The Beatles - The Beatles Stereo Box Set
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Free Music Notes for The Beatles Stereo Box Set
Free Music Review: Amazing Sound, Classic Content Energizes a Cynic
Hit: 5 Stars
Being a bit jaded by a recording industry which keeps re-packaging and re-selling me my favorite content, I was not planning on purchasing this box set. I ended up getting it as a very nice Christmas gift and after spending an afternoon listening to a smorgasbord from the box set ( [...] ) and have reached the following conclusions:
1) Differences are immediately apparent and entirely better. I heard that you need really fancy speakers to tell a difference and admit that I have moderately fancy speakers ( energy veritas bookshelf & Denon 2801 amp), but they are about 10 years old and far from super audiophile.
THAT SAID, I am not sure if a casual listener will really be able to discern. Meaning, I love the Beatles, lived the Beatles for a few years, stayed up all night watching the anthologies a few years back (C-O-L-L-E-G-E), and have listened to some of their albums probably 100 times. This is not how most people consume music and am not sure I'd have noticed a qualitative difference which would make me want to replace my existing Beatles collection. Especially if heard through a boom box or equivalent equipment.
2) The stereo mixes made me really curious what the Mono box set sounds like. I know that this was their "true" intention on most of their albums, but I can't imagine the difference is so great that owning both is a necessity, even for a serious Beatles fan.
3) I'm sure a lot of people have seen the 'Remastered' label on pretty much any "Classic" album from the Police to Blue Öyster Cult. Not disrespect to the umlauted, but this is more than just a remastering which too often sounds to me not much more than 'Louder'. These recordings put the legacy Remasterings to shame.
4) I still love the Beatles. Thanks Eric for the great, GREAT Christmas gift. Of course, few things in life are more enjoyable than sitting on a couch on a lovely, warm and sunny Southern California day and listening to this the Beatles. If that taints my review, so be it.
Free Music Review: Finally after 22 years...!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
After two decades of The Beatles musical output on Compact Disc becoming sonically obsolete as well as latter day compilations (Anthology,The Beatles 1,Yellow Submarine Songtrack,Let It Be...Naked,The Capitol Box 1 and 2,Love)and remastered solo works, making the initial 1987 CDs sound more archaic,The arrival of both Stereo and Mono boxed sets couldn't have come at a better time.
When comparing the two sets,Mono wins hands down as these mixes were given more attention to detail while stereo was treated as a novelty,knocked out in relatively little time.But as recording technology of the day became more advanced, mono became an endangered species.The Beatles "White Album" was the last album to be released in mono, as well as the Get Back/Don't Let Me Down single.
As for the Stereo Box,not only are we treated to remastered sound, but a DVD of the making of each album,improved packaging and the first four albums in stereo (released on CD in '87 in mono,but many songs made their stereo CD debut on the Capitol Boxed Sets).Well worth the money due to the care and attention to detail.
The only flaw in the collection is the decision to use the classic mixes instead of remixing for this age of 5.1 surround.The Yellow Submarine Songtrack from 1999 remixed many songs from the movie which makes the tracks sound more superior than the original mixes which used "Sound Separation" in the stereo spectrum (example, Drums and vocal in the left channel,Guitars and background vocals on the right with nothing in the center) which lacks the fullness of the mono mix.No more evident than the first two albums (Please,Please Me and With The Beatles) which were recorded on two tracks on the former and not yet got a grasp of the four track on the latter.
The Stereo Box,definately the more commonly available of the two will be in most Beatlemaniacs music collection,but maybe in a decade or two someone will finally remix the music more befitting to the technology of music reproduction.
Free Music Review: Genius At Work
Hit: 5 Stars
The Beatles Master works altogether in a box. The music speaks for itself, and for a Generation. Nothing needs to be further discussed there, five stars by any sane person's measure of achievement. The re-mastered versions contained here within are a treasure to behold. Macca's bass lines are thick and nimble, free of the rumble associated with older recordings, he and Ringo form a beautiful rhythm section unparalleled in rock music; you can clearly hear Ringo's deft playing, that is noticeably punchier, especially in the later albums like the "White Album" and "Abbey Road". The box taken as a whole is particularly generous to the Bass and Drums, there is a deeper spacious sound that emulates from the speakers. The guitars sparkle with clarity and the vocals have an almost airy quality to them, absolutely gorgeous, presumably like they sounded in the studio. Going into this I suspected that the most improved albums would be the later ones, not necessarily so, "Please Please Me" is a major revelation, the rumble on "Do You Want to Know A Secret" has been eliminated and the vocals are pristine; it's great to have these first four officially released in Stereo. I also own the Mono box and I can't make up my mind about the first 2 albums - Stereo or Mono, both have something going on for them, the mono sound more full, but there's no denying that the bottom end has been EQ'd on the STEREO sister versions to astonishing effect. The mid-period Beatles albums showcase John and George's Guitar (and sometimes Paul) that on songs like the tandem playing "And Your Bird Can Sing" have more authority and power. I particularly liked Sgt. Pepper's remaster, it has a drier sound to my ears and a much more commanding presence overall. Much has been said about whether these classics should have been remixed or not, I am firmly in the remixed camp, I believe that would have been the best way to go but to deny the breathtaking beauty and improvements here would be foolhardy.
Free Music Review: OH JUST QUIT YOUR MOANING AND WHINING ALREADY!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
I spent $400+ on both Stereo and MOno boxes and I can tell you two things: (1) When my wife finds out what I spent the rent money on, I'm a dead man and (2) I'd do it all over again. I've owned various incarnations of Beatles LPs and CDs. I also spent some serious money on Japanese pressings of the White Album and Sgt Pepper's among others. This remastering blows them all away! Some of you are still whining about the "superior" and "warm" quality of your old beaten-a$$ LPs from 20 years ago. Others complain that EMI is milking the fans yet again, while others scream their heads off about the "remixing" of the Yellow Submarine Soundtrack and "Love". Still others babble on and on about the superiority of the Mono versions over the stereo, alternate mixes, etc... You people are worse than those nerdy nimrods who post all kinds of crap about the overall superiority of the original Harvest pressing of "Dark Side Of The Moon", droning on and on about how CDs are stupid, flat, they want their 5:1 remix, etc.. . So (finally) my point is: Just get over it dammit! EMI finally released an excellent product when they had remastered the entire catalog by competent people using the best technology available today. Millions of old fans and new fans alike will gretly enjoy and love these albums now and 50 years from now, after the original tapes disintegrate. And those who claim they don;t care about the difference between the really $hitty and carelessly done 1987 masters, I say: get your hearing examined! The 1987 masters were and are an insult to the band as well as an abusive practice to sell an inferior product at premium prices. They should all end up in landfills, as few of us could afford luxuries such as the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab or Japanese pressings. This box is the Holy Grail of all collectors and should send Mono and original CD and LP pressings prices plunging to the bottom almost overnight. In a way it's a pity as.. how do I get rid of my Japanese White Album CDs now?Free Music Review: better than the original
Hit: 5 Stars
To preface this review: I am the husband of the logon owner, i.e.; I am NOT Suzy! I purchased this set as a belated Christmas present for myself.
Unlike many of the other reviewers, who have depth of knowledge of early recording techniques and equipment, and the original song arrangements and engineers who made it all happen, I'm just your average older white guy who loved the Beatles from the first time I heard them in the early '60s. Having owned most of the early Beatles' albums, and having performed most of those songs in a 1960's-era rock band, I was thrilled at the prospect of owning those albums again, only in a modern format. Upon receiving the set, I opened each CD sleeve and examined everything. I was pleasantly surprised to see that these are the ORIGINALS; the UK-issued versions, rather than the US-issued albums. That being said, as I played them I was a little off on my anticipation of song order on some of the albums, as they are different from the US versions I owned when I was young. Nothing too tragic there, as the lyrics came to mind just about as quickly as in the days when I would sing them on stage! And, listening to them in our Hyundai Genesis, with 440 watts of power and 17 surround-sound speakers, was much more fun than on the old console "Hi-Fi" stereo our family had in my younger days. For those of you, like me, who've only experienced the US-issued albums of the '60s, this is real treat, to listen to the original UK versions, remastered for today's advanced equipment. Although some of the background noise and chatter is not as audible on a newer, sophisticated stereo system as it was on the old monophonic equipment, I can still hear it, and it brings back many happy memories of a time when all the world seemed more innocent and free. Any true Beatles music fan will thoroughly enjoy this set; I highly recommend it. The engineering is superb! And Amazon's price (at the time) was unbeatable.