A new exhibit at the Saint Giles Street Gallery in Norwich in the UK with rare printed items and photography of the Beatles features what is labeled as the most expensive piece of Beatles memorabilia ever put up for sale.
The highlight of "The $11 Million Dollar Picutre Show," on exhibit from Sept. 10 through Oct. 24, is a printer's proof of the Beatles famous "butcher cover" out of John Lennon's personal collection with a note handwritten by the late Beatle.
The note reads, "Here’s the famous banned butcher cover. You can sell it for $11 million dollars." Coincidentally, tha'ts the price gallery owners are asking for the picture, which they say makes it the most costly piece of Beatles memorabilia ever.
The original album cover was shot by legendary Beatles photographer Robert Whitaker, who will also be showing some of his rarer images along with a unique set of limited edition silkscreen prints of each Beatle that have been psychedelized, and have never been shown in public before. At the exhibit, Whitaker is also selling the original printer’s proof for the U.S. "Beatles ‘65" album, which he also photographed.
Additional highlights include rare photos by a number of '60s photographers inciuding Norman Parkinson, Terry O'Neill, Frank Hermmann, Michael Ward and Harry Benson. Tom Murray's famous "Mad Day Out" pictures, taken during a special photo shoot in central London in 1968, will also be exhibited.
Also on sale will be rare film posters, original cartoon cells from "Yellow Submarine" and the official exhibition poster, which has been designed as a limited edition collector’s item.
SOURCE: http://community.livejournal.com
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Digital technology: The Beatles done better?
By Ben Fulton The Salt Lake Tribune
Digitally remastered recordings of pop- and rock-music staples enter the market so often and in so many different guises they've become grist for jokes.
In his renowned comic strip "Life in Hell," cartoonist and "The Simpsons" creator Matt Groening once quipped that they're called CDs because record companies have a "Compact with the Devil" to sell the same music in a different format again and again.
Capitol/EMI has boasted that its scheduled Sept. 9 re-release this year of The Beatles' digitally remastered catalog will be "the highest fidelity the catalog has seen since its original release."
This being The Beatles, the marketing department at Capitol/EMI will make money regardless of how good the re-issues sound.
John Tueller, manager of the Graywhale CD chain along the Wasatch Front, is one of the lucky few who heard three select tracks of the new remastered versions at a music retailers' convention this April in San Diego.
"I heard all of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' just wash over me," he said. "The difference is night and day. Most of the time a remaster of old music doesn't mean a lot. With these, there's a huge difference. We're getting a lot of people asking about them in advance."
The last time Capitol/EMI unleashed a digital version of The Beatles' music was in 1987 on compact disc, but many fans complained it was a rush job. Technology back then was good, but nothing compared with today.
More crucially, the preservation of the original master tapes' vintage analog sound onto the latest digital format is vital. Sooner or later, said Dave Evanoff, owner and operator of Sound Design Studios in Salt Lake City, the magnetic coding will fall right off the original tapes, and with it the first generation sound of The Beatles' music.
"We've grown in 20-plus years to a place where those true analog sounds can be captured in more true sound," Evanoff said. "With these reissues they can sound more like the original tapes, as if you're sitting right inside Abbey Road studios."
Unlike other bands of the era, The Beatles' recordings went from original tape to a mixed master to acetate on vinyl, giving their recorded legacy the best preservation possible at the time. Still, nothing compares with the sound of a digital remaster from the original tape.
"It's very important to get these digital recordings as the technology improves," Evanoff said.
A massive fan of the Fab Four, Evanoff said that along with The Beach Boys, The Beatles pioneered the use of studio technology as an instrument in itself. Key among their contributions was "automatic double-tracking," or re-recording sounds to give them a thicker texture. Along with producer George Martin, often called "the fifth Beatle," and studio engineer Geoff Emerick, the band also invented the warping of sounds. This involved recording an instrumental or vocal line, playing it backwards to notate it on sheet music, recording it once more and then playing it in reverse. This gave the impression of sounds flowing forward, but with a strange backward quality, as if "evolved out of air," Evanoff said.
"Even if it was just a sound one of them [The Beatles] described from their dreams, George and Geoff were bold enough to say, 'Let's do it. Let's find that sound,'" he said.
His own favorite Beatles album or song changes depending on his mood, Evanoff said. "A Day in the Life," however, never fails to impress.
"We're not hearing anything too amazing in terms of effects, but the sound is just so pristine," he said. "Every microphone was placed just right, from the way the crescendo mounts to that final chord and the alarm clock. Nobody's done it better since. I love it every time I listen to it."
SOURCE: http://www.sltrib.com
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