OK so......I'm pissed with amazon because they didn't deliver in a timely fashion and I'm not due to get my stereo box until Monday and the Mono box not until Thursday despite the fact that I preordered it on the first day of availablity and paid for overnight shipping......I've already handled the issue with Amazon and got them to refund me all the shipping costs and as well as a 30 dollar refund on the whole order. But I'm still annoyed because like so many of you all, I was dreaming about these CDs.....
I made a deal with a friend that I would go out and buy 1 CD and when my box came he would buy it from me......I chose Abbey Road, though The White Album is my favorite, didn't feel like fronting the cash on a double CD......
This will be my review on Abbey Road, but I intend on contributing further to this thread when my boxed sets arrive this upcoming week......
Impressions
Abbey Road has probably aged the best of the Beatles albums because it was recorded with techniques which are more intune with today's recording and mixing techniques.......Yes the drums still aim to one side but the overall sound of the record is strikingly modern compared to any other Beatles album. The drums on "The End" have the designation of being the only time a beatle song included a true Stereo drum track instead of 2 mono kits mixed together....
I had high expectations for this remaster. I don't think the remaster exceeded my expectations, but I think it pretty much met them. One thing I will say is that the bass seems to be more forward than even the vinyl pressing and I find this to give it a modern if inauthentic sound, but its very good and easily more enjoyable than the bass-anemic 1987 CD release.
As already said the dynamic range has hardly been touched (if at all) and the instrument separation is greatly improved. One section which was a real eye-opener for me was the guitar solo on You Never Give Me Your Money......the section which is just guitar fills (beginning with "nowhere to go" and ending just before "one sweet dream") There is a layer here of at least 3 guitars and in the past even when using a good vinyl set up I've found it hard to ascertain all the notes in the guitar fills especially beneath the harmonies......but this remaster has brought this out a bit and now the listening experience is more complete for me......of course by caring about details like this you could say the listener is greatly micromanaging their experience. You would be right. Though I never had a problem with the 1987 CDs, I knew it could be better, but I still prefered them to the horrible brickwall remasters of so many other bands.
One thing you will notice, particularly on Come Together is tape hiss. Such a beautiful thing to hear, and you don't hear as much of it on the 1987 master, but you do on the vinyl. Why is it a good thing? Because this is where the details are and getting rid of it is like taking filling in the cracks in the monalisa instead of letting it be just Davinci's handywork.............it is impossible to remove blemishess without removing art too.
In Golden Slumbers i hear Ringo counting time on the ride a bit, something I've never noticed and of course not very important, but it's always fun to experience things for the first time. It's like being married to your wife for 20 years and one day seeing a little freckle she has for the first time. hahaha
For a while now I've grown accustomed to the "Black Triangle" Remaster of Abbey Road which actually was released before the 1987 master, and really just a very very good needle drop. This remaster is still an improvement on that as well. I'm a big fan of Dr Ebbetts work, though I've never heard his Abbey Road MFSL needle drop.
Is there anything about this remaster which is inferior to the 1987?
I can say that on some bass heavy speakers and headphones the new remaster may actually feel over emphasized in the lower region. Also some may prefer certain songs with less tape hiss......but the overall presentation of the music here is superior in virtually every way. It's probably not perfect, and by perfect I literally mean recreating a vinyl experience, a very good vinyl experience. But I am pretty certain that if these were MFSL CDs of Beatles music or DCC Gold remasters, we'd all be very happy with them.....they are audiophile quality and they are about as good as we will probably ever hear the Beatles original mixes in digital format!
