The Beatles Remastered

[Led Zeppelin]

Diehard fans of The Beatles have been waiting for this moment for decades. On Sept. 9, EMI will release remastered copies of the band's entire catalog, from 1963's Please Please Me to the 1969 album Abbey Road. The remastered versions offer stunning clarity to The Beatles' music, allowing fans to hear elements in the songs they most likely never noticed before, like subtle sound effects or guitar lines that were lost in the original, all-analog releases.

The casual listener might not immediately recognize a stark difference between the original recordings and the newly remastered versions, but All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen says there's still plenty to get excited about. The new versions, especially the box set editions, include expanded liner notes, new artwork, never-before-seen photos, and short documentaries on the making of each album.

EMI is releasing both the original mono versions of the first 10 Beatles albums, up through The Beatles (The White Album), in addition to the all-stereo versions. Though a lot of fans will default to the stereo CDs, Boilen notes that The Beatles and producer George Martin put most of their care into the mono recordings. "From 1963 to 1967 most people listened to record players with one speaker," says Boilen. "The same was true with radio. FM stereo just wasn't available."

Despite that, Boilen personally recommends getting the stereo albums. "You can hear instruments with more definition. The details pop. It's a bit like watching your favorite movie in HD for the first time."

Anyone planning on getting this?

I got Let It Be... Naked the other day, the remastered and re-edited version of the album and some songs sound a lot better than in the original (like Across The Universe and I Me Mine), so I'm hopeful about these new remastered albums.

[Communist]

I'm a huge Beatles fanatic; all the solo albums, bootlegs, etc.
So, yeah, I plan on getting them. Especially the Mono Box, which is definitely the first I'll buy whenever I have the money. :-)


I got Let It Be... Naked the other day, the remastered and re-edited, version of the album and some songs sounded a lot better than in the original (like Across The Universe and I Me Mine), so I'm hopeful about these new remastered albums.

Just so you know, there aren't any remixes, so the only difference is improved sound quality. Which is reason enough, at least for me.:thumbup:

[Manifesto]

Yay I love The Beatles but its easy to tell that this will cost a LOT of money.

[Hit The North]

Do the remasters include an improvement on the often annoying stereo separation of the analogue recordings?

[Mephisto]

I won't buy them, but I'll look after it on rapidshare.

[Led Zeppelin]

Here's a review:


The newly remastered Beatles box sets are a treat for a casual fan and a dream come true for die-hards. The new box sets are expected to introduce the Beatles to yet another younger generation.

The mono set may be revelatory for some, but even the box of stereo albums -- the best-known versions and the primary sales focus -- is a step up from the 22-year-old original CD releases.

Need proof?

Check out "Lovely Rita," from 1967's "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

The shimmering guitar intro, followed by Paul McCartney's soaring "Aaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh," the bouncy bass line and John Lennon and George Harrison's smirky backing vocals, offers delicious ear candy that doesn't rot your teeth.

Many other audible delights emerge to the surface more often than they did in the prehistoric days of vinyl and cassette because of the remastering.

Harrison's surprisingly cheerful-sounding sitar that mimics Lennon's melody in "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," from 1965's "Rubber Soul," is much crisper.

Ringo Starr's rat-tat-tat drumming muscle on "Rain," from 1966, sounds brand new. The multitracked harmonies of "Because," from 1969's "Abbey Road," shimmer.

The remastering work likewise subtly expands the band's sound from its earlier days, a time when overdubs and studio tricks were kept to a minimum.

Listening to the band's debut album, 1963's "Please Please Me" (mostly recorded in a one-day session), it all but feels like being in the musty studio watching them perform these songs.

Lennon's sore-throated screaming (literally and figuratively) on the album's finale, "Twist and Shout," has never sounded more sandpapery -- and that's meant as a compliment.

Other full-throttle rockers, like the whoop-it-up Motown cover "Money (That's What I Want)" (from 1963's "With the Beatles") and Sir Paul's one-take vocal explosion on Little Richard's "Long Tall Sally" (1964), also shake the walls.

If you want to know what it was like to see the Beatles perform in the Cavern Club during their pre-fame days, play these songs at a very high volume. Just make sure your neighbors don't mind.

But it's perhaps on 1966's "Revolver," once crowned the greatest recording of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, where the magical mystery work of Abbey Road recording engineer Guy Massey and the many others involved is most apparent.

The horns on McCartney's sassy-brassy "Got to Get You Into My Life" sound like explosions, while his too-tender-to-touch ballad, "Here, There and Everywhere," peacefully floats through the air. George Harrison's three compositions (especially "I Want to Tell You" and the biting opening track, "Taxman") are all more impressive thanks to the new paint job.

The chiming guitars on "And Your Bird Can Sing" bring Lennon's lucid lyrics a Technicolor shine. "Revolver's" closing track, John's "Tomorrow Never Knows," full of tape loops and wizardry from the mixing board, is a trip. (No surprise, given its drug-assisted origins.)

The material of the Beatles will continue to impress as long as human beings need to listen to music. These new box sets, along with the Rock Band video game, will certainly introduce the group's catalog to yet another younger generation.

The new listeners will likely jump in instinctively: I took my 5-year-old son to see McCartney in concert last month, and when "Drive My Car" opened the show, he was air-guitaring along with his grown-up peers.

For fans who have been bombarded with these songs countless times, there's something new as well.

A splendid time is guaranteed for all.

[Il Medico]

This is another thing going on my to buy list. I decided last year that I would buy every Beatles Album know to man (and a few that aren't ;)).
I have thus far:
St. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Abbey Road
The White Album
Love (new)
1 (new)
Rubber Soul
Help

Nowhere near my goal yet, but I'm working on it.

[Hit The North]

Shit, you have to get Revolver, next - it's their best.

[Jimmie Higgins]

I might buy Abbey Road because my copy has never been the same since the time I had a bad trip after ingesting 7 hits of acid (over 10 years ago now) and listened to it for 12 hours on repeat... except for "I Want You/She's So Heavy" because I was convinced that if I listened to it all the way through the world would collapse in on itself.

...maybe the CD's fine... maybe it's me who's never been the same...:drool:

Revolver is excellent by the way.

[Il Medico]

I was planing buying Revolver last time, but the music store I buy from was sold out.

[New Tet]

The Beatles suck & Sgt Pepper Was an imperialist!

[Jimmie Higgins]

The Beatles suck & Sgt Pepper Was an imperialist!Because he was a Sgt.?

[New Tet]

I was planing buying Revolver last time, but the music store I buy from was sold out.

Is that the one where Paul intones,

"Your day breaks, your mind aches.
You find that all her words of kindness
linger on when she no longer needs you."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOV3VoHYLAg

Ah, that French horn!

[RotStern]

I heard that the whole thing is about $300.
: / I love the Beatles. :D :D :D :D

[JohannGE]

Do the remasters include an improvement on the often annoying stereo separation of the analogue recordings?

Sorry Bob but I actualy like that separation. Having grown up with it, it seems authentic to me.

Sod buying it though...bring on the torrents!

[Hit The North]

Sorry Bob but I actualy like that separation. Having grown up with it, it seems authentic to me.



It's not too bad through the speakers but sounds shit on headphones.

It's great for DIY Karaoke, though, especially the pre 1966 stuff:vocals through one channel, backing music through the other.