Beatles Box Sets

If you’re like most Beatles fans then you already own all of their albums on CD (in stereo) and you may be wondering why you should buy the same mixes on CD again just because they are “remastered.” In fact I can imagine that you may be quite skeptical about it. The appeal of The Beatles Mono Box Set is easier to understand. After all, those mono mixes have never been made available on CD before and some of the mono mixes have actually never been released in any format before! So to me it’s obvious why any curious Beatles fan would want to hear those mono mixes (“as The Beatles were meant to be heard”) but what about The Stereo Box Set?

Well, I have been listening to the CDs in the Beatles In Stereo Box Set pretty much non-stop since I got it and I am absolutely amazed at how much better they sound than the old CDs. I think the best way to describe the improvement in sound is like watching your favorite movie first on an old VHS tape and then in Blu-Ray HD. Yes, it’s the same movie with the same plot, but it sure looks a lot better in blu-ray. Yes, these are the same songs, with the same (brilliant) music but they sound immeasurably better on these new CDs.

In fact, that may not even be a good comparison, because with music I think it’s more important that you can clearly hear each part to really fully appreciate the music. And that’s the great thing about these remastered stereo mixes, little bits in the music that were hard to hear before are now clear as a bell. It’s amazing all of the things I’m hearing in these songs for the very first time even though I’ve heard all of these songs hundreds of times before.

What they’ve managed to do with these remasters is really a miracle. They managed to capture all of the original analog warmth and “feeling” of the original tapes (these CDs sound much “warmer” than do the old ones) and they’ve also managed to make all of the music more “clear” so that individual parts can be heard without straining to hear them. The bass cuts through the mix like never before. The drums sound much more powerful (they were often buried in the old mixes.) And the vocals are much more clear. Now instead of it just being a wall of sound sort of effect, you can really pick out each of the vocal harmony parts. To my ears, this is a big improvement.

Again, I was very concerned that all of this “power” and “clarity” would come at the expense of the warmth of the recordings, I was concerned that they would suck the life and ambiance out of the recordings. I was worried that they would participate in the “loudness wars” and compress these recordings to death. I’m happy to say that they none of they managed to avoid all of these potential pitfalls.

Along with the great sound, I think most fans will be very pleased with the excellent packaging. It’s really a huge improvement over the old CDs. For example The White Album now comes with a poster, just like it did back in the day when it was sold as a vinyl LP!

I have no reservations in recommending that every Beatles fan buy this box set. It would also make a fantastic birthday or Christmas gift for a Beatles fan in your family.