The Abbey Road turns 50, marking five decades since the most influential band of the 1960’s. Made over the course of sporadic studio sessions in the spring and summer of 1969 that gathered the group together amid their slow dissolve, “Abbey Road” was released just days after the meeting of the band members where John Lennon informed the band of his plans to split from the band.
While the band’s ugly legal divorce would play out publicly over the next several years as the Beatles’ members embarked on their solo careers, “Abbey Road” endures as a pure artistic achievement that closed their songbook on a high note.
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road, a beautifully presented package will be released worldwide. The album's 17 original tracks have been re-mixed by the son of Sir George Martin, Giles Martin, and engineer Sam Okell. This is the first time Abbey Road has been remixed and presented with additional session recordings and demos.
To create the album's new stereo, 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos mixes, Martin and Okell worked with an expert team of engineers and audio restoration specialists at Abbey Road Studios. The team worked with the original eight-track session tapes to produce the required mix.
According to Giles Martin, the aim of the newly created mix was to ensure that everything sounds as fresh and hits you as hard as it would have on the day it was recorded.
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Abbey Road's Super Deluxe box set contains 40 tracks on three CDs and one Blu-ray disc. The four discs are packaged in a slip-sleeved 12x12", 100-page hardbound book with a foreword by Paul McCartney along with an introduction by Giles Martin. The book contains track-by-track details and session notes, the cover art and photoshoot and an article by music journalist David Hepworth looking at the album's influence through 50 years. It also contains some rare and previously unpublished photographs, including many taken by Linda McCartney, along with a rare George Martin score.
For vinyl fans, Abbey Road's 50th anniversary edition comes as a boxed set featuring all 40 tracks on three 180-gram vinyl LPs packaged in a faithfully replicated sleeve. August 20, 1969 was the last time The Beatles were together as a band at the EMI studios for an evening session to compile Abbey Road's master tapes.