milt
800 Club - QQ All-Star
Just joshing guys.
QQ has always been a very friendly place with lots of good people and information.
QQ has always been a very friendly place with lots of good people and information.
BluRay Music Video Poll The Beatles - 1/1+ [BluRay]
- Thread starter JonUrban
- Start date
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I'm going to give this a 10...
5.1 - 10. Surely not as immersive as Love but that was not the intent of the producers...
Ok, let the flaming arrows fly.
No flaming arrows here. I can understand giving this package a 10. I gave it only a 6, but I've watched/listened to parts of it every day since I received the package and I am enjoying it very much. I just don't think that we get anything different from this type of 5.1 mix because much of of the same can be achieved by processing the stereo layer through L7, PLIIx, Surround Master or even a really good DSP.
Look it sounds great and looks great but the surround aspect is very dissappointing so only a 6 from me
ifthenwhy
Member
I am comfortable admitting that I am a Beatle audio fanatic. I have countless vinyl documents that audiophiles claim represent the closest approximations of the sound the Beatles heard in their mixing studios. I have engaged many a fan with arguments of Stereo vs Mono. I have inhaled all the literature of their recording process ten fold. I am very comfortable discussing the merits of the Neumann microphones and Fairchild compressors as related to the Beatles sound. It’s an unholily, if idiotic, passion of mine.
So, I was initially weary of the announcement of “1+”, being that I was rather disappointed with Martins “Love” release (which I found to be a impressive execution of a stupid concept). My fear was Martin would ultimately fail to demonstrate restraint, and lean towards an overtly flashy 5.1 execution of these classic songs.
I am happy to report that not only has Martin absolutely dispelled these concerns, he and engineer Sam Okell have given us some of the most impressive audio documents of the Beatles catalog to date. Many of these mixes are simply stunning and, dare I say it, definitive.
I think it’s important to remember that a meaningful high-resolution 5.1 experience (when in good hands...Mr. Wilson anyone?) can yield a transformative audio experience without agressive panning. For me, an aesthetic execution, where tonality takes the center stage ,will always trump the flash of instruments madly jumping all over a soundstage (and don’t get me wrong, I love The Flaming Lips). Luckily, it seems, that Martin and Co also share the same sensibility, as this is exactly how “1+” delivers the goods.
Giles Martin and Sam Okell have explored the tonal aspects of these recordings so throughly, and with such a brilliant, artistic sensibility, that they have now made me reconsider my beloved Mono mixes as my Beatle touchstones.
What I think is key in estimating this release is that one must appreciate that this is a representation of the aesthetic choices that the Beatles and their producer/engineers made, rather than a reworking of instruments in a sound stage. While the sound stage is used to great effect (it is a 5.1 release after all) Martin and crew clearly intended the audio fidelity of the recordings to shine, and do they ever shine. I think it’s remarkable.
My Highlights
Hey Bulldog
I find this to be the best version of the song. Hands down. The Bass is a revelation, and makes for a perfect bed for the aggressive mid-range guitars. One can feel the airy push of the kick drum and hear the crack of the snare tuning. Lennon’s voice has never sounded so punk (“If you’re lonely you can talk to me”). This mix nails me emotionaly. Jaw dropped.
A Day In The Life
The sound of Lennon’s voice, dry and mere inches from ones face, is a remarkable thing to experience.
Strawberry Fields Forever
The song now breathes in a brilliant way as all the dense instrumentation now doesn’t feel so mashed together. Hearing the Mellotron intro in all of it’s high res glory is Beatle heaven, and one can almost feel resin being scraped off the bows on the strings.
Eleanor Rigby
I’ve always appreciated George Martins strings arrangements, but it wasn’t until I experienced the 5.1 that I understood how brilliantly they interact with McCartney’s vocal.
Get Back
This is one of the most “brown” sounding mixes of this famed song. It’s the audio equivalent of a heroin nod. Rich, thick and minimal. This Mix KILLS. Another definitive example of the song.
Lows
01: The song selections are based on the Number One idea, and while this is fine, it does leave one wanting other songs. This is just a limitation of the idea.
02: I wish they didn’t use the plastic trays/tabs to hold the discs. Yuck.
03: The videos. While some are better than others, I was reminded how many of them were terribly bit ham fisted (Hello Goodbye) to downright annoying (Get Back). Sure, this is a small annoyance, as I have a soft spot for the Fab. And it’s nice to have a high def version of “Hey Bulldog” on my HD set.
Conclusion
Martin and Co have delivered on the 5.1 promise. They have taken something that we thought we knew and changed our relationship to it. While my use of the word “definitive” may raise some eyebrows, I maintain that some of these mixes breathe new life into the songs, and show such artistic restraint and integrity, that I can come to no other conclusion. Many of these mixes have found the sweet spot of my 5.1 system and my heart. THIS is why I love 5.1!
10 out of 10. Easy!
So, I was initially weary of the announcement of “1+”, being that I was rather disappointed with Martins “Love” release (which I found to be a impressive execution of a stupid concept). My fear was Martin would ultimately fail to demonstrate restraint, and lean towards an overtly flashy 5.1 execution of these classic songs.
I am happy to report that not only has Martin absolutely dispelled these concerns, he and engineer Sam Okell have given us some of the most impressive audio documents of the Beatles catalog to date. Many of these mixes are simply stunning and, dare I say it, definitive.
I think it’s important to remember that a meaningful high-resolution 5.1 experience (when in good hands...Mr. Wilson anyone?) can yield a transformative audio experience without agressive panning. For me, an aesthetic execution, where tonality takes the center stage ,will always trump the flash of instruments madly jumping all over a soundstage (and don’t get me wrong, I love The Flaming Lips). Luckily, it seems, that Martin and Co also share the same sensibility, as this is exactly how “1+” delivers the goods.
Giles Martin and Sam Okell have explored the tonal aspects of these recordings so throughly, and with such a brilliant, artistic sensibility, that they have now made me reconsider my beloved Mono mixes as my Beatle touchstones.
What I think is key in estimating this release is that one must appreciate that this is a representation of the aesthetic choices that the Beatles and their producer/engineers made, rather than a reworking of instruments in a sound stage. While the sound stage is used to great effect (it is a 5.1 release after all) Martin and crew clearly intended the audio fidelity of the recordings to shine, and do they ever shine. I think it’s remarkable.
My Highlights
Hey Bulldog
I find this to be the best version of the song. Hands down. The Bass is a revelation, and makes for a perfect bed for the aggressive mid-range guitars. One can feel the airy push of the kick drum and hear the crack of the snare tuning. Lennon’s voice has never sounded so punk (“If you’re lonely you can talk to me”). This mix nails me emotionaly. Jaw dropped.
A Day In The Life
The sound of Lennon’s voice, dry and mere inches from ones face, is a remarkable thing to experience.
Strawberry Fields Forever
The song now breathes in a brilliant way as all the dense instrumentation now doesn’t feel so mashed together. Hearing the Mellotron intro in all of it’s high res glory is Beatle heaven, and one can almost feel resin being scraped off the bows on the strings.
Eleanor Rigby
I’ve always appreciated George Martins strings arrangements, but it wasn’t until I experienced the 5.1 that I understood how brilliantly they interact with McCartney’s vocal.
Get Back
This is one of the most “brown” sounding mixes of this famed song. It’s the audio equivalent of a heroin nod. Rich, thick and minimal. This Mix KILLS. Another definitive example of the song.
Lows
01: The song selections are based on the Number One idea, and while this is fine, it does leave one wanting other songs. This is just a limitation of the idea.
02: I wish they didn’t use the plastic trays/tabs to hold the discs. Yuck.
03: The videos. While some are better than others, I was reminded how many of them were terribly bit ham fisted (Hello Goodbye) to downright annoying (Get Back). Sure, this is a small annoyance, as I have a soft spot for the Fab. And it’s nice to have a high def version of “Hey Bulldog” on my HD set.
Conclusion
Martin and Co have delivered on the 5.1 promise. They have taken something that we thought we knew and changed our relationship to it. While my use of the word “definitive” may raise some eyebrows, I maintain that some of these mixes breathe new life into the songs, and show such artistic restraint and integrity, that I can come to no other conclusion. Many of these mixes have found the sweet spot of my 5.1 system and my heart. THIS is why I love 5.1!
10 out of 10. Easy!
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Question: When listening to Day Tripper on my system, the vocals seem to be focused right of center - not panned hard right or dead center but in between. We Can Work It Out is much more towards dead center. Anyone else experience this with Day Tripper? Thanks.
Watchin the DVD with mum and Mrs. Baggins this Friday night. :music
CD sounds hella good on my car's faux surround system, btw.
CD sounds hella good on my car's faux surround system, btw.
Nova
Well-known Member
I think the whole point of LOVE and the mix and mash up was to bring a massive sound to the Vegas show. the theater had a killer system and many many speakers all through out .
alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
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alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
Absolutely. A reasonable amount brought the lower level signals above the surface noise of the record. Too much and the loudness of the signal would cause the stylus to skip off a groove. Things we don't worry about too much anymore...
Andy
Andy
alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
Completely agree. Of course the listening equipment was very different when the original vinyl came out. So there was some "natural" compression built-in with early transistorized equipment or with tube-based equipment from the 1960s. My ears had a different frequency response back then, too (unfortunately that has not transferred forward in time).
For me, and this is just my personal preference, I want the best possible sound now, no matter what the original sounded like, within reason. So, what I enjoy would probably be considered "too modern of a sound" for some people. I think that's why I enjoy the Yellow Submarine mixes and the Anthology mixes more than some.
Andy
For me, and this is just my personal preference, I want the best possible sound now, no matter what the original sounded like, within reason. So, what I enjoy would probably be considered "too modern of a sound" for some people. I think that's why I enjoy the Yellow Submarine mixes and the Anthology mixes more than some.
Andy
My sister came by this weekend, and since we both grew up on The Beatles (in real time), she wanted to watch the videos so I queued up BluRay disc one and we watched it straight through. This was my first time all the way through in sequence, so it was interesting for me.
First off, it's a great video. Most of these videos made the rounds on old VHS tapes sold at record shows and such, and it was nice to see them "clean". When the first color one plays, WOW! So clear, so clean.
As they move through the years, you can see how they seemed to be going through the motions. You could tell that especially George hated doing these videos.
The surround was, as I heard on my PC and from sampling individual songs, was pretty tame. At this point, I accept that.
Some other oddities. For some reason, during "Hey Jude", I got serious video artifacting all through the video. I am not sure why but it was totally annoying. (Did anyone else notice this or maybe my disc is defective?)
Also, my Oppo seemed to lose sync between songs (I seleted PLAY ALL from the main menu). This is very bizarre BluRay authoring for sure.
One other thing I noticed.
During "Let it Be", which is clearly from the film and looking great, they futzed with the audio AND video. In the movie I distinctly remember that on the last verse, Paul sings
"And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
THERE WILL BE NO SORROW, let it be"
I remember the unusual lyric change from the times I saw the film back in 1970, and again when I finally got it on LaserDisc way back when it reinforced in my memory. Actually, I think it's that way on Anthology as well. However, in this apparently edited-for-BluRay "1" version, he sings "Speaking Words of Wisdom" instead of "There will be no sorrow". AND, in the movie he's staring right at the camera when he sings the "sorrow" line, so they had to splice in a section of him singing "Speaking words of wisdom" to make it work.
Of course, the lyric heard is the same lyric from both the album and the 45, but the movie version had the different lyric.
Anyway, here's my vote:
VIDEO: 10
CONTENT: 10
SOUND: VARIES
SURROUND: 2
It's the freaking Beatles, so I'll go with a '7'.
First off, it's a great video. Most of these videos made the rounds on old VHS tapes sold at record shows and such, and it was nice to see them "clean". When the first color one plays, WOW! So clear, so clean.
As they move through the years, you can see how they seemed to be going through the motions. You could tell that especially George hated doing these videos.
The surround was, as I heard on my PC and from sampling individual songs, was pretty tame. At this point, I accept that.
Some other oddities. For some reason, during "Hey Jude", I got serious video artifacting all through the video. I am not sure why but it was totally annoying. (Did anyone else notice this or maybe my disc is defective?)
Also, my Oppo seemed to lose sync between songs (I seleted PLAY ALL from the main menu). This is very bizarre BluRay authoring for sure.
One other thing I noticed.
During "Let it Be", which is clearly from the film and looking great, they futzed with the audio AND video. In the movie I distinctly remember that on the last verse, Paul sings
"And when the night is cloudy there is still a light that shines on me
Shine until tomorrow, let it be
I wake up to the sound of music, Mother Mary comes to me
THERE WILL BE NO SORROW, let it be"
I remember the unusual lyric change from the times I saw the film back in 1970, and again when I finally got it on LaserDisc way back when it reinforced in my memory. Actually, I think it's that way on Anthology as well. However, in this apparently edited-for-BluRay "1" version, he sings "Speaking Words of Wisdom" instead of "There will be no sorrow". AND, in the movie he's staring right at the camera when he sings the "sorrow" line, so they had to splice in a section of him singing "Speaking words of wisdom" to make it work.
Of course, the lyric heard is the same lyric from both the album and the 45, but the movie version had the different lyric.
Anyway, here's my vote:
VIDEO: 10
CONTENT: 10
SOUND: VARIES
SURROUND: 2
It's the freaking Beatles, so I'll go with a '7'.
Jon's review made me feel like I should finally vote and comment on this release. OK, absolutely...I was initially very disappointed. I allowed myself to get hyped into thinking this could be similar surround prowess of LOVE. Of course, it's not. (IMO)
Once I got over that initial shock.....I tried to accept this for what it is. An excellent set of videos across many great songs.....with generally improved fidelity. While I just don't really like much, if any of the surround versions...I find the 2 channel pretty damn good. Finally, as many have commented.....I also had the opportunity to watch all the videos and in my case, it was with my 23 year old son. He has generally acquired my taste for excellent music and I would say that he has finally realized that much of the music I adore is exceptional musicians with an uncanny ability to write poetry.
Finally, he appreciates Simon/Garfunkel, Beatles, Doors, Sid Barrett. You know, the poets.... He and I sat in the stereo room and watched the WHOLE 2 discs, front to back. he honestly could have cared less about the surround. He was absolutely blown away being able to see The Beatles along with some of the great footage. We listened to all in 2 channel and loved every minute of it. You just cannot imagine the joy I had watching this with him....priceless.
I am now able to say, I love this release and will most likely watch it ever so often. Well, I'm not gonna lie and say it's a 9, cause it isn't. But if I really vote honestly and break it down for you...I'd say this.
content - 10
Fidelity - 7 (to me, it's all over the board. Some fidelity is just wonderful, of course, some of the older tracks are showing their age)
Surround - 5 (though a couple tunes sound quite excellent)
7.3! So, 7 it is.
Once I got over that initial shock.....I tried to accept this for what it is. An excellent set of videos across many great songs.....with generally improved fidelity. While I just don't really like much, if any of the surround versions...I find the 2 channel pretty damn good. Finally, as many have commented.....I also had the opportunity to watch all the videos and in my case, it was with my 23 year old son. He has generally acquired my taste for excellent music and I would say that he has finally realized that much of the music I adore is exceptional musicians with an uncanny ability to write poetry.
Finally, he appreciates Simon/Garfunkel, Beatles, Doors, Sid Barrett. You know, the poets.... He and I sat in the stereo room and watched the WHOLE 2 discs, front to back. he honestly could have cared less about the surround. He was absolutely blown away being able to see The Beatles along with some of the great footage. We listened to all in 2 channel and loved every minute of it. You just cannot imagine the joy I had watching this with him....priceless.
I am now able to say, I love this release and will most likely watch it ever so often. Well, I'm not gonna lie and say it's a 9, cause it isn't. But if I really vote honestly and break it down for you...I'd say this.
content - 10
Fidelity - 7 (to me, it's all over the board. Some fidelity is just wonderful, of course, some of the older tracks are showing their age)
Surround - 5 (though a couple tunes sound quite excellent)
7.3! So, 7 it is.
How did your sister like it?...I'm guessing she loved it
She and her two ears loved it!
Anybody else notice that the #1 hits predominantly featured John as lead vocalist early on, but Paul as lead vocalist beyond the half way point?
And what's with the giant hairs on the screen from the Let it Be shots? Did they have an ostrich in the studio or something? Wow!
And what's with the giant hairs on the screen from the Let it Be shots? Did they have an ostrich in the studio or something? Wow!
alk3997
500 Club - QQ All-Star
Jon, had to do a little research. I checked Lewisohn and then "Recording The Beatles" and neither had a direct quote about the different lyrics. Then I realized I should be checking that great database of sometimes truths - Wikipedia. Sure enough Wikipedia came through. What you heard is the difference between the two take 27 versions. Yes, there were two - 27a and 27b, as they are now labeled. 27a is the basis for all released recordings. 27b is the basis for the Apple Performances that were used in the Let It Be film. However, since Beatles 1+ is supposed to include the #1 versions of the songs, with the exception of the live recordings, the 27a recording with overdubs was used for Beatles 1+. Both take 27a and take 27b were filmed.
More information here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Be_(song)
BTW, "Recording The Beatles" shows that 27a plus the subsequent overdubs was one of the most complex Beatles recordings. There is one track of the 8-track multitrack tape that has a triple vocal overdub which includes three Mr. and Mrs. McCartney vocals along with Mr. Harrison. That song, like most of Let It Be, took over a year to record from start to finish.
Anyway, thought you might like to know the reason for the differences that you correctly spotted.
Andy
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