Yes, I could never understand why people would use this recording as a reference. It is badly recorded, period. The piano is a mess. But yes of course the music is great.
The Beatles. I could never understand either why those early CDs were so harsh, with little fine treble, as the original LPs sounded far better. Listen to Penny Lane, for instance. The fine cymbal at the end sounds finely etched and very delicate on LP, not so on the early CDs.
I bought the double white "anniversary edition" in 1999 (I think) and it sounds bad too.
I therefore purchased the latest release for testing purposes (the double blue LP) and expected a lot after all the rave reviews but it doesn't sound very good at all, and curiously the speed is wrong.
Could it be due to Abbey Road not using the original (Studer?) machines for re-mastering? Or having the EQ settings wrong?
Very disappointing.