Bobby Whitlock on All Things Must Pass.

bdp24

which 50th package did you purchase? CD or LP?

Happy Listening!

I returned home this afternoon from a nice week on the Oregon coast. As I downed a few glasses of whiskey on the rocks I caught up with a bunch of my fave YouTube video posters, including Bobby Whitlock and CoCo Carmel (she tapes and asks questions from behind the camera, he responds on screen). Their latest video is dedicated to the Uber boxset version of ATMP that Universal sent him, and man, he wasn't afraid to call it as he heard it. The video is entitled "All Things Must Be A Joke", a hint of what is to come:

CoCo starts the video by saying she and Bobby just listened to the LP's on "our great stereo system" (they've never described or shown it in any video), and then asks him "What did you think?" His response is:

"Mortified. That's the worst sounding sh*t I ever heard in my life. I can hardly believe it.....it's f*cking awful. You can't hear anything on it. It's all muddy bass, and muddy drums, there is no clarity to it whatsoever."

Well, that's quite a bit different from how he described the sound of the streamed version he received a few weeks ago, which was generally complimentary and positive. Bobby says he played his original 1970 LP's just to make sure of what he was hearing, and describes the original thusly: "It's clear, you could hear the band, you could hear his voice. It's crisp and alive." He then says "I can't even hardly describe how terrible this (the new remix) is." Yow.

Bobby and CoCo then talk about the sound of the streamed remixes sounding quite good, so the obvious question is did Paul Hicks create one mix for the LP's, and one for digital? Another question is obviously what are the digital and analogue players Bobby and CoCo listened through?

As for now I believe I'll hold off on getting ANY version of the 50th Anniversary ATMP. 

@bdp24, From what I’ve read, mostly on the Steve Hoffman Music Forums where there are plenty of opinions, the mix is the same but the digital may be more compressed than the vinyl. One reason for this is that the bass is turned up (what Dhani considers a more modern sound, I guess) and it is not tight bass but is pretty indistinct and boomy.

In spite of this, most people like the remix in digital. It’s not an In Your Face compression like the Stones’ Blue and Lonesome. To most people the compression is not that offensive. There’s still plenty of reverb and numerous instruments on most tracks, so it’s a somewhat different take on the album rather than something very different. George’s vocals have been removed from the wall of sound and put up front. Some people like that some people don’t. As with all remixes, reactions will vary from person to person.

Many people feel that the demos and alternate takes are the best part of the set (3 not full discs worth) and alone worth the price of the set, which will probably be coming down.

Bobby seems to be upset more because he feels his contribution to the album, which he thinks was major, was downplayed and he was asked to take down some youtube videos talking about the album prior to its release (they’re back up now). I’m glad that Bobby feels free to speak his mind, but I think his very negative reaction may have more to do with his relationship with the Harrisons than the music. Of course there are other people who think the remix sounds like crap too.