Beatles
Yellow Submarine - Parlophone 1969
Tracks: 1. Yellow Submarine / 2. Only a Northern Song / 3. All Together Now / 4. Hey Bulldog / 5. It's All Too Much / 6. All ou Need is Love / + 8 George Martin orchestral tracks
Comments:
With only four new Beatles songs "Yellow Submarine" has never really been like a real album. The title track dates back to 1966 and "All You Need Is Love" was out on a single in 1967. Side two of the original album was orchestral music written by George Martin, for the cartoon project of the same name.
In addition to the four new songs several older Beatles songs were included in movie. The soundtrack version of "Yellow Submarine", released in 1999, distinguishes itself by having the bulk of those numbers in place of George Martin's orchestral music, which I guess most Beatles fans in reality can easily do without. Moreover, the songs on the 1999 version had been remixed and remastered, which at the time was really a revelation of sound. The somewhat primitive stereo effect here was also markedly improved.
Now we have the new 2009 remastered version. Comparing with the first CD version from 1990 is like comparing day and night. Sonically it is a pleasure to listen to this new version.
Whether it is also an improvement over the 1999 version is probably more a matter of taste. Personally, I think it is unfortunate that the opportunity to enhance the stereo effect has not been exploited. The 1999 release showed quite clearly that this would have been a vast improvement.
Whether one prefers George Martin's Orchestra music over eight previously released Beatles songs, is probably also a matter of taste; again, I think 1999 release takes the plug at that, considering that it contains all the Beatles songs included in movie soundtrack, apart from "A Day in the Life".
Among the four "new" tracks on the album, I would consider "Hey Bulldog" and "It's All Too Much" as classics.
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