New Beatles Box Sets

Slaw3: Having grown up on the American Capitol mix of "I Feel Fine", ever since radio switched over the CD remixes I've dearly missed hearing that gloriously reverb-laden version when it comes on while I'm driving in the car. OK, so the CD remixes were a bad idea from the start IMO -- I bought "Rubber Soul" back when it first came out just to see and practically got sick to my stomach, just awful -- and the comparitively threadbare version we hear on radio today is no more "correct" to my mind than Capitol's version, which at least is reflective of its historical period. As John Lennon said, the record's the thing -- there is no original performance to accurately recreate with a pop record; the sound of the record itself is the artwork, and that includes choices made in mastering which become part of our consciousness of that art. Stickin' with my 60's LP's and 45's...

I have only one Parlophone LP, a later pressing of the UK-only compilation "A Collection Of Beatles Oldies" (originally released for Xmas '66 and deleted not long after the group broke up). The cover art is great, but the sound doesn't strike me as anything special compared to Capitol and Apple releases of some of the same material.

RF: It's not that I "want" or "don't want" the pressings I have -- it's that they're either what I've always had since I was young, or what I've come across by chance in my used record scrounging (not at record stores -- at garage sales, thrift stores and such). The Beatles are nominally my favorite rock band of all time, but I don't pursue building my collection from either an audiophile or a Beatles-collector point of view, and have never paid money worth mentioning for any of it. I just have what I have, and to tell the truth, hardly ever listen to The Beatles at home, as it's so familiar and I'm always getting more not-so-familiar records to listen to. But maybe I ought to try one of the Parolophone CD's you mention, since I presently have no Beatles on CD -- any best bets to your mind?

RF: I was asking more about the sonic success of the CD, in your mind, than I was about the music -- of course we all know the music. Anyway, the 'White Album' was Apple on both sides of the pond (and sounds excellent in the US issue). What I'm interested in is, which Parlophone CD is the most significant improvement on its closest Capitol LP counterpart? Neither Sgt. Pepper or particularly Revolver sounds all that good on the Capitol LP, but the earlier releases are probably the ones Capitol altered the mastering of the most. Anyway, I don't know about the theory that the band "intended" the UK releases to sound the way they did -- they may sound better, but I doubt the group had anything to do with the mastering process (more likely that the different song selections were better reflective of what they had in mind).

I think I have all the DC5 Epic LP's, but they're no Beatles :-) I was born in '64 and was given my first Beatles record, Rubber Soul, around the time the group broke up (not that I knew), when I was six. That record (American version) is still my favorite Beatles album overall, and probably my favorite album ever, period. I have mint mono and stereo American versions and some later international pressings, but not an original Parlophone.

Jaybo: Your audiophile (or chef?) slip is showing -- there's no "block" in the butcher cover ;^) A friend of mine who's a hardcore Beatles collector owns I think three of them.

Thanks, but like I said, those are exactly the LPs of which the regular American Apple versions don't want for much in the way of sonics, particularly the former. It's more the Capitol stuff that would interest me if a superior-sounding CD version were available.