The Beatles Box Set - Remastered in Stereo [Box set, Collector's Edition, Original recording remastered]

I've had the Beatles Stereo Box set for nearly a week now, and have listened to all the albums a number of times through and feel compelled to post my feedback to help anyone unsure about taking the £169.99 financial 'plunge'....

In fairness, I have to admit to being a dedicated Beatles fan (for the past 40 years) - so I'm not going to give an unbiased view on the music collected together here in one place...it's a true treasure trove.

However, I do back up the point a number of other reviewers have put forward that, whisper it, some of these remasters don't actually sound that good - they're better than the 1987 releases, without a shadow of a doubt - but let's face it, it would be difficult for them not to sound better after 22 years of CD development!

Now don't misunderstand me, several albums in this Box Set sound substantially better compared to the late 1980's digital releases:

ABBEY ROAD is now a very satisfying, detailed and dynamic listen - this is especially apparent when you hear the musical 'duel' of guitars and drums that make up the album closer 'The End' - in truth, every track on this remaster is far better than the muddy mix on the 1987 CD.

THE BEATLES (White Album) now delivers a fine stereo image with real 'studio depth' and lots of power to vocals, Lead guitars and Bass guitar - beating the 1987 2CD set quite easily.

SGT PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND is now far more balanced as a stereo listen, especially satisfying on Headphones - all the instruments and vocals now sound believable and crisp, with Paul's melodic Bass playing really jumping forward - it makes the 1987 CD version redundant.

RUBBER SOUL and REVOLVER have a number of highlights - as does the PAST MASTERS set.....but the earlier albums, from PLEASE PLEASE ME to HELP! and the final LET IT BE disc are (at times) not really in the same sonic ball-park.

Now, how could I possibly be so critical of the sound on this Box Set? - Well, I've no doubts that the Abbey Road team have done their best - but they have simply squeezed the maximum they can out of 40 to 47 year old Album Master Tapes.

In comparison, over the past 5 years or so we have been treated to the remastered back catalogue of a growing number of equally prominant Artists such as The Doors (on DMC), Elvis Presley (on FTD) and The Rolling Stones (on ABKO) who, after initial 'slap-dash' releases in the 1980's and 1990's have all finally done justice to their heritage by making every effort to trawl tape vaults and sound archives to find, wherever possible, the First Generation Session Multi-tracks to Remix fresh Album Masters - anyone owning any number of these CD's will bear witness to the fact that as a consequence of all this extra effort, they sound truly 'STUNNING' - sounding like they were recorded yesterday....

In fact this technique isn't anything new to the Beatles' Technical Team either, the very same work was done on the 'Yellow Submarine - Songtrack' Album as well as the 'Let it Be - Naked' release - which is why they both sound superior to their respective 2009 remasters.

As such, I feel an opportunity has been lost to make this release a truly definitive one, especially when the Technical Lead for the Remaster Project at Abbey Road (Allan Rouse) has been quoted as saying (in the latest October 2009 issue of The Record Collector Magazine) that the Remastering process for all the Albums only took around 3 months - not the 4 years that is so often quoted in many reviews...it seems there was plenty of time to provide Remixed Album Masters from the Original 2, 4 and 8 track Session Multi-tracks....but this fantastic opportunity wasn't taken - perhaps it was stopped by the surviving members of the Group - but it's a real shame it didn't happen.....

So, is it worth buying this Stereo Box Set? Well, yes it is.....each CD album is held within its own glossy digipack which includes informative liner notes in a booklet stored within...the outer box (with its outer slip-case and magnetic securing clasp) has been beautifully designed and manufactured - as a result, the whole package gives the owner plenty of user appeal...

Is this the best The Beatles' Albums have sounded on CD? Well, at the moment yes.....but if they'd been Remixed from the Original Session Multi-tracks they would have sounded even better!

I have received my Beatles stereo box set today with eager anticipation of hearing The Beatles in the best quality today's technology can give us. I have to say that although I have heard these albums many times before the crisp, clear and almost new freshness to the records is beyond my expectation. I am very pleased to say the least. I don't have over the top expensive music equipment or the need to break each recorded layer of a song down to the finest detail, I just want to sit back and listen to one of the world's finest band in superb clarity....this box set does this!! Great packaging, great pictures, documentaries and information on each album...Fantastic. This is the best Beatles collection to date in my opinion.

Let's start with the good news. This box houses one of the most important bodies of work in the history of popular music & as such cannot be either overlooked or regarded lightly. The question, then, is this: has justice been truly done to a catalogue that has exerted an incalculable influence on millions across the globe? It would be easy to just say yes in gratitude for finally having the Beatles albums available in a condition that is at last compatible with the equipment we use to listen to music these days. The 1987 releases have not stood up to the many changes in the technology of musical reproduction that have overtaken them in the last 20 years or so & were in urgent need of a comprehensive overhaul & this, we are led to believe, is what we've been waiting for. Yes, it IS what we we've been waiting for but, alas, I've come to the view that this particular package falls short of deserving the unreserved acclaim it has met with in some quarters. Now if you're thinking that this is likely to be a grouchy review then so be it but let it be known that it is written by one who cares deeply about this music, who recognises the marks it has left on the collective consciousness of the human population, and who firmly believes that it warrants the greatest care and attention. If the first disc you extract from this box is Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, the White Album, Abbey Road or the 2nd half of the double Past Masters set, you are likely to be very impressed- as I am. These recordings were always the richest in detail and production values, so these remasters certainly come up trumps, springing a generous number of pleasant surprises along the way. For example: the sound of the guitars on Revolver .... well, they always sounded good but now they sound so much BETTER than good. Then there's the 'Get Back' single & its attendant B-side 'Don't Let Me Down': these tracks now pack the presence they possessed when first issued on vinyl & I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing them as if for the first time again. Wonderful stuff. I have no hesitation, then, in declaring the remastered editions of the albums named above a triumphant success. Elsewhere, I'm, there are some serious misgivings.

First up: Let It Be. Was the title taken literally by, well, generally letting it be? Having played the new release back to back with its 1987 predecessor on a number of occasions, I'm still finding it difficult to detect as much sonic improvement as demonstrated elsewhere. Given that one of the two surviving Beatles is well known to abhor producer Phil Spector's treatments of the original tracks on this 'official' version of the album, this might mean that it did not warrant much more than the rudimentary EQ tweaks it receives here. It's only a suggestion. I'm willing to stand corrected, but that still leaves me wondering exactly why Let It Be still sounds a little flatter than the others mentioned above. The Let It Be puzzle nevertheless palls in comparison with that of the band's first 4 long players: Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night & Beatles For Sale.

In 1987 the first 4 Beatles albums were issued on CD as they were first heard by the vast majority of those who bought them back in the day: in mono, But not this time. Were you wanting to purchase just the one Beatles album in this series, to get you started, and were you to select one of the first 4 you'll be supplied with a stereo version. A remastered mono version HAS been issued but is only available in the expensive (but otherwise staggeringly impressive) Mono Box. As things stand, you are not able to purchase a stand-alone mono version of any of these albums simply because you'll find only the stereo edition available from the retailer of your choice. This would be all well and good, of course, if the stereo versions offered something to enthuse about, but sadly this is not so. What we get are the original primitive stereo mixes and no amount of remastering prowess can disguise the fact that they still sound both dated and shoddy. Deprived of the in-your-face aural power that made the mono originals irresistible to millions, a newcomer to the Beatles might be forgiven for wondering what on earth all the fuss was about in the first place on the strength of the evidence presented here. Furthermore, these mixes sound suspiciously similar to the majority of those used for the Capitol Albums Volumes 1 & 2 box sets, issued in 2004 & 2006 respectively- titles to which we shall return in due course.

The same reservations apply to Disc 1 of the double Past Masters set. The 1988 release of this disc (as Past Masters Volume One) contained 7 seven mono tracks, 4 of which have now been replaced with 'primitive' stereo versions and in one particular case, woefully so. The accompanying booklet contains the truthful observation that "John's harmonica playing was an essential part of the Beatles' `From Me To You'" but completely fails to explain why John's harmonica part is nowhere to be heard in the stereo mix, which seriously undermines the credibility of that 'essential' tag. This is conspicuously clumsy, to say the very least. Would it have been too much trouble to inform buyers that this is the version first issued on the stereo mix of the Collection Of Oldies (But Goldies) compilation in 1966? The harmonica part is thankfully still intact on that No. 1 hit single's B-side, `Thank You Girl', which was originally issued in stereo on the North America release titled The Beatles' Second Album. Precisely why neither the formidable 'She Loves You' & its B-side 'I'll Get You' were never mixed in 'true' stereo remains something of a mystery, so they turn up in mono but not quite as dynamically as their counterparts in the Mono Box- another anomaly that has this listener scratching his head in mild bemusement.

Finally, we are presented with Help! & Rubber Soul. The 1987 releases featured brand new stereo mixes by producer George Martin and these are favoured here over the original 1965 issues. You'll not hear me complain on this score because Martin's remixes were far superior to the originals. This, of course, begs a question: why were the first 4 albums not similarly remixed to the same superior status? If fidelity to the original releases is the answer then it is rendered facile by the shown preferences for the 1987 versions of Help! & Rubber Soul. But wait a moment: the original mixes have been made available to the Mono Box where they appear on the same discs as their magnificent mono counterparts. So what on earth are they doing in the Mono Box when they are in stereo? What was so wrong about providing extra consumer value by placing them after the George Martin remixes in the Stereo Box so we might all fuller appreciate, by means of direct comparison, the skill & precision of his late 80's labours? Sorry, but this doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

Let it Be apart, the quibbles are mostly concerned with the presentation & content of the first 6 albums, with those that followed sounding excellent. The anomalies outlined here tend to devalue the collection to these ears & cause the package to fall short of the highest expectations. It should also be noted that the Capitol Albums Volume 1 & 2 box sets featured the original mono & stereo mixes of 8 albums on the same discs- a strategy that Apple have evidently felt no need to repeat, regardless of its obvious desirability. Me, I'd love to have seen the same approach taken towards the British albums, but I'm beginning to suspect I might have to wait another 20 years for something quite that sensible.

If you're wanting to hear the Beatles sounding their best then it seems to me that, great as this music is, the Stereo Box doesn't quite make the grade & you are advised to obtain the Mono Box as well, while you still can in order to the likes of With The Beatles & Beatles For Sale in shockingly good quality. Recession? What recession?