As could be expected, Amazon
has the best price for The Beatles’ new box sets; the mono and stereo sets are
bundled together for $409.98. And by now, plenty of folks have chimed in on
what their money has gotten them. While it’s long been established that it
cannot buy you love, it can buy you –
in the case of the stereo version (best price at press time was $199.99 plus
shipping) – all 13 Studio remasters of Please
Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver,
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, Yellow Submarine,
Abbey Road, Let it Be and Past
Masters. Phew.
A DVD of all 13 mini-documentaries is included in a slick
box that Yoko could probably fit into if she really tried.
The mono version ($229.99 at press time) was originally
going to be released with a super-exclusive run of only 10,000 copies for deep-end
Beatlemaniacs. Here, you get more than you may have ever wanted out of the lads
from Liverpool – eleven albums (12 discs total), including Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, and in the
case of the rest – Help!, Rubber Soul,
Revolver, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, and The Beatles – the inclusion of each
record’s original stereo mix.
Why? Why would anyone want all this? Because The Beatles
are the greatest POP band in the history of rock music. The Rolling Stones are
the greatest ROCK band in the history of rock music. There’s a difference. But
really, it’s for collectors and audio geeks and well, average fans alike who
want to experience these cherished songs in a new way. For a lot of us, hearing
tiny things like Ringo’s drum throne squeaking or a fret buzz here and there
that wasn’t in any of the vinyls, tapes or CDs we’ve listened to all our lives
is thrilling in, yes, a pretty geeky sort of way.
Countless words have been written by now about the new
box sets. Everyone who’s had a chance to listen has chimed in. I for one can
say that for anyone who really knows The Beatles’ catalogue, even the hardest
of hardcore fans will delight in the myriad gems found on both new releases. So
save up that scratch, and take the long and winding road (or straight shot, if
you will) to rediscovering the music of the most influential rock – ahem – pop
band in rock history.
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