September 26th will mark the 50th anniversary release of THE BEATLES‘ final album – in terms of recording, rather than release, of course – and looks like a new edition of “Abbey Road” is to see the release on this day. There was a tweet from Giles Martin, who worked on the classic’s remixes, and comments from Ringo Starr, who joined Paul McCartney on Los Angeles stage to deliver a couple of songs yesterday, and now there’s a breakdown of what’s coming up, although the details are suggested to be non-final, because the second disc is supposed to have alternative versions of the LP tracks in proper order. They have enough veracity about it, still, to pay attention to the rumors.
There should be a usual variety of formats – 2CD, single CD, 3LP, single LP – but of special interest is a super deluxe edition. In it, housed in a 12″ x 12″ box, will be 3 CDs – where two contain demos and outtakes – and Blu-ray, with Dolby Atmos, 5.1 surround sound and hi-res stereo mixes of the entire album, plus a book. All of this may be presented at the Abbey Road Studios on August 23rd, with both surviving Beatles in attendance.
The draft tracklist for this bonanza runs like this:
CD1:
the album – new stereo mix
CD2:
1. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (take 32 + Billy Organ)
2. Goodbye (demo)
3. Something (demo)
4. Ballad Of John And Yoko (take 7)
5. Old Brown Shoe (take 2)
6. Oh Darling (take 4)
7. Octopus Garden (take 9)
8. You Never Give Me Your Money (take 36)
9. Her Majesty (takes 1-3)
10. Golden Slumbers – Carry That Weight (takes 1-3)
11. Here Comes The Sun (take 9)
12. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (take 12)
CD3:
1. Come Together (take 5)
2. The End (take 3)
3. Copme And Get It (demo)
4. Sun King (take 20)
5. Mean Mr Mustard (take 20)
6. Polythene Pam (take 27)
7. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (take 27)
8. Because (take 1 – instrumental)
9. The Long One (trial edit and mix)
10. Medley – with Her Majesty
11. Something (orchestral – take 39)
12. Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight (take 17 – strings and brass Only)
Blu-ray:
– Dolby Atmos
– 96kHz/24 bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
– 96kHz/24 bit High Res Stereo (2019 stereo mix)