The Capitol Albums Vol.1 [Import, Box set, Limited Edition]

For those of you who have been waiting breathlessly for Capitol Records' infamous "Duophonic" (fake stereo) versions of the Beatles' catalog to appear on CD, well has Capitol got a treat for you!

"The Capitol Albums Vol. 1" contains the first four of Capitol Records' Beatles' albums (well, their first four music releases, as the 2-LP documentary "The Beatles' Story" came out on Capitol before "Beatles '65"...)

Yep, these are the reverb-laden Capitol mixes we all grew up with! For good or bad, this is what most of us remember. They're not the Beatles' albums as the Beatles envisioned them, but so what? They are a lot of fun to listen to!

So, what's good? Well, you get both the stereo and mono mixes of each album. When the Beatles' catalog was released on CD in 1987, only mono mixes of the first four albums were made available. This release is therefore the only place where you can get stereo mixes (albeit *reverb-laden* stereo mixes...). What's more, the sound quality is much better than the sound quality of the many "Capitol albums" bootlegs that have been on the market for years. It's great to have discs mastered from the original tapes! (Although, there is a glitch / dropout 18 seconds into the stereo version of "Don't Bother Me"...)

So, what's bad? That's easy! The packaging *really* stinks!

So, how is the packaging lousy? Well, the discs are inside small "reproductions" of the original jackets that aren't 100% faithful to the originals (compare them to your old LP's to see for yourself). The CDs themselves are also put into the jackets without any sort of protective inner sleeves. (There is a reason why records used to have protective inner sleeves! Unprotected records / CDs are easily scratched!) The CDs fall out very easily, so great care must be used when opening the set. The CD jackets are also quite shoddy looking with fuzzy printing and mismatched folds. Capitol should have spent more care in creating true "Mini LP" sleeves for this release. If bootleggers can create 100% accurate sleeve reproductions, then why can't Capitol/Apple?

Most of you will want to stop reading here. But, for you hardcore Beatle collectors out there, there's more!

These really *are* the original Capitol masters! The stereo version of "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand" *has* the strange noise in the vocal channel before the singing starts! The mono version of "When I Get Home" *has* the alternate vocal line! The mono version of "Any Time At All" *has* the mixed down piano during the instrumental break! For those of us who need to have all the known mixes, you *will* find the original Capitol mixes here!

And, even though Capitol's "Duophonic" (fake stereo) mixes are infamous, the fact is Capitol only really used them when true stereo mixes weren't available. These are the only songs in Duophonic:

Meet The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand, This Boy

The Beatles' Second Album - You Can't Do That, I'll Get You, She Loves You

Something New - (all are true stereo)

Beatles `65 - She's A Woman, I Feel Fine

One final note: The Japanese version of this title (on the Toshiba / EMI label) has slightly larger packaging, complete with nicely printed inner jackets and inner sleeves to put the CDs in. But, the Japanese release also contains "Copy Controlled" CDs, so that set isn't perfect either...)

Capitol did a tremendous job with the music here. They did exactly what they were supposed to do: take the original American Capitol stereo and mono mixes, transfer them cleanly and leave them alone. All of the original anomalies are here: Lennon's harmonica overdub on Thank You Girl, which was only in America, guitar overdub in Money, the extra verse in the US mono I'll Cry Instead (but not the stereo), the single-track McCartney vocal in the US mono And I Love Her, the extra reverb on both stereo and mono US versions of She's a Woman/I Feel Fine, the double-track intro vocal on the US stereo If I Fell, and so on. These are all here, exactly as they were on the US albums. And for that, Capitol deserves applause, because frankly I've been disappointed with the Yellow Submarine remaster, and Let It Be Naked. I don't like tampering. This box set is the genuine (American) article.

And it's worth preserving for what it was and is. The Beatles and George Martin both knew exactly why Capitol was releasing different versions of these records in America, and George Martin gave Capitol his stereo mixes for that purpose, after which Capitol added some reverb on certain songs, but the fact of the matter is that both Martin and the Beatles had no problem whatsoever with this practice. And by the way, the butcher cover of Y&T was NOT a protest against these American releases. That photo was a protest against the carnage of the Vietnam War. The band said it, and the photographer also says it. So stop the myth that it was an anti-Capitol photo. It was an ANTI-WAR photo.

I actually like the fake stereo and reverb from these US albums...it was a product of the times and of the era, and in fact the first four mono UK albums as they sound on the current EMI CDs are very flat, dull, and dry. This new Meet the Beatles beats the pants off With the Beatles. It's big and bold. The Beatles 65 material has never sounded better, listen to Baby's in Black. No comparison to the Beatles For Sale CD. For those who really wish to hear a cleaner version of With the Beatles, you can have some fun by taking these new mono mixes in this box set, and reconstructing With the Beatles from the tracks here on MTB and the 2nd Album. You'll make yourself a new version of WTB that sounds way better than the flimsy EMI disc.

With all of this said, I dock one star for the packaging. The album covers look discolored, not their original colors, worst offense. The sleeves force you to pull the disc out by your fingers and possibly smudge the disc, second offense. The cardboard packaging is ridiculously cheap, third offense, and the booklet is irrelevant and useless, fourth offense.

My suggestion? Get the "Beatles On Capitol Records" book, scan the covers from there because they look much better, print out your own front and back covers, and put these discs in jewel cases to keep them safe. That's what I've just spent an hour doing, and the packaging is now in the trash. Terrible job on the packaging, but I have to say, kudos to Capitol, they did a great job musically by cleaning up the American tapes, and then leaving them the hell alone.

I am about as big a fan of the Beatles' music as there is, yet this will constitute the 3rd negative review I have made of a recent Beatles release (see also my excoriating blasts at the HDN DVD and Let It Be Naked fiascos). The big music execs just can't get it right when it comes to the Fab Four. They are getting right for the Stones and the Who, though it took 2 or 3 times around the catalog for the Bowie, Hendrix, Kinks, and Elvis Costello people to get it right. The Beatles need and deserve remastering of the basic albums (AND MOVIES), great packaging, and lots of extras for the digital age. Is that so difficult to grasp? Apparently so, as we continue to get hack jobs done to material that is really culturally and artistically sacred.

Here, the music part is not so bad, really. I have been listening a lot to the stereo versions on a boom box in the bathroom, or in the car, and they sound great to me. I have not scrutinized them sonically, as I am just transported by having the music in the order that I originally heard it, and which my brain is wired for. In the car, I found that Beatles '65 was skipping a lot, which to me indicates an inferior CD pressing. Plus, the packaging is SO bad (see below)that I did not want to risk an accident trying to handle it in the car. So, I am a happy idiot when it comes to the music part: these are the versions I used to play on my little red Mattel "Show n' Tell" record player, and the ones I heard on the Beatles cartoon show. (Now THERE'S an item that should be put on DVD!) I easily accepted the British issues when they came out on CD, as I already had many of the imports on vinyl, and was used to the "official" versions. But, I must admit, I like these Capitol versions a tad better due to the deep neurological factor. If you are about 45 or older you will know what I am talking about.

After reading about 50 or so customer reviews, I think the consensus about the packaging is clear: it is hazardous to the health of your pricey Capitol CD's. The discs slide into cute little paper sleeves and there is nothing to protect the CD, and it very easily slips out unless you are ready to catch it. In fact, the entire guts of this package falls out if you let your guard down for one sec. But when you put the sleeves back in--well, they catch on some inner folds and then it takes quite a lot of effort to put the whole thing back together. And the printing is painfully small, esp. considering the 45+ nostalgia crowd this dingus is aimed at: HELLO!!--we are all suffering from failing vision in this age group. Really, about the crappiest box set design I've ever seen. In the pre-release stage, how could this fundament get past record execs, consumer focus groups, Beatle lawyers/reps/family members etc., not to mention Paul and Ringo? I mean, how many interested parties were asleep at the wheel here even BEFORE the set came out?

It is all part of the ongoing, disturbing way that the Beatles are being "handled" by the industry--and by themselves. It really shows a lack of respect for consumers and for the Beatles' music & legacy. Paul & Ringo (and George Martin for that matter)--where are you guys? This was your gift to the world--why let it be treated so shoddy now, when great (though lesser) artists get the royal red carpet treatment? Wake up, lads, and let's get it right!!!

(And, while you're at it--make sure that the Hollywood Bowl and Rarities albums get put out, and how about the Shea Stadium concert on DVD, or a whole series of live DVD's--and the cartoon show. The bootleggers make 'em and sell 'em, and even though they are of dubious quality, lots of people buy them. And, of course, HELP! and Let It Be need a respectable release on DVD. Or, just continue to let flunkeys put out inferior pablum. I would quit my day job to help out, so just let me know when and where to show up!)

Addendum July 2010: By now, the average Beatle fan will know that there was a rather outstanding set of Beatle remasters that came out in 2009, in separate stereo and mono sets, each following the British catalogue. The consensus seems to be that this release killed any hope of a Capitol Releases Vol. 3, which is too bad, as it would have been nice to have Revolver, Beatles' Story, Sgt. Pepper, and Magical Mystery Tour with that great Capitol sound and those rainbow inner labels.

Though I hammered away on the packaging in this review, I hope it is clear that the music sounds really, really good, especially the stereo versions, and this is true for both sets of Capitol releases. The Capitol versions get a lot negative press because they hacked up the song order, and because they added compression and reverb. Well, what ever they did to the sound, it is very present and alive, and I am not complaining!!

The Beatles' stereo releases prior to Revolver or Pepper generally get a lot of flack for being so drastically panned as far as having the voices on one side and the music on the other--and there is some validity to this criticism, which is true for both British and American versions, by the way. If you are looking for the best mono versions, I would suggest going with the Sept. 2009 mono box set rather than relying on the Capitol mono versions. The deal on the latter is that, rather than being true mono mixes, they are "folded down" which means that the stereo version was recast in a faux mono format, more or less. The mono mixes from the 9/09 are the authentic Abbey Road mono mixes that George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and the Fabs themselves sweated bullets over. They sound superb! The downside is that at present you can ONLY get these as a box set, and the sticker price new is still rather high. Perhaps eventually they will be sold singly, or, as with the Capitol versions, have the mono and stereo versions on one disc. As Beatle albums tend to come in around 30 minutes, it would not be a problem to do this. Time will tell.

I think the main attraction of this set is really for the American listener who wants to recreate the sound and song-order of the Beatles' vinyl albums. You will not be disappointed! The purists will tell you that Capitol monkeyed with the sound, but that is not the point: you get a different kind of purity with these sets--the purity of hearing it just like you heard it the first time around!!!