The Beatles' Red and Blue albums were a perfect way to meet the Beatles. Now they're better

They were the perfect introduction to the Beatles for entire generations born too late to have experienced the contact high of a studio audience losing its collective mind to those early appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” — a magical mystery tour in two convenient packages, one red, one blue.

And I would know. Those albums were my gateway to a whole new world of music that would define my life.

The Beatles had been broken up for three years — or what had to feel like an eternity for Beatlemaniacs who got in on the ground floor — by the time “The Beatles (1962-1966)” and “The Beatles (1967-1970)” arrived in record stores.

It took 54 songs for those two double albums to take listeners on a crash course through their catalog, from “Love Me Do” on “The Beatles (1962-1966)” (more commonly known as the Red Album) to “The Long and Winding Road,” a thematically logical end to a dizzying journey on “The Beatles (1967-1970)” (also known as the Blue Album).

There were plenty of hits along the way, from the songs that made the early days of Beatlemania a scream-inducing sugar rush (“I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You,” “I Feel Fine”), through the bittersweet chamber-pop of Paul McCartney’s “Yesterday,” to the psychedelic splendor of “Strawberry Fields Forever,” and the hits from “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be.”

But these collections went beyond the hits to tell a fuller, more exciting story, from a young John Lennon’s best attempt at channeling Bob Dylan on “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away” to “A Day in the Life” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” while charting the perpetual state of evolution that defined their place in music history as much as — if not more than — chart positions ever did.

New songs, new mixes on the Beatles' Red and Blue albums

Which brings us to the new, expanded 2023 editions of “The Beatles (1962-1966)” and “The Beatles (1967-1970)” with all songs de-mixed and remixed in stereo by Giles Martin (whose father George produced the vast majority of the original recordings) and Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios.

There are 75 songs now instead of 54.

Does adding 21 more songs to what we’d come to view as such a perfect introduction to the Beatles paint an even fuller picture? There’s no question that it does.

For one, it touches on the fact that these guys did a lot of covers in their early years and they were really good at it. Of the 12 songs added to the Red Album, three are covers (the Isley Brothers’ “Twist and Shout,” Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” and Smokey Robinson’s "You Really Got a Hold On Me").

The Red Album also benefits enormously from the addition of "I Saw Her Standing There,” "This Boy,” "If I Needed Someone,” "Taxman,” "I’m Only Sleeping,” "Here, There and Everywhere" and "Tomorrow Never Knows,” among others.

Adding more songs from “Revolver” is never a bad thing, and “Tomorrow Never Knows” has clearly grown in stature over time as a prime example of the Beatles' experimental tendencies.

The Blue Album also adds some necessary classics to the mix: “Within You Without You,” “Dear Prudence,” “Glass Onion,” “Blackbird,” “Hey Bulldog,” “Oh! Darling” and “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” chief among them.

And it brings the story to a haunting close with “Now and Then,” perhaps the only controversial inclusion. Some will argue that it isn’t technically a Beatles song.

I’d argue that it doesn’t matter.

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The Beatles new song, 'Now and Then,' is a haunting coda to the story

“Now and Then” is one of three additions to the Beatles story that began as home recordings by the late John Lennon, fleshed out by the other Beatles after Lennon’s death in 1980, as part of “The Beatles Anthology” project.

“Free As a Bird” was completed in time for a Christmas release in 1995. “Real Love” followed with a release in March 1996.

They worked on “Now and Then” at the time, but technological limitations prevented Lennon’s vocals and piano from being separated to achieve the clear, unclouded mix they wanted.

So they let it be.

Until this year, when new technology, developed by director Peter Jackson’s team during the making of “The Beatles: Get Back,” allowed them to revisit “Now and Then” using Lennon’s original vocal and the late George Harrison’s guitar track from those sessions in the ‘90s.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney added new parts, including slide guitar McCartney played as a bit of a tribute to Harrison on a dreamy instrumental passage.

They also added strings and backing vocals lifted from the original recordings of “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Eleanor Rigby” and “Because.”

The end result is a beautifully emotional, bittersweet gem of a record. I cry every time I hear it.

Should it be on this collection?

Maybe not.

But it makes for a really nice conclusion to the story. And you know McCartney likes the string arrangement better than the one Phil Spector added to “The Long and Winding Road,” which would’ve been the final track if “Now and Then” had not been tagged on at the end as a bit of a “P.S. I Love You” to the fans.

Are there songs I’d gladly sub in if the choice were mine to make? Of course there are. We all develop personal relationships with songs that make our favorites what they are.

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No Beatles compilation track list will please everybody

Where in God’s name is “Cry Baby Cry?” And I would argue that the Red Album could use another rocker as electrifying as “I’m Down” or their cover of “Dizzy Miss Lizzy.”

But they’ve really made some brilliant choices when it comes to these additions, not the least of which is the inclusion of my favorite Beatles underdog, “I’m Only Sleeping.”

Another reason longtime Beatles fans should want to splurge on yet another new repackaging of the act you’ve known for all these years?

John Harris did a great job on the liner notes, setting the tone with a prescient quote from Derek Taylor’s liner notes on 1964’s “Beatles for Sale.”

“The kids of AD 2000,” Taylor wrote, “will draw from the music much the same sense of well-being and warmth as we do today.”

To which Harris rightly adds, “Here we are, well into the 21st century, and that modest prophecy rings truer than ever.”

I’m not sure how modest that prophecy was, to be honest, but it certainly rings true.

As for these new mixes, most of them are just fantastic, especially those early rockers, which hit with more authority than ever.

You can really feel the difference in the presence — and the power — of Starr’s drumming on such classics as “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Twist and Shout.”

They’re punchier, the perfect ammunition next time some fool wants to argue that the Beatles didn’t rock.

The ballads also benefit, from the breathtaking beauty of “Yesterday” and “In My Life” to “The Fool on the Hill.”

One new mix that stands out as a mystifying disappointment is “I Am the Walrus.” The bit where they sample the dialogue from the BBC production of “King Lear” is so completely different, it’s distracting and the overall mix isn’t nearly as trippy.

I won’t call it a disaster but I wouldn’t blame you if you did.

Other mixes should be more familiar to true believers.

New Red and Blue albums are available on vinyl, CD, digital and streaming

Several tracks had already received new stereo and Dolby Atmos mixes for The Beatles’ Special Edition album releases, including “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (2017), “The Beatles” (2018), “Abbey Road” (2019), “Let It Be” (2021) and “Revolver” (2022) as well as new stereo mixes for “The Beatles’ 1.”

The other tracks have all been newly mixed in stereo and/or Dolby Atmos by Martin and Okell at Abbey Road Studios, aided by WingNut Films’ audio de-mixing technology.

Both volumes are available in new two-CD and 180-gram three-LP black vinyl editions.

The three-LP editions replicate the running order of the original “Red” and “Blue” albums, adding the bonus tracks at the end. Those songs are mixed in on the digital and CD versions of the albums.

There are also limited-edition Beatles Store exclusives available in three-LP-colored vinyl (red for ‘Red’/blue for ‘Blue’) and a four-CD slipcased set.

New four-CD and 180-gram six-LP vinyl collections pair ‘Red’ and ‘Blue’ in slipcased sets.

Reach the reporter at ed.masley@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-4495. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, @EdMasley.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The Beatles follow 'Now and Then' by improving the Red and Blue albums