9 things we want in the White Album box set

Paul answered the prayers of Beatles fans and confirmed there'll be a box set of The White Album on its 50th anniversary this fall. Amazing!

Immediately, the internet crackled with speculation about what would be on it, or rather what fans WANT. Keep in mind that The Beatles set the bar high with last summer's stunning Sgt. Pepper super deluxe set that was bursting with outtakes, a dazzling new stereo mix and a stunning 5.1 surround sound mix. For The White Album (aka The Beatles) here's our wish list (in no particular order):


1) The Esher demos

Sure, these 23 acoustic demos, recorded at George's Surrey home in May 1968 just before the band returned to Abbey Road, are widely bootlegged and easily available, but the sound quality varies. We'd like to see every single demo remastered and remixed to the quality of the handful found on 1997's Anthology 2. (Yes, that includes What's The New Mary Jane?) The demos were the blueprints of most of The White Album tracks, so are fascinating to compare and a pleasure to listen to. It's the Beatles unplugged.

2) A new stereo remix. Giles Martin forever banished the lousy wide-panning of the Pepper album (though I still prefer the original A Day In The Life), and he can apply the same formula to The White Album. This means vocals squarely in the center to anchor the mix, with the instruments placed in the left and right channels to create a balanced, yet exciting sonic picture. In particular, the rock songs, such as Back in The U.S.S.R. and Yer Blues would benefit. Studio equalization would punch up the drums and bass, add muscle to the tracks, and allow, say, the horns in Savoy Truffle to sparkle. All mixes of the album to date suffer from compression to some degree when played on today's audio equipment, which can reproduce sounds with higher highs and lower lows. Plus, add a touch of reverb here and there.

3) A 5.1 surround sound mix. If you play music on a home theatre system, then you know how immersive a proper 5.1 mix can be--it transports you into another world. Just listen to the extended instrumental break in 5.1 of Within You, Without You or the circus collage that ends Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite. True, the White Album is a simpler album, with fewer instruments and overdubs, but can you imagine Eric Clapton's sinewy guitar in While My Guitar Gently Weeps gripping your room in 5.1? Or the layers of vocals and instruments in Happiness Is A Warm Gun?


4) Outtakes
Is there a slower Glass Onion? A punk Honey Pie? What we do know from bootlegs is that there was an organ on Happiness Is A Warm Gun

and Paul strumming Helter Skelter on acoustic
 
and that John wrote Good Night and sang it to George Martin who, alas, regrets he didn't record it. But is there a snippet of that somewhere?



5) Sour Milk Sea by George


This is a terrific mash-up of Jackie Lomax's released version married to George's Esher demo. Why the hell didn't this make the album? Is there a proper run-through by most or all of the band kicking around?


6) Other unreleased songs

Not Guilty (Anthology 2), Step Inside Love/Los Paranoias (Anthology 2). Did the band ever run through Circles?


7) Revolution, take 20

Essential. This version includes the long montage that ends this version. Most of those sounds would form Revolution 9. The track bears a resemblance to I Am The Walrus which also featured an experimental, long fade-out. Listening to this, you hear John's original vision for Revolution, which was supposed to sound like a revolution.

8) And yes, the full 25-minute version of Helter Skelter. It'll probably sound boring and repetitive, but why not if we have the space of a box set. Plus, we want to hear it. At least once.

9) Chatter: These were the weird sessions, the ones where the lads were (purportedly) drug free and into TM. It's also the sessions where they seemed to tape everything. Absolutely everything. The original album release had snippets of chatter, and we've heard outtakes of Mother's Nature Son where John suggests the use of brass rather than strings. Any more conversations that might shed light on the recording and songwriting process?

Review: the immersive Sgt. Pepper mix

About 100 hardcore Beatle freaks left work early yesterday to attend a one-time listening party of the "immersive" Sgt. Pepper mix in downtown Toronto at 4:30 pm. From L.A. to New York, select cities across North America hosted the free event to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landmark album.

First of all, what is an "immersive" mix? Imagine surround sound, like 5.1 in your home or a public cinema, but with extra speakers on the ceiling so that the listener is almost entirely surrounded by sound (except the floor). Add more subwoofers to boost the bass. (Currently, there are no plans to offer the Pepper immersive mix to home theatre.) As he did with the new stereo and 5.1 remixes, producer Giles Martin prepared this Dolby Atmos mix. So, how was it?

Let me note that I've listened to the amazing new stereo remix many times (review here), but not the 5.1 yet. For yesterday's listening, I sat near the center of the cinema, in the sweet spot, slightly right of center. The verdict: This immersive mix was impressive, but didn't blow me away.

Immersive mixes allow sounds to swirl literally over your head, behind you and around the sides and front, essentially 360 degrees. Sure, there was some of that, notably in Mr. Kite and Within You, Without You, but was it was missing in tracks you'd expect like Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and A Day in the Life. The immersive mix was conservative and didn't exploit the medium's potential.

On the positive side, Ringo's drums and Paul's bass drive the immersive mix, just like in the stereo. It was powerful and visceral. Also, there is even more definition in the instruments than in the stereo remix. There were harp passages in She's Leaving Home I'd never heard before. The Western-and-Indian instrumental break in Within You, Without You is breathtaking. Same goes with the musical wash in Mr. Kite. Surprisingly, Lovely Rita benefits the most from the immersive treatment, with its layers of instruments spread across the sound field to dazzling effect. The final piano crash of the album in A Day in the Life was so powerful it literally rattled the ceiling of cinema 7 of the Dundas-Yonge Cineplex, a cinema designed to withstand Hollywood blockbusters.

Yes, it was an enjoyable listening experience and I'm glad I attended it, but it wasn't a leap from my stereo mix blasting from my 5.1 home theatre system. Also, it would have been nice to hear Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane included in the immersive presentation.

Reaction from the mostly 100 Baby Boomers in the audience (some of whom remember spinning their mono vinyl LPs of Pepper in the summer of love) were mostly thumbs up. "Amazing," said one. "Really liked it," said another. Another fan was impressed, but wanted to rush home and compare it to the original mono mix. (Before the immersive mix played, there was a brief video of Giles comparing a snippet of Pepper in mono, the new stereo and the immersive. The differences were subtle.) A veteran American music producer felt the mix was off-balance, but that may have had to do with where he was sitting in the cinema. Another fan wanted more high-end definition.

Me, I can't complain. I love the new Pepper and hearing it with extra channels was a splendid time, especially surrounded by fellow Beatles freaks.