LISTENING TO THE BEATLES, AGAIN

It’s always difficult to gauge, when people are clamouring over the sonic revelations of remastered albums, what’s a result of improved sound and what’s just a matter of finally sitting down and *listening* again. Running through the Beatles catalogue, I’ve been subject to a number of sonic epiphanies—the bass drum that moves “Norwegian Wood” along; the deep rumbling sound of a bus, or earthquake, in “Penny Lane”; a phantom voice saying “something” at the 1:25 mark of “I Saw Her Standing There”; the cough following the epochal feedback introduction of “I Feel Fine”—all of which, I now know, were audible even on the crummy old CDs. (Beatles obsessives have documented them all.) I just hadn’t been paying enough attention.

But the miracle of the new Beatles remasters is that they do so much of the work for you, and bring these details to your attention. If it were just flubbed lines and dropped tambourines and rogue piano notes moving into the spotlight, it would be a dubious achievement. But long ago I began taking many of these recordings for granted. To be reminded that you’re listening to instruments played by people in a room is no small gift. You not only can differentiate between George’s and John’s guitars, but you can hear the picks hit the strings. The horns in “Got To Get You Into My Life” are recorded so closely, you can hear the spittle on the saxophone reeds.

Sometimes such enhancement has an extraordinary impact on the emotional effect of the songs—minor piano chords now threaten to swallow “I’ll Be Back”; the cello makes “Strawberry Fields Forever” terrifying in a way it hadn’t felt since I was a child. The delicate acoustic guitar of “Yesterday” no longer seems overwhelmed by the string section. And although lower-fidelity plaints, such as “Julia” and “Across the Universe”, remain smudged, their intimacy is heightened in contrast with the fussiness that surrounds them.

It would be a mistake to get caught up in hyperbole. We’ve known these songs, and known them well, for a long time. No amount of technological cunning is going to make you feel like you’re hearing “Hey Jude” for the first time. You can sing it in your sleep. But when was the last time the orchestra’s entrance gave you a catch in your throat?

The Beatles: Rock Band and the Remasters are out now

~ SEAN HOWE