Beatles

I spoke today with Sean Magee about the just released Beatles LP box set. Magee's resume is impressive. He's cut both lacquers and DMM and does a great deal of AAA cutting for Pure Pleasure among other labels.

This year's Fest for Beatles Fans coincided with the 50th anniversary of their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, February 9th, 1964. The "invasion" festivities began earlier of course, including one event held Thursday February 6th at the 92nd St. "Y". That one featured Peter Asher (of Peter and Gordon, who also signed James Taylor to Apple and went on to become a major producer/manager), performer Billy J. Kramer, Beatle secretary Frida Kelly and Vince Calandra. The event was hosted by British actor/comedian and Beatle fan Martin Lewis. Donovan was a no-show due to a friend's death.

What a mess. For all of his brilliance on Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Paul McCartney must take much of the blame for the ill-conceived for television movie “Magical Mystery Tour”. McCartney had thought of it while in America in April of 1967. The others agreed to it so they all share it to some degree. He wrote the title tune and recording began April 25th.

On January 21st 2014 Apple Corp/Capitol will release a thirteen CD box set containing all of the American Beatle albums from Meet The Beatles (1964) to Hey Jude (1970). Just think: the entire history of the Beatles is like the time between 2007 and now. Think about that. It's guaranteed to blow your mind.

The discs contain both the mono and stereo versions, except for Beatles' Story and Hey Jude, which are in stereo only. And yes, the set will include the famous "Butcherblock cover" for Yesterday and Today

The two upcoming Beatles compilations, the "Red" (1962-1966) and "Blue" (1967-1970) were cut from the original analog tape used to produced the original LP sets—with a few exceptions, says Abbey Road mastering engineer Sean Magee.

Last night's Beatles in MONO listening session at Electric Lady Studios played to an overflow crowd of fans, young and old, male and female. The event and the one Wednesday night September 10th at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles, both sponsored by UMe feature Beatles engineer Ken Scott, reissue mastering supervisor Steve Berkowitz in a panel discussion moderated by Sound & Vision music editor Mike Mettler.