It’s good news and kind of good news for John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
The 50th anniversary edition of “Abbey Road” sold over 65,000 copies on CD and in downloads and finished at number 1 on that chart. Amazing. The 3 CD set with book costs around 90 bucks, so you do the math. Meantime, another 10,000 equivalent copies streamed put “Abbey Road” at number 3 this week on the overall chart according to BuzzAngle and hitsdailydouble.com.
The kind of good news is that The Beatles were smart enough to not lease the master recording of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” for the Natalie Portman movie called “Lucy in the Sky.” The movie is a box office and critical dud. On the soundtrack, a cover version of “Lucy” appears, not the original John Lennon sung classic from “Sgt. Pepper” or the famous hit by Elton John.
The Beatles have already had their movie success this year with “Yesterday,” a smash hit featuring all cover versions of their music and a real recording of “Hey Jude” at the end.
The success of “Abbey Road” follows the 50th anniversary editions of “Sgt. Pepper” and the “White Album.” Next up in March 2020 is “Let it Be.” As a flourish after that, I wouldn’t mind a remastered, remixed “Hey Jude” album, aka The Beatles Again. An American release, it’s available on line on amazon as single CD disc from the Beatles’ American releases box set.
