The Smiley Smile Message Board

Most people love the Giles Martin remix of Sgt. Peppers for the 50 year anniversary. There was initially speculation that we would get a White Album. Is it coming?

God, I hope so! I'm kind of skeptical about it though. Maybe it's just the pessimist in me.  :lol I had read a few months ago that supposedly the Esher demos were going to be released. To be honest, I'm really surprised that we didn't get 50th anniversary sets of either Rubber Soul or Revolver(or both). Both of those albums are in my mind crucial to the history and career of The Beatles.

But this is the Beatles and Apple, they haven't been exactly generous with Vault Beatles. We were lucky to get the Anthology sets.
I doubt we'll get anything more than a reissue of the White Album on White Vinyl.

I'm really surprised The Beatles / Apple haven't released more in recent years.    Even that mash up Love album sold pretty well IIRC. 

There are a couple things the fans have been wanting for years, and still, no sign that they will come out:
Let it Be - the film (on dvd, with outtakes, etc)
Shea Stadium (yeah, I know, we got the Ron Howard doc a couple years ago....)

I don't know what their problem is, I guess they are just waiting till all the Beatles fans are dead to put this stuff out. And that's not going to happen, because the Beatles have fans in all age groups. They are the one British Invasion band that kids in 2018 can tell you about.
Well, maybe the Rolling Stones. But the Stones are still active. The Fab Four have been inactive for decades, but that music still brings in new fans.
So come on, guys, give the people what they want!

Shea Stadium is an absolute no brainer.   For the life of me, I don't understand why it sits on the shelf.   Especially after they showed it in theaters following the Ron Howard doc (which I found a tad underwhelming to be honest).

I remember when George passed, there were rumors of a deluxe Let It Be DVD with gobs of bonus features, but it never happened.    I know it's not exactly their proudest moment, but come on, just about every Beatles fan has already seen the movie.   It was available on VHS and Laserdisc, and bootleg DVDs are very easy to find. 

Paul confirmed it. Not many details yet, but they are sure to come.

Yep, Macca confirmed it.  I expect we will get all those great demos recorded before they hit the studio.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markbeech/2018/06/20/beatles-50th-anniversary-white-album-is-almost-ready/#394e4161bdf9

I hope we get some studio outakes too. I know it won't happen, but I'd give my mortal soul to hear the 27 minute version of Helter Skelter.

Mortal soul territory for me would be hearing John sing Good Night. Of course, I'd probably need to travel back in time and hang out with the Beatles in the studio to hear it, so... yeah, mortal soul.

The Ron Howard doc didn't impress me at all. The same stuff was covered better in the Anthology.

I very much hate the idea that the footage was colorized. We really need a multi dvd set of Beatles concert footage. There are quite a few pro shot concerts out there, like Shea Stadium(that one's obvious), Paris 1964(or 1965?), Budokon  1966(two shows), Essen 1966, etc. There were also a number of special tv programs featuring Beatles concerts that aired back then as well that has some great Beatles live performances, like Blackpool, Sweden 1963(I think the show was called Drop In), etc. But it would be a legal and licensing nightmare and would probably take years to work out.

Another recording from that time that I've always been curios about is called "Etcetera". Paul recorded a studio demo of it during the album sessions. Apparently he took the only copy home with him and it hasn't been heard since.

There's also apparently a White Album era recording of Paul doing Long and Winding Road as well.

I'd really love to hear all the Esher demos crisp, especially "Child of Nature."

I've never heard that before.

https://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/the-long-and-winding-road/

Mentions Paul demoed it during the sessions.

He may have come up with some of the melody, but if I recall correctly the earliest circulating versions from the Get Back tapes are very incomplete. Mostly piano playing with a mumbled line or two.

It’s happening!  Demos and all.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-et-ms-beatles-white-album-remix-reissue-box-set-20180924-story.html

This page has the full tracklisting. It will contain a previously unknown to exist recording of Let It Be from the "White album" sessions. http://wogew.blogspot.com/

 :ahh

CD 1: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 Stereo Mix
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
Wild Honey Pie
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness is a Warm Gun
Martha My Dear
I’m so tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Don’t Pass Me By
Why don’t we do it in the road?
I Will
Julia

CD 2: The BEATLES (‘White Album’) 2018 Stereo Mix
Birthday
Yer Blues
Mother Nature’s Son
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Helter Skelter
Long, Long, Long
Revolution I
Honey Pie
Savoy Truffle
Cry Baby Cry
Revolution 9
Good Night

CD 3: Esher Demos
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Dear Prudence
Glass Onion
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Happiness is a Warm Gun
I’m so tired
Blackbird
Piggies
Rocky Raccoon
Julia
Yer Blues
Mother Nature’s Son
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey
Sexy Sadie
Revolution
Honey Pie
Cry Baby Cry
Sour Milk Sea
Junk
Child of Nature
Circles
Mean Mr. Mustard
Polythene Pam
Not Guilty
What’s the New Mary Jane

CD 4: Sessions
Revolution I (Take 18)
A Beginning (Take 4) / Don’t Pass Me By (Take 7)
Blackbird (Take 28)
Everybody’s Got Something to Hide
Except Me and My Monkey (Unnumbered rehearsal)
Good Night (Unnumbered rehearsal)
Good Night (Take 10 with a guitar part from Take 5)
Good Night (Take 22)
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (Take 3)
Revolution (Unnumbered rehearsal)
Revolution (Take 14 – Instrumental backing track)
Cry Baby Cry (Unnumbered rehearsal)
Helter Skelter (First version – Take 2)

CD 5: Sessions
Sexy Sadie (Take 3)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Acoustic version – Take 2)
Hey Jude (Take 1)
St. Louis Blues (Studio jam)
Not Guilty (Take 102)
Mother Nature’s Son (Take 15)
Yer Blues (Take 5 with guide vocal)
What’s the New Mary Jane (Take 1)
Rocky Raccoon (Take 8)
Back in the U.S.S.R. (Take 5 – Instrumental backing track)
Dear Prudence (Vocal, guitar & drums)
Let It Be (Unnumbered rehearsal)
While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Third version – Take 27)
(You’re so Square) Baby, I Don’t Care (Studio jam)
Helter Skelter (Second version – Take 17)
Glass Onion (Take 10)

CD 6: Sessions
I Will (Take 13)
Blue Moon (Studio jam)
I Will (Take 29)
Step Inside Love (Studio jam)
Los Paranoias (Studio jam)
Can You Take Me Back? (Take 1)
Birthday (Take 2 – Instrumental backing track)
Piggies (Take 12 – Instrumental backing track)
Happiness is a Warm Gun (Take 19)
Honey Pie (Instrumental backing track)
Savoy Truffle (Instrumental backing track)
Martha My Dear (Without brass and strings)
Long, Long, Long (Take 44)
I’m so tired (Take 7)
I’m so tired (Take 14)
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (Take 2)
Why don’t we do it in the road? (Take 5)
Julia (Two rehearsals)
The Inner Light (Take 6 – Instrumental backing track)
Lady Madonna (Take 2 – Piano and drums)
Lady Madonna (Backing vocals from take 3)
Across the Universe (Take 6)

Blu-ray: The BEATLES (‘White Album’)Audio Features:
: PCM Stereo (2018 Stereo Mix)
: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (2018)
: Dolby True HD 5.1 (2018)
: Mono (2018 Direct Transfer of ‘The White Album’ Original Mono Mix)

Deluxe [3CD digipak / 180-gram 4LP vinyl box set (limited edition) / digital audio collection]
2018 Stereo Mix Esher Demos

Back In The U.S.S.R. (2018 Mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd1zG9isRqI



The Beatles (White Album) - Anniversary Releases

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1dhy26KIOEI



The Beatles (White Album) Anniversary Releases - Giles Martin & Sam Okell

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ve1vaEIXhV0



The Unheard White Album: An Exclusive First Listen

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/beatles-unheard-white-album-exclusive-first-listen-727928/

I'm waiting for the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road. The white album was documented pretty well on Anthology 3; AR wasn't. I'm not a person that needs to hear every outtake, every burp, every hiccup.

I'm really surprised that we're getting both the complete 10 minute version of "Revolution 1", and the complete 12 minute version of Helter Skelter.

three versions of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" are now out:

2018 Mix - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOKGcEfSwnY (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zOKGcEfSwnY)

Acoustic Ver./Take 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZIanQ_Pmc (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyZIanQ_Pmc)

Esher Demo - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-VSV0Utig (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qV-VSV0Utig)

Received my Deluxe collection today. Excited to dig into all this previously unheard Beatle music!

I don't have the set yet, but all of the tracks have been put on YouTube already. The big revelations for me were the 12:54 version of Helter Skelter(that is still somehow incomplete-it fades out), the "blues" version of Cry Baby Cry, and the Let It Be rehearsal. Among a few others.  ;D

There is a good portion of it on YouTube, amazingly enough.

I literally said the exact same thing, in the post that you quoted.  ::) It seems that the entire set has been uploaded to the official Beatles YouTube page, but for some reason the "videos" don't show as being listed on the channel. I'm not sure why. But if you specifically type in what track you want to hear, it comes up in the "main" YouTube page. But you have to be specific(take number, etc) about it.

With the release this week it seems a lot of the YouTube content is being pulled.

On another note, the book is fantastic. Lots of pics I have never seen.

And the 5,1 Blu-ray mix is fascinating.

I just did a quick check, and all of the tracks are still up.

Really Jay? Great!  I don’t see the 5 CDs of new mixes. Links please, so all can enjoy! 👍

It's three discs of alternate takes, and a cd of some of the demos. The only new mix is the remix of the released album by Giles Martin.

I am well aware of what I am holding in my hand; and I did post the track list.

So how about that link for these 5 CDs? Me thinks you are mistaken!  Makes no sense they would post the whole collection.

The newly released version of “Good Night” with all 4 Beatles singing is mind blowing!

Helter Skelter take 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoK3HyIL0eo

Helter Skelter take 17: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhiFJ6L3sS0

Not Guilty take 102: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBRss5I_uw0

Revolution 1 take 18: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3glcY2LQIk

Yer Blues take 5 with guide vocal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W75VWUGpwi8

Thanks for the links!

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

Happiness Is A Warm Gun take 19: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0uoakDesgo

Hey Jude take 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jf48JMGnbY

Lady Madonna take 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXnQ0b1JfOA

I stand corrected it seems. As Jay says, type in the exact name of the track and bingo!
Amazing!

Well said RR! It’s an amazing release which should be celebrated!  God bless the Beatles!!!

Enjoy your Deluxe collection! :thumbsup

Just to finalize this, here is the Beatles youtube channel playlist of the entire deluxe set:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mMcxAy3_NLEnsuSq9I_qWIONOpdRfWlWw

I'm actually really surprised that the complete and unedited master take wasn't included. A section of music lasting about twenty or so seconds was edited out of the final mix.

Which song? What are you referring to?

I don't know the exact ins and outs, but these "official" uploads of full albums to YouTube aren't simply a case of them "giving away" the album for free. Yes, depending on one's online/tech acumen and patience and motivation to do everything they can to *not* pay for any music, the stuff can be downloaded. But the main purpose for YouTube having this stuff up in full is as part of what is essentially their version of Spotify/Pandora, etc. I think they simply call it "YouTube Music."

Just as you can listen to Spotify and Pandora on certain platforms for free, you can do the same with YouTube. For users who just use the video side of the YouTube app, it kind of looks like a weird haphazard string of free audio files uploaded as videos. But it's part of the "YouTube Music" interface, but they also allow access to it via the normal video apps/website as well.

Something like that anyway.

As for this "White Album" set, I have to say that most fans are rightly blown away by it, only in 2018 on the snarky, cynical internet could people seriously gripe about it. I'm not talking about tiny nitpicks, like mix preferences or how one version of a song should have been included instead of another.

Rather, on other boards, I've seen a very "meh" attitude about the set. From Beatles fans. It's nuts. Maybe it's mostly younger fans or something. But fans waited DECADES to get any substantial amount of outtakes, which came in 1995-96 with "Anthology", and then had to wait ANOTHER two decades or so to get any substantial additional amount of outtakes.

Fans and Beatles scholars have been calling for multi-disc deluxe editions of Beatles albums since, at least, the dawn of the CD era in the 80s and especially in the late 80s and early 90s when multi-disc CD boxed sets became more prevalent. It seemed a no brainer.

The fact that they released a *full disc* of White Album outtakes on "Anthology 3" and then, with little overlap, had FOUR more discs of outtakes/demos to issue over 20 years later shows have rich those archives are.

Yes, as has been known since the 80s when Lewisohn documented the archive, there are relatively few "new" actual compositions that they left off albums. And we know that, in most cases, they made the right choice to drop tracks like "If You've Got Trouble", etc. (I still find all those tracks immensely interesting of course). But hearing multiple discs of the band working stuff out in the studio, it's mind-blowing.

I think both the outtakes and the stereo remix on this White Album set are even more impressive than last year's Pepper set.

Some of the standout tracks include all the alternates for "Good Night", including the version with group backing vocals, and finally the unedited piano/Ringo take (which was crossfaded on "Anthology 3"). The alternate of "I'm So Tired" with backing vocals and some of those extra overdubs re-integrated is great.

And finally, the (more or less) uncut Esher demos not from Lennon's probably multi-generation mixdown (which still sounded good enough for all the years it circulated), but from the four-track master tape. I can't think of any band or artist that has genuinely *Home* demos from the 60s that sound this good in terms of sound quality.

Hear hear. We are so incredibly lucky to have a set like this - and so far I love what I have heard of the new mix - it's quite a nice revision.

This is not a criticism of the set at all, but one thing that I loved about the Pepper box last year was them giving us the original mono mix of the album. It made sense because of comments from people like Lennon who said the only way to hear the real Pepper was in mono, etc. That said, I have heard such great things about the mono mix of the White Album and I've never been able to hear it in its entirety. It would have been cool to also get the original mono mix here too but again, there are already so many discs of material in the deluxe set, it would be hard to imagine include another two - or justifying to listeners yet another two discs of the same tracks that are already part of the set. Still - I'd love a CD version of the original mono mix.

I think they were able to integrate the mono mix on the Pepper set because there was more room. Less outtakes, no home demos, etc.

Whereas, with the White Album set, including the mono mix means two extra CDs. As it is, it's already 7 discs including the Blu-ray.

I was going to say it was already released in the "Mono" boxed set from 2009, but that set seems to be OOP and on the expensive side, and they don't appear to offer it as a purchasable download.

The mono mix *is* in the new deluxe set, but only on the Blu-ray disc. 

Absolutely agreed that spatial concerns are a big reason why there's no Mono CD.

Also, I keep forgetting that the Mono is available on the Blue-ray. I still have not received my copy in the mail though I can pick it up today. Is it the original mono mix or a new one? I suppose I could look this up for myself but were the 2009 mono mixes the originals or new, or some mixture of both? I'm becoming more and more of a Mono person as I get older, particularly for music made pre-1970 and would really like to hear more of those original mixes.

The 2009 and 50th anniversary (both Sgt Pepper and White Album) mono mixes are original. The only difference being the 2009 mastering vs direct transfers, I believe. Keep an eye out for the 2009 mono CD box. I was able to pick up a sealed copy on eBay for $105 in 2016. That's been my go-to for those albums ever since. I think I'm becoming more of a mono person myself. Although, I'm still just as interested in the stereo remixes as anyone else. There was also a 2014 mono vinyl box (original mixes).

The initial problem with the mono CD box from 2009 (and the stereo CD box for that matter) was that, for some reason, they were *immediately* knocked off, and those knock offs not only made the typical eBay rounds, but somehow started getting into some "official" supply chains, showing up at some legit, "name" stores.

I ended up waiting for a bit and then purchasing a confirmed legit mono box from a legit retailer.

Some time later, they did an epic vinyl reissue of all the mono albums, once and for all finally doing an all-analog chain in mastering them to vinyl (as many know, most vinyl is cut from digital masters, arguably partially if not mostly defeating the purpose of reissuing old stuff on new vinyl).

I think both the CD and vinyl mono sets are out of print. Which is stupid. Also a horrible idea is not having the mono stuff available to at least download digitally.

The Beatles mono mixes are indispensable for any Beatles fan/scholar. I think most fans sometimes prefer mono mixes of some of the stuff, and there are numerous mix differences as well.

The mono mix of the White Album is one of the more noteworthy ones, both in terms of it being the last released full album to appear in true mono, and also because it has a number of noticeable mix differences compared to the stereo.

There's not reason Apple should be keeping a box of the mono albums on CD out of print. CDs are already not flying off the shelves. I'm guessing Apple will get the mono mixes back out sooner or later in some format, CD or digital.

Vinyl (even a rare case of an excellent audiophile, all-analog series like the mono albums) just doesn't interest me much; it's just too much of a hassle to have a set up that actually sounds good. It's popular now mostly as a collectible thing rather than for how it sounds, even if a bunch of hipsters tell everybody it "sounds" better. It doesn't sound better on a $50 turntable purchased at Target or Sharper Image.

Spot on, HeyJude. I just want to underscore that it's still possible to pick up a legit mono box at a reasonable price (at least, in my case, 2 1/2 years ago). Though, you've got to be careful. As you say, those mixes are indispensable. I also totally agree that the mono mixes should always be readily available, even if only digitally.

It would help if I actually named the song I was talking about, huh?  :lol I was referring to "Sexy Sadie".

I'm also surprised that none of the "Peter Sellers tape" was used.

Save the mono mix included on the Blu-ray disc, everything in this set is newly mixed/remixed. The original album is a remix, the Esher demos are freshly mixed from the multi-tracks, and the three discs of session material are all fresh mixes.

While they certainly could have gone back to the original EMI alternate mixes that were dubbed to the "Sellers Tape", I think they were going for the most interesting and different studio outtakes. The Sellers tape has mostly just minor mix/editing variances compared to the commercial mono mix. Those extra measures near the end of "Sexy Sadie" are probably the *most* noteworthy thing on the tape.

It's been a few years since I've listened to it. I remember a few interesting things besides the full version of Sexy Sadie. There was the weird "sound collage" at the start of Yer Blues.

Sure, there are some other minor variances on that Sellers tape. But much more interesting are true alternate takes. One aspect that I dig about the White Album set are the fully alternate takes done in the *same* arrangement as the finished version. That sort of outtake sometimes gets overlooked when compiling things like "Anthology" (or the unreleased "Sessions" in the 80s), because they're understandably first and foremost looking for alternates that sound as different as possible. Thus, the acoustic demo of "Weeps" is (rightly) highlighted first. But I love the early take of the "full band" version on the White Album set.

Sound collage stuff is of limited interest to me. I've never understood the vigor of the calls to release something like "Carnival of Light", as it's surely going to end up being enough like "Revolution 9" in that students of the band are into studying it, but it's not a song we're going to pull out and listen to every day. For that matter, I wasn't at all perturbed we didn't get the ten-hour-long version of "Helter Skelter" on the new set; while I absolutely dig hearing those slow, bluesy alternate takes, 12 minutes or whatever is enough on that particular one I think.

At the same time, I'm all for filling the discs as fully as possible. So, more is never not a good thing. They could have fit even more on the White Album set. But I can't complain; it's the exact set format fans have wanted for DECADES.

With the "Anthology" discs in 95/96, they packed those discs pretty full. I certainly *never* understood why people wanted like 40% of the first disc of "Anthology 3" taken up with one long (arguably kind of boring, meandering) take of "Helter Skelter."