If the feeling that the really good stuff from the cutting-room floor came out years ago on the second Anthology compilation never quite lifts, the raw early versions of Fixing a Hole and Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite! give you an idea of what Sgt Pepper might have sounded like if the Beatles had chosen to go back on the road and play it live. Twenty-two years after Paul McCartney suggested that any further attempts to raid the store of unreleased Beatles material would have to be called Scraping the Bottom of the Barrel, enough outtakes and alternative versions have been grubbed together to fill three CDs. Giles Martin’s remix is a vast improvement on the old stereo version – more muscular, with an unexpected emphasis placed on Ringo Starr’s drums – although the original mono mix, also here, is the one with the Beatles’ fingerprints on it.
It’s all beautifully done, as you might expect: few organisations part fans from their cash with such good taste and elegance as Apple Corps. There’s an argument that it was this event that really kicked off the heritage rock industry, and led us, ultimately, to where we are today: a super-deluxe six-disc box-set version of Sgt Pepper, complete with facsimile posters, hardback book and a 3D lenticular sleeve that, ironically, gives the cover something of the look of Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Rolling Stones’ reviled attempt to rival the Beatles’ psychedelic masterpiece.
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