Posted: Fri Nov 03, 2006 6:22 am
Yesterday at work I was able to sit it on a 5.1 playback of the Beatles "Love" DVD in it's entirety. The playback was attended by Giles Martin and Allan Rouse (Allan has been at Abbey Road for 36 years and most recently has been in charge of the Beatles tape vault. I spoke with him for about two hours. He is an absolutely fine gentleman with a great sense of humour and many amazing stories).
For 80 minutes I sat in the dark with about forty members of the press. I heard things I have never heard before. Having the Beatles vocals straight up the middle was very interesting. There were nuances of their performances I had never really noticed before.
Stand outs include the "Tomorrow Never Knows/ Within You Without You" mash-up, "I Am the Walrus" and "Mr. Kite/I Want You/ Helter Skelter".
The mixes were very interesting, with elements swirling around the room. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (recorded at Shea) and "Help!" were the only songs I felt really suffered. There just wasn't enough bass information to push that sub.
The "Drive My Car" sequence sounded a bit like "Stars on 45" but was fun anyay. Many of the tracks used alternate takes for some or all of the song. Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for instance is taken from the Anthology. The version with the extra verse and played in a different key. Giles explained how his father wrote a new string arrangement for the song because Olivia Harrison felt that the take was incomplete. This was the only new element added to the DVD.
Purists I'm sure will be upset, but in 5.1 it's too incredible to complain about. I'm not sure how they will translate to good old 2.0 though!
For 80 minutes I sat in the dark with about forty members of the press. I heard things I have never heard before. Having the Beatles vocals straight up the middle was very interesting. There were nuances of their performances I had never really noticed before.
Stand outs include the "Tomorrow Never Knows/ Within You Without You" mash-up, "I Am the Walrus" and "Mr. Kite/I Want You/ Helter Skelter".
The mixes were very interesting, with elements swirling around the room. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" (recorded at Shea) and "Help!" were the only songs I felt really suffered. There just wasn't enough bass information to push that sub.
The "Drive My Car" sequence sounded a bit like "Stars on 45" but was fun anyay. Many of the tracks used alternate takes for some or all of the song. Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for instance is taken from the Anthology. The version with the extra verse and played in a different key. Giles explained how his father wrote a new string arrangement for the song because Olivia Harrison felt that the take was incomplete. This was the only new element added to the DVD.
Purists I'm sure will be upset, but in 5.1 it's too incredible to complain about. I'm not sure how they will translate to good old 2.0 though!