Off The Beatle Track

The super deluxe edition of Revolver was released in 2022 (and we haven’t had another super deluxe edition since). Among the highlights was John’s Yellow Submarine songwriting tape, in which he sang, “In the place where I was born/No one cared, no one cared,” and “In the town where I came from/No one cared, no one cared.”

Hearing that for the first time was revelatory. The only story I’d ever heard about the song’s genesis was from Paul in Anthology, when he described writing it as he was drifting off to sleep. So it wasn’t until 27 years after Anthology–and 56 years after it was written–that we learned that John conceived the song as a meditation on his childhood.

That made me angry, for two reasons:

1. Why did it take so long to release it?
2. What else is Calderstone/Universal/Sony/EMI/Apple sitting on? And why?

I’m a second-gen Beatles’ fan, already in my 60s. First-gen fans are in their 70s and 80s. I’d like to believe that The Beatles’ popularity will endure as long as people listen to and enjoy music, but The Beatles broke up 56 years ago. Their popularity will probably continue to wane as each years passes, though I suspect (and hope) that it will never disappear.

Another way to frame that is to say that The Beatles will never be as popular as they are right now. They will never have as many fans, including first-gen fans, as they have right now. The best way for those who make money off The Beatles to continue to make money is to release everything in their archives as quickly as possible.

The lack of any Beatles’ super-deluxe editions since 2022* leads me to believe that they’re not profitable. I understand that. But The Beatles, to quote Paul, are a “big act.” Their recordings aren’t just enjoyable to listen to; they’re also historically significant. Yellow Submarine is a fun but minor song in their catalog; it takes on new meaning, however, when we consider that John may have been thinking about his father when he wrote “In the town where I was born lived a man who sailed to sea.”

How many similar revelations are buried in the Calderstone/Universal/Sony/EMI/Apple vaults? And do we trust that the folks deciding what to release (and when to release it) understand The Beatles’ legacy well enough to make decisions that are more than just profitable?

I’m not a fan of King Crimson; I have nothing against the band, but I’m not very familiar with their music, and what I have heard hasn’t motivated me to dig more deeply.

But King Crimson’s label, DGM, seems to be committed to making everything that King Crimson recorded available, at least digitally. This is from DGM’s King Crimson website: “The intention behind DGMLive is to release all the live recordings of King Crimson alongside their studio albums and the recording sessions which led to them. A remarkable catalogue of a remarkable band.”

That’s great. That sort of commitment makes me wish I were a King Crimson fan.

Don’t The Beatles deserve that level of commitment from their label? The releases don’t need to be physical products; in fact, at my age, as I’m downsizing, I’d prefer digital releases.

But I want access to everything in The Beatles’ archives, and I’m willing to pay for the privilege. What’s preventing that from happening?

*Not to mention the lack of any Paul McCartney Archive Collection releases since Flaming Pie in 2020.