RD;
28/10/22
'The 7th studio album from The Beatles was released on 5 August 1966 with the double-A-side single “Eleanor Rigby” / “Yellow Submarine”. The unexpected gift of a 3 month break at the start of ’66, meant that by April of that year they were ready to record their most ground-breaking album yet. One that would go on to redefine how artists would write and record their songs and, with the help of a uniquely talented producer and engineers willing to find ways to help them realise their dreams, would change the way the world viewed albums as creative works in their own right. The studio and the advancing recording technology lead to Revolver and the birth of a new era in rock/pop music.
However, there was one area in which technology had failed to advance as far or as fast – that of multi-tracking. At this time, many instruments and vocal elements were combined or ‘bounced down’ to just 4 tracks in total, which had to become two tracks for the stereo. The mono album, (from the original mono master tape) which is included in the box set here, was considered by the band and many at the time to be the primary format and how most people would listen to Revolver. This was easy to mix down from the 4 tracks to create the final album but was not so easy to achieve in stereo. They could not separate the individual instruments or vocals to allow an authentic stereo field to be created. The result has always been considered to be the best that could have been done at the time, but not as good as the fans would have loved to be able to hear.
Until now.
Using AI technology developed by Peter Jackson’s Wingnut team to help deliver clear audio for the studio scenes in the Get Back docu series, Giles Martin realised quickly that this could provide a pathway for him to be able to ‘unpick’ those 4 track tapes and to free up the instruments from each other to enable him to attempt what would have been impossible until now. With help and commitment of time, computing resource and a very clever and committed team, gradually the 4 tracks became multi-tracks and so are now able to release this truly stunning, exciting, ground-breaking REMIX of Revolver. Finally, we are proud and happy to be able to bring you the mono album…in stereo!!
Additionally, we have the usual high-quality, deeply researched and comprehensive 100-page book featuring the story of the recording of the album, track-by-track, as well as the band’s situation during the year of 1966 and the reaction and subsequent life of the album. Also, with a personal introduction by Paul McCartney, and one from Giles Martin, this book also features an incredible personal journey into Revolver and beyond from the modern genius of music, Questlove. Featuring many photos as well as hand-written lyrics and the tape boxes, we are also delighted and proud to be able to include pages from the graphic novel by Klaus Voorman – friend of the band since Hamburg, bass-player and graphic artist in which he tells the story of how he came to be asked to create the Grammy-winning cover and how he created yet another first for this album – the unique cover art created especially for an album.