Episode 121: Two Shows in One: Red & Blue 2023 Mixes and the 50th Anniversary of “Ringo" 

Thank you

Great doubleheader of TMT! Enjoyed both discussions. The Ringo album is in my top 5 solo Beatle albums!

I completely agree with Ken I would play the original versions to my kids before the remixes The original ones were the way they wanted you to hear them!!!

If The Beatles didn't want listeners to hear certain musical things then I doubt that they would have put them in their music. Also it's really interesting and great to discover and hear that The Beatles actually wrote and played more complex extra musical parts of their songs then what ever body heard from their original recordings. And hopefully it gives them more credit for their great often sadly underrated musicianship.

Forbes Magazine reported that The Beatles songs Love Me Do and Now And Then went to #1 on streaming charts in America. I have always heard that The Beatles have always been more popular in their home country of England so you would think that they would be #1 here too or just here.

Joe has nailed it for me on this show with a lot of his comments. My stand out on the Red was “You Can’t Do That”. It’s really made me excited for an “A Hard Days Night” remix box set. My stand out in the Blue was “Magical Mystery Tour”. I think it’s a valid point that Ken makes where elements are brought up that makes you question “maybe there’s a reason as to why it was buried in the original”. Having said that… I think it’s really important to point out, a lot of these things (especially rhythm track instruments) got buried unintentionally and unavoidably due to the bouncing down of the rhythm tracks sometimes up to 4 times/generations. Everything the Beatles laid down in the studio that was committed to the master was calculated and considered. So, if we can now hear it, this means it was a part of the master and therefore I believe it was meant to be heard and it’s mainly the technical restrictions at the time that prevented this. Would love to hear some of your thoughts on that 😊

Ringo’s album Ringo definitely needs a remaster! Amazing record!

Very good show

Excellent discussion. Overall I am very happy with the remixes and even love the new remix of I Am The Walrus.

I loxe the cello and the Masked Albert Hall.The Shakespeare is not as noticeable. I Am the Walrus is still one of my favorites.Thank you.

Angie McCartney is Paul's stepmother and I didn't even know she was still living and Ruth is Paul's stepsister and both were interviewed in the very good E! True Hollywood Story 1999 The Beatles Wives documentary.

She's A Woman is a great blues rocker by Paul from mid 1964 and I always loved it even better than John's great rock song I Feel Fine.

So true, the high end on some of these songs was brought down with the vocals. Listen to the 2015 1 remix of Help, Can’t Buy Me Love, Hard Days Night, I Feel Fine etc. The 2023 mixes have tighter instrumentation, but at the cost of the high end/vocals.

Love the 2023 mix of Hey Bulldog, just wish some of the background vocals were brought up like the 1999 remix.

I hear what everybody's saying but I just took it for what it was remix versions of these songs which I found entertaining and it was nice just to be excited about Beatles music again😀

You can hear the orchestra part in the end of I Am The Walrus in the love version

Take another listen to Old Brown Shoe from the 2023 Blue CD. Am I hearing a scream at 1:52, just after the guitar solo or am I hallucinating? Sounds like Lennon to me. Check me here, please. Or, I could just be losing some more of my mind! I love the program!

In regards to the sentiment that is often stated when new Beatles remixes are issued, that there are always the original mixes that are available, I’ve lately been thinking about the the two 1965 albums. When George Martin was involved in the first issuing of The Beatles catalog on CD in the late 1980s he notably remixed the UK versions of Help! and Rubber Soul, probably in an effort to mitigate the hard stereo panning of the vocals and instrumental backing. When the catalog was remastered and reissued in 2009 on CD and 2012 on vinyl, I believe those ‘80s mixes remained. It was only when the CD Mono Box was subsequently issued that the original 1965 UK stereo mixes were once again back in print (when these were added after the mono mix on each CD). But lately I believe that box is out of print, and therefore, the original stereo mixes are not readily available. This is a good argument for holding onto your physical media as long as you can.

Side one of The Beatles is on the Blue album except Happiness is a Warm Gun and Bungalow Bill and Wild Honey Pie.Thank you.

single charts Now And Then (second week): UK #6, US #76, Germany #5, Austria #13 album charts Blue and Red (first week): UK #2 #3, US #15 #20, Germany #5 #7, Austria #4 #6

I wonder if I Am The Walrus was the most difficult to remix becase of all the over dubbing?Thank you.

I finally gathered enough nerve to listen to the ending of Walrus on my car stereo full blast. OMG you weren't kidding they butchered it.

I didn’t really notice a difference on Fool On The Hill. I feel Giles didn’t go far enough on many of the tracks. Revolution is better to me than the 2009 stereo remaster, but he didn’t go far enough with the instruments.

Kit you just think Day Tripper is a great rock song on the Red album or early Beatles song by The Beatles?

Starting Over and Woman were both Number 1 in the U.K.

Hi - just to clarify regarding Rewind Forward - it got to No 11 on the Singles Sales chart - that's not the same as the official singles chart where it got nowhere. In the UK an EP will be classed as a single and eligible for those charts. Now and Then is spending its 3rd week at No 1 in the Singles Sales Chart ( but dropped to No 6 on the official chart). Also Love Me Do , Free As A Bird, Real Love and In My Life have all charted on the Singles Sales Chart in the last couple of weeks. The latter due to an instrumental version being used on a UK advert. The Sales Chart is the one I follow mostly as it looks at vinyl, CD and digital download sales - streaming does not play a part in the chart statistics.

I think the Mono versions should be available to buy individually, instead of only the dodgy original stereo mixes. The mono for the most part beats the stereo and the new remixes, in my opinion, and it is the way The Beatles wanted the albums to be heard, at least until the final few albums. The prominence of the drums on a number of the tracks don't integrate into the songs as a whole, and I think it is a way of attempting to make The Beatles appeal to a younger audience, where so many songs nowadays are drum heavy. The same is true sometimes with the bass. It is no coincidence also that Paul and Ringo (the group's bass player and drummer) are the ex Beatles who are still around. Will the remixing stop I wonder when all of their albums have been updated? I tend to think there will be an effort to continue to capitalise on The Beatles legacy, maybe with further remixes.

The red and blue lps are a big yawn. However the Ringo lp is an underrated solo classic and by far his best lp ,at least back in the day. Would have been fun to get an alt version of that lp.

❗️Rewind Forward peaked at #11 on the official uk singles SALES charts. Thats not the official singles chart where Now And Then peaked at #1. ❗️ Ofc Beatles solo songs are to small nowadays to chart at all on the official charts.

that Beatles (solo) albums chart isn’t that special, it often happens but their songs are never on the singles chart, so lets enjoy Now And Then

Re: Free As A Bird and Real Love not being on the Blue album along with Now And Then. As Free As A Bird and Real Love sound now, there would be a huge contrast in sound quality between them and Now And Then. I think they'll improve Free As A Bird and Real Love like they did Now And Then and it'll be an event itself, maybe all 3 on a single.

It seems like the fest “A listers” consists of people like “the guy who handed Paul toilet paper under the stall in 2014” and the b listers are the girl from Tik tok who thinks she is/is in love with John Lennon cough cough *Skylar moody* cough cough

I DID NOT LIKE the 2023 mix at all !!, SUCKS, if they were selling this mixes as "alternative new mixes" i would have bought it., but as "main" mixes NO WAY JOSE!!, i mean they totally screwed the drumbs, is all a mess, they even screwed the A Hard Days Night intro, is a dissaster., i hope the original mono gets preserved forever because MONO is the real and ORIGINAL beatles sound FUCK stereo !!