April 2009
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On September 9, 2009, after a nearly 22-year wait, digitally remastered versions of all of the Beatles studio albums will be released, a press release has confirmed. Each album will feature the track listings and artwork as it was originally released in the U.K. and come with expanded booklets including original and newly written liner notes and rare photos.

For a limited time, each of the Fab Four’s 12 proper albums will be “embedded” with a brief documentary about its making. The rereleases will include the Beatles’ 12 studio albums and Magical Mystery Tour as well as Past Masters Vol. I and II, which will be packaged as one collection. All 14 discs will be available with DVDs of the documentaries in a stereo box set, and a set titled The Beatles in Mono featuring 10 discs will also be released.


A crew of engineers at London’s Abbey Road Studios have spent four years working on the remasters using new technology and vintage equipment, the press release says, in an effort to preserve “the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings” and ensure “the highest fidelity the catalog has seen since its original release.”

9/9/09 promises to be a huge day in Beatles lore, as it’s the same day The Beatles: Rock Band will hit stores.

Preorders for the remasters are already popping up on Amazon.co.uk. Demand for Beatles remasters has steadily increased since 1987, when Capitol/EMI first released the Beatles’ discography on CD with what many audiophile fans deemed substandard sound quality compared to the original vinyl.

While it seems like other artists remaster their entire catalog every several years, Capitol/EMI have barely touched the Beatles’ discography since 1987, with the exception of 2004’s The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1 box set, which compiled and remastered the band’s first four American releases in stereo and mono formats. The soundtrack for the Beatles’ Love show also gave listeners a brief tease of how fantastic the band’s songs would sound if properly remastered.

The Beatles in Mono will include the 10 albums originally mixed for mono release, as well as two additional discs the press release says features similar songs to those on the Past Masters compilations. The mono versions of Help! and Rubber Soul will boast bonuses: the albums’ original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD, per the press release. The mono collection, like the stereo one, will include all original inserts and label designs, and the CDs are designed as tiny vinyl replicas.

The press release didn’t include news regarding a possible deal with iTunes or another digital-music vendor to distribute the catalog digitally: “Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalog will continue. There is no further information available at this time,” the press release reads. Both Apple Corps. and Paul McCartney have expressed reluctance to release the Beatles’ music digitally until all the albums had been remastered. The solo work of each of the four Beatles is available on iTunes.

The Beatles Remasters:

Please Please Me
With the Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
Beatles for Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles (The White Album)
Abbey Road
Let It Be
Past Masters
Yellow Submarine

Copycat said:

oh my god, i've spent so much money on these people. i don't know if i can do it again.

not to mention, 'sgt. pepper' was the first CD i ever owned. it was a christmas present i got with my first cd player, way back in the old timey days. i don't know if i could bear to replace it, even though i know i will one day need to.

...maybe if i just got a snazzy new reissue copy of 'revolver'....

Anxiety said:

for real I had just caught up with the releases that I wanted this decade.

Even though the sound on the existing copies is often criticized, once you've embedded that level of expectation with repeated listening... I find certain reissues difficult to adopt, even if the sound is "superior".

I'm gonna buy:

Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles
Abbey Road

I can't justify the expense of any more.

i have the replica anniversary reissue of the white album. i don't know how brilliantly remastered it is, but it sounds fine to me and the packaging is cute as can be. so i'll mark that one off the list.

Remaster all over again...then 5 years later there is going to be another after another...I am starting to not give a fuck anymore. My whole damn life I been hearing about them re releasing their old albums...

I'm trying to figure out who's the worst(best?) at these type of marketing maneuvers:

The Beatles owners
George Lucas
Pepe Wille

This is gonna be great.I'm gonna get the box set (stereo).

I'm getting both box's.

paisleypark4 said:

This is actually the only time they've done this, not like others who have countless "best of" and "anthologies" discs and pass them off with a remastered sticker. The Beatle cd's sound like shit, and sounded like shit back then, not as bad as the original Billy Joel cd's which are the lowest sound in history, u think Prince's "Sign o the times" is shitty, listen to the Billy Joel cds, not the remasters, but the originals from back then

paisleypark4 said:

This is actually the only time they've done this, not like others who have countless "best of" and "anthologies" discs and pass them off with a remastered sticker. The Beatle cd's sound like shit, and sounded like shit back then, not as bad as the original Billy Joel cd's which are the lowest sound in history, u think Prince's "Sign o the times" is shitty, listen to the Billy Joel cds, not the remasters, but the originals from back then

Yay!!!!

My wallet's gonna be lighter but dammit, I don't care. I've been waiting for these a LONG time.

One billion pounds more for Paul! I only have The White Album, Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper, time for me to get the others.

WildStyle said:

Really? Wow I wonder how much these box sets will cost?

SoulAlive said:

if i'm in a place where i can afford it without going to the poorhouse, i might get one of the box sets too. i like the idea of just getting the whole deal in one fell swoop and being done with it.

if i can't afford it, well, i'm happy with the beatles collection i already have...

lastdecember said:

Well I remember them doing some of those on SVCD's or whatever..then let It be Naked...#1's remastered Anthology 'remastered' even tho0ugh they were out-takes and then didnt they do the Beatles "One" or whatever with some new sound recordings or whatever.

Revolver, Sgt. Pepper, White Album, Magical Mystery Tour remastered? I may buy it but I will probably wait until it is at the used bin. I spent mad money on them already..thats my problem.