Beatles remasters - any thoughts?

[Simon Lucas]

Our remasters arrived this morning and from a brief listen (Come Together and Oh! Darling) I'd say they're worth spending out on.

This will be the last time I buy The Beatles' albums on CD, though. Absolutely, positively.

 

[Charlie Jefferson]

Yes, me too.

Well, at least until the 180g vinyl and the 24bit/192kHz BD inevitably get released.

I'm collecting my Mono Box after work, can't wait!

 

[fatboyslimfast]

My mono set was dispatched yesterday, but apparantly is coming from "europe", so I'll probably be waiting until next week. Arrgh! I did get it for £160 from Amazon though with their free shipping, so can't moan too much.

I did sneakily download PPM from t'interweb last night (I'm thinking that as I've purchased the box set, have the original CD and 2 x vinyl copies (mono/stereo), I'm probably covered legally!!!), and even though the download was MP3 @ 160-192VBR, it is a noticable improvement over my lossless rip of the CD. Can't wait for the box to arrive now!!!

EDIT: Oooo - just checked Amazon and it's due for delivery tomorrow...Horrah!

 

[daveh75]

Well my boxset's have just turned up,and i've got the day off so will be giving them a listen in due course!

Hmmm,now the hard bit, Mono or Stereo first,and which album?

 

[Clare Newsome]

We're working on a blog, too....

 

[hammill]

It has been delayed until the 21st. I will probably buy it, although I have no use for the post seconds out albums.

 

[Anonymous]

daveh75:
Well my boxset's have just turned up,and i've got the day off so will be giving them a listen in due course!

Hmmm,now the hard bit, Mono or Stereo first,and which album?

Mine arrived 11-30. Same decision. Haven't taken the wrapping off yet.

Got mine from Idealworld, came with 2 advertising posters

 

[the record spot]

Pete Shields:
Anybody got their mitts on the remasters yet?

Would be nice to hear whether they are actually any good compared to the 1987 releases, and whether they are worth the extra outlay.

Also back to Prog, anybody going to buy the Genesis live collection when it shows on the 14th September. Would like to hear a less sanitised version of seconds out....

Pete, we are obviously kindred spirits, we both like Genesis and you've got some (excellent) Mission 751s.

As for the Genesis live boxset, there won't be a cat in hell's chance I'll be splashing the cash with this set. Given the last three have all been offered in full 5.1 (not a big thing for me, but I know others for whom it is) and SACD, with substantial extras in some cases, this is a pale imitation. No SACD, only some titles in 5.1, a reissue of the Rainbow 73 gig, albeit in 5.1 and with a couple of extra tracks for that show, but much of this was already put out on 1998s "Archive Vol. 1" set.

If this was going on sale at £50 then fine. Trouble is, it's going out at the same price as all the other sets they did, so expect to pay £85 upwards. Total scam, the Genesis cash cow milking machine went into overdrive with this one.

 

[Pete Shields]

the record spot:Pete Shields:

Anybody got their mitts on the remasters yet?

Would be nice to hear whether they are actually any good compared to the 1987 releases, and whether they are worth the extra outlay.

Also back to Prog, anybody going to buy the Genesis live collection when it shows on the 14th September. Would like to hear a less sanitised version of seconds out....

Pete, we are obviously kindred spirits, we both like Genesis and you've got some (excellent) Mission 751s. As for the Genesis live boxset, there won't be a cat in hell's chance I'll be splashing the cash with this set. Given the last three have all been offered in full 5.1 (not a big thing for me, but I know others for whom it is) and SACD, with substantial extras in some cases, this is a pale imitation. No SACD, only some titles in 5.1, a reissue of the Rainbow 73 gig, albeit in 5.1 and with a couple of extra tracks for that show, but much of this was already put out on 1998s "Archive Vol. 1" set. If this was going on sale at £50 then fine. Trouble is, it's going out at the same price as all the other sets they did, so expect to pay £85 upwards. Total scam, the Genesis cash cow milking machine went into overdrive with this one.

 

[matengawhat]

mines somewhere on the M6 on its way from Amazon - to tight to pay for postage so now just having to wait for it to turn up - I'm guessing Friday

 

[Clare Newsome]

Mine finally turned up an hour ago - once I fought my way through the acres of cellophane (boxset's wrapped plus the individual discs) i'm v.impressed by the presentation, sonic and physical...

 

[Pete Shields]

Record Spot,I've just been reading some similar comments regarding the Genesis Live Box set on Amazon. Lots of disappointed Genesis fans about). I have both archive box sets and am amazed that the new set can't be substantially filled out with decent content.

The genesis archive (especially during the Collins era) I'm sure is full of videos/DVD's bootleg gigs taken from radio shows, etc. I read on a forum at the time of the last tour, that Tony Banks was considering trawling through the live archive and releasing MP3's of the best bootleg gigs via the website. Maybe they have that in mind for the future....maybe even another boxset. Another problem is that the studio albums were chock full of extras, and included concert footage, that would have been better suited in this boxset. Maybe they cocked up with that.

I'll just have to wait until the albums are released individually - all I really want is seconds out (this would then be the 4th time i've purchased it!).

My Mission 751's have given me great service over the years and are in immaculate condition - look as good as new, after close to 15 years of ownership (although some of this was bubble wrapped in the loft). I think it's now time for an upgrade (my eldest will inherit them in his room with my old Arcam delta 90 amp) so the box set allowance will go towards the new set of speakers....

 

[crang]

Hi all sorry to go slihtly "off thread" anybody tried searching Spotify for the beatles? no results? I am guessing this is something to do with MJ having all their rights?

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Nope, an Apple Corps thing - they want more money per single than everyone else apparantly...

 

[Clare Newsome]

Still rumours that The Beatles will be on iTunes by the end of today - we'll be blogging live from tonight's Apple event, so will let you know.

What I know now - from just having ripped my CD remaster of Abbey Road - is that iTunes won't let me download the artwork. Grrrr.

 

[hammill]

Record Spot,

what you says is true, On the Genesis forum, this release has caused a lot of anger for the reasons you describe..

The problem for me is that I really want Genesis Live, Rainbow 73 and Seconds Out in 5:1 and it looks like this will be the only way to get it as the single releases are apparently going to be cd only (and no rainbow at all).

BTW you can get it for under £75 at the moment inc p&p

 

[Fenton Beasley]

I have a little longer to wait than most. I live in Perth, Australia so as with everything we Perth residents require, we have to wait for it to come over "from the east". We only got electricity last year!

My mono box was sent today but won't be here until next week sometime. There is one good thing about not living in rip-off-Britain and that's not paying £200 from Amazon UK for it. I only paid £151.

Some people have taken to downloading the Flac torrents from certain websites - that's terrible

 

[fatboyslimfast]

Clare Newsome:What I know now - from just having ripped my CD remaster of Abbey Road - is that iTunes won't let me download the artwork. Grrrr..

Well, not automatically anyway.

But you can "borrow" the images off google images (i.e. save them to the hard disk), then select all the tracks of the album in itunes List View (or just right click the album in Grid view), then "get info", double click the artwork box, and select the piccy you downloaded...

 

[Andrew Everard]

Chris Gilsons' blog on the subject now online

 

[Clare Newsome]

fatboyslimfast:Clare Newsome:What I know now - from just having ripped my CD remaster of Abbey Road - is that iTunes won't let me download the artwork. Grrrr..

Well, not automatically anyway.

But you can "borrow" the images off google images (i.e. save them to the hard disk), then select all the tracks of the album in itunes List View (or just right click the album in Grid view), then "get info", double click the artwork box, and select the piccy you downloaded...

Yep, know all that (but thanks on behalf of those who didn't) - just don't have the time right now!

Still listening through the albums - just swore very loudly in delight at the excellence of Blackbird

 

[Clare Newsome]

Blimey, my hard drive is struggling to take all the albums in Lossless

 

[the record spot]

I hear Cray might be selling off some of their old stock...

 

[manicm]

Fenton Beasley:ElectroMan:

Didn't he also say he thought it was all rubbish, apart from A Day in the Life?

Yes he did, and he was right. It was all rubbish

I know you're jerking, but John Lennon never said anything of the sort, he loved what he did in the Beatles.

 

[hammill]

the record spot:I hear Cray might be selling off some of their old stock...

Those were the days. The only super computer with its own sofa

 

[Gerrardasnails]

Clare Newsome:
fatboyslimfast:Clare Newsome:What I know now - from just having ripped my CD remaster of Abbey Road - is that iTunes won't let me download the artwork. Grrrr..

Well, not automatically anyway.

But you can "borrow" the images off google images (i.e. save them to the hard disk), then select all the tracks of the album in itunes List View (or just right click the album in Grid view), then "get info", double click the artwork box, and select the piccy you downloaded...

Yep, know all that (but thanks on behalf of those who didn't) - just don't have the time right now!

Still listening through the albums - just swore very loudly in delight at the excellence of Blackbird

I've just read this and it has tipped the balance for me...

"Don't buy if you don't want to spend the money. No-one's forcing you.
I'm in audio/TV myself and can tell you they've almost certainly spent longer in the studio remastering these than they did recording them. It's not like these are free of cost.

And as someone who has listened to all the mono and stereo mixes and even has a dansette to listen to the odd 45 in crackly mono....please shut up about the mono's being definitive and the best sounding. Absolute nonsense. The Beatles didn't attend their mixes much, stereo mixes were done at the time as any of the studio reference books will tell you. Mono didn't sound better it was just the most common format. Now we have proper stereos, the stereo versions (and if the remastered stuff out so far is anything to go by) sound infinitely better.

I've heard so much nonsense on these pages about compression and EQ etc. In fact if we are complaining about anything it should be that they are not making these available as SACD or DVDaudio discs (and yes please for those 5,1 mixes) so we can, at last, hear the full bandwidth. No way are the people at Abbey Road going to do a bad job on something so close to their own hearts.

I went to Abbey Road once and heard the remastered Yellow Submarine on the big speakers. Vinyl, followed by current CD, followed by the remaster. No fool would have chosen anything but the remaster if you were interested in detail, bass, power, realism. The vinyl was ok, the current CD pretty awful and the remaster was eye poppingly good.

If you want to live in a backwards world with everything sucked back into a narrow soundfield, good for you. Perhaps you should also get rid of your freeview and buy a portable black and white TV etc.

The Beatles did not obsess over every detail - they worked far too fast for that - and neither should we.

I look forward to the angry replies but seriously. Just play the things side by side and stop talking nonsense.". Amazon reviewer.