New Beatles Mixes

We're not done with new Beatles content! As I've mentioned previously, the Beatles Anthology (both the TV special and the albums) marked one of the greatest moments of my life when it was released in 1995. It was recently re-released on Disney+ with never-before-seen footage, this time as a nine-part series with a fourth compilation album. This project actually goes hand-in-hand with the last Beatles song, "Now and Then." Paul, George, and Ringo were actually working on "Now and Then"' in the '90s to be released along with "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" on the Anthology albums, but it ended up being abandoned because it wasn't possible to isolate John Lennon's vocals from the tape (given to them by Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono). They picked up "Now and Then" again in 2023 because music technology had improved so much that it was finally possible to complete the track. I'm honestly surprised that they didn't hold off to release it with the re-release of the Anthology, and I wonder if it would have increased streaming and sales. The two new tracks were such an important part of the first Anthology; since "Now and Then" was completed, it feels odd to me that they didn't wait to make this re-release parallel the original release.

But something that is a part of the 2025 Anthology is a new mix of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love." I was pretty surprised at how different they were from the originals -- I'm not a music tech girlie; I haven't been trained to hear subtle differences in recording and mixing tricks, but these differences are stark.

"Free as a Bird," 1995 Mix

I like the differences in the 2025 version of "Free as a Bird." Compare the moment that the vocals enter in these two versions -- around 0:28. Listen for how much more clear and present John's voice sounds. The old version never bothered me. I think I

"Free as a Bird," 2025 Mix

probably would have described his vocals as "distant" and "highly processed" in the 1995 version (using nontechnical language), but it always seemed like a conscious choice. The later Beatles used a lot of processing effects on their vocals, and this seemed like an outgrowth of that, not an attempt at high-fidelity sound. In other words, I don't think that the 2025 version "fixes" anything that was broken; it's simply another version, another mix, and I like it.

"Real Love" is another story, at least for me.

"Real Love," 1996 Mix

"Read Love," 2025 Mix

Here, the vocals start at around 0:12. It's clear that the intent was the same -- bring John Lennon's voice to the forefront of the track, and make it clearer. And to some extent, they were successful. (In fact, after listening to this version I realized that I had misheard the opening lyric, "All my little plans and schemes" as "All my little piles of steel" for 30 years. 🙃) But it doesn't completely work for me, because the vocals aren't as clean as they are in "Free as a Bird." In other words, I'm fine with the highly-processed sound, because it feels intentional; I'm fine with a well-done cleaned up vocal, because it feels high-fidelity. But this exists in an uncanny valley between the two, where it sounds almost robotic, but not intentionally processed. Listen to "Seems that all I really was doing," for example (0:26 in the new track). "Doing" is flat, and needs pitch correcting, and there's an overdub that sounds electronic. (The "...was waiting for you," immediately afterward, on the other hand, sounds great to me.)

Another strange aspect of the new mix of "Real Love" is that I'm perceiving some entirely new notes as part of the melody line because they're being brought out more. Here's a transcription of the melody of 1996 version at 1:07:

And here's the way that I'm hearing the same section in the 2025 version (1:10):

Now, the notes that I was singing are still there in the texture in the 2025 version. But they are very clearly backup vocals, sung by Paul and/or George. IT'S BREAKING MY BRAIN that this melodic line that I've been singing for 30 years wasn't the actual melody the entire time! I suppose that during these moments, John's vocal was particularly weak or soft on the original tape, and it's being covered up by the backup vocals. And for a person who never heard the tape, this is the way that I heard and mentally constructed the melody.

So this is where I'm at and what I'm grappling with. It makes me uncomfortable that I've been singing it wrong since I was a teenager. I've constructed my own nostalgia around this song and how it goes, and I was absolutely shocked when I heard the new mix. But it's GOOD that I get to hear the actual melody that John Lennon wrote and sang! I like the parts where his voice gains new clarity and presence. And I don't like the parts where he sounds like a robot (see also 1:31, 2:28). Is the good worth the bad? Was this ready to re-release, or could it have benefitted from 30 more years of music technology?

We might find out! Stay tuned for my review of Anthology 2055!