The Beatles - The Beatles Stereo Box Set (2009)
Artist: The Beatles
Title: The Beatles Stereo Box Set
Year Of Release: 2009
Label: Apple Records
Genre: Rock, Pop Rock, British Invasion, Psychedelic
Quality: Mp3 320 / Flac (tracks)
Total Time: 10:19:51
Total Size: 1,5/4,0 Gb
WebSite: Album Preview
Title: The Beatles Stereo Box Set
Year Of Release: 2009
Label: Apple Records
Genre: Rock, Pop Rock, British Invasion, Psychedelic
Quality: Mp3 320 / Flac (tracks)
Total Time: 10:19:51
Total Size: 1,5/4,0 Gb
WebSite: Album Preview
Tracklist:
CD 1:
01. I Saw Her Standing There
02. Misery
03. Anna (Go To Him)
04. Chains
05. Boys
06. Ask Me Why
07. Please Please Me
08. Love Me Do
09. P.S. I Love You
10. Baby It's You
11. Do You Want To Know A Secret
12. A Taste Of Honey
13. There's A Place
14. Twist And Shout
CD 2:
01. It Won't Be Long
02. All I've Got To Do
03. All My Loving
04. Don't Bother Me
05. Little Child
06. Till There Was You
07. Please Mister Postman
08. Roll Over Beethoven
09. Hold Me Tight
10. You Really Got A Hold On Me
11. I Wanna Be Your Man
12. Devil In Her Heart
13. Not A Second Time
14. Money (That's What I Want)
CD 3:
01. A Hard Day's Night
02. I Should Have Known Better
03. If I Fell
04. I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
05. And I Love Her
06. Tell Me Why
07. Can't Buy Me Love
08. Any Time At All
09. I'll Cry Instead
10. Things We Said Today
11. When I Get Home
12. You Can't Do That
13. I'll Be Back
CD 4:
01. No Reply
02. I'm A Loser
03. Baby's In Black
04. Rock And Roll Music
05. I'll Follow The Sun
06. Mr. Moonlight
07. Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!
08. Eight Days A Week
09. Words Of Love
10. Honey Don't
11. Every Little Thing
12. I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
13. What You're Doing
14. Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
CD 5:
01. Help!
02. The Night Before
03. You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
04. I Need You
05. Another Girl
06. You're Going To Lose That Girl
07. Ticket To Ride
08. Act Naturally
09. It's Only Love
10. You Like Me Too Much
11. Tell Me What You See
12. I've Just Seen A Face
13. Yesterday
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
CD 6:
01. Drive My Car
02. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
03. You Won't See Me
04. Nowhere Man
05. Think For Yourself
06. The Word
07. Michelle
08. What Goes On
09. Girl
10. I'm Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life
CD 7:
01. Taxman
02. Eleanor Rigby
03. I'm Only Sleeping
04. Love You To
05. Here, There And Everywhere
06. Yellow Submarine
07. She Said She Said
08. Good Day Sunshine
09. And Your Bird Can Sing
10. For No One
11. Doctor Robert
12. I Want To Tell You
13. Got To Get You Into My Life
14. Tomorrow Never Knows
CD 8:
01. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
02. With A Little Help From My Friends
03. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
04. Getting Better
05. Fixing A Hole
06. She's Leaving Home
07. Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite!
08. Within You Without You
09. When I'm Sixty-Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life
CD 9:
01. Magical Mystery Tour
02. The Fool On The Hill
03. Flying
04. Blue Jay Way
05. Your Mother Should Know
06. I Am The Walrus
07. Hello Goodbye
08. Strawberry Fields Forever
09. Penny Lane
10. Baby You're A Rich Man
11. All You Need Is Love
CD 10:
01. Back In The U.S.S.R.
02. Dear Prudence
03. Glass Onion
04. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
05. Wild Honey Pie
06. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
07. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
08. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
09. Martha My Dear
10. I'm So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies
13. Rocky Raccoon
14. Don't Pass Me By
15. Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
16. I Will
17. Julia
CD 11:
01. Birthday
02. Yer Blues
03. Mother Nature's Son
04. Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
05. Sexy Sadie
06. Helter Skelter
07. Long, Long, Long
08. Revolution 1
09. Honey Pie
10. Savoy Truffle
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Revolution 9
13. Good Night
CD 12:
01. Yellow Submarine
02. Only A Northern Song
03. All Together Now
04. Hey Bulldog
05. It's All Too Much
06. All You Need Is Love
07. Pepperland
08. Sea Of Time
09. Sea Of Holes
10. Sea Of Monsters
11. March Of The Meanies
12. Pepperland Laid Waste
13. Yellow Submarine In Pepperland
CD 13:
01. Come Together
02. Something
03. Maxwell's Silver Hammer
04. Oh! Darling
05. Octopus's Garden
06. I Want You (She's So Heavy)
07. Here Comes The Sun
08. Because
09. You Never Give Me Your Money
10. Sun King
11. Mean Mr. Mustard
12. Polythene Pam
13. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
14. Golden Slumbers
15. Carry That Weight
16. The End
17. Her Majesty
CD 14:
01. Two Of Us
02. Dig A Pony
03. Across The Universe
04. I Me Mine
05. Dig It
06. Let It Be
07. Maggie Mae
08. I've Got A Feeling
09. One After 909
10. The Long And Winding Road
11. For You Blue
12. Get Back
CD 15:
01. Love Me Do (Original Single Version)
02. From Me To You
03. Thank You Girl
04. She Loves You
05. I'll Get You
06. I Want To Hold Your Hand
07. This Boy
08. Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand
09. Sie Liebt Dich
10. Long Tall Sally
11. I Call Your Name
12. Slow Down
13. Matchbox
14. I Feel Fine
15. She's A Woman
16. Bad Boy
17. Yes It Is
18. I'm Down
CD 16:
01. Day Tripper
02. We Can Work It Out
03. Paperback Writer
04. Rain
05. Lady Madonna
06. The Inner Light
07. Hey Jude
08. Revolution
09. Get Back (With Billy Preston)
10. Don't Let Me Down (With Billy Preston)
11. The Ballad Of John And Yoko
12. Old Brown Shoe
13. Across The Universe
14. Let It Be
15. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
The Beatles always stood apart from their peers, a self-evident statement that sadly extended to the treatment of their catalog in the digital age. Where all their peers from the Byrds to the Who have had their catalogs remastered and reissued in deluxe editions, sometimes several times, the Beatles remained stuck in the early days of digital, their 14 albums plus Past Masters singles collection remaining untouched since 1987. Anniversaries came and went, but no remasters arrived until the release of the video game The Beatles Rockband pushed a long-overdue revamping of the band's entire catalog into the stores on 9-9-09. This reissue campaign corrects almost all the problems of the original 1987 CDs: the sound and artwork are improved, and all the original mono and stereo mixes finally see the light of day. Naturally, it's possible to quibble about some details of the presentation, particularly the decision to split the reissue into two separate box sets, one covering the stereo mixes and one the mono mixes, with only the stereo mixes available as individual discs (it's still possible to complain that the albums do not add era-specific singles or outtakes, but such expansions were never really in the cards), but both boxes still constitute the best Beatles by far. Crucially, it's also inarguably the best-sounding Beatles music ever released, robust and rich even on the earliest rock & roll. None of the albums have been remixed -- although Help! and Rubber Soul retain Martin's 1987 mixes, the original stereo mixes are bonuses on the mono set -- so this doesn't shock the way the Yellow Submarine soundtrack did with its reimagined stereo mixes. Nevertheless, these remasters surely do surprise with their clarity and depth, with each album feeling bigger and fuller than the previous CD incarnation, but not artificially so. It's not that these are pumped up on digital steroids; it's that the veil has been lifted, so everything seems full and fresh. Appropriately, there's more to savor from Help! onward, as the Beatles' productions grew ambitious, but Please Please Me, With the Beatles, and A Hard Day's Night all have a strong punch, while Beatles for Sale is warmer than the previous disc.
As a package, the stereo box is slightly unwieldy -- it's a large, vertical set with two stacks of discs in slick cardboard sleeves piled on top of each other. No extra book is included with the set, but each disc has its own booklet with dry, straightforward liner notes detailing the recording process instead of analyzing the music. If anything about the set could be called disappointing, it's the mini-documentaries attached to each disc as Quicktime files and collected on a DVD bonus for the box. "Mini-documentary" may even be stretching what these are: they're three to five infomercials about the albums, not much more informative than the notes themselves. Nevertheless, these do offer annotation, something sorely lacking from the first CDs, and they do replicate the original notes -- in the case of Magical Mystery Tour, including the entire storybook; in the case of Pepper, all the 20th anniversary annotation is added -- finally bringing the Beatles to the same standard for reissues that every other major (and most minor) bands have had for years now. And the story, at least for the stereo box, is not the packaging -- it's the glorious sound that makes this such a treat. There's also no question that those who waited 22 years to hear a better version of the Beatles will not be disappointed (although they may still wonder why it took so long for the Fabs to be treated as they deserve).
As a package, the stereo box is slightly unwieldy -- it's a large, vertical set with two stacks of discs in slick cardboard sleeves piled on top of each other. No extra book is included with the set, but each disc has its own booklet with dry, straightforward liner notes detailing the recording process instead of analyzing the music. If anything about the set could be called disappointing, it's the mini-documentaries attached to each disc as Quicktime files and collected on a DVD bonus for the box. "Mini-documentary" may even be stretching what these are: they're three to five infomercials about the albums, not much more informative than the notes themselves. Nevertheless, these do offer annotation, something sorely lacking from the first CDs, and they do replicate the original notes -- in the case of Magical Mystery Tour, including the entire storybook; in the case of Pepper, all the 20th anniversary annotation is added -- finally bringing the Beatles to the same standard for reissues that every other major (and most minor) bands have had for years now. And the story, at least for the stereo box, is not the packaging -- it's the glorious sound that makes this such a treat. There's also no question that those who waited 22 years to hear a better version of the Beatles will not be disappointed (although they may still wonder why it took so long for the Fabs to be treated as they deserve).
