Spatial Audio File

THE BEATLES: GET BACK (ROOFTOP PERFORMANCE)

Get back, Loretta—we Spatial Audio faithful finally get to stream the balance of The Fab Four’s legendary January 30, 1969 final farewell performance from their lofty perch atop Apple Corps HQ on Saville Row in London. As I noted in my deep-dive review of last year’s Let It Be Super Deluxe Edition box set, Giles Martin and Sam Okell’s masterful Dolby Atmos mixes take The Fabs into new heavenly heights, right where they belong. Listened to as a whole, all 39 minutes of the Rooftop Performance presented here reveal just how truly in-tune these four gentlemen always really were, even when they might be slightly off-key and/or had just flubbed a lyric in a most nonsensical way. (I’m looking through you, John Winston Ono Lennon!)

Perhaps the most striking element in these Atmos mixes is getting to feel that true sense of place—I mean, we all know we’re on that vaunted Apple Corps rooftop along with the lads and all the crew and lookers-on, but now we can actually experience it in full, as if we were there ourselves. For example, you’ll hear the wind whipping all around you, and them, as Ringo Starr’s drumkit gets repositioned physically before their very first crack at “Get Back” gets underway. When Paul McCartney exclaims “Yeah” as Take 1 takes off, a year’s-plus worth of trepidation and frustration disappears in little more than a bar. At the same time Lennon’s center-left soloing is of first-take, almost-got-it quality, you should be able to discern the snap in Ringo’s galloping snare hits even more crisply here. (That won’t be as distinct in Lossless stereo, btw.)

And how about the contributions from the ostensible fifth Beatle that day, Billy Preston, instinctively adding the quite-right tinkling keyboard accents somewhat further off to the left of Lennon during the middle “Back” break? Absolutely fabulous! These precious first few minutes alone would be worth the price of all-channel admission, but it’s clear from the instinctive serve-and-volley chatter slightly off-mic between Macca and Lennon after Take 1 ends that we’re only just getting started. “Get Back (Take 2)” has them all in further sync—for one thing, Lennon’s featured riffs are more forceful and less tentative, and Ringo takes to his kit with a bit more verve. Soon enough, George Harrison gets his own supportive and leadline dues, angled off to the right during the various takes on Lennon’s pleading “Don’t Let Me Down,” the semi-cheeky “Dig a Pony,” and the somewhat vengeful “Get Back (Take 3).” I say “vengeful” here quite deliberately because the local constabulary had gotten up to the roof locale at that point, and the entire shebang was officially on the brink of being shut down. (Extra kudos here to McCartney’s on-the-spot vocal improvs and monster basslines.) Who knows what else may have transpired if those blasted coppers had gotten up there later, or even not at all, as there were indeed a few more choice nuggets that remained unplayed from the aborted setlist—but we’re truly blessed to have what we have here at all.

I could go on and on, but, frankly, each Rooftop Performance song deserves a minimum of six listens apiece—one for focusing on each player’s respective parts, vocals, and/or instrumental accents, and at least one all-in full go just for the sheer collective joy of it. Lennon’s wink-nudge sign-off—“I want to say, thank you on behalf of ourselves and the band, and I hope we passed the audition”—is oft-quoted and/or garbled at the end of many a Beatles review, but the truth is, when you have such undeniable talents plural performing and presenting their songcraft as such in a top-shelf Spatial Audio mix, the answer can be nothing other than a resounding “Bloody well right!” Fact is, there’s not much else I could put forth to tout the toppermost merits of Spatial Audio listening than the output of the world’s best-ever band, playing what they play at the literal Rooftop of their game.

THE CHAINSMOKERS: “HIGH”

Released at the stroke of midnight back on January 28, “High,” the new single from EDM pop duo The Chainsmokers, reinforces why this dynamic DJ pair (Alexander “Alex” Pall and Andrew “Drew” Taggart, by name) are masters of the modern electropop earworm. “High” was dropped ahead of The Chainsmokers’ as-yet untitled/unscheduled fourth album, and it builds upon the e-touches that made tracks like “#Selfie,” “Closer,” and “Something Just Like This” indelible to many a current listener.

The minimalist arrangement of “High” actually works quite well in Spatial Audio as not only a palate cleanser for some of the more denser mixes you might experience on this service, but it also serves as a fresh take on the artform. I quite like the fretboard-strumming details in the intro and the muted jangling that follows, along with the guttural vocals on the verses and the reverb-y effects on the choruses. The modest tick-tocking percussion mostly stays out of the way of the infectious vocal melody, and I defy anyone to avoid singing the chorus in their head, and/or straight-up out loud, once it pops up a second time around.

The all-to-brief drop near the very end and the enveloping all-channel outro echo-wash portend great things for just how this track will likely be performed live in the future—hit up YouTube (or elsewhere) to see and hear just how The Chainsmokers have already supplemented it with other musicians during their performance on the Halftime Show at the NFC Championship Game on January 30, a mere toke of what’s to come. I suspect return listens will enable “High” to linger longer in your memory bank than the rush of the song’s initial aural contact high did.

J. COLE & LIL BABY: “PRIDE IS THE DEVIL”

Ever-innovative rapper J. Cole is a true Spatial Audio ambassador—and it’s not hard to see, or rather, to hear, why. You can sift through pretty much any of his albums that appear within the Featured Artist banner under the overall Spatial Audio umbrella, but I’d like to specifically zero in on the merits of a key track from his adventurous May 2021 release, The Off-Season—namely, “Pride Is the Devil,” which features a rat-a-tat guest turn from rap icon Lil Baby. The Spatial Audio mix of “Devil” is a literal aural litmus test for anyone who might think hip-hop just can’t cut it in the Atmosverse.

From the outset, Cole’s verbal flow moves right-to-left and back across the soundfield at will, and very much at its own pace. The backing track is worth paying attention to as well—rather than taking a sample-by-numbers back seat to Cole’s verbal prowess, the placement of a recurring but shifting, shimmering guitar line and responding, supportive low-end tones are quite fluid, replete with an insistent sub-level bass dive taking things even lower after the main verse kicks in.

Instead of spitting every single word at warp speed, Cole works each line like a master of the stick-shift going around a sharp bend, choosing key lines to double himself on before picking the tempo back up once again. After Lil Baby comes in to deliver his piece toward the end—his machine-gun attack moves laser-quick around the field like a Cylon’s red eye-scanner tracking multiple combatants-—Cole then re-emerges to take command of the track’s final chorus, bringing it all down a notch to close things out. His final flow is deftly accompanied by a warbling, withering guitar line and a synth-drop crashing down around him before the fade. After you spend some time with Cole and company, there really can be no other conclusion to make other than to give the “Devil” his due. “Mmm, I think it got a hold on me,” indeed.