Last year producer Giles Martin was thought to be doing a redo of Rubber Soul after completing the Revolver boxset, but, instead, he ended up revisiting The Beatles red and blue albums of greatest hits. The 2023 blue album has several surprises including their latest/last single “Now and Then”, but the real surprise is in the red album set. Martin added songs to the original sets bringing the total to 38 songs on the 2 CDs.
Martin had already redone 8 Revolver tracks which appear on this album. But he also demixed the remaining 30 tracks and then remixed them much as he has been doing with the previous redos. The result is that original 4 track stuff which previously had been impossible to separate and untangle was broken down and reassembled with Martin’s machine-learning technology, and the results are spectacular with greater clarity, a wider field of separated vocals and instruments, and, therefore, more impact.
Now when you listen to these 30 brand new tracks, you hear new and more things that you never heard before. In short, listening is like being there in the studio with The Beatles. It is also like hearing these 30 tracks for the first time anew. No more muddy mono mix.
If you are a serious Beatles fan and collector, you will buy the blue album, but the red album is the gem of this 4 CD release. It is distinctly different from the original versions of the revised 30 songs and will enhance and extend your aural appreciation of these hits and album tracks.