Gordon Minto review of Presley -The Essential ‘50’s Masters

[N880EAP]

And then there’s Suspicious Minds on the Memphis set.
It’s clearly a mistake, but one that everyone involved seems to have stuck their head in the sand about.
That doesn’t make it go away, it’s out there.

That thing was a fiasco. Especially how they then pretend to ignore it. Lost some respect for them in the process, as well. (No professionalism, or taking responsibility.) JMO, of course.

[TonyS]

Tony, you and the label really need to get this on streaming services. The newer generation of fans would be thrilled.

The newer generation can discover them should they need or want to.
I’m not a fan of streaming tbh, I like physical product, and at this point in time I would actively discourage streaming of my work.

[javilu]

Yes, everything by The Beatles sells, but I was talking about the artistic point of view of it all, which to me is zero when they are tampering with the music, that's why I also mentioned "Love" and "Let It Be Naked".

Furthermore, who says Lennon would have liked his personal private demos to be not just made public but frankensteinized like that ? I have my doubts.

I am not sure it was a flop artistically. The fact that the four Beatles were able to play together again after one of them was murdered I consider a success in itself.

I don't see Let it Be Naked as more tampering with the music than the original Let It Be when Phil Spector tampered with the songs for release in 1970 without McCartney's approval. At least the Naked version HAD Paul's approval and blessing.

Love is just the soundtrack to the Cirque Du Soleil show and at least those remixes use only Beatles music and recordings. It is a masterpiece when compared to the horrid Elvis cirque du Soleil counterpart.

I think all 3 Lennon demos -Now and then, Free as a bird, Real Love- are tastefully given The Beatles treatment and are a worthy addition to the catalog. Of course everyone can disagree but fans vote with their wallets and they've voted YES.

Now the video is crap but that didn't stop me from crying at the end first time I watched and heard the finished song after decades of listening the Lennon crappy, horrible sounding cassette demo on bootlegs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg

[Mister Moon]

Yes, everything by The Beatles sells, but I was talking about the artistic point of view of it all, which to me is zero when they are tampering with the music, that's why I also mentioned "Love" and "Let It Be Naked".

Furthermore, who says Lennon would have liked his personal private demos to be not just made public but frankensteinized like that ? I have my doubts.

I am not sure it was a flop artistically. The fact that the four Beatles were able to play together again after one of them was murdered I consider a success in itself.

I don't see Let it Be Naked as more tampering with the music than the original Let It Be when Phil Spector tampered with the songs for release in 1970 without McCartney's approval. At least the Naked version HAD Paul's approval and blessing.

Love is just the soundtrack to the Cirque Du Soleil show and at least those remixes use only Beatles music and recordings. It is a masterpiece when compared to the horrid Elvis cirque du Soleil counterpart.

I think all 3 Lennon demos -Now and then, Free as a bird, Real Love- are tastefully given The Beatles treatment and are a worthy addition to the catalog. Of course everyone can disagree but fans vote with their wallets and they've voted YES.

Now the video is crap but that didn't stop me from crying at the end first time I watched and heard the finished song after decades of listening the Lennon crappy, horrible sounding cassette demo on bootlegs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg

The way I see it, the fact that I dig The Beatles doesn't mean I have to dig everything they put out with their name attached, and those three projects were not for me, but as I said most of the output is done admirably.

The "Anthology" project was truly monumental, although I missed the input in the documentary from Astrid, Pete and Yoko, for example. The "First US Visit" video was just sensational too. Just two examples that come to mind right now.

[rockinrebel]

Yes, everything by The Beatles sells, but I was talking about the artistic point of view of it all, which to me is zero when they are tampering with the music, that's why I also mentioned "Love" and "Let It Be Naked".

Furthermore, who says Lennon would have liked his personal private demos to be not just made public but frankensteinized like that ? I have my doubts.

I am not sure it was a flop artistically. The fact that the four Beatles were able to play together again after one of them was murdered I consider a success in itself.

I don't see Let it Be Naked as more tampering with the music than the original Let It Be when Phil Spector tampered with the songs for release in 1970 without McCartney's approval. At least the Naked version HAD Paul's approval and blessing.

Love is just the soundtrack to the Cirque Du Soleil show and at least those remixes use only Beatles music and recordings. It is a masterpiece when compared to the horrid Elvis cirque du Soleil counterpart.

I think all 3 Lennon demos -Now and then, Free as a bird, Real Love- are tastefully given The Beatles treatment and are a worthy addition to the catalog. Of course everyone can disagree but fans vote with their wallets and they've voted YES.

Now the video is crap but that didn't stop me from crying at the end first time I watched and heard the finished song after decades of listening the Lennon crappy, horrible sounding cassette demo on bootlegs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Opxhh9Oh3rg

The way I see it, the fact that I dig The Beatles doesn't mean I have to dig everything they put out with their name attached, and those three projects were not for me, but as I said most of the output is done admirably.

The "Anthology" project was truly monumental, although I missed the input in the documentary from Astrid, Pete and Yoko, for example. The "First US Visit" video was just sensational too. Just two examples that come to mind right now.

Agreed. I'm a big Beatles fan, but I don't think they get it right every time in terms of the Legacy releases. The Let It Be deluxe was a little underwhelming, and consequently we still don't have an official physical release of the rooftop concert, which is somewhat dissapointing.

Whilst the technological advances that made Now And Then possible are admirable, the idea of a 30 something John singing with two band mates that are now in their 80's didn't really work for me. And neither did the PR about it being the 'last Beatles song', as it was never a Beatles song in the first place.

Likewise, if they wanted to put out an album to capitalise on the publicity generated by Now and Then, I think it should have been a new compilation. Adding Now and Then to the expanded version of 67 - 70 made no sense at all, as it simply didn't fit the timeframe. And if anything, including the track alongside some of the band's best work only serves to highlight its shortcomings.

I don't think Beatles 64 was particularly well executed either. The archive footage was of course fascinating, but the narrative was somewhat disjointed and there wasn't enough performance footage included. However, if it gets a physical release someday and the restored Washington concert is included in its entirety, I would definitely buy a copy.

(Apologies for going completely off topic here.)

[prostx23]

The "Anthology" project was truly monumental, although I missed the input in the documentary from Astrid, Pete and Yoko, for example. The "First US Visit" video was just sensational too. Just two examples that come to mind right now.

A number of years back I found and downloaded something called "The Beatles Anthology Revisited". basically they were audio only expanded versions of the Anthology chapters. I don't remember if there was any audio from Astrid, but there was a fair amount from Pete. If you can still find them floating around the internet (I had to do a fair bit of digging myself to find them as they are unofficial), they are well worth a listen.

[Mister Moon]

Agreed. I'm a big Beatles fan, but I don't think they get it right every time in terms of the Legacy releases. The Let It Be deluxe was a little underwhelming, and consequently we still don't have an official physical release of the rooftop concert, which is somewhat dissapointing.

Whilst the technological advances that made Now And Then possible are admirable, the idea of a 30 something John singing with two band mates that are now in their 80's didn't really work for me. And neither did the PR about it being the 'last Beatles song', as it was never a Beatles song in the first place.

Likewise, if they wanted to put out an album to capitalise on the publicity generated by Now and Then, I think it should have been a new compilation. Adding Now and Then to the expanded version of 67 - 70 made no sense at all, as it simply didn't fit the timeframe. And if anything, including the track alongside some of the band's best work only serves to highlight its shortcomings.

I don't think Beatles 64 was particularly well executed either. The archive footage was of course fascinating, but the narrative was somewhat disjointed and there wasn't enough performance footage included. However, if it gets a physical release someday and the restored Washington concert is included in its entirety, I would definitely buy a copy.

(Apologies for going completely off topic here.)

I haven't seen "Beatles 64" yet, but from what I hear it wasn't something to shout about. The essence of 1964 Beatlemania is already contained in "The First US Visit", where the astounding vintage footage speaks for itself, rather than through the likes of Whoopi Ghost Goldberg.

The uncut and undoctored Washington Coliseum concert should be released officially someday. To me, it is the single most important piece of Beatles footage, way above the much publicized Shea Stadium show ("the first rock concert in a stadium", according to "Rolling Stone" mag, haha). Of course, the entire Washington concert footage can be found online in perfect quality.

[javilu]

The way I see it, the fact that I dig The Beatles doesn't mean I have to dig everything they put out with their name attached, and those three projects were not for me, but as I said most of the output is done admirably.

The "Anthology" project was truly monumental, although I missed the input in the documentary from Astrid, Pete and Yoko, for example. The "First US Visit" video was just sensational too. Just two examples that come to mind right now.

I get it, you are a purist. You don't like music to be tampered with and that is great, a very valid opinion.

Re Anthology the project was meant to have only Beatles interviews and only a very small handful of others to differentiate it from all other hundreds of documentaries with a million talking heads.

Agreed. I'm a big Beatles fan, but I don't think they get it right every time in terms of the Legacy releases. The Let It Be deluxe was a little underwhelming, and consequently we still don't have an official physical release of the rooftop concert, which is somewhat dissapointing.

Whilst the technological advances that made Now And Then possible are admirable, the idea of a 30 something John singing with two band mates that are now in their 80's didn't really work for me. And neither did the PR about it being the 'last Beatles song', as it was never a Beatles song in the first place.

Likewise, if they wanted to put out an album to capitalise on the publicity generated by Now and Then, I think it should have been a new compilation. Adding Now and Then to the expanded version of 67 - 70 made no sense at all, as it simply didn't fit the timeframe. And if anything, including the track alongside some of the band's best work only serves to highlight its shortcomings.

I don't think Beatles 64 was particularly well executed either. The archive footage was of course fascinating, but the narrative was somewhat disjointed and there wasn't enough performance footage included. However, if it gets a physical release someday and the restored Washington concert is included in its entirety, I would definitely buy a copy.

(Apologies for going completely off topic here.)

Agreed on Let it Be being underwhelming. Unfortunately the powers that be decided to match the CDs with the vinyl making the CDs 40 mins or less. A waste of space.

Also agree on bad placing of Now and then on the Blue Album. Should have waited for an Anthology reissue project or something else.

Beatles 64 was a letdown when compared to First US visit. It was just an excuse to showcase remastered/reconstructed 1964 footage.

Now back to the gorgeous 50s masters in Stereo please

[prostx23]

Re Anthology the project was meant to have only Beatles interviews and only a very small handful of others to differentiate it from all other hundreds of documentaries with a million talking heads.

Apologies for the continued thread derailment, but to be more specific regarding Anthology... it was meant to be the Beatles side of the story, full stop. Beyond Neil Aspinall and George Martin, I can't remember anyone else besides Paul, George and Ringo (and John via old interviews) who were interviewed. It was nice to get their, and only their side of the story, but it also allowed them (especially Paul) to "spin" away some of the more unpleasant sides of their story. For better or worse Pete Best was a Beatle for 2 years 1960 to 1962, and 2 of their most important years...their formative "dues paying" years. I thought he should have had a say, but I understand why he didn't.


As for the original topic, count me as someone who's not much of a fan of the "stereoization" of mono recordings. They're a sometimes interesting curiosity when done right, but I don't care much for them.

[Yin Yang]

Transferred this set to my mobile phone, which has an MP3 function. I listen to music that way when I am travelling.
Last year someone made "stereo" remixes of those recorded in mono-only songs and I thought it sounded great. Like real stereo.
The versions on this new RDM release to me sound more like those electronically processed stereo releases.

[Richard]

Transferred this set to my mobile phone, which has an MP3 function. I listen to music that way when I am travelling.
Last year someone made "stereo" remixes of those recorded in mono-only songs and I thought it sounded great. Like real stereo.
The versions on this new RDM release to me sound more like those electronically processed stereo releases.

I think you've got that all arse about face. Which is ironic, coming from someone with a face like an arse.

[Colin B]

Transferred this set to my mobile phone, which has an MP3 function. I listen to music that way when I am travelling.
Last year someone made "stereo" remixes of those recorded in mono-only songs and I thought it sounded great. Like real stereo.
The versions on this new RDM release to me sound more like those electronically processed stereo releases.

I think you've got that all arse about face.
Which is ironic, coming from someone with a face like an arse.

By coincidence, today's Quote of the Day is:

Quote of the Day - 29th March 2025 - 001.jpg

[Yin Yang]

If people have no real argument they convert to being rude.

[TonyS]

Transferred this set to my mobile phone, which has an MP3 function. I listen to music that way when I am travelling.
Last year someone made "stereo" remixes of those recorded in mono-only songs and I thought it sounded great. Like real stereo.
The versions on this new RDM release to me sound more like those electronically processed stereo releases.

That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that, especially as nothing was MP3 sourced, unlike this recent release.

IMG_7610.jpeg

I think everyone will catch my drift, but sincere thanks for purchasing it, now SOLD OUT!
Who was the someone from last year, I’d like to hear them.

[Yin Yang]

Transferred this set to my mobile phone, which has an MP3 function. I listen to music that way when I am travelling.
Last year someone made "stereo" remixes of those recorded in mono-only songs and I thought it sounded great. Like real stereo.
The versions on this new RDM release to me sound more like those electronically processed stereo releases.

That’s the first time I’ve ever heard that, especially as nothing was MP3 sourced, unlike this recent release.

IMG_7610.jpeg
I think everyone will catch my drift, but sincere thanks for purchasing it, now SOLD OUT!
Who was the someone from last year, I’d like to hear them.

Please note I have nothing to do with this release. I did not even get a free copy and I doubt I am credited.