by admin on January 9, 2010
I’m sure you’ve already heard a lot about The Beatles 2009 remasters. They’ve got a huge amount of of hype considering that they are essentially re-releases of music that most people who are buying them already own.
As someone who grew to love The Beatles music from their 1980s CDs I think that their great song writing and their great performances are far more important than variations in sound quality from one format to another but that doesn’t mean that I wasn’t excited about the 2009 remasters. After all, I had heard plenty about how the ’80s discs were not of the highest quality since digital mastering was in it’s infancy at the time and audio engineers of the time just didn’t have the same advanced tools and knowledge that they do today.
But hearing the original mono mixes for the first time was even more exciting than hearing those remasters for the first time. Until the new Beatles in Mono box set was released I had never heard some of the greatest Beatles albums the way they were originally intended to be heard. It can be difficult to understand today since we are so far removed from it, but at the time mono was the standard way to listen to music. Stereo was mostly the domain of hi-end “audiophiles” who, for the most part, had little interest in popular music (although The Beatles both directly and indirectly have changed that since then. )
It was (and still is) a really wonderful listening experience to hear Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band how the band and George Martin first mixed it (and how the majority of Beatles fans originally heard it) in the ’60s. There are easily noticeable differences in these mono versions when compared to the stereo versions that I had previously been used to. It’s not so much that they’re better (because I often prefer the stereo mixes) but that they sound different. I love being able to hear those differences.
Along with the box sets (stereo and mono) there’s also an all digital version of The Beatles in Stereo which is known as The Beatles USB. This is actually the very first release of the legendary band’s music in the mp3 format but there’s actually something more exciting than just the inclusion of their entire catalog in remastered stereo in high quality mp3s (although that is cool, isn’t it?) What is that more exciting thing? That the USB flash drive also includes 44. 1kHz/24bit FLAC files.
These 24bit FLAC files are actually of higher quality than 16bit CD files which means that The Beatles USB actually contains the highest quality version of The Beatles remasters available (until, of course, the remastered catalog gets released in 96kHz/24bit or even 192kHz/24bit on DVD and/or blu-ray in the future. )
Of course these remasters haven’t been only been made available for listening, they’ve also been made available for playing with The Beatles Rock Band. And if you’re someone who automatically think you’re not interested in video games, I beg of you to keep an open mind. This is a really fun game. I am not someone who plays video games normally, but I absolutely love The Beatles Rock Band. It’s fantastic.
The Beatles Stereo & Mono Remasters are both essential to any Beatles fans collection. The Beatles Remasters have been long anticipated and by all accounts The Beatles Remasters exceeded all expectations.
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by admin on January 6, 2010
If you’re a Beatles fan who already owns all of their albums on CD I can understand feeling like it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to buy the new remastered Beatles CDs. You maybe thinking “How much difference does it really make?” or “I’ve already spent hundreds of dollars on The Beatles CDs, do I really need to spend more?” Yes, I can understand this feeling, but I completely disagree with it! I bought the Beatles box sets as soon as they became available for pre-order and in this article I hope to explain why all other serious Beatles fans should also buy these CD box sets.
I think the importance of the Mono Box Set is actually quite obvious. This is the first time that these original mono mixes have been made available on CD. And it doesn’t take too much of a history lesson to understand why these mono mixes matter so much. These were the mixes that the band itself worked on so hard in the 1960s. These were the mixes that they thought of as the real final version of their albums. Why? Because throughout most of the 1960s (up until the final couple of years) mono was the “standard” by which almost everyone listened to their music so it made sense for The Beatles to work much harder on the mono mixes than on the stereo mixes. Believe it or not, stereo was thought by many to be a “fad” at the time.
So clearly these original mono mixes are an important part of the history of The Beatles and anyone who wants to hear their music as it was originally hears in the ’60s should be very curious to hear these new mixes. But there’s more to it than that. It’s not just about the historical importance of these mono mixes and a “curiosity factor. ” Lots of Beatles fans have claimed that these mono versions of famous albums such as Sgt. Pepper are actually better than the stereo versions. John Lennon himself said that the mono Sgt. Pepper was much better than the stereo mix.
The Mono Box Set includes The Beatles first 10 UK studio albums (all of them up through the self title double album that’s known as The White Album) and a compilation of non album tracks in their original mono titled Mono Masters. This non album tracks compilation is actually a vital part of this box set because many of The Beatles greatest songs were never included on a studio album (including “Hey Jude” & “Day Tripper” among many others. ) Beyond the music, this box set also includes some very cool packaging, most notably the vinyl replica artwork for each album in the collection.
A cool bonus feature of the Mono Box Set is that it also includes the original stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul which had been lost to history because both albums were remixed for stereo in 1987 when The Beatles albums were first released on CD. This is the first time that the original stereo mixes of these two albums will be released on CD.
The importance of the remastered Stereo Box Set may not be quite as obvious but it should be noted that these new stereo versions of The Beatles classic albums will be the new “standard” these will be the only versions of the albums available for sale as individual CDs. In other words these are going to be the CDs that everyone else is hearing, don’t you want to know what they’re hearing? Plus these newly remastered versions should reveal interesting new details in The Beatles music that you may not have heard before due to an unprecedented clarity in the recordings.
Johnny Moon recommends that all Beatles fans: Buy The Stereo Box Set and The Mono Box Set. Read this Music Blog for cool Beatles related articles.
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by admin on December 28, 2009
by admin on October 11, 2009
I am a big fan of the Beatles and wrote many articles about how The Beatles are great. I have written about their greatest albums (The White Album, Revolver, Abbey Road, Sgt Pepper, etc.) but today I decided to do something a little different. What about The Beatles' worst album! I decided to consider only their official UK studio albums to make it more difficult (or I could choose a compilation made by the terrible record company at one time or another).
# 1 Yellow Submarine
The Yellow Submarine album contained only six songs of the Beatles true Instrumentals (the rest was rather boring created by their producer George Martin.) And these two songs ( "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love") had already been released. This means that there were only four new songs on the album.
Two of these were songs by George Harrison ( "It's All Too Much" and "Only A Northern Song.") One was by Paul McCartney ( "All Together Now") and one by John Lennon ( " ; Hey Bulldog. ") I actually think" Hey Bulldog "and" It's All Too Much "to rescue the album from being a total loss of time. These are two of the coolest and least known songs of the Beatles. "All Together Now" and "Only A Northern Song" is a bit subpar standards Beatles, I suppose, but I like them.
Usually I classify this album so low because he has so little new to him, not that new hardware is not good (even if it is not as great as it was normally.) What is cool is that even with the worst Beatles album there were gems that deserve to be listened to (at least before it reaches those who are instrumental a bit of a snooze fest.)
# 2 With The Beatles
The second Beatles album lacks the energy and punch of their first album, Please Me Please. It is much too heavy on the covers (and for the most part, the blankets are not particularly well done) and new songs are not particularly fantastic (except for "All My Loving" of course.) That said, I 'still love the album pretty well. I like their cover of "You've Really Got A Hold On Me" by Smokey Robinson. This album is actually ranked # 420 on the magazine Rolling Stone's 500 best albums of all time, which is either proof of the greatness The Beatles were even when they were not so important or evidence that may may be they are a bit overrated.
# 3 Please Please Me
The first Beatles album was among the worst in my opinion. Historically, it is obviously very important and I'm listening to it for these reasons. It also includes a start of some great songs like "Please Please Me" and "I Saw Her Standing There" with one of their greatest covers "Twist & Shout".
But Rolling Stone this class as the best album of all time as the 39th and big fan of the Beatles as I am, I must say that is ridiculous. They rank above actually Night A Hard Day's? They rank above Let it Be? They rank above Magical Mystery Tour? And your help!? I'm not really a serious manner. I'd love listening instead to one of these albums as I Please Please. Yes, it was their first album and yes it has an energy "certain" to him as 10 of the 14 songs were recorded in one day (the other 4 had already been released on singles), but it's just not very good.
Dishonorable mention: Beatles For Sale. You probably expect to see Beatles For Sale on this list because it is probably the most maligned on this side of the Beatles album Yellow Submarine and if I had a 4th slot, I would have understood there. But I find most pleasing to hear that one of these three albums. Songs like "I'll Follow The Sun", "I" m A Loser, "&" Every Little Thing "certainly do makeup for me and for the covers (I do not want about 75 % of early Beatles cover songs.)
Matthew Yoho recommends the purchase of your next online guitar amp. You can also find great deals on electric guitars and acoustic guitar online.
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