember when the original “Revolver” CD came out in the late 80s? Well, maybe you don’t remember either, but they released the Beatles CDs in sets of four, the first albums were in mono, the later ones in stereo, and we were all amazed at how point they sounded good, when nothing from that era sounded so good. Was it George Martin? The studio? The engineers ? All that. But was there more sound to extract?
That’s all I was interested in, a hi-res version, which I haven’t seen any hype for, all I’ve read is hosannas on the remix from people who weren’t even in life when the album was originally released.
But I decided to do some research online and it turned out that on the package site there was a link to a few titles on all streaming services, including Qobuz, the hi-res standard. And I clicked and listened.
It’s a revelation. I can’t say enough about Hi-Res Music, BECAUSE YOU CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE! Of course you need an external DAC to even reproduce this sound, for example the Dragonfly Cobalt, but the end product “Revolver” is 24bit 96kHz as opposed to CD quality, 16bit 44.1kHz.
I’m listening to the CD quality version on Qobuz right now. It looks good. But when I put the hi-res take on…
It’s a whole other record.
Again, it’s the “Taxman” remix that I’m listening to, so it’s not exactly apples to apples.
But let me be definitive, the hi-res streaming version of “Taxman” is superior to the CD, both CDs, remix and mono.
But you can’t stream mono yet. It will happen on Friday.
So I recommend that you skip this package and just buy an external DAC and subscribe to Qobuz, at least for the free term.
Of course, you can also hear high resolution on Apple and Amazon. And both are very good, a clear improvement compared to CD quality, but on the way back… the Qobuz version is still a little better, there are more lows, there are…
And the Apple version is in Atmos. But unlike almost every other remix from Atmos, this sounds like the stereo version, it’s not a problem with lower vocals or…
So do you really care?
The 50th anniversary of “Revolver” has already come and gone. There is no exact hook.
But, even though people argued that “Rubber Soul” was the best album of the time, and some ultimately went for the “White Album”, and for some reason everyone is down on “Sgt .Pepper”, unnecessarily so in my book, the status, reputation, rating of “Revolver” only increased, even though the original American version was missing two tracks from the English version.
And I’d love to tell you how important “Yellow Submarine” and “Eleanor Rigby” were during the summer of 1966, but unless you were alive at the time, I can’t, you haven’t no frame of reference. We read all these chart stats, about an act having x number of number ones, beating the Beatles. NOBODY SURPRISED THE BEATLES! Everyone knew the two songs above, YOU CAN’T ESCAPE THEM!
As for the rest of the album…
“To lead a better life
I need my love to be here”
“Here, There, and Everywhere” was the new “You Must Hide Your Love,” a sweet non-single standard. And both were played on our guitars, we sang them together, regularly.
As for “Got to Get You Into My Life”,… It wasn’t released as a single until 1976, long after the band broke up, it was just another album track.
But that was the magic of “Revolver,” unlike “Rubber Soul,” it had both hit singles and album tracks.
It opened with “Taxman” which we only understood on the surface, because a lot of us didn’t even pay taxes, and none of us were that rich living in England. .
And nobody ever talks about “I Want to Tell You,” with its indelible riff, ancestor of what became an FM radio standard the year after, with Cream and other bands, but the key track …
“Turn off your mind
Relax and Float Downstream”
1966. Most people hadn’t smoked marijuana yet. Most people weren’t that hip. We listened to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, but it took us years to fully understand it. And it’s tracks like this that built John Lennon’s reputation. He may not have written as many hit singles as Paul McCartney, but McCartney couldn’t come up with stuff like “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
Listening to “Tomorrow Never Knows”, John Lennon is still alive, right there in the speakers, revealing the truth like a Pied Piper, all there for you to understand and digest.
Thus, “Revolver” was a monumental album. Giles Martin did not tarnish his reputation. But this project is a lot for nothing…
Except for the high resolution version.
https://www.thebeatles.com/announcing-revolver-special-editions-0
Stream today: https://thebeatles.lnk.to/Taxman2022Mix
