I really like the Beatles, but I’m not a major fan. I won’t be buying either one of the stereo or mono remastered sets to be released tomorrow. I have the Capitol album discs, I have the later albums (including the red and blue anthologies) on tape, I play 'em on low end equipment , and I’m happy with it.
So I’m wondering: who out there is planning to buy the remastered set(s), and what do you expect? Do you think this will be the definitive edition of the Beatles’ recordings? Or is it possible that Apple will eventually produce a remixed and remastered DVD edition?
Just want your thoughts on what may be the most important event in Beatledom for the last 20 years.
I don’t know, maybe it appeals to people newly interested in the Beatles, those that never owned all the albums, or those that lost albums over the years.
For the purists I would assume they would match match the original albums in sound and content. I started buying Beatles albums on CD in the 1990s and was dismayed to discover the CD songlists didn’t match the original vinyl.
This article discusses some of the differences between the mono and stereo songs, as well as the fact that albums such as Abbey Road were originally stereo so why put them in a mono set?
Both the 1987 CDs and the 2009 remasters are based on the original British LPs as opposed to the American ones (with the exception of Magical Mystery Tour, which uses the extended American playlist). Here’s a good explanation of the American Beatles releases up to Sgt. Pepper’s (the first album to have the same track listing in the US and UK). There was an additional U.S. album on Vee-Jay, Introducing the Beatles, whose track listing is somewhat similar (though not exact) to the Beatles’s first Parlophone LP, Please Please Me. Some of the Beatles’s most famous songs were not released on LPs in the UK, only singles- these are compiled on The Beatles Past Masters.
You may already know this but just to clarify: Abbey Road, Yellow Submarine and Let It Be aren’t in the mono set, as they were originally made in stereo.
If I had the money I would be all over the mono set. Heck I’d even like the stereo set; my Beatles colection is pathetic (Abbey Road and the Red double album).
I own no Beatles anything - no LPs, no cassettes, no CDs. And I’m thinking about buying this set, for two reasons. One, to fill that obvious gap in my musical library, and two, the little bits I heard during an NPR story this afternoon made them sound AMAZING. I’ll obviously do a little more research, listen a little more to a wider variety, to make sure, but I’m leaning in that direction.
Forgive my ignorance but what exactly does re-mastered mean? Are they tinkering with the sound so it will be “better” than the 60s versions, is it a high tech cover version of the original songs?
I’ll try a WAG at this. In his book "Here, There and Everywhere) recording engineer Geoff Emmrick stated that the early songs were mastered to sound best in mono. I’m going to have to go back to the book and check, but I believe all Beatles songs were mastered this way up to and including “Sgt. Pepper.”
He said the songs as mastered should be listened to that way. He didn’t explain why they were mixed to sound best in mono, but I’m going to guess it was done that way for the same reason Barry Gordy mixed stuff to sound best in mono for the longest time…to sound good on AM radio.
This review claims that the changes were very mild:increases in volume and clarity, but no full on remixing or compression of sound. That’s what a remaster should be–to try to sound like mint copies of the best vinyl pressings heard on top notch sound systems. These sound like the best CD’s you can get. That being said, I’d still prefer the Beatles on LP. Anyone know if these might get reissued on LP? It’s very difficult to find good copies of Beatles records in used shops, and outside of Abbey Road new ones can only be found as high cost English imports.
I have most of the 1987 re-issues, and wasn’t all that excited when I heard about the mono boxed set. But I couldn’t help myself this morning. I went down to Best Buy right at 10AM to get the stereo boxed set. There were 6 or 7 people in line–all but one of them were buing the CDs or had a copy of Rock Band.
I haven’t really listened to the CDs intently for awhile…just played them in the background when I was doing something else. The reviews say that the sound is an improvement over the previous stereo versions. So I’ll probably go home tonight, slip on the Koss Pro 4As, and crank 'em up. It should be fun.
Incidently, Chuck Klosterman wrote an amusing article for AV Club, remarking, “*I was initially confused by EMI’s decision to release remastered versions of all 13 albums by the Liverpool pop group Beatles, a 1960s band so obscure that their music is not even available on iTunes.” *
I have pretty much all the 1987 releases, but I’d be interested in getting some of the new stuff when it shows up in Rasputin’s to compare. The Times review was all over how crappy the current CDs are and how good the new ones are. Since I was listening to a cassette tape copied from a reel-to-reel tape copied from an LP before, they sounded pretty good to my tin ears. Mono - eh.
I picked up a couple of the remasters today: Abbey Road and Help!. Both sound really quite good, but I can’t offer any real insight as to an improvement over the 1987 versions, since neither were in my collection before today. (Said collection ran from Rubber Soul to the White Album; I bookended it, basically.)
I did want to pick up the Mono Box, but the money just isn’t there…