Beatles Capitol Masters...you wont believe this....

Does this mean London will release a Stones catalog of their early US pressings in rechannelled Stereo?

 

They have a well-placed source for this, but they still can't answer my Ruby Tuesday question? Lovely.

At this point, it looks like it could go either way. Which doesn't matter to me, because I think I'll probably be ignoring these.

 

The local oldies station keeps mentioning these CD's every time they play a Beatles tune.

Highly doubtable but could Capitol have the rights to release the Dextorized tapes seeing as they were prepared by them and not EMI? Maybe there's some sort of legal loophole.

 

Dont think so, for one thing EMI owned Capitol at that time, anyway.

 

Exactly.

 

OK, so let's say these are going to be released.

Who at the Capitol Tower will be remastering them? Bob Norberg? Then we will be getting Dave Dexter's EQ, echo, and compression job, the famous Capitol "Duophonic" sound on some tracks, topped off with a nice journey through the No Noise machine. I'm sure they will sound just like those old thick vinyl, rainbow label Capitol LPs we all remember.

 

It might be nice to hear the stereo "Thank You Girl" off the Beatles Second Album, except that I have the ultra-clean boot of the session tape. Howabout a clean copy of the false start on "I'm Looking Thru You" (Rubber Soul- butchered version) or the mono long version of "I'll Cry Instead" (AHDN, butchered version)? This project, if it ever really happens, will be too expensive to the consumer for the few joys it will yield.

 

They still do.

From a listing in an older Canadian Encyclopedia.

Capitol Records - EMI of Canada Limited/Disques Capitol - EMI du Canada Limitée (Capitol Records of Canada Ltd 1947-54, Capitol Record Distributors of Canada Ltd 1954-8, Capitol Records of Canada Ltd again 1958-74). Company established in Canada in 1954 by the US parent firm, Capitol Records, which had been founded in 1942 by the songwriters Buddy DeSylva, Johnny Mercer, and Glenn Wallachs. Prior to 1954 Capitol records were pressed and distributed in Canada 1946-7 by Musicana Records (which also had its own roster of Canadian performers, including the young Gisèle MacKenzie, Bert Niosi, the Howard Cable Orchestra) and 1947-54 by its successor, Regal Records, both of London, Ontario.

In 1947 an associate firm, Capitol Records of Canada, Ltd, was set up in London. It remained inactive, however, until it was purchased by W. Lockwood Miller in 1949. Capitol dates its history in Canada from this time. In 1954 the Miller company was replaced by the parent firm with Capitol Record Distributors of Canada, Ltd. The US company itself was taken over by Electrical and Musical Industries (EMI) of Great Britain in 1956, and the Canadian operation was renamed, in turn, Capitol Records of Canada Ltd in 1958 and Capitol Records - EMI of Canada Ltd in 1974. Head offices were established in Toronto in 1954, and branch offices opened in Montreal and, eventually, Calgary and Vancouver. Presidents have included, successively, Harold Smith, Geoffrey F. Racine, G. Edward Leetham, Ron Plumb, Arnold Gosewich 1971-7, J. David Evans 1978-86, Richard C. Lyttelton 1986-8 and Deane Cameron, as of 1988.

In the late 1980s it became EMI Capitol Records of Canada, eventually becoming just EMI Records in the early 1990s. I was suprised that it stayed Capitol Records in the U.S.
________________________

EMI and Sony closed their branch office in Calgary in 2003. Warner Music, Universal, and BMG are the only majors left here.

 

If they are actually using the Dexter masters, then they are off to a good start. Obviously, when you layer a helping of 21st-century digital processing over 40-year old tapes already subjected to sonic abuse, the result should be ... interesting. But I will be first in line to pick it up. After all, it was the sound we heard and responded to and imprinted on (I was 13 at the time it all started.)

I know a lot of folks here on the fourm are nashing their teeth over this, but what's the point of re-issueing the American albums if you're going to swap out the line-up for better masters that don't reflect the sound of the original? Isn't this exactly what forum members get worked up about and extremely indignant over ("how could they..."), like a "Greatest Hits" compilation where they've "upgraded" all of the original mono masters for newer stereo mixes that miss the mark?

I guess, bottom line, we get so wrapped up in our music, and what it means to us, that our threads become a wicked tangle of emotion and logic, as well as somewhat inconsistent. And if that music is the Beatles, for some reason, the emotional stakes become even higher.

My 2 cents, and Regards all

 

I was just told there are already CD refs at the McCartney office in London. These have labels from Sterling Sound. Ted Jensen has done stuff for Paul in the past . Didn't Sterling do that Sgt. Pepper Aniv. CD that never came out? I guess this is at least good news. I think this is still a project that could get sheved in a heartbeat.

 

Yes, Sterling did the unreleased Pepper, by Greg Calbi (with Geoff Emerick). I remember reading that "box set" was supposed to be mono, but supposedly an unreleased stereo one was mastered by them, using a C37 for the transfer. I wonder what was with that unreleased mono - who was responsible, etc. Someone posted in the past that there is a boot out there that supposedly used this unreleased mono mastering, and said it sounded like a typical modern remaster with compression, etc., though I don't know if the bootleggers messed with it or if that was how it really was intended to be released.

Let me see if I can find some old threads.

 

Here it is - info on both the mono and stereo unreleased masterings:

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=6339

 

1st 4, Dexters, box set and unboxed, no HDN, all Mono, scheduled release 12/3/04
with cap. single colorband like the Beach Boys box set. no Norberg. MONO is the promotion push. Macca consulting. Project on going since middle of last year.

 

Edith Bunker sings the Beatles

 

You are Pretty much spot-on from what I was told. Except they are including the mono AND stereo versions on each disc. "Since last year" is accurate too. But how long should this type of project take? The more time something like this takes the more likely it will come out crappy in some way.... Instead of consulting Paul they should have brought in someone who actually KNOW about the Beatles! Not someone that was in them.
Certainly Steve or Furmanek are obvious choices.
Too Bad. This catalog will NEVER be done right. Geez... Chad and Jeremy can get done perfect on Sundazed but not the BEATLES on EMI

 

Source please?

 

The Abbeyrd website hasn't had any updates on this project in a month. I'll believe it when I see it.

What we need is The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl on CD! That CD is way overdue.

Brian

 

I've a feeling that if we see it, we ain't gonna like it...past history tell us that much.

Agreed on HB....nice time capsule, worth an official release.

 

Now you've really scared me!!!

 

In the Sept. issue of MOJO, which featured the Fab Four's first tour of America, there is a one-page article (by John Harris) on Capitol's repackaging of the early Beatles material, a practice attributed to the brainchild of Dave Dexter, Jr. I found it interesting that there was no mention of the sonic enhancements that were applied to the recordings by Mr. Dexter and Capitol.

Jim W

 

What??? We all enjoyed Let It Be Naked didn't we??

 

Hearing that Greg Calbi might be mastering this gives me hope for this project.

 

I don't see how we *could* like it. Either they'll use "clean" UK mixes, to the consternation of the nostalgists; or they'll use the Dexterized versions, which will sound like utter garbage with or without the Peter Mew treatment.

Me, I'm frankly astonished (and outraged) that Apple is even considering reissuing the bastardized Capitol versions (which we all should have outgrown years ago) at all. But that's JMNSHO, of course, and I know guys like Michael would disagree with me.

 

I agree.

Ringo said in a '97 interview that Let It Be and Hollywood Bowl would be one of the next projects Apple was going to get to. Seven years later and not so much of a hint of HB being reissued.

If it ever does come out, I want the whole concert. The LP had too much material nixed from it along with much stage dialogue.

I do like how "Baby's In Black" from the HB concert was mastered on the Real Love CD single.

 

It's been my experience in these matters that the use of logic will get you into trouble almost every time ...

? ... Just My ? ? Humble Opinion ...?