It's Beatlemania one more time and I get to be a part of it. The New Album Releases column existed before I entered the picture and I've pretty much held to the format used by others since taking over, but I shall, from time to time, declare a special occasion and do something different. This week is one of those occasions.
Like Brian Wilson, I sometimes wonder if I was made for these times. I do know I've always wished I could have been a part of Beatlemania the first time. I hate how The Beatles are always going to be a bit of a history lesson for me. The Beatles broke up three years before I was born. My mom watched them on Ed Sullivan. I was seven when John Lennon was murdered. I didn't get to experience what it was like when The Beatles ruled the world.
There won't be a reunion tour to recapture the glory years, but there have been a few moments when the world turned their attention back to the best thing to come from Liverpool in history. I remember watching The Beatles Anthology documentary and going to buy the first 2-CD volume of the three-volume set. It was the first time I felt like I got to be part of the phenomenon in real time, even if it was a celebration of past glories.
On Wednesday, September 9, 2009, Beatlemania beckons and I will once again answer the call, elated and bursting with anticipation. Once again, the world turns its eyes, ears, and hearts to an iconic band whose influence is incalculable. Amazon sold out of their copies of The Beatles' new box sets, so I'll stand in line at (Satan) Best Buy tomorrow to make sure I get mine.
The Fab 4 Lowdown
So what are we talking about with The Beatles' remasters? What are they and why should anyone care?
All 12 Beatles albums and the Past Masters collections have been digitally remastered and are being re-released separately and in two separate box sets. Past Masters was formerly two single-disc volumes which have now been combined into a single 2-CD set.
The first box set is the stereo box set, comprising14 discs. It includes:
- Please Please Me
- With The Beatles (CD debut in stereo)
- A Hard Day's Night (CD debut in stereo)
- Beatles For Sale (CD debut in stereo)
- Help!
- Rubber Soul
- Revolver
- Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Magical Mystery Tour*
- The Beatles (aka “The White Album”)
- Yellow Submarine
- Abbey Road
- Let It Be
- Past Masters (“The White Album” and Past Masters are each 2 CDs.)
Article comments
1 - JANK
The MONO are the version to have since only Let It Be & Abbey Road were originally recorded and master in stereo. For the others, MONO was cut first by the original Beatles engineers and 'other' engineers did the stereo version. Look it up.
2 - zingzing
"The first is the earliest recordings are now more than 40 years old."
wanna feel old? the LAST of these recordings (with the exception of an overdub or two) are 40 years old. the earliest are, of course, nearing 50.
3 - zingzing
actually, the mono mixes were the mixes that the beatles were present for. they never helped mix for stereo. so the mono mix is the mix that the beatles thought of as definitive. plus, early stereo was pretty terrible. so severe. all the drums on one side, all the guitars on another, etc. and they are quite different in small ways. often there are different overdub takes used, different bits of the arrangement emphasized, etc. it's a shame they didn't stick these on the albums for the regular box set. most of them would have fit.
4 - zingzing
oh shit, sorry. didn't notice comment #1... no need for the repetition.
5 - Josh Hathaway
The press material sent out by Apple Records is where I took the info about the mono set. I don't know that I've said anything factually incorrect. I know the Mono set is of supreme interest to many Beatles fans. I'd like to procure myself one of those at some point, too.
6 - zingzing
well, true, there was nothing factually incorrect. but people should know that it shouldn't just be for beatles' fanatics. unfortunately, emi is making it so. stupid, stupid emi. or capital. or whatever label is doing this.
7 - Tom Johnson
Josh, get on procuring a Mono set NOW. They aren't going to be around long and then the prices are going to just go up and up. I swallowed the big gulp this morning and placed my order with Amazon, who says they'll have them in 3 to 6 weeks. I, uh, "acquired" the full set over the weekend and have been listening to bits and pieces and I'm beginning to really appreciate what's going on here. Paul's bass is enormous in mono, with incredible texture that seems to be covered up in stereo. And, of course, there are completely different mixes of many songs.
I'm not excited at having to spend $229 to have it, but I am pretty excited to have the big, tall, black stereo box sitting next to the small white mono box someday soon. Are these the best reissues ever? Possibly.
8 - R.P.M.
Nice article. I love the Beatles and this is really cool to see. There have been the commercials and I think some bands like the Decemberist's