Pre-sale of the week: The Beatles – Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Edition), out 27 September

The Beatles - Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Edition)

Released on 26 September 1969, Abbey Road was not the final album by The Beatles, as Let It Be followed in 1970, but it was the last one John, Paul, George, and Ringo recorded together as a band. Abbey Road’s 50th anniversary will be celebrated with a suite of beautifully presented packages. The album’s 17 tracks have been newly mixed by producer Giles Martin and mix engineer Sam Okell in stereo, accompanied by 23 session recordings and demos, most of which are previously unreleased.

The Beatles’ recording journey had gone through many twists and turns, learning curves and thrilling rides. Here we were – still wondering at the magic of it all,” recalls Paul McCartney in his written foreword for Abbey Road’s anniversary edition packages.

This is the first time Abbey Road has been remixed and presented with additional session recordings and demos. This sweeping new edition of the album follows the universally acclaimed remixed and expanded 50th anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and The BEATLES (‘White Album’), released in 2017 and 2018, respectively. To create Abbey Road’s new stereo mix, Martin and Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios. All the new versions of Abbey Road feature the new stereo album mix, sourced directly from the original eight-track session tapes. To produce the mix, Giles was guided by the album’s original stereo mix supervised by his father, George Martin.

The Beatles – Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Edition) 2-CD version

The deluxe 2-CD set pairs the new stereo mix, sourced directly from the original eight-track session tapes with versions taken from the session takes and demo recordings of its 17 songs, sequenced to match the album’s running order. The two discs are presented in a digipak with a 40-page booklet.

The Beatles – Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Edition) super-deluxe 3-CD + Blu-ray version

The super-deluxe 3-CD + Blu-ray box set presents 40 tracks – including ‘The Long One (Trial Edit & Mix)’ for the album’s epic Side 2 medley – on three CDs and one Blu-ray disc. The four discs are housed in a slip-sleeved 12″x12″ 100-page hardbound book containing: a foreword by Paul McCartney; an introduction by Giles Martin; insightful, in-depth chapters written by Beatles historian, author, and radio producer Kevin Howlett covering 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; plus an essay by music journalist and author David Hepworth looking at the album’s influence through 50 years. The book is illustrated with previously unpublished photographs, including many taken by Linda McCartney; never-before-published images of handwritten lyrics, sketches, and a George Martin score; Beatles correspondence, recording sheets, and tape boxes; and reproduced original print ads.

The Beatles – Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Edition) deluxe 3-LP box set

The limited edition deluxe 3-LP box set features all 40 tracks from the super-deluxe collection on three 180-gram vinyl LPs, 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.

We’re offering Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Edition) at special pre-sale prices, which won’t be available after release. Click here for more details and to order your copy.

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