The Beatles' entire catalog is finally going to be digitally remastered and reissued later this year!
Hmm.
That's odd.
You didn't leap out of your chair when you read that.
Trust me, I know. I was watching. We're the newspaper — we have our ways. Oh, yes, we do.
Wait.
Maybe, just maybe, you know this "digital remaster" thing is a scam to do Bernie Madoff proud.
Remastering is going back to the original source tapes for an album and making a brand new printing. Many modern releases choose to pump up the volume, while others tinker with the mastering and mixing, the crispness of sounds or the way in which they move through the listening space.
There's an entry about how this process is akin to retouching the Sistine Chapel, that it compromises the original intent and integrity of a piece and blah blah blah. This isn't that column. Save the high-art chatter for the universities.
This is about the bottom line, not just The Beatles and their material. This is the work of a desperate record industry, one that saw a 14 percent decline in record sales in 2008.
It's not a new idea, but collector's editions and remastered editions feel freshly prevalent. Anniversary reissues are quite popular. Pearl Jam just revisited its debut classic Ten in time for the band's 20th anniversary — which is in 2011, but, hey, who's counting?
Ben Folds reissued Way to Normal in February — it was first released five months earlier. (This from the same man who smirked, "they get nostalgic 'bout the last 10 years before the last 10 years have passed.")
See, that's where it gets silly. Reissuing an album such as Neil Young's Time Fades Away on compact disc would have a purpose. It's never been available in that format.
But it's not like Macca, Ringo, John and George's catalog needs revisiting. Or that it doesn't sell. Heck, the Liverpudlian quartet disbanded almost 40 years ago, but it still had two top-five records this decade.
I was suckered in by the Ten reissue. I read Billboard's interview with Jeff Ament about it and I thought, "Wow. I think this is how that record was supposed to sound!" So, rube that I was, I bought it. The mix is earthier, grittier, and not as glossy. Eddie Vedder's voice has more bark and bite while the drums are much more prominent in the mix. It's more in line with the rest of their material.
But now I own multiple versions of Pearl Jam's Ten. I was tricked into buying the same record twice.
Ten and Way to Normal are fine examples, but EMI's redundant Radiohead reissue strategy exemplifies how this bloated reissue strategy gets out of hand:
— December 2007: The Radiohead Box Set, a package of the band's six studio albums for EMI.
— June 2008: Radiohead: The Best Of, a greatest hits collection available in single disc, double disc and DVD formats culled from the same six platters. (Thom Yorke is not pleased.)
— August/September 2008: All six EMI studio albums are reissued on vinyl.
— March 2009: "Collector's Edition" reissues of Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer, each of which is a multi-disc offering.
If you're keeping score, that's the same version of "Karma Police" four times in 16 months. Looks like EMI is the one singing "this is what you get when you mess with us" now. Wouldn't EMI worry about buyer exhaustion?
In the case of The Beatles, those albums are being re-released because the songs needed to be sonically modernized for inclusion in this fall's "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game. Since all that time, money, effort and energy went into the project, they're using it as an opportunity to rake in a few more bucks.
That I understand. But the reality is different. Times are tough. Money is tight. I don't need to tell many of you.
Do I need to shell out $15 to hear more anvil in "Maxwell's Silver Hammer?" (Shouldn't that abomination really have been a Wings song anyway?) I don't. If it gives you some measure of comfort, well, you weren't going to let some young punk journalist for the DR stop you anyway.
I just don't see it as much more than an attempt to get you to buy the same record twice.
Don't do it as charity for Ringo or Macca. They don't need your help. They'll be singing "You Never Give Me Your Money," "Baby, You're a Rich Man" and "Money (That's What I Want)" all the way to the bank no matter what happens.
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