FEATURE:
Got to Get You Into My Life
Why the Upcoming Deluxe Edition of The Beatles’ Revolver Is Particularly Exciting
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FANS of The Beatles…
have been giving a treat recently with news that their 1966 masterpiece, Revolver, will get a Deluxe edition. You will be aware that Giles Martin (son of The Beatles late producer Sir George Martin) has been responsible for remastering and re-releasing Beatles albums since 2017. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band came out to mark its fiftieth. We have worked forward to last year’s Let It Be. That coincided with the Peter Jackson documentary, The Beatles: Get Back. Now, it seems like Martin is working backwards. Variety were among those who reported the news recently:
“The suspense over which album by the Beatles might be next in line to get a remix and bonus-filled boxed-set treatment is over: It’s officially “Revolver.”
Apple Corps and Universal Music have confirmed that a deluxe celebration of the 1966 release — which, like the Beatle boxes that have preceded it, will include a Giles Martin remix — is in the pipeline for this fall.
An official announcement of the project is not expected to come until some time in September, at which point details about the deluxe package’s contents and a release date will be forthcoming.
“Revolver” had been widely speculated among fans as the next in the series. Previously, the boxed sets and remixes in the series started with 1967’s “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and continued chronologically with 1968’s White Album, 1969’s “Abbey Road” and, last year, 1970’s “Let It Be.” Having reached the end of the Beatles’ road as a group with that last release, it made sense that the series might go back to “Revolver,” the album before “Sgt. Pepper,” and possibly work backward in time from there — although the keepers of the Beatles’ catalog always refrain from confirming plans for future years in advance.
But, beyond any reverse-chronological planning that might be in order, it goes almost without saying that most fans were hoping “Revolver” would be next. Many consider it the Beatles’ finest work. Moreover, outtakes have not been widely bootlegged to the extent that they have with later projects like “Let It Be,” leaving enormous curiosity as to what may lie among the bonuses.
Some Beatlemaniacs had been skeptical, however, that Apple would be able to produce remixes of the pre-“Sgt. Pepper” albums that match what Martin had already done with the latter part of the band’s catalog. This was due to the fact that the albums through 1966 were recorded to more basic four-track masters, where multiple instruments or vocals were often squeezed into a single track. At a time when mono was still considered the standard, the stereo mixes prior to “Pepper” often sound bizarre to the modern ear, with key elements relegated entirely to the left or right side results, which is why many Beatles fans relish finally getting a more holistic mix of “Revolver” and the albums that preceded it (although, as always, there will be conscientious objectors among the fandom).
Giles Martin on Remixing and Expanding the Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ — and What the Future Holds for Their Deluxe Editions
When Variety spoke with Martin in the fall of 2021 about the prospects of doing remixes for the pre-’67 albums, he made it sound like he thought the moment was nigh to tackle them, although he said he wasn’t yet underway on work on any of them.
“I think we have to do it,” Martin said at the time. “If you take something like ‘Taxman’ from ‘Revolver’ [a track often cited for its bizarre stereo separation], ‘Taxman’ is guitar, bass and drums on one track, and vocals and a sort of shaking and guitar solo (on the right). And it sounds good; they’re amazing recordings, and amazing mixes. You know, we have to look into what technology we can do to make things de-mixed and all this kind of stuff, which I’m looking into. So I’m looking for the technology to do it with, to do something really innovative with ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Revolver,’ as opposed to just a remastering job, because it’s been remastered already. So I think we will. I think we also will look at outtakes as well.”
He added then, “I think we’re getting there with technology. I think we are. I’m not doing it at the moment, though, I can tell you that much. But hopefully. So, yeah — watch this space.”
For those who have indeed been watching this space over the last year: Your patience has been and is soon to be even more rewarded”.
In terms of release date, at the time of me writing this feature (28th August), we have not been given a set date. It will be some time in the autumn by the look of things. I think that this Beatles reissue is the one I am most excited about. I loved Abbey Road’s Deluxe edition from 2019. I think that Revolver is the album that cemented my love and understanding of The Beatles. A big part of my childhood, songs like Got to Get You Into My Life, Good Day Sunshine, Yellow Submarine and Eleanor Rigby were ubiquitous. There has been rumour that a Beatles Deluxe might come this year, but Giles Martin has been tight-lipped. He sort of threw us off the scent earlier in the year when he said he had no plans at all. Now that the news if official, there will be a lot of expectation. Judging by these tweets from I Am the EggPod (The Beatles podcast run by Chris Shaw), we are getting various takes of tracks from the album. It seems that two tracks that were not on Revolver but were released as part of a double A-side in 1966, Paperback Writer and Rain, also are part of the package! I love the original album but, as a huge Beatles fan, I wonder how these songs started and what they ended up like they did. The studio versions are magic but, as The Beatles: Get Back highlighted, it is compelling watching the band interact and hearing these songs form. Rather than demystifying their music, reissues and Deluxe releases let the listener into the fascinating process – and, I know, new fans will discover Revolver.
In preparation of Revolver arriving, listen to the original album. I am sure there will be a vinyl issue of the new release, in the same way as there has been for the other Beatles studio albums. Whether you want to get the C.D. version or splash out a bit more on vinyl, it is going to be an early Christmas gift – presuming, of course, it arrives in time! Maybe there is not such a necessity to hear the 1966 album remastered and having a new mix, as the earlier releases are great. In fact, from that perspective, I would strip things back and prefer to hear the songs with imperfections and lacking in polish. What I am most excited about is these new recordings. I realise that some things we will get have already been included on the Anthology albums that came out in the 1990s. There was this ethos that nothing would be scrapped when it came to The Beatles. I can imagine there was even more in the vaults that could have been included in the Deluxe version of Revolver. In addition to hearing early version of classics, there might be some chatter and conversations between the band.
This was a period when they were very much a unit I think. Things did start to crack not too long after, but you feel the band pulling in the same direction for Revolver. They were at their peak and released this album without fault. The demos and alternate takes are going to be so informative and essential for those who know Revolver and have cherished it for years. As part of my growing up, this is something I cannot miss. Where does Giles Martin go from here? Of course, people will want Rubber Soul (1965), Help! (1965), and maybe A Hard Day’s Night (1964) in Deluxe form. I am not sure whether the other albums would be as beneficial in expanded editions. Maybe Magical Mystery Tour (it was released as a double E.P. in the U.K. in 1967; as an L.P. in the U.S.) will get something, but Revolver is going to be majestic! These reissued sets give us greater context and bring us closer to the band. To Giles and his team, all Beatles fans around the world…
OFFER our thanks!