Perspectives: About that "Real Love" remix...

Perspectives: About that “Real Love’ 2025 mix…

By Matthew Anthony Allair

    Expectations and opinions have been all over the place and the new Anthology remastering’s and Anthology 4, after the significant success of “Now And Then” in 2024, and the reveal earlier this year of the “Free As A Bird” remix, the developments of the new mix with “Real Love” is a little baffling. I don’t have the same venom that some fans do over the new mix, in fact, I am not particularly invested in this. But I felt I had to address this as I have some insights into the issue.

    I feel a little like Michale Corleone from Godfather III: "I was out, and they pulled me back in." I didn't plan to write about this. 

    To begin with, remixes always get a strong reaction for fans who are familiar with an original track, and there’s always diminishing returns with doing such remixes, not everyone is going to be happy. The digital trickery of the A.I. that helped to separate John’s vocal from the piano on that demo used, was a great feat. It allowed more nuance and detail to be found in his vocal, and Paul with Ringo was able to realize a track that was intended for 1996, but the remaining band members back then just didn’t feel it worked, hance why it was absent from Anthology 3. People expected the same techniques would be used with the remix polishing of “Free As A Bird”, a track where’s Lennon’s vocal / Piano had a compromised edited quality, and John didn’t exactly feel like he was in the room. That 2025 remix was supervised by Paul and Ringo with only mild enhancements of the backing tracks from 1996, and overall, it felt like John was more present.

    With the success of two tracks, it was assumed that the same exact format would follow the new remix of “Real Love”, a song that some fans prefer over the others, and a song who’s 1977 Demo has a real fan following. But the results have been a mixed bag, indeed John’s vocal feels more present, but it also feels a little off. There is also the mixing down of some of George’s 12 string acoustic guitar parts. As well as changes to Paul’s ghost vocals, which felt mixed down for the sake of emphasizing John’s vocal.

    Now, in the past heyday of The Beatles, it wasn’t unusual for Paul and John to sing the same line in unison to thicken up the sound. In effect, Paul’s vocal on “Real Love” in 96, where to mimicked John was following in that direction. One of the complaints about the new mix is that John’s vocal sounds too thin or artificial, this is due to Paul’s absence with this mix. Now, many fans liked it when John would sound more vulnerable and stripped down, bhut there’s an argument to be made, in this case, it was a creative miscalculation. Also, Ringo’s drums feel a little more present, but the bass feels like it lacks some punch on this remix. Some people feel that they subtracted more than added, and that wasn’t really the mission statement. 

    How did we get here as far as who signed off on this? Apparently, nor Paul or Ringo approved or supervised the mix, and Giles Martin wasn’t involved with this. There was a mis conception that Jeff Lynne was involved due to his recent remix of “Real Love”, but he wasn’t involved. The one person who was involved with approving the mix was Sean Lennon, and it was also reported that Dhani Harrison was involved, but that seems baffling that he was sign off on the tweaks to Geroge’s guitar parts, we’ll get back to that in a moment.

     Regarding Sean’s involvement, it isn’t much of a a surprise when you consider his heavy involvement with the remixes on the “Gimmie Some Truth” box set. Sean is a veteran musician and producer at this point, and since he has been appointed control over the Lennon estate and call business ventures related to John’s solo music. It is natural for Sean to want to see his father’s vocals presented in the best possible light, and the “Truth” box set did recontextualize his father’s songs to more moder ears. But Sean may have been so blinded by certain goals, he may not have seen the bigger picture regarding the track, some of the nuances that listeners would have felt. I don’t think Sean did anything with any real malice, just a possible short sightedness.

    This is where I can conject on the behind-the-scenes politics of certain decisions, but I have no proof, just an impression. When the game plan developed for the “Now and Then” project and the refurbishing of the Anthology enterprise in 2023, There may have been a agreement that Paul with Ringo would supervise the remix for “Free As A Bird” and Sean would supervise the remix for “Real Love”.  Again, I heard that Dhani was involved, but it’s possible his input was limited, or his suggestions were ignored. I can’t say.

    Sean has some peculiar ideas about how his father should be remixed, as evidenced by some choices in the “Gimmie Some Truth” set. The other figure that has not been involved with these projects is Julian Lennon, and in this case, I think his absence was a mistake. Julian was known for being good friends with Paul, and I suspect his perspective would have been, and offered, helpful input to the remix process. Why is there so  much possible politics have to do with Yoko Ono, as much as she is in retirement, and in the gradual decline expected in the winter of a person’s lifespan, she still may have some influence, or due to polite circles, a reluctance to alienate her, as it is pretty evident that Sean is seem as the defector heir to the Lennon estate, and almost always presented by some in the media as the sole son of John Lennon, some argue that Julian’s presence is inconvenient. It should also be noted that Sean and Julian get on quite well, and there’s a media construct to divide them that simply bears no relation to reality.

    I don’t want to pile on about Sean, I have no issues with him, and it does seem that the bile and bias against Yoko Ono, has shifted over to Sean in some circles. He seems like a very nice man. I feel that the racism and misogyny against Yoko has been so over the top for decades, that people lose their objectivity over her, as much as I don’t always agree with his past decisions. Nearly all of the baggage against Yoko has nothing to do with Sean, he inherited a history that has almost nothing to do with him, but fair is fair, and if he had a hand in the creative choices  of the “Real Love” remix, it was a misstep, and an example of the ‘emperor has no clothes’, there’s valid criticism over if the best choices were made this time.  

    The Beatles were a democratic band; all decisions were voted by them. We are edging to the point where the offspring of The Beatles should have an equal vote, and signing off, on all future projects, either remixes or A.I. projects. It will be interesting to see why the dynamics shifts once Yoko passes. Many of the Beatles siblings are musicians and producers in their own right. This is true with Julian, Zack Starkey, James McCartney and Dhani. All family members should have veto power regarding these decisions, as the original members fought for the legacy of their children and great grandchildren

    It does not really matter if the widows of John and George would displeased by such a democratic decision, be it Olivia Harrison, or especially Yoko Ono, it is irrelevant to a greater good. No one person should have a single say for the sake of diplomacy. 

    On one hand is it just a mix of another song, one of many, and who cares. But a day is coming when Paul and Ringo will no longer be here as well, and if this was a ‘test case’ to see how certain decisions were made, I feel there may need to be a sober discussion over how many people should sign off on these matters.

    Personally, in the greater scheme of things, I don’t really care, and I am indifferent to the arguing over the mix of a song, but old and new fans still care about the details, and I can’t really discount that.

I'd like to add a comment about that new mix of "I am The Walrus" which just focuses on the strings and horns in the new set. The backing track is just a quiet reference, and you can really hear certain details about George Martin's arrangement. Mr. Martin may not have been the 'fifth Beatle', no one was, but his instinct and imagination as an arranger brought forth some great things. The strings have such a heavy, almost metal vibe to them, be it instructions over how the cello and strings players were supposed to attack or brush the strings, there's an abrasiveness to the sound that adds to the finished product. That could also be how it was engineered and recorded as well. I have always been an advocate for Martin's original composing skills, both the orchestral score for Yellow Submarine and his score for Bond's Live and Let Die, his instincts carried over to how he arranged for The Beatles. He was imaginative in his own right. Pardon the digression. 

    There might be more information that may come out about this, and so this piece is fluid, we shall see. Nevertheless, it is still a miracle that we got three more Beatles songs in our lifetimes, be it the mid-90s or 2024. Futrue generations won’t be able to make the claim they lived through that.