Released 26 September 1969, Abbey Road was the final Beatles' album to be recorded but not their last to be released. Let It Be, though mainly recorded in January 1969, was finally released in May 1970 alongside the film of the same name.
The Beatles will celebrate Abbey Road’s 50th anniversary with a suite of beautifully presented packages to be released worldwide on September 27. Now available. the album’s 17 tracks are newly mixed by producer Giles Martin, mix engineer Sam Okell and Abbey Road's Stefano Civetta in stereo, high res stereo, 5.1 surround, and Dolby Atmos, accompanied by 23 session recordings and demos, most of which are previously unreleased. These are presented on the Super Deluxe and Deluxe vinyl box sets in chronological order of their first recording dates. The three-track Something EP, featuring the 2019 Stereo Mix, the Studio Demo and Take 39 (Instrumental and Strings Only) can be streamed here.
The new edition of Abbey Road, which marks the first time the seminal album has been remixed and presented with additional material, follows the hugely acclaimed and successful 50th anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017 and The BEATLES (The White Album) in 2018.
The Super Deluxe box set of Abbey Road contains 40 tracks, including The Long One Trial Edit & Mix for the epic medley on side two, over three CDs (stereo) and one Blu-ray disc (Dolby Atmos, 96kHz/24 bit high resolution stereo, and 96 kHz/24 bit DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1). The four discs are housed in a slip-sleeved 12” x 12” 100-page hardbound book. Elements include McCartney’s foreword, Martin’s introduction and in-depth insights by Beatles' historian, author and radio producer Kevin Howlett.
These cover the months preceding The Beatles’ Abbey Road sessions, track-by-track details and session notes, the cover art and photo shoot, and the album’s reception upon its release. The hardbound book also has an essay by music journalist and author David Hepworth, examining the album’s influence over 50 years. The volume is illustrated with rare and previously unpublished photographs, including many by Linda McCartney; never before published images of handwritten lyrics, sketches, and a score by George Martin; Beatles' correspondence, recording sheets, and tape boxes; and reproduced original print ads. The Super Deluxe digital audio collection presents all 40 tracks for download purchase and streaming in standard and MFiT formats, and in high resolution audio (96kHz/24 bit) for download.
The limited edition Deluxe vinyl box set features all 40 tracks from the Super Deluxe collection on three 180-gram vinyl LPs. The new stereo mix LP is packaged in a faithfully-replicated sleeve, with the two sessions LPs paired in their own jacket, presented with a four-page insert in a lift-top box. The Deluxe 2CD set pairs the new stereo mix with versions from the session takes and demo recordings of its 17 songs. These are sequenced to match the album’s running order.
These two discs are presented in a digipak with a 40-page booklet, abridged from the Super Deluxe book. The new stereo mix of Abbey Road is also available in 1CD and 180-gram 1LP vinyl packages, for digital download in standard and MFiT audio, and on a limited edition picture disc vinyl LP illustrated by the album’s front and back cover art images.
Martin and Okell worked on the new Abbey Road mixes with Abbey Road’s expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists. All of the editions feature the new stereo album mix, sourced from the original eight-track session tapes. Giles Martin used the original stereo mix by his father George Martin as his guide.
Says Giles Martin in his written introduction: “The magic comes from the hands playing the instruments, the blend of The Beatles’ voices, the beauty of the arrangements. Our quest is simply to ensure everything sounds as fresh and hits you as hard as it would have on the day it was recorded.”
