ABBEY ROAD GETS THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY TREATMENT

Abbey Road’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated with a collection of Beatles releases from Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe, including a collection of never-released session recordings and demos.

On 9/27—50 years and one day after the Beatles’ penultimate album was released—Apple/Capitol/Ume will release a four-disc Super Deluxe box set; a three-LP limited edition Deluxe vinyl box set; a deluxe two-CD set; and a single disc. All feature a new mix by Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell; the deluxe CD set offers the album in stereo, high res stereo, 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos.

“The magic comes from the hands playing the instruments, the blend of The Beatles’ voices, the beauty of the arrangements,” Martin explains in his written introduction for the new edition. “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.”

The Super Deluxe box set presents 40 tracks—including “The Long One” Trial Edit & Mix for the album’s epic Side 2 medley—on 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 set includes a 100-page hardbound book with Paul McCartney’s foreword; Martin’s introduction; in-depth chapters written by Beatles historian Kevin Howlett; track-by-track details and session notes; photographs and other artwork.

The Deluxe vinyl box set features all 40 tracks from the Super Deluxe collection; the Deluxe 2CD set includes the new stereo mix and demo recordings of its 17 songs, sequenced to match the album’s running order.