By Terry Ott

Thanks to regular reader Paul the K from jolly olde WALES, in the United Kingdom, I have just been listening to Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in CDDTS 5.1 sound.

Many amateur audio auters including the Yahoo Beatle Remixers Group have been playing with the various tracks from Sgt. P-and many other Fab tunes- but Paul the K believes the version he sent me is from that old pointy eared little devil, Mirror Spock.

Usually, I find everything from MS to be excellent, but if this is in fact from the Vulcan boy, then I have a few questions.

It could be the way my 5.1 system is set up, but I found that some of the vocals-especially in the title track, were buried too low in the mix, and the overall tone of the effort was somewhat bright and brittle.

There are, however, several stand-out sounding tracks such as Getting Better and Fixing A Hole, otherwise, I don't think this mix can hold a candle to the Sgt. P 5.1 mixes found on Anthology.

And why not? The boys at Abbey Road had the multitudes of multitracks to play with, whilst the producers of this version have had to lift tracks from a stereo recording through the use of audio software trickery, in which to construct a faux 5.1 mix.

But once again, this is only my audio opinion, and you may find that you think the Sgt. P CDDTS is great. More power to you, and certainly, enjoy!

In any event, I look forward to the day we see-and hear- the full Sgt. P in 5.1 from Apple, and hope that their effort is as good as say, the Eagles Hell Freezes Over DTS mix.

Oh, say, about 2 or 3 years fron now!

There is a neat little article in the current issue of Beatlology magazine by renown Beatle author Bruce Spizer.

Bruce recounts how the tracks for the Yellow Submarine Songtrack were remastered and remixed, utilizing the exstensive Beatle multi-track tape library at Abbey Raod Studios.

Having miles of multi-tracks really allows the producers and engineers to go back and "fix" or tweak just about any part of the recording that they wish to monkey with.

However, whenever I write about recent Beatle remix jobs, I usually get angry e-mails from readers who claim that the new fangled studio trickery including digital NoNoise tape hiss removers and even digital remastering in and of itself is not "true" to the Beatles sound.

There are many purists who still hold that the only way to listen to Beatle recordings is through a tube amp with a good tone arm and cartridge. This may be true, but it is also very expensive nowadays and all of the good analogue mastered Beatle MFSL LPs are long out of print and hard to find.

So in my opinion, I am open to any attempt by Apple to make the Beatles music sound better than all those lousy US issue albums and tapes, and first generation of CDs.

Personally, I liked the job done on the YS Songtrack, Let it Be...Naked and 1, but once again, that is only my opinion.

I think the future of Beatle music lies in Surround Sound anyway, so live with it, I guess.

Next: Sgt. Pepper already in DTS 5.1?

I get to exchange information with a pretty large and varied base of Beatle fans.

Some are intelligent and articulate, and some are, well, dopes.

But few are as interesting and talented as a young Canadian woman by the name of Kimmy Beach.

Beach is I guess what one would call a peformance artist, but her speciality is poetry.

The Red Deer, Alberta woman is set to publish "Fake Paul," a book of verse about the trials and tribulations of a Beatles tribute band performer.

"The book began becasue of my friend, Gary, who plays Paul in the Canadian Beatles tribute band, Rubber Soul, but I see the fake Paul in the book as something larger than Gary, a kind of composite fake Paul who represents people who impersonate others, but who can ultimately become that facade in someone else's eyes," writes Beach in her notes on the book.

I can just hear the Macca Madhatters mobilizing now.

Nevertheless, you can check out the far out stylings of Ms. Beach at:

Enjoy.

http://www.mojofilter.co.uk/kimmyweb/kimmy.htm

Hey! I'm baaaaack.

Recharged the batteries, and I've got good news.

Canadian independent Bullseye Records has just released the most amazing Beatles tribute CD, at least that I have heard anyway.

"It Was 40 Years Ago Today," contains 50-count 'em!- mostly superb Beatle covers, even including Sie Liebt Dich (!) as well as all or most of your faves, like, Paperback Writer, I Feel Fine, You Can't Do That, Hey Jude, Helter Skelter, She Said, She Said, and many, many more.

Even Al Kooper gets into the mix with a groovy brand new 5 minute plus take of Eleanor Rigby, and the production values of this release are generally uniformally excellent.

And there are some really neat and tricky arrangements, like the Cats and Dogs version of Norwegian Wood, which includes the bass riff from She's So Heavy.

Lots of different styles and genres used, and all to good aural measure.

Plus there are great liner notes by British music writer, Craig Cross, as well as chart listings and record release info of all songs featured.

All in all, this is a super collection, and the musicians have obviously used tender loving care in their interpretations of the Fabs' tunes, and all for just under 20 bucks.

I strongly urge you to check it out at http://www.bullseyecanada.com/TributeBeatles.htm.

Once again Steve at Abbey Rd is the first with the cool news about the Fabs.

Little Stevie broke the news today (oh boy) about the September issue of MOJO mag, which has a feature story on the Beatles US touring circus circa 1964.

But dig this, in addition to the great article, you have your choice of 2 (!) 15 track CDs of Beatle cover songs.

You can hear 30 seconds of each track at http://www.mojo4music.com/html/cd_beatlemania.shtml

The only bummer is you have to buy 2 copies of the same mag to get both CDs, but wot the 'ell then? This is worth at least the $20 or so it will set you back.

Several tracks- including one leftover from the Royal Tennnenbaums soundtrack-are previously unreleased, and many of them are near impossible to find outside this collection.

Hear Billy Preston doing Eight Days A Week, Isaac Hayes wringing out Something, and more, so much more.

The thing that comes to my mind first off is that no matter the artist or the arrangement for that matter, these are simply fabulous songs and so any treatment is bound to sound good.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney sure knew what they were doing.

I have begun working my way through the Anthology DVD set 5.1 mixes and some interesting points come to mind.

First off, some of the mixes I really like, and others, well, it is hard to notice any improvement over the plain old 2 channel mixes that also come on the discs. Some may argue that several of the 5.1 mixes are worse than their mono or stereo counterparts.

I liked what the Apple engineers did with I Feel Fine, with the opening feedback spread across the soundstage, and Ticket To Ride sounded nice and full, if not a tad bright, or even hot.

But my larger point is that while I am an obvious advocate of the 5 and more channel format, I think it is absolutely essential to also have acceptable-NO, make that good to great-regular, old fashioned 2 channel mixes as well.

For excepting most of the MFSL half speed master series, a few stereo German LP imports, the Japanese red vinyl line, and some of the recently remastered Beatles CDs (1, YS Songtrack and Let it Be...Naked) most Beatle music has sounded jusy barely acceptable at best, and really lousy at worst.

One of the things I noticed right off while audtioning my 5.1 system, was how good the mono versions of Sgt.Pepper and The White Album sounded, just coming from the sub, and one speaker!

Sometimes, it is better to listen to the Fabs through just one or two speakers, as well.

In other instances-and Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite comes to mind-there is so much going on that the potential for a fantastic 5.1 mix is obviously great-IF it is done right.

On Anthology, there has obviously been a lot of 5.1 work put into Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane.

But then again, there are other tunes that have not had the same tender loving care and the great mixes only make the lesser ones sound, well, less.

So there's lots of work yet for Apple to do.

Yet if they can eventually get all of the 5.1 mixes as good as A Day In The Life and Baby You're A Rich Man, then you will know that you have been turned on.

When I don't come to you all as regular as, well, a bowel movement, I get e-mails asking if everything is OK.

For these I am truly appreciative, and humbled

But usually, it is just an attack of Journalist Disease AKA laziness that keeps me from posting reguarly, or at least more than I do.

But this time I actually have (somewhat) of a non-disease excuse.

I have just finished researching and writing a long piece for the Vacnouver Sun on the 35th anniversary of Woodstock.

One of the points I make in the story is that the only way Woodstock could have been bigger was the inclusion of the Rolling Stones and the Beatles on the bill.

Now can you just imagine if you will what would have happened if the Fabs would have turned up at Woodstock?

I think it might be safe to say that another 250,000 or even 500,000 fans would have tried to show up making a million in total!

The Beatles could have debuted their soon to be released Abbey Road album or even the Get Back/Let it Be stuff, and pop music history would have been forever changed.

Hey, maybe the group, after having a taste of performing live again may have been re-kindled and even stayed together for a while longer. You never know. Do you?

I'll bet you that Paul McCartney was game for it, and maybe even Ringo Starr too.

But John Lennon and George Harrison had had enough of the whole Fabs thing, and it just was not meant to be.

I wonder if they were even invited?

Well, I have finally entered the 21st century, and got myself a very modest 5.1 system, and of course the first thing I wanted to watch and listen to was the 1999 Yello Submarine DVD.

And although the YS disc was produced in the relative infancy of the format, I think the Apple/Abbey Raod engineers did a pretty good job at the surround mix.

One of the things that jumps out right away is the isolation of Paul McCartney's bass lines that to me anyway are less muddy and can float around the other instruments in the soundstage.

Much of the music used in the YS DVD was recorded originally in 4 track stereo, and yet some intersting 5.1 mixes are produced.

I especially like It's All Too Much and Sgt.Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band,Only A Northern Song as well as the sound effect laden title track.

However,as there always is one in these sorts of discussions, audio appreciation is such a subjective exercise that what might sound great to me, sounds shitty to another listener.

You have to understand that most of these tunes have been around for nearly 40 years, with most first gen Fabs fans hearing them first on their parents stereo consoles, or tiny little mono poratble record players, or a car radio, and our sense of "how" they should sound is quite ingrained.

That is why there are many naysayers and glad handers as well when any new remaster of remix of the Beatles music is offered.

But as far as I am concerned surround sound is the way of the iimediate future, as well as our best shot at getting Beatle music that sounds "good."

What's your opinion?

I have had mostly good feedback from my recent Beatles wish list, although some have given me a damn good pranging for leaving certain items off.

And certainly author Mitch Axelrod, whose excellent book Beatletoons, was rightly outraged when I failed to add the Beatles ABC series cartoons to the list.

So, wot the 'ell then, here's another go.

1/ The complete unedited 27 minute take of Helter Skelter (Sorry Mitch!)

2/ For sure the complte King Features Beatle cartoons that aired on Saturday mornings on ABC TV from 1965-6 and have been (mostly hidden from view for nearly 40 years. Thanks to Paul the K from WALES, I'm reliving my youth, and all other fans should have the same opportunity.

3/ The complete Ed Sullivan Show performaces.

4/ The complete promo film issues.

5/ The Canadian issue albums, Twist and Shout, Beatlmania and Long Tall Sally.

6/ A Hard Day's Night film DVD with the soundtrack in true, REAL stereo.

7/ The Mike Douglas John and Yoko shows on DVD.

8/ The complete Feb. 1964 Washington Colliseum show.

9/ The complete Budokan shows

10/ The Carnagie Hall concert (if it exsits)

There: chew on these ones!

OK, OK, I know, lately I have been somewhat remiss.

But what with lasting through 4 days of the Democratic National Convention-even on TV- and soaking up the soon to be diminishing sunny rays in the Great White North, I have not come to you faithful as regular as usual.

Yet some of my time away from you all has been spent watching the original Beatletoons cartoon series from 1965-6.

Thanks to regular reader, Paul the K, from (sometimes) sunny Wales in jolly olde England, who went the extra mile and sent me a second bunch of DVDs after the first set most likely got nicked by customs, I am enjoying something that I have not seen for almost 40 years.

I will get into the series in much more detail in a future BB or two, but for now I want to say that these color episodes are pure nostalgia.

(And the video quality is surpisingly good for what is probably at least a 3rd gen transfer. The audio, however, is another matter altogether.)

I really mean it when I said I had not seen any Beatletoons since their original run, and I recall even then that my friends and I were somewhat disapointed with the series, which used actors voices for the Beatles.

Cartoon John dosen't sound anything at all like John Lennon, and barely resembles him either. Paul does look fairly close to Macca, what with the 'toon characters doe eyes, but again, the voice is way off, but maybe not as bad as John's. George does look like George Harrison, but the voice is rubbish. Finally, Ringo does sort of look like Ringo Starr, but the voice is a combo of Ringo and George!

What else is interesting is how the Beatles songs like A Hard Day's Night, Everybody's Trying To Be My baby, and many others have been specially if not cleverly edited.

AHDN has the middle instrumental edited out, yet ETTBMB repeats the closing guitar riff twice!

The sing along parts of the episodes sometimes have hilarious mistakes in the lyrics, such as in I'll Cry Instead, when the line "I've got every reason on earth to be mad," is changed to "I've got every reason on earth to be right."

And some of the Beatle dialogue? How about this gem from a mad scientist who is attemtping to transfer John's brain to a monster: "This is John. He is the brains of the Beatles" (!) MMs take note! And, well, now shove it.

Again, as I get into more of the episodes, I will revist the issue in a short while.