The Beatles in Stereo Box Set is the most popular of the “three flavors of remastered Beatles” currently available. While the Beatles in Mono set may appeal more to a “niche” audience of hardcore Beatles fans, this set really appeals to most Beatles fans.
Simply put, it includes every single song The Beatles released from 1962 through 1970 in glorious remastered stereo (these CDs sound far better than the old CDs.)
The remastering work on this legendary music was done with the highest quality equipment available. The music was captured from the original analog tape source and then very carefully remastered at 192kHz/24bit quality.
If you’re worried about the “loudness war” (and I can certainly understand that fear) then don’t be. They really did a tasteful job. Yes the bass is louder and the drums punch through the mix, but I mean that in the best way possible. They did not ruin the dynamics of these songs in the process of giving them a bit more punch.
What Does The Beatles Remastered Stereo Box Set Include?
- Remastered stereo versions of all 13 UK studio albums.
- Remastered Past Masters double disc set of non-album tracks.
- 13 mini-documentaries on each album contained on one DVD.
- Previously unpublished photographs.
- Extended liner notes for each album.
Sure, there’s more stuff to get for a truly “complete Beatles collection” but someone could be a long ways there with this stereo box set. Every song The Beatles released during their active career in incredible sounding remastered stereo? Yeah, that’s a pretty good start to the ultimate Beatles collection.
The Beatles in Mono Box Set is a Beatles purist’s drum come true. It is “The Beatles as they were meant to be heard” finally on CD (for the very first time.)
Stereo didn’t become the standard for popular music until the late 1960s after The Beatles had already recorded and released many of their greatest albums. Although they did release stereo mixes of their albums as well, it was the mono mixes that they spent the most time working on and that the vast majority of their fans listened to.
It wasn’t until The White Album (1968) that stereo became as important to The Beatles as mono, and then after that mono was phased out completely. The band’s final three albums (Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, & Let It Be) were only released in stereo.
The White Album was sort of the “transition” album as it was actually only released in stereo in the US, although both the mono and the stereo mixes were released in the UK.
I think there’s a noticeable change that happens in the way their music was mixed for stereo with this album. Prior to The White Album many of their stereo mixes were extremely wide (for example: all of the vocals on one side and all of the instruments on the other.) This is really unsettling, especially when listening on headphones.
But for their last few albums the band seemed to get the stereo mixes right a lot more than they got them wrong.
Of course all of those “wrong” stereo mixes are a part of the draw of the Beatles in Mono Box Set. Many of the band’s earlier songs were mixed so badly in stereo that they really do sound significantly better in mono.
Many people think that the mono mixes of their earlier songs are really much better than the stereo mixes. And I don’t just meant the really early songs like “She Loves You” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” there are also definitely those who believe that such legendary albums as Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band also sound better in mono. And it’s definitely true that the stereo mixes of those albums do have a lot of really wide panning that maybe isn’t the best way to hear those songs.
If you’re curious about The Beatles music as it was heard by most people in the 1960s then you should get The Beatles Mono Box Set.
The release of The Beatles USB represents two big things for Beatles fans: The debut of The Beatles in mp3 (320 kbps high quality mp3s!) and the debut of The Beatles in better than CD 24bit sound (24bit FLAC.)
This Apple themed USB memory stick is a digital (mp3 & FLAC) version of The Beatles Remastered Stereo Box Set. It includes all of the same gloriously remastered music (and these remasters really do sound outstanding) and all of the same visual elements (including the 13 mini documentaries on each Beatles album.)
A lot of people reading this will probably assume that by “Apple themed” I mean the computer company Apple that makes iPods (which these mp3s will work well with) and Mac computers (and the USB is compatible with both PC & Mac computers.)
But actually I mean the company that The Beatles formed in 1968 which now only exists for The Beatles music but at one time was pretty successful record label that signed some pretty big acts (besides, obviously, The Beatles.) They signed Badfinger and James Taylor among others.
Of course people expected that The Beatles digital release would be on ITunes and/or AmazonMP3 but The Beatles have managed to surprise the world again by releasing this USB memory stick instead. Perhaps at some point in the future their music will finally be released for digital download, but for now this is it!
Jackson Weinheimer – EzineArticles Expert Author- Pink Floyd's Remastered Discovery Box Set
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