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What's Your Favourite Beatles Track, and Why?

My best mate played me Abbey Road on vinyl through a very nice pair of speakers at optimal volume. It was the first time I had heard it in its entirety, and I was in my mid 30's! Then, after hearing the majority and being totally blown away, I heard 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)'. It wasn't just a great track but an experience by which I was totally awestruck! It instantly became (and remains) my all time favourite Beatles track.

I found myself delving into a little research of The Beatles during this turbulent point in their career. I thought Yoko to be a negative and disruptive influence upon the creative fluidity of the band and from my limited understanding, assumed any suggestion of musical contribution to be unwarranted and somewhat infantile, though John obviously welcomed it and if George and Ringo thought otherwise, they appeared seemingly unfazed. Also, unenamoured by her screaming like a seasoned alley cat and vaunting it as music / art / whatever, my opinion of Yoko became subjectively tainted.

I now appreciate that John and Yoko were entirely devoted to each other above all else, (even The Beatles) (which I'm sure is what pissed Paul off) and that is, ideally the way love should be. I was also unaware how long John had adored Yoko from afar (Most of the time he was married to Cynthia apparently). When I see film footage of John and Yoko now, I appreciate their devotion and surprise myself with the unexpected discovery that I now quite like respect her, not to mention finding her quite an alluring woman. This consideration inclusive of my remembrance of her publicly elegant restraint following John's death and Cynthia milking the arse out of it!

So...I was searching for a you tube version...not as easy as one might think as most of the versions are remixes (I suspect by George and finally Niles Martin) from successive re-releases of The Beatles catalogue. These, while sounding interesting, sonically purer and somewhat subtly altered, were sadly deficient of the raw urgency and power I recall from the original vinyl sound. So i searched for an original and it was lacklustre, then came across a 15ips. reel to reel recording from the original vinyl and it sounds superb, exactly as I remember it. Apart from some digital peak overloads which present as slightly annoying clicks towards the end the sheer vibe of it supercedes any flaws IMO.

[media=https://youtu.be/T7xb8W23KKw]
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uncalled4 · 56-60, M
I have the MFSL box. Opinions vary on its "smiley face" eq, but I kinda like it.
Orpheus · 56-60, M
@uncalled4 I'd never heard of it before today...Who manufactured it and what does MFSL stand for? From what I've heard so far, it sounds great. Very punchy with a lot of clarity.
uncalled4 · 56-60, M
@Orpheus Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab. They make the LPs and CDs with "Original Master Recording" at the top. Limited edition box worth thousands now.
Orpheus · 56-60, M
@uncalled4 Very nice. It sounds like a very nice piece of kit and whether it was partly or mostly responsible for the recording quality of the track I 'upped' from you tube, it certainly sounded very close to the memory I have of hearing the vinyl recording. So many you tube submissions tend to have the dynamics squeezed out of them, it was a pleasure to listen to.
uncalled4 · 56-60, M
@Orpheus Hitting the 1/4" tape warmed up the sound a bit. People do that--bounce a Pro Tools recording onto tape, and it usually makes a big difference.
Orpheus · 56-60, M
@uncalled4 Yeah, I've considered it myself in the past and to me, aside from the warmth, it does seem to make a difference to the overall cohesion of the sound. At the time I was considering it, I ran it past a few studio forum peeps and the general consensus from anyone who'd worked with tape on a daily basis and now used Pro Tools (or equivalent) was...'Are you mad?!! There's the price of tape, a reliable machine without extreme head wear there's the relap, the setting up, the parts failure and difficulty in replacement and the service costs. 'Get yourself a Universal Audio plugin which sounds as near as dammit to the real thing and save yourself the grief and the cash.' I took this as gospel and although I haven't purchased the UA plugins yet, I've heard good things. Pity, I do like tape though...it brings back fond memories but nostalgia is no sound reason for excessive outlay and potential grief.
uncalled4 · 56-60, M
@Orpheus The plugins get very close, but not quite. What happens, in my experience, is that little bit of tape compression can really make a mix "hang together" better. Tracking and overdubbing on tape would be insane. Bouncing to tape is not. Oh, and then we played it back into Pro Tools--this way, we didn't limit our mastering studio options.