The Beatles: Rock n Roll Music George Martin Remixes

visit: www.needlemeetsvinyl.com

[@matae64]

The Beatles rock and roll was the first Beatles album I bought with my own money I was 12 years old. It was never one of my favorites but seeing at again brings back good memories.

[@johnwszeborowski1395]

I bought the Rock And Roll Music album in 1977. Along with the Red and Blue albums. This past year picked up the Red and Blue 1973 albums. And the 1976 Rock And Roll Music Album still sealed. All the albums have the Price and Hype Stickers. It's nice reliving your youth.

[@kalebaldwin5398]

A cassette of Vol. 1 (U.S.) was one of the first Beatles albums I was ever exposed to. So it will always be special to me. It wasn’t until many years later that I “discovered” the original cover art 😳

[@jldraw]

This is a topic that surfaces quite frequently in the VC and is oftentimes the result of a lot of misinformation that has been put around likely since the release of this particular collection in 1976. To begin with the "Rock And Roll Music" LP was the result of The Beatles ten year contract with EMI expiring on January 26, 1976. Prior to that EMI/Capitol was not able to issue any Beatles product without the consent of Apple which is why aside from the Red/Blue albums in 1973, the market was not inundated with Beatles reissues in the wake of the dissolution of the group in 1970. However, once the aforementioned contract expired in 1976, EMI was able to reissue The Beatles' back catalog on a variety of new compilations and "Rock And Roll Music" was the first out of the gate. Now for years it was assumed that George Martin prepared new mixes for this particular compilation. This is only half-true as explained in the 2004 edition of Doug Sulpy's "910 Guide": "The so-called alternate mixes on the "Rock And Roll Music" double LP are the result of two days of work by George Martin at the Capitol Records building in Los Angeles using a technique called panning against what would seem to be the original two-track mixes sent by EMI to the United States in the nineteen sixties (for the U.S. Capitol albums)." The original multi-track tapes were then/now still locked away in the EMI tape vault and were not accessed by Martin in 1976 and therefore these are not fresh mixes but manipulations of the existing two-track mixes, Capitol Records had in their possession since the sixties. As you referenced in your video Brian, there are anomalies regarding the manipulations that appear on the "Rock And Roll Music" collection and these are likely due to the fact that Martin was very much limited in terms of what he was able to achieve from a sonic perspective given that he was not working with the original multi-track tapes and was instead was left to work with what essentially was a downstream source. Interestingly on April 28, 1976, apparently independent of Martin, EMI did access their tape archives and pulled the session tape for "I'm Down" and created a new stereo mix of the song which was subsequently issued on "Rock And Roll Music" in the United States. Using John Barrett's notes from 1982, this mix was logged into the EMI tape archives on April 28, 1976 and is found in the archives listed as tape box entry E13510. Martin's work at Capitol Records was subsequently logged into the EMI tape archives on May 21, 1976 as tape box entry AR34605-8 (the AR prefix likely indicates the fact that the work itself was done by Martin off premises rather than at Abbey Road Studios).

[@rundoetx]

I actually have this album in my collection and had totally forgot about it. I'll go give it a listen. Thanks for posting.

[@ringoshub]

Hi, I bought these 2 MFP albums, in Sidcup, Kent, England (of all places, the town where Keith Richards grew up!, I think) at the Woolworth store. Sometimes in 1981, while I was an exchange student from France. Their price was cheap but the sound was awesome, better than the red and blue comps I'grown up with in the 70's. I've since bought the "silver" double LP US album, which I thought were composed with mixes from the Capitol US albums... I love these albums with their alternate mixes, covers... in addition, I recently purchased a Japanese country flag series version of R'nR music, (NM, Oby, insert, the works...). It has the Silver sleeve, which I thought was for the US mixes, but no, it's the UK George Martin mixes. That's a lot of copies of the same (fantastically sounding) album and I'm glad you opened a debate about them. Keep up the good work. Will be looking forward your take on the Love Songs mixes, Beatles' Beat and all... Ciao

[@MelindaMurphy]

Such an interesting discussion!

[@kalebaldwin5398]

EMI also reissued the Hollywood Bowl LP on the MFP label as well.

[@tomscotland]

Got both volumes of the mfp release and yes, they do provide an interesting listen.

[@LordStarscream-]

I own an Australian pressing of the double LP (I got it from my dad) which apparently uses the George Martin remixes (UK master tapes copied from the US tapes) but with the reversed channels being corrected. I personally like the track listing but prefer the later artwork on the individual releases.

[@bigbadm1]

What is not mentioned is that "I Saw Her Standing There" was remixed. The original had a drop out, when listened too. It's Been Years, so I can't tell you where it was. The George Martin remix for the album was released in the U.S. in 1976. The U.K. released the original mixes in 1976. In 1980, clearer heads prevailed and the Martin remixes were released in England. The Americans followed through with their release.

[@joemorgan4740]

Hi Brian i picked up a copy of this album a few days ago its in great condition for 7 pounds. It was good how you explained about george martin. I wish i could buy from you but because of custom charges I’m scared . I’m buying more used vinyl now and snapping up Beatles records . Your doing a fantastic job and so knowledgeable if you were twins and other twin lived in nuk he could start a needle meets vinyl here lol but keep up great work. Kind regards joe

[@BrianBringelson]

Joe Morgan haha thanks for the kind words Joe! Wish I could be in two places at once, especially if one of those places could be in the UK. I do understand about customs and mailing records. It’s a bit worrisome. If you ever do find a record on my site that really catches your eye send me a email and I can try to see if there’s a better way to get the album to you. Until then keep on collecting!

[@joemorgan4740]

@@BrianBringelson thanks Brian I find most of the records on needle meets vinyl interesting and will definitely let you know if theirs one I want the most. Keep up great work. Take care and keep finding those great sounding pressings. Joe

[@MsTimothyswan]

in the summer of 1975, one year before this album's release, I compiled my own Beatles collection titled 24 Super Hits. the idea was to have it issued as a single-disc LP on a label like Adam VIII Limited or Ronco. recently, I reissued this verion on CD along with two bonus tracks

[@andygaines9686]

a really interesting video. I thought I knew all there was to know about different mixes but not this one. Mind you, being a Brit I would have just got the same old mix. I will have to look out for American Capitol versions or the split versions at record fairs now!

[@kwdmiller3]

I own volume one and two on cassette tape.

[@jackfalco5351]

I just listened to my nm US pressing and it sounds amazing. I think you should find another set of ears

[@BrianBringelson]

well this is quite a comment. the only ears i have are the ones i was given and unlike yours, mine are attached to a much nicer person.

[@chrismcgovern1647]

I still have my copy from '76! Bought it at Korvettes for 5.99

[@skiddlybop8]

I have Japanese single CDs of Rock and Roll Music snd Love Songs that sound pretty okay, so I let my US and UK vinyl go.

[@michaelmanrique5478]

Just bought it. Thanks for the comments. Would you say that Vol. 2 MFP is just as good as Vol. 1. Thanks

[@FunPreach]

I love your videos, Brian. I have a copy of the silver cover 2 LP set printed in the Philippines. What do you know about this one? Is it the original mix or the George Martin remix? Also, I liked your video on Abbey Road and already had the German 2019 LP set. After hearing you, I went to Barnes and Noble and got the single 2019 standalone vinyl. For the life of me, I can't hear a difference between that one and the one in the set. I checked the labels and one was definitely printed in Germany and one in the U.S. What did I miss? Did you use headphones? Thanks! Keep up the great work!

[@ChromeDestiny]

I find it weird that the second half isn't completely chronological and that they didn't include Oh Darling.or Everybody's Got Something to Hide.

[@BrianBringelson]

ChromeDestiny I totally agree. I’ve always preferred vol 1 for that very reason. It seems to work better as a collection.

[@derekroberts6654]

I always preferd the 2nd album cover… i had them on cassette. Did you do “Love Songs” (or “The Brown Album”) yet? I always thought they should’ve put the single version of “Get Back” on there though…

[@moonbeamskies3346]

I read somewhere that these remixes were also made to make the songs sound harder.

[@kalebaldwin5398]

Technically, these aren’t remixes. Capitol was sent a copy of the master that had been compiled at Abbey Road for the U.K. version, and that’s what they were going to put out. Bhaskar Menon (the president/CEO of Capitol at the time) asked George Martin to approve it, and GM didn’t like it. But not necessarily because of the hard panning. He was more annoyed by the mic leakage on the early twin-track stuff than anything else (for example, on a track like “Twist and Shout”, where you can hear Ringo’s drums in the vocal channel). Personally, I love that, but to each their own. Anyhow, he attempted to remedy this by narrowing the stereo image (some tracks are narrowed more than others, some not at all), filtering the bass frequencies into the center and applying some other EQ and compression tweaks. All tracks have the channels reversed. So they’re the same mixes as the U.K., just “tweaked”.

[@BrianBringelson]

While I nearly agree with you (all the info is right on the money), I still would call these a remix. Granted he didn’t lower or raise any of the individual tracks, he did switch things around which I would consider a form of mixing.

[@zylbher1]

The cover of the original us "rock and roll music" is awful. It's more 50's than 60's. And the fingers look weird and awful too. Probably one of the worst covers.