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The Beatles always stood apart from their peers, a self-evident statement that sadly extended to the treatment of their catalog in the digital age. Where all their peers from the Byrds to the Who have had their catalogs remastered and reissued in deluxe editions, sometimes several times, the Beatles remained stuck in the early days of digital, their 14 albums plus Past Masters singles collection remaining untouched since 1987. Anniversaries came and went, but no remasters arrived until the release of the video game The Beatles Rockband pushed a long-overdue revamping of the band's entire catalog into the stores on 9-9-09. This reissue campaign corrects almost all the problems of the original 1987 CDs: the sound and artwork are improved, and all the original mono and stereo mixes finally see the light of day. Naturally, it's possible to quibble about some details of the presentation, particularly the decision to split the reissue into two separate box sets, one covering the stereo mixes and one the mono mixes, with only the stereo mixes available as individual discs (it's still possible to complain that the albums do not add era-specific singles or outtakes, but such expansions were never really in the cards), but both boxes still constitute the best Beatles by far. Crucially, it's also inarguably the best-sounding Beatles music ever released, robust and rich even on the earliest rock & roll. None of the albums have been remixed -- although Help! and Rubber Soul retain Martin's 1987 mixes, the original stereo mixes are bonuses on the mono set -- so this doesn't shock the way the Yellow Submarine soundtrack did with its reimagined stereo mixes. Nevertheless, these remasters surely do surprise with their clarity and depth, with each album feeling bigger and fuller than the previous CD incarnation, but not artificially so. It's not that these are pumped up on digital steroids; it's that the veil has been lifted, so everything seems full and fresh. Appropriately, there's more to savor from Help! onward, as the Beatles' productions grew ambitious, but Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and A Hard Day's Night all have a strong punch, while Beatles for Sale is warmer than the previous disc.
As a package, the stereo box is slightly unwieldy -- it's a large, vertical set with two stacks of discs in slick cardboard sleeves piled on top of each other. No extra book is included with the set, but each disc has its own booklet with dry, straightforward liner notes detailing the recording process instead of analyzing the music. If anything about the set could be called disappointing, it's the mini-documentaries attached to each disc as Quicktime files and collected on a DVD bonus for the box. "Mini-documentary" may even be stretching what these are: they're three to five infomercials about the albums, not much more informative than the notes themselves. Nevertheless, these do offer annotation, something sorely lacking from the first CDs, and they do replicate the original notes -- in the case of Magical Mystery Tour, including the entire storybook; in the case of Pepper, all the 20th anniversary annotation is added -- finally bringing the Beatles to the same standard for reissues that every other major (and most minor) bands have had for years now. And the story, at least for the stereo box, is not the packaging -- it's the glorious sound that makes this such a treat.
Condition:NEW.
TRACK LISTINGS
Disc 1
1 I Saw Her Standing There 2:53
2 Misery 1:48
3 Anna (Go to Him) 2:57
4 Chains 2:25
5 Boys 2:26
6 Ask Me Why 2:26
7 Please Please Me 2:00
8 Love Me Do Single Version 2:21
9 P.S. I Love You 2:04
10 Baby It's You 2:40
11 Do You Want to Know a Secret 1:57
12 A Tast of Honey 2:03
13 There's a Place 1:50
14 Twist and Shout 2:37
15 Please Please Me Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 2
1 It Won't Be Long 2:13
2 All I've Got to Do 2:02
3 All My Loving 2:07
4 Don't Bother Me 2:28
5 Little Child 1:46
6 Till There Was You 2:13
7 Please Mister Postman 2:34
8 Roll Over Beethoven 2:45
9 Hold Me Tight 2:31
10 You Really Got a Hold on Me 3:01
11 I Wanna Be Your Man 1:59
12 Devil in Her Heart 2:26
13 Not a Second Time 2:06
14 Money (That's What I Want) 2:51
15 With the Beatles Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 3
1 A Hard Day's Night from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 2:34
2 I Should Have Known Better from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 2:43
3 If I Fell from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 2:19
4 I'm Happy Just to Dance with You from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 1:56
5 And I Love Her from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 2:29
6 Tell Me Why from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 2:08
7 Can't Buy Me Love from the Film "A Hard Day's Night" 2:11
8 Any Time at All 2:11
9 I'll Cry Instead 1:45
10 Things We Said Today 2:35
11 When I Get Home 2:16
12 You Can't Do That 2:34
13 I'll Be Back 2:26
14 A Hard Day's Night Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 4
1 No Reply 2:16
2 I'm a Loser 2:30
3 Baby's in Black 2:04
4 Rock and Roll Music 2:31
5 I'll Follow the Sun 1:48
6 Mr. Moonlight 2:38
7 Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey! 2:38
8 Eight Days a Week 2:43
9 Words of Love 2:04
10 Honey Don't 2:57
11 Ever Little Thing 2:03
12 I Don't Want to Spoil the Party 2:34
13 What You're Doing 2:30
14 Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby 2:27
15 Beatles for Sale Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 5
1 Help! from the Film "Help! " 2:19
2 The Night Before from the Film "Help! " 2:34
3 You've Got to Hide Your Love Away from the Film "Help! " 2:09
4 I Need You from the Film "Help! " 2:28
5 Another Girl from the Film "Help! " 2:05
6 You're Going to Lose That Girl from the Film "Help! " 2:18
7 Ticket to Ride from the Film "Help! " 3:09
8 Act Naturally 2:30
9 It's Only Love 1:56
10 You Like Me Too Much 2:36
11 Tell Me What You See 2:37
12 I've Just Seen a Face 2:05
13 Yesterday 2:05
14 Dizzy Miss Lizzy 2:58
15 Help Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 6
1 Drive My Car 2:28
2 Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 2:04
3 You Won't See Me 3:19
4 Nowhere Man 2:43
5 Think for Yourself 2:18
6 The Word 2:43
7 Michelle 2:42
8 What Goes On 2:48
9 Girl 2:31
10 I'm Looking Through You 2:26
11 In My Life 2:26
12 Wait 2:14
13 If I Needed Someone 2:22
14 Run for Your Life 2:23
15 Rubber Soul Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 7
1 Taxman 2:38
2 Eleanor Rigby 2:06
3 I'm Only Sleeping 3:00
4 Love You To 2:59
5 Here, There and Everywhere 2:24
6 Yellow Submarine 2:38
7 She Said She Said 2:36
8 Good Day Sunshine 2:09
9 And Your Bird Can Sing 2:00
10 For No One 1:59
11 Doctor Robert 2:14
12 I Want to Tell You 2:27
13 Got to Get You into My Life 2:29
14 Tomorrow Never Knows 3:01
15 Revolver Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 8
1 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band DVD 2:02
2 With a Little Help from My Friends 2:44
3 Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds 3:28
4 Getting Better 2:48
5 Fixing a Hole 2:36
6 She's Leaving Home 3:35
7 Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! 2:37
8 Within You Without You 5:04
9 When I'm Sixty-Four 2:37
10 Lovely Rita 2:42
11 Good Morning Good Morning 2:41
12 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) 1:19
13 A Day in the Life 5:39
14 Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Mini-Documentary
Disc 9
1 Magical Mystery Tour from the Film "Magical Mystery Tour" 2:50
2 The Fool on the Hill from the Film "Magical Mystery Tour" 2:59
3 Flying from the Film "Magical Mystery Tour" 2:15
4 Blue Jay Way from the Film "Magical Mystery Tour" 3:55
5 Your Mother Should Know from the Film "Magical Mystery Tour" 2:28
6 I Am the Walrus from the Film "Magical Mystery Tour" 4:35
7 Hello Goodbye 3:28
8 Strawberry Fields Forever 4:07
9 Penny Lane 3:00
10 Baby You're a Rich Man 3:01
11 All You Need Is Love 3:52
12 Magical Mystery Tour Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 10
1 Back in the U.S.S.R. 2:43
2 Dear Prudence 3:55
3 Glass Onion 2:17
4 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da 3:08
5 Wild Honey Pie 0:52
6 The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill 3:14
7 While My Guitar Gently Weeps 4:44
8 Happiness Is a Warm Gun 2:44
9 Martha My Dear 2:28
10 I'm So Tired 2:03
11 Blackbird 2:18
12 Piggies 2:04
13 Rocky Raccoon 3:33
14 Don't Pass Me By 3:50
15 Why Don't We Do It in the Road? 1:41
16 I Will 1:45
17 Julia 2:56
Disc 11
1 Birthday 2:43
2 Yer Blues 4:00
3 Mother Nature's Son 2:48
4 Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey 2:24
5 Sexy Sadie 3:15
6 Helter Skelter 4:29
7 Long, Long, Long 3:06
8 Revolution I 4:15
9 Honey Pie 2:41
10 Savoy Truffle 2:54
11 Cry Baby Cry 3:02
12 Revolution 9 8:22
13 Good Night 3:15
14 The Beatles Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 12
1 Yellow Submarine 2:39
2 Only a Northern Song 3:24
3 All Together Now 2:10
4 Hey Bulldog 3:11
5 It's All Too Much 6:25
6 All You Need Is Love 3:51
7 Pepperland Original Film Score 2:20
8 Sea of Time Original Film Score 3:00
9 Sea of Holes Original Film Score 2:16
10 Sea of Monsters Original Film Score 3:36
11 March of the Meanies Original Film Score 2:19
12 Peppeland Laid Waste Original Film Score 2:12
13 Yellow Submarine in Pepperland Original Film Score 2:16
14 Yellow Submarine Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 13
1 Come Together 4:19
2 Something 3:02
3 Maxwell's Silver Hammer 3:27
4 Oh! Darling 3:27
5 Octopus's Garden 2:50
6 I Want You (She's So Heavy) 7:47
7 Here Comes the Sun 3:05
8 Because 2:45
9 You Never Give Me Your Money 4:02
10 Sun King 2:26
11 Mean Mr Mustard 1:06
12 Polythene Pam 1:12
13 She Came in Throught the Bathroom Window 1:58
14 Golden Slumbers 1:31
15 Carry That Weight 1:36
16 The End 2:21
17 Her Majesty 0:27
18 Abbey Road Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 14
1 Two of Us 3:36
2 Dig a Pony 3:54
3 Across the Universe 3:48
4 I Me Mine 2:25
5 Dig It 0:50
6 Let It Be 4:03
7 Maggie Mae 0:40
8 I've Got a Feeling 3:37
9 One After 909 2:53
10 The Long and Winding Road 3:38
11 For You Blue 2:32
12 Get Back 3:11
13 Let It Be Mini-Documentary Multimedia
Disc 15
1 Love Me Do Mono Version 2:25
2 From Me to You 1:57
3 Thank You Girl 2:03
4 She Loves You Mono Version 2:21
5 I'll Get You Mono Version 2:06
6 I Want to Hold Your Hand 2:26
7 This Boy 2:16
8 Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand I Want to Hold Your Hand 2:25
9 Sie Liebt Dich She Loves You 2:19
10 Long Tall Sally 2:02
11 I Call Your Name 2:08
12 Slow Down 2:56
13 Matchbox 1:58
14 I Feel Fine 2:19
15 She's a Woman 3:02
16 Bad Boy 2:20
17 Yes It Is 2:42
18 I'm Down 2:33
Disc 16
1 Day Tripper 2:49
2 We Can Work It Out 2:15
3 Paperback Writer 2:18
4 Rain 3:01
5 Lady Madonna 2:17
6 The Inner Light 2:36
7 Hey Jude 7:09
8 Revolution 3:24
9 Get Back 3:11
10 Don't Let Me Down 3:35
11 The Ballad of John and Yoko 2:59
12 Old Brown Shoe 3:18
13 Across the Universe 3:49
14 Let It Be 3:51
15 You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) Mono Version 4:19
Disc 17
1 Please Please Me DVD
2 With the Beatles DVD
3 A Hard Day's Night DVD
4 Beatles for Sale DVD
5 Help! DVD
6 Rubber Soul DVD
7 Revolver DVD
8 Sgt. Pepper's Lovely Hearts Club Band DVD
9 Magical Myster Tour DVD
10 The Beatles (The White Album) DVD
11 Yellow Submarine DVD
12 Let It Be DVD
13 Abbey Road DVD
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