Abbey Road (May, 1970, Timaeus | Apple)
< file under Beatles In Atlantis >
~ a surround mix — not Dorna's original Atlantean six channel release but rather the 2019 Giles Martin and Sam Okell remix — can be heard here in Dolby Atmos on Apple Music ~
Following the Atlantean delegation's forceful plea for peace before the UN, the surface world's major powers approach to the very existence of Atlantis descended into Mutually Asinine Deliriously Deceptive Denial, or MADDD as it came to be known in Submerged Political Discourse. Both East and West insisted that not only was Atlantis a mere myth, an utter fiction, but that it (including the stunning display of power witnessed before the UN) was the fabrication of each opposing surface superpower. That is, the allied Western nations claimed the whole of Atlantis – all that was known of it, and the delegation seen before the eyes of the world – was fakery perpetrated by the Eastern Bloc, while the East countered with the identical claim against the Western Bloc.
Atlantis knew just how dangerous this was, for their nation and more so for those on dry land. Not only did this charade run the risk of ratcheting up real tensions between the increasingly antagonistic Surface Powers, it also meant that as long as a significant percentage of their populations believed this, either Surface coalition — or both, working covertly in tandem against what they perceived as a shared threat — could attempt a genocidal assault on the underseas peoples of Atlantis and face among the surface nations little or no effective opposition.
There was much dark irony in how they approached this: Despite the powers both viewing Atlantis as a threat, and possibly contemplating joint aggression against it, they could only arrive at this unstable consensus by amplifying the very dangerous tensions between them, potentially leading to their own destruction in a global conflagration; Atlantis in truth did not, nor ever had, presented a threat— rather it was Surface greed for Atlantean resources that spurred on this land-sea conflict in ages past, renewed again now with greater, potentially world-ending consequences; and, finally, shockingly deluded as Surface leadership may have been about their capabilities compared to the advances of the aquatic civilization they increasingly targeted, neither alone nor even in some temporary alliance did the Surface Powers have the strength to defeat, let alone annihilate, Atlantis. Atlantis knew with complete confidence that it had the means to defend itself; all the Surface Powers could really do was destroy themselves and wipe the Earth free of all non-Atlantean life. The peaceful leadership of Atlantis, stewards of the seas and by extension the globe that hosts them, though in no way responsible for this threat, felt obliged to do whatever they could to nullify the danger. Serious, and seriously divergent, options were weighed as the tenuous calm, or absence of assault, held for the time being.
Meanwhile, Tivowr Dorna had one last Beatles album to release.
Firmly ensconced within president Zithå Rubbqe's inner circle both on account of his cultural insights & impact and for his ever-developing engineering & scientific prowess – a pelagic polymath, if you will – Dorna was only ever a call away from an emergency security meeting or other national matter of gravest consequence. As he consulted on how best to deal with the MADDD threat, he devotedly set about belatedly issuing the Fabs' true farewell, Abbey Road, in both the original George Martin stereo mix, and, working from digital transfers of the multitrack masters provided by Martin again by way of Timaeus' technological marvel the Pod Click Train, a fully immersive surround mix. The holdup had been a new means of delivery to the Atlantean listener, as the three-needle surround turntable playback system that brought the 5.1 Sgt. Pepper's mix into Atlantean homes turned out over time to be a rare Atlantean, and even rarer Timaeus, tech fail. The styli proved in need of unique and arduous calibration for each individual release; every home system was good to keep playing Pepper's as many times as anyone could want, but beyond that the turntable's use was strikingly impractical!
It occurred to Dorna, though, that the rest of the system — the associated multichannel speaker setup — was perfectly usable. All that was needed was a connection to another Atlantean consumer electronics first — the personal computer already in use for educational and communication purposes in nearly all Atlantean homes.
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| The sole extant photo of Tivowr Dorna, & only one known to ever have been sent to the surface, from the EMI archives were it sat unpublished for decades; note, behind him, Dorna's depiction of early Surface World air military, perhaps a subtle dig against surface weaponry as antiquated and a hint at Atlantean knowledge of land & sky wars |
A joint development of Timaeus engineers and AtEdD, the Atlantis Educatin' Department, the AtEdD Alcove was a schooling staple of Atlantean homes going back years, utilizing a typewriter-like keyboard, a three-button pointer input device akin to a mouse, and a fully featured Graphical User Interface — the first such GUI to utilize a desktop metaphor. A photo (above) of Dorna seen with an Alcove was sent to EMI's London headquarters to be used in a promotional piece about Atlantis' special relationship to the Beatles, while highlighting Timaeus' pioneering technology and Dorna's surround mix of the band's swan song, and perhaps to suggest cooperation between land and sea people could lead to a sharing of this and other tech. But with first a Surface Worldwide embargo against Atlantis, and now amid the MADDD claims that Atlanteans were merely a fraudulent Cold War scheme, EMI did not dare undertake such a promotion. While EMI never circulated this photo in publicity materials, it seems someone(s) at the fabled Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Center) must have seen it, as PARC's own groundbreaking Alto computer would bear a remarkable resemblance to the Alcove— not just the hardware, and not just the name, but right down to the UI's little folders seen on-screen. (Appropriately enough, these advancements would later be emulated, and finally popularized in the Surface World, by that other Apple — the one started in 1970s Cupertino, not 1960s London — with their Macintosh line of computers.)
Though meant to showcase the advanced development of the undersea nation and Dorna's pivotal role in it, the photo was sent out not in full color but rather in a sepia tint; presumably this was to avoid anticipated surface reader alarm at Dorna's naturally blue skin. Another Atlantean physical characteristic, the webbing between Tivowr's fingers, was retouched out of the photo. Interestingly, the edict for these changes, likely coming from AIA, the Atlantean Intelligence Agency, and carried out with a mere command using AAI, Atlantis Artifice Intelligence, apparently exempted one telltale detail of Atlantean physiognomy: whether somehow missed, or in all probability left in as a point of pride, Dorna's pointy ear is clearly unaltered.
With the music education software already installed in the nation's Alcoves now upgraded for multichannel use, and repurposed for a bit of entertainment, Timaeus was ready to disseminate Dorna's 5.1 channel mix of Abbey Road which he'd so exactingly prepared, on and off, over the last few months. Distribution was easy, utilizing Atlantis' existing information network connecting all the Alcoves, a seabed precursor to our own internet known as the Aqua Net. And so, with vinyl production back in full swing, stereo pressings (no dedicated mono mix had ever been made) of George Martin's Abbey Road production came packaged with another first— a code for a free digital download of the surround mix was printed on a card provided with every LP.
With the band finished, there was little need for Dorna to relay much of this to them, either directly or via their common intermediary Martin who no longer functioned as producer for any of the former members, having wrapped up his work on Ringo's solo debut Sentimental Journey. Still, Dorna almost certainly provided Martin a transfer for approval; records of any communication between EMI Atlantis and EMI London are practically nil for this late period between Timaeus sending the unused promo photo of Dorna and the subsequent Atlantean issue of Abbey Road.
Unlike the worldwide release, with Her Majesty a so-called hidden track, the Atlantean issue simply named the entire side two medley as "The Long One" leaving all its component compositions unlisted and untitled.
Greeted enthusiastically with a celebratory warmth and hailed as a tremendous achievement — Dorna's surround mix receiving even greater accolades than the stereo edition — the album was also received with a bittersweet finality; not only were the Beatles' finished, odds were distressingly high that Atlantis' coexistence with the Surface World would also soon come to an end. With the Beatles no more, and both their worlds on the existential brink, there was yet still one last chapter to be written in the tale of Atlanteans' exceptional connection to the four lads from Liverpool.
| Instead of usual land level cover, listeners in the sea were presented this aerial view |
01. Come Together †
02. Something †03. Maxwell's Silver Hammer †04. Oh! Darling †05. Octopus's Garden †06. I Want You (She's So Heavy) †
01. Here Comes the Sun †02. Because †03. ∞You Never Give Me Your Money †04. ∞Sun King †05. ∞Mean Mr. Mustard †06. ∞Polythene Pam †07. ∞She Came In Through the Bathroom Window †08. ∞Golden Slumbers †09. ∞Carry That Weight †10. ∞The End †11. ∞Her Majesty †
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