lol they’ll be reissued three more times before you pass, Anders

Let’s hope so.

Baited breath

If I live that long I will be very happy.

Yeah the red and blue collections were the basis for my understanding of the Beatles for a long long time.

And now they are expanded.

That’s the spirit! I mean that sincerely.

My parents' well-worn copy of 1967-1970 was one of my gateways into music in general.

I'm not crazy about revised/expanded tracklistings for what are already well-established compilations, and ones released when all the Beatles were still alive. There's something canonical about those original albums, despite their omissions.

I'd rather see a new compilation released that highlights the new mixes.

Agreed Spenno. New mixes are generally more aligned with the historical intentions of the band and Martin. Much more compelling / less offensive to me than some of the other choices.

And poorly remixed.

Time to reissue this bad boy once again

Don’t worry they will

God willing

Well, see...my argument would be that none of that is relevant because many of the new mixes are a hot mess. People are noticing mistakes and odd choices all over the place that represent a new low in Beatles remixes. It's not even worth considering. They could hire The Pope to compile a special remixed compilation album endorsed by Jesus himself and it would still be a puddle of diarrhea.

Merely a few specific examples of what to expect on the new "Martin & Jackson featuring The Beatles" set:
"She Loves You" sounds like shit. "Old Brown Shoe" sounds like it was remixed by a mentally handicapped person who has never heard the original mix. "Nowhere Man" has an irritating, prominent and out-of-time hi-hat that seems to have been added or extracted somehow and time shifted. Nobody can figure out what the fuck they did there. And instead of finally mixing the second half of "I Am The Walrus" in true stereo all the way through and flying in extracted radio elements, they did a mono to stereo extraction and it's fucking awful - and they also added sound effects that weren't originally there in places and during the ending - it's absurd. Giles has suggested that it's what Apple wanted him to do. The funniest thing about it is that it was the most anticipated remix of the entire set and it turned out to be the worst hands-down. They couldn't have failed more spectacularly. They also blended in digital samples to beef up the snare and bass drum in a lot of songs/places. Everybody dance.

What about the other 100 songs, you ask? Well, there are too many retarded decisions and mistakes to list, and the mastering is insanely loud with a massive amount of bottom end on the entire set, so if you like getting screamed at by Giles Martin for 3 hours, go right ahead. There's no accounting for taste.

It's just an easy (and typically way over-priced) money grab with no redeeming value. And their target demographic is just stupid enough to believe that it's a technological breakthrough and a special moment in time that will change their life and define compilation albums for decades to come - again. I know it sounds like biased and cynical skepticism on my part, but one would have to be a complete fool to believe anything else.

The only recent remix I heard was Abbey Road. I did not enjoy it, but I didn’t revisit it to really pick apart way. It mostly just felt like the drums were too loud, and the tracks were separated to an almost comical effect.

I’m theoretically fine with the idea of remixing their stuff, because of the whole “true stereo” / “the band wasn’t there for the stereo conversion mixes” narrative. But it’s a bummer to hear they it’s been handled so poorly.

Yes. But all of those notions are nonsense distractions to get people to buy the remixes, and it works like a charm. The Beatles were present for and approved of all the stereo mixes starting with Sgt Pepper - and those are mostly the only albums they've done so far anyway. And the argument that the stereo mixes were primitive doesn't take into account that it means nothing to remix something if there is no taste or respect implemented in the remixes - the general opinion with Beatles fans is that if it's different and super stereo, then it's good - there is zero concept of the mix itself actually being good. And the idea planted by Giles that he was going to "replicate the mono mixes in stereo" is based on his belief that everything needs to be "immersive". You can't just put guitars in the left and right like with a Pearl Jam concert - they have to "be everywhere" like a mono mix, but with stereo separation. Dumbass Beatles fans think that it means he is replicating the balance of the mono mixes in stereo, which he has never done at all and has no intention of doing. It's derp city.

I'm 100% on board with the idea of remixing Beatles albums. The problem is that the remixes they are releasing are absurd and push the boundaries of good taste and skill. It's very common for people who critique the Beatles remixes to be accused of being against them in general, but in a lot of cases, nothing could be further from the truth. Which only proves my point. They have no concept at all of a mix being good or bad. It's all wow factor and press hype. So ultimately it doesn't matter.

Re the bold part — Is that right? I really need them to reprint Recording the Beatles.