TREASURE: The new Beatles Vinyl Box Set and Everyday Chemistry

One of the most popular pastimes of Beatles fans is listening to the group's recorded output in all of it's mono / stereo / remixed / remastered glory.  In addition to the officially issued albums, there are hundreds of hours of additional studio recordings available in various stages of completion as Beatles fans are nothing if not evangelical, generous sharers as well as obsessive archivists.  Another level will be added to that never-ending game when The Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set is released on November 13, 2012.  (For those of us on a budget, they are also releasing the albums individually.)  Some of the masters used in the production of this collection are already inspiring spirited debate among those same Beatles fans but, truth be told, many of those fans who actually acquire one of the 50,000 pieces that make up this Limited Edition may never listen to them as they will sit unopened on a shelf, a $400 paperweight.  HERC's copy, if he's fortunate enough to obtain one, will certainly have a place of honor in the Hideaway's Audio Archives, next to the vinyl box set pictured below which Mrs. HERC so thoughtfully purchased for HERC for their first Christmas together all those years ago.

Because music, like all art and beauty, is subjective, different Beatles fans seek out different mixes and masters.  Some are mostly "mono" and some are strictly "stereo" while others take solace in the "butchered" Capitol albums as they were released in America during the Sixties because those are the albums they grew up listening to and prefer - the original U.K. releases sound "butchered" to their ears.  Other fans just want the best sounding recordings to their ears - for HERC's ears, these include both the Dr. Ebbet's Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab vinyl album needle drops and the 24 bit remasters as released in FLAC format on an Apple shaped USB drive, pictured below.

courtesy of Apple Corps

For some fans, the sanctioned releases are not enough - they want EVERYTHING!  The three officially released Anthology sets are but a drop in the bucket.  Both the Swingin' Pig Ultra Rare Trax and Yellow Dog Unsurpassed Masters series delved deeper but only left fans wanting more.  The closest that HERC has ever seen anyone come to EVERYTHING! is the enigmatic Purple Chick's Beatles releases from a few years back, before The 2009 Remasters. These fan-made compilations included the best sounding versions and alternate takes of practically every Beatles track and arranged them in their original U.K. release running order with non-album singles added chronologically as seen below in the rear artwork scan for Sgt. Pepper Vol. 1:

Yes, Purple Chick was exhaustively complete in their Deluxe releases with many albums featuring two discs worth of material, usually both mono and stereo, and their version of The White Album is a staggering twelve discs!  The Chick also released other Beatles related releases but like it says clearly on the artwork, the releases were "fan created disc(s)-NEVER FOR SALE!!!"  HERC can't say for sure but maybe they are still out there on the interwebtubes for those willing to look for them.  Rolling Stone magazine found them and did a brief story on them although HERC could not locate a link for us.

Another pastime of the more obsessive and hardcore Beatles fans - of which HERC is a meeting attending member - is "What If?" as in "What if Paul hadn't pulled the plug? What if they had managed to hold it together and continue to create music as a cohesive unit? What would their next album sounded like. Would they have lasted for another year? Or two? Or maybe even a decade or more, taking time off to do solo projects and have personal lives but always reconvening in the studio, making magic together?" Using the existing solo recordings by all four members as well as Beatles demo recordings and all sorts of parameters, guidelines and criterion, there are countless selections, collections and assortments that can be assembled, mixed, shared and argued about enjoyed.

amazon.com

For fans who have never participated in this trivial pursuit, Stephen Baxter wrote an alternate history short story titled "The Twelfth Album" (1998), set in a reality where a twelfth Beatles album is discovered after the destruction of Earth as we know it.  The more astute and argumentative Beatles fans are quick to point out that the Beatles did indeed record and release a dozen albums while they were together but for the sake of the story, the author ignores the Yellow Submarine album, dismissing it as a George Martin score.  In the story, this is Baxter's collection, titled God (after a song from Lennon's Plastic Ono Band), with notes: 

Side 1

• "Give Me Some Truth", actually released on John Lennon's Imagine album
• "It Don't Come Easy", from Ringo Starr's album Ringo's Best (Apple, 1971)
• "Every Night", from Paul McCartney's album McCartney
• "All Things Must Pass", from George Harrison's album All Things Must Pass
• "Child of Nature", a Lennon song auditioned for The White Album that later had its lyrics rewritten to become "Jealous Guy" from Imagine
• "Back Seat of My Car", a McCartney duet with Linda McCartney from their album Ram. On the God album, the song is a traditional Beatles three part harmony

Side 2

• "Instant Karma!", the famous Lennon single
• "Isn't It a Pity", a Harrison song, auditioned during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, later two versions were recorded and released on All Things Must Pass
• "Junk", a McCartney song auditioned during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, later recorded for McCartney
• "Wah-Wah", a Harrison solo song released on All Things Must Pass
• "God", a Lennon song from Plastic Ono Band
• "Maybe I'm Amazed", a McCartney song from McCartney. This version, in the story, is a full Beatles recording, with Lennon providing vocals.

The story is a mind-bender and instantly reminded HERC of Lewis Shiner's 1993 book, Glimpses, which also features the Beatles. Follow this link for a free PDF copy of that novel from Shiner himself. You can thank HERC later.

Travelling even further across the universe brings us to another story of another "lost" Beatles album:

thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com

The site features an mp3 download of Everyday Chemistry so you may want to go for the music but you'll want to stay for the story of how James Richards acquired the tape on September 9, 2009, which all Beatles fans know was the day The Remasters were released.  The story is best read with the theme from The Twilight Zone playing so here you go:

There are many, many more such reconstituted and reimagined albums all over the interwebtubes.  Among the most thought out, well planned and scholarly works is the series of articles by Mark Feldman over at Pop Dose.  The series of albums, under the umbrella title of Fixing A Hole, runs for fourteen parts and included album art, single releases complete with B-sides and even touring notes.  HERC's words don't do the project justice - the link to the first installment is below:

Fixing A Hole Part 1: Join The Human Race