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416 of 438 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Beatlemania lives on!, September 9, 2009
Who could have ever thought it would have been possible? 09/09/09 has become a red-letter date in the history of Beatle-dom. It could be the repetitive nature of the phrase "Number Nine, Number Nine" featured in the track "Revolution 9" from "The White Album". Or, even the bit of dialogue "dial 9-9-9" from the 1965 motion picture "Help!" However, 09/09/09 has become important for a far better reason.
After more than 22 years of having The Beatles' albums on CD, we are finally treated to the definitive box set of Beatles music. This time, the folks at EMI and Apple finally got things right for a change. While having Beatles CDs is a thrill, it is now even more-so with this brilliant audio collection. For the very first time, their entire recorded output has been remastered for the 21st century, complete with unique liner notes and special digipak-packaging to boot. With the exception of the "Past Masters" set, each disc also contains a brief mini-documentary about that album. These short bits can only be utilised with the assistance of a computer's disc drive. However, the box set does include a bonus DVD disc featuring all of these short sequences together so you can enjoy it on your very own DVD player. What you have here are the original British Beatles albums just like what had been released before; only now, the listener can enjoy the first 4 albums - "Please Please Me". "With The Beatles", "A Hard Day's Night", "Beatles For Sale" - available in true stereo for the very first time. Combined with the remaining 9 albums recorded by the group between 1965 and 1970, this is a masterpiece set, and a special treasure trove of timeless, classic songs that changed the entire structure of popular music as we know it today.
Each CD is carefully and painstakingly put together in a very special 3-border fold-out, which allows the CD to be housed in a slot on the far right-hand side (except for the double discs, which have their CDs fitted inside the packaging). Each title also comes with a special CD booklet containg many unreleased photographs that represent the time when each album was originally released, plus well-written liner notes (including the original notes from the first 4 albums). The "Yellow Submarine" booklet contains both the original UK and US back cover notes together for the very first time. And, what a thrill it is to finally be able to have the photo/comic-strip booklet from "Magical Mystery Tour", that was initially issued in the American LP in 1967, in an official CD release for the very first time. The "White Album" packaging includes the original poster, in a CD sized reproduction, that features the photo collage on one side, and the album's song-lyrics on the other side. This marks the second time that this poster was made available in a "White Album" CD release, following the 30th anniversary reissue from 1998.
The sound quality of the songs are, without a doubt, the very best that I have ever heard before. For the first time, the audio quality of each track is sharp, crisp, crystal clear and truly an audiophile's dream come true. It should also be noted that the songs "Love Me Do" (both versions), "P.S. I Love You", "Only A Northern Song", "She Loves You", "I'll Get You" and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" are all presented in their original monaural mixes, whereas the remaining songs are all in true stereo. Even "I Am The Walrus" still has its orignal mix of half-stereo/half-duophonic, just like the first time around. All in all, this box set far surpasses all other box sets that have come before.
And, the bonus DVD of the mini documentaries is also well-produced. Each segment features audio comments from The Beatles themselves along with George Martin. This DVD gives a fascinating insight into why these classic albums have stood the test of time so well, and continue to be so popular, even into the 21st century.
Many current and legendary artists have called The Beatles a major influence. One listen to this music and you too will see why. Beatlemania will live on forever!
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215 of 227 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, The Sound Quality The Beatles Deserve!!, September 8, 2009
I was disappointed with the 1987 CDs, so I put my Mobile Fidelity albums (state of the art record albums back then, from the master tapes) onto CD around 1992 and have been listening to those since. I long since sold my 1987 CDs. Now I can get rid of those Mobile Fidelity CDs because the sound quality of these remastered CDs exceeds even them.
For those 1987 CDs the first four albums were in mono. I can sort of understand that for the first two, with their distinct, wide 2-track separation. But the second two had four-track and sounded great in stereo. At any rate, I preferred all four in stereo. So went to extreme measures to get it, in quality. Now those are all here in glorious stereo in this set.
I was afraid that they would narrow the separation on the first two albums. Fortunately they did not. If you want to listen to those two with headphones, you may be disappointed with the sound -- get the mono, but listening to them through speakers, several feet away, the stereo adds an outstanding dimension to the sound.
Throughout this set, the bass is more evident, the drums are sharper - the quality just jumps out at you throughout -- a testament to the much more sophisticated digitization techniques they have today than in 1987. A job well done!!
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429 of 462 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
An edition to celebrate the greatest band of all time., September 9, 2009
As many of you, I am a huge Beatles fan. To me they are simply the best thing that ever happened to 20th century music. Their songs echo everywhere we go in the works of countless bands they influenced. And they are still beautiful after all these years.
So it was with a lot of anticipation that I bought this stereo set. And as I opened it, I must say I was overwhelmed with all the care, love and effort put by EMI in making this set the Beatles celebration they deserve.
ABOUT THE BOX ITSELF
The whole package comes in a beautifully crafted box with the Beatles logo. Opening it, I found the most beautiful set of CDs. Each one in a digipack reproducing the original artwork. Those digipack editions are very fragile because basically it is all paper. So I do recommend the purchase of this stereo box - so the CDs are kept safe.
The digipacks come with photos and the artwork of each disc is simply gorgeous.
ABOUT THE MUSIC
Wow... I sounds beautiful.
Not only the stereo sounds great, the whole sound looks sharper, clearer and brighter. It look like it was all recorded yesterday (ha!).
Listening to ELEANOR RIGBY, MICHELLE, YESTERDAY, FOR NO ONE, AND I LOVE HER, I FEEL FINE and CAN'T BUY ME LOVE (for example) was a wonderful experience. The recording simply comes to life with a beautiful stereo sound like nothing I ever heard. Those old editions from 1987 really sound awful when compared. For No One is a great example: the french horn part is is much more dynamic and warm.
The later recordings like ABBEY ROAD and GET BACK sound simply amazing. GET BACK (the song) is so clearer I felt I was listening to all instruments live in my room. It sounds like all instruments are really there together without the muffled sound of the old edition (funny I say "muffled" now since I was used to think those old editions were great). It is like listening to it all for the first time.
On ABBEY ROAD, for example, the great string of non stop songs in the middle of the album is so rich I had to play certain segments again (because I was amazed). POLYTHENE PAM and SHE CAME THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW are amazing! - And they left me feeling that The Beatles' lesser known songs must all be rediscovered because they sound so good! George Harrison's SOMETHING almost made me cry.
Finally we have The Beatles we can blast through our speakers and completely obliterate any Justin Timberlake or Jonas Brothers our neighbors are playing. (laughs) Just put GLASS ONION, I AM THE WALRUS or CARRY THAT WEIGHT and look at the neighbors' kids' eyes as they put Kanye West's CD back in its case. (laughs)
I was afraid the stereo separation would feel plastic and artificial - I don't know why - but no, I did not have that feeling while listening to this set. It seems it was all recorded and handled with lots of care, love and cutting edge technology.
This is a great day to celebrate the biggest band ever!
And congratulations to the EMI team who made this possible and put this all together.
I'm very happy.
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