The Beatles Remasters Pt. 2: No-one Buried Paul

Next in our Beatles survey, we probe Rubber Soul and ride the Magical Mystery Tour.

Listening to the new master of Rubber Soul one is almost bewildered by the sheer amount of aural detail that is present in the mixes of these fourteen remarkable songs. The effect is almost like a Rembrandt where the blacks and browns are stripped away and fresh colors spring forth.

Whether it's the formerly buried piano part on "Drive My Car" t(which sounded like a badly recorded bass guitar on the old CD) to the maracas on "The Word", Rubber Soul finds the Beatles in experimental mode, taking their first steps toward a psychedelic future. "Michelle" sings with simple clarity in McCartney's vocals and searching baseline. In fact, one spin of that famous ballad may lead to a re-assessment of Macca's bass-playing skills--he's pretty formidable!

From the first cries of "Roll up!", Magical Mystery Tour breathes with energy and psychedelic power. This opening cut is the sound of what never happened: Sgt. Pepper's on the road. The flutes on "Fool on the Hill" dance ad pirouette with the brass figures, each sound writ in large, bold colors. "Blue Jay Way" is even more weird and spectral, if that were possible. As for "I Am the Walrus", all the hidden messages and buried whispers are presented with the utmost clarity for the purposes of contemplating just what the hell a "crabalocker fishwife" is.

The collection of songs on the second half of Mystery Tour features a whole wealth of aural detail, from the hidden messages in "Hello Goodbye" to the rich textures of the orchestra-meets-rock-band tape experiment that we call "Strawberry Fields Forever." John almost seems overwhelmed by the amount of orchestral detail present on the song, and the touch of pushing the horns all the way to the upper right of the stereo mix works beautifully. Oh and by the way, trainspotters, John clearly says "cranberry sauce" on the fade-out.

"Baby You're a Rich Man" is cleaned up beautifully, bringing out the clavioline solo, an early synthesizer. Here it sounds remarkably like a shehnai, or Indian oboe. Finally, the self-reverential and irreverent "All You Need Is Love" is the logical successor to "Strawberry Fields" as rock band and orchestra come together once more in a rich parade led by Ringo's drums and the skillful arrangement for brass and strings.