On October 28th, The Beatles will release an expanded deluxe edition of their 1966 album, Revolver. The set will contain a brand new stereo remix of Revolver, along with the album’s lead single, Paperback Writer, and its B-side, Rain. The set will also feature 2 discs of previously unreleased outtakes, demos, and other material from the revolver sessions, plus a new all-analog transfer of the original mono master tape of Revolver and Paperback Writer/Rain. The CD/vinyl physical releases will also contain a 100-page hardcover book featuring rare photographs and a foreword from Paul McCartney. Revolver is the fifth Beatles studio album to receive the deluxe treatment, however this is the first one to break the trend of 50th anniversary releases. The series started with 1967’s Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017, and chronologically continued through The BEATLES, Abbey Road, and Let It Be. With Let It Be being The Beatles’ final studio album, they are now working backwards from Sgt. Peppers, hopefully all the way to their debut album, 1962’s Please Please Me.

   One massive challenge faced producer Giles Martin during the remix project, being that due to the limited technology at the time, the album was recorded on 4-track tape. When remixing an album, the producer needs individual access to each “track”, or element of a song, whether it be drums, guitars, vocals, or any other added sounds. The usage of 4-track tape becomes an issue when the artists create songs that are very layered and complex, which is very common on Revolver. The solution was to “bounce” the tracks on the tape. This means that they would record 4 tracks, then combine those four tracks onto a single track. A side effect of this was that it was then impossible to individually adjust the tracks in a bounced track. On some songs on Revolver, they were so complex they would have to combine already combined tracks. 

   Until 2021, this remix would have been impossible. However, groundbreaking new AI technology developed by Peter Jackson for the Beatles’ “Get Back” project has the capability to recognize and isolate elements of the song, allowing it to be remixed. George Martin, the producer behind the remix and son of the Beatles’ original producer, explained to Rolling Stone that the technology was “like you giving me a cake, and then me going back to you about an hour later with flour, eggs, sugar – and all the ingredients to that cake haven’t got any cake mix left on them.”

   The bonus session material is also certain to be revelatory. The outtakes on previous deluxe editions have always been highlights of the sets for their unprecedented look into the band’s creative process. This set is looking to have the most comprehensive session material yet, with multiple takes of each song. Some other rarities featured in the box are the infamous “RM11” mix of Tomorrow Never Knows, which was mistakenly placed on UK original vinyl pressings in place of the intended mix, and John Lennon’s acoustic demo of She Said She Said.

   The deluxe edition of Revolver will be released on October 28th, 2022. Multiple preview singles have been released from the set and can be found on all music streaming platforms.