the beatles
Abbey Road: Super Deluxe Edition Apple/UMG
Steven Wilson brings insight to the latest batch of revelatory remixes and more.
Here’s a challenge: how do you ‘improve’ The Beatles’ imperial 1969 swansong? Well, you can append unreleased music that reveals the band at their most inventive and vulnerable: a tentative John lennon trials come Together; Paul Mccartney processes The Beatles’ terminal tug-of-war on You never give Me Your Money. and add new stereo, 5.1 and Dolby atmos mixes by giles Martin and sam Okell that offer even more detail and immersiveness. MOJO’s writers were knocked out. so was steven Wilson: neoprog wiz and official remixer of Yes, XTc, Jethro Tull and more…
You were played the new Dolby Atmos mixes of Abbey Road, at Abbey Road. What did you think? Atmos takes the whole 5.1 Surround Sound idea to the next step. The listener can literally point to a space in the air and say, “That’s where the guitar is.” I know from experience it’s not easy to take something that’s like a sacred text, and to present it in a new way without feeling like you’re trampling over history and people’s childhoods. So it was really very moving to hear something that’s so familiar, presented in a new way that didn’t sound jarring.
What are the biggest challenges facing the remixer of these canonical catalogues?
The one thing you have to acknowledge to yourself is that the people who are going to listen to it are not people who don’t know the record. They’re the opposite; they’re the people who know it inside-out. So I’m not trying to alter anything radically. Things like the instrument balances, the stereo placement, the reverbs, all of the things that were added during the mix, I’m trying to recreate those. But at the same time, I’m hoping you’ll hear more clarity and more response in the bass and you’ll hear more separation between the instruments… And I think that’s what Giles has achieved beautifully with the Abbey Road remix.
What do you learn, when you’re remixing records by a group like The Beatles, or Yes?
These days mixes have become very homogenised. You go back to the late ’60s and they didn’t have that kind of baggage. The possibilities of creating and recording were changing almost by the week. So I love the more eccentric mix decisions that you hear on a record like Abbey Road, and The Beatles in general. It’s amazing that 50 years later we can still learn so much.
You’re a big booster for 5.1 Surround Sound, but not everyone gets it, or has access to the kit. Does 5.1 need its own kind of Milk Marketing Board?
Well, in a way the Milk Marketing Board of Surround Sound is The Beatles. The fact that their albums are coming out in 5.1 and Dolby Atmos, I like to think it’s going to interest people. This has happened several times in the history of pop music – like Brothers In Arms and CD. The format is driven by the repertoire. And once you hear something done well in Surround, it’s very addictive.
“I LOVE THE MORE ECCENTRIC MIX DECISIONS YOU HEAR ON ABBEY ROAD.” STEVEN WILSON