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Beatles Stereo Box Set
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Beatles Mono Box Set
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The stereo boxed set includes newly remastered editions of 13 original Beatles albums – 12 British releases and the expanded American LP version of the U.K. EP Magical Mystery Tour – plus a new set compiling 1988’s two Past Masters CDs of non-album tracks. A team of top engineers worked for four years on the remasters, carefully employing state-of-the-art technology to upgrade these cherished titles for the first time in more than two decades. The first four English albums appear on CD in stereo for the first time. Each of the original ‘60s albums, which are packaged in miniature renderings of the LP sleeves, is enhanced with a new mini-documentary created by Bob Smeaton, writer-director of THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY. The stereo albums will also be sold individually.
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No less an authority than EMI engineer Geoff Emerick writes in his Beatles memoir Here, There and Everywhere, “In contrast to the way they carefully oversaw the original mono mixes, the group had expressed no interest in even being present when we did the [stereo] ones; that’s how little thought we all gave stereo in those days.” Many Beatles connoisseurs prize the mono versions of the albums highly. The new limited-edition box contains 10 Beatles albums in their original mono configuration, plus two discs of non-album mono tracks (similar to Past Masters). These mono editions are available only in the boxed set. As a bonus, the set – which also features mini-LP packaging -- includes original 1965 stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul. |
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9/9/09 : The Remarkable Return of The Beatles
by Chris Morris
The Beatles were a ubiquitous force during the ‘60s, and even if you resisted or even rejected their charms, their impact was so pervasive that they wound up working their way into your consciousness, no matter what your musical disposition might have been. Ambitious as they were, The Beatles probably had no inkling of the scope their achievements would attain when they stepped into EMI’s recording facility at 3 Abbey Road, London NW8, on June 6, 1962, for their audition session for the Parlophone label. (Excerpted. Read the full article here.)
The Beatles Biography
by Chris Morris
“This isn’t show business,” John Lennon said at the height of The Beatles’ success. “This is something else.”
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4
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What Is Your Favorite Beatles Album & Why?
Join the discussion on Facebook.
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"Picking my favorite Beatles album is almost an impossible task. There is so much great music to choose from. But when put on the spot, I must choose The White Album, as if not my favorite, at least the album that had the most effect on me. The time and the place that we came together was perfect. There were a lot of places to go to hide, as well as journey to, on those 4 sides of vinyl." - Craig Detwiler, Amoeba Berkeley |
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"The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour is my earliest memory of the Beatles' music. A genuine ride through colorful psychedelic abundance, even today it invokes the most innocent and almost childish feelings when listened to...Impossible to pick just 'one' fave Beatles slab, but this is the one that takes me away from everything and drops me smack dab in the middle of Heaven." - Brent James, Amoeba San Francisco |
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"November 1969, Maryland. There strangers gave me a place to stay. I slept on their floor for three days. They played Abbey Road, a record that seemed almost as great as their kindness." - Kai Keya, Amoeba Berkeley |
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"The best thing about the so-called White Album is that it allows for so much continual discovery. The songs are all so unique and you have four sides to choose from! I've been listening to it since I was, oh, around 8 years old, and over the years my favorite songs and sides have changed many more times than I can count. Still, I can mark the eras of my life simply by popping on the record and dreaming away to each song, remembering what was and reveling in what is. - Sally Jo, Amoeba San Francisco |
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"Although I'm tempted to pick Revolver, I'll choose Rubber Soul as my favorite Beatles album (we're talking the original UK configurations by the way) if not solely for its place, in my mind, as the first perfect album they made. I love Help!, but ending with 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy' spoils it for me. And, yeah, Revolver is incredible, but, heck, I'll stick with Rubber Soul!"- Ken Kubala, Amoeba Berkeley |
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"Abbey Road was the second to last record released by The Beatles but was, in fact, the last album they recorded. After fighting broke up the band on multiple occasions, the Beatles re-teamed with their legendary, old-school producer George Martin to create one final album where they could strip it back to how they used to play and have fun again. From beginning to end the album is raw and heavy yet sweet and charming. One of my favorite parts of the album is the 'medley' on side two that begins with 'You Never Give Me Your Money' and ends with 'The End.' It consists of a few short or partial songs all edited together to create a little mini-story that is one of the best collections of music EVER! It is perfect in my heart.
"And on top of all that, this album contains the one and only drum solo on any Beatles record, and this drum solo is what made me want to play the drums as a kid, and is why I am finally learning to play the drums today!" - Kaitlin, Amoeba SF
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"My favorite Beatles album, hands down, has got to be The White Album. I love it so much in fact I feel there are really only two types of pop music: that which came before and that which came after. Recordings made by other artists just in the past few years (or days, really) - string ballads, acoustic ballads, heavy rock or jaunty comedy numbers - compared to similarly styled songs on The Beatles, the only real difference I hear is the songs on The Beatles are usually better. Taken as a whole it has a kind of mad unity to it, while looked at as a collection of individual songs each has a wit and craft I find virtually unequaled; musically there are interesting chord/time changes aplenty, while lyrically there is a sobriety to even the more humorous tracks than may first be apparent (as maligned as they sometimes are, both 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' and 'Don't Pass Me By' are proof John Lennon wasn't the only Beatle with a dark sense of humor). There's a bit of something there for everyone, and while it may be a bit too much for some I think it represents the peak of what The Beatles were capable of. Be sure and pick up both the mono and stereo versions if you get the chance; each has its rewards and it has the most variation between the two versions." - John Gwatney, Amoeba Hollywood |
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“It was the morning of Monday, September 13, 1965 and the kids in my 2nd grade class in Boston, MA were chirping excitedly about something called ‘beetles’ that they had seen on TV the night before. I honestly didn’t know what they were talking about. Of course, now we could know in retrospect that the night before had been the last of four television appearances on the Ed Sullivan show by those ‘youngsters from Liverpool, who call themselves the Beatles.’
“It wouldn’t be until I was nine years old that I would be in full awe of the Beatles and the world they created for us. The arrival in our house of the Rubber Soul album ensured that I would forever be steeped in their mystique. It is impossible to convey how much they were a part of our everyday lives unless you were there growing up with them and anticipating with inexplicable excitement any sign of a new song on the radio.
“Much later we would have The White Album and it was fantastic. But to me, Rubber Soul was always the ‘Brown Album.’ Apart from the coloring of the font on the album cover and of the brown suede jackets the lads were sporting, its songs were richly evocative of an earthiness, of the soil and trees. From the start, (‘I’ve Just Seen A Face’) there were acoustic guitars, soft and oily as of the resin from the woody hollow body. ‘Michelle,’ ‘I’m Looking Through You,’ and ‘In My Life’ carry the sepia tone through as the heart of the album. But the very core of the album, dressed up like a transient and seemingly disaffected, was ‘Norwegian Wood’ – an unassuming song whose power came out of nowhere - broody and with sitar drone, we had not heard of this before. Or more accurately, I had not. I was hooked.
“My brother and I put down the tennis rackets we were using as faux guitars to play along with our favorite records. We picked up a worn out small-box Gibson, learned how to string our own bead necklaces and even wore Nehru jackets. But that’s yet another album…” – Gregory Griffith, Amoeba Hollywood |
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"My favorite Beatles album is Yellow Submarine. That was the first song I ever remember singing as the weeist bit of a child. It's also the first song I introduced to my son. From there, he went on to his own favorite from that album -- 'Hey Bulldog;' he has all the lyrics down! Yellow Submarine is the best record to introduce your child to the pleasures of pop music. Sweet, simple, and innocent." - Zack, Amoeba SF |
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“It's 1968's The White Album (officially just self-titled), that I find myself in the midst of more often than any other Beatles album. As Revolver and Rubber Soul elbow for equal attention, I just give in to The White Album's glorious, ragged, mismatched beauty. I could live without many Beatles songs, but too many of the ones I need for my sanity are on this one album. ‘Julia,’ ‘Rocky Raccoon,’ ‘Glass Onion,’ ‘Dear Prudence,’ ‘Blackbird,’ ‘Mother Nature's Son,’ and ‘Cry Baby Cry.’ They are playing loose and daffy and had obviously had come to the understanding that none of it really matters. What freedom!” - J. Mark Beaver, Amoeba Hollywood |
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“‘AWAY IN THE SKY, beyond the clouds, live 4 or 5 Magicians...’ Ahh, the Psychedelic Majesty that is The Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour. Recorded late in 1966 but released after heavy flower power hours spent in the fall of 1967, this psychedelic masterpiece reached number 1 in the US charts for 8 solid weeks in 1968. I was years away from birth at the time, yet fondly remember spending many high school and college hours studying the subtle magnificence of this record, gazing fondly at the acid-tripping animal men both on the rainbow-splashed cover and in the 24-page enclosed cartoon booklet. Originally a six song British EP, now beloved worldwide as the 11 track US version, it has over the years been predominantly overshadowed by its more popular predecessor, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Yet from the opening salvo of the title track straight through to the finale, this is the album to have above all others; to hear once at maximum volume on the good home stereo for the sheer sonic symphony, and then later on with headphones to stoke and rekindle the glowing embers. Before the heaviness of '68 and hippie despair of '69, this heavenly handful offers one last voyage through rose-coloured glasses to a more magical, mystical time...
“The group dynamic is at an apex, with the sublime double A-Side single of John's 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and Paul's bass-friendly 'Penny Lane' making quite possibly the greatest addition to any album ever. No shorter, sweeter, pseudo-instrumental exists than 'Flying,' complete with Starr's Nordic vocals, backwards mellotron and strobe-effect contact highs. Harrison's hauntingly beautiful 'Blue Jay Way,' wishful writings to lost acquaintances known for its ‘don't be-long’ mantra, practically sets the tone for an entire generation. Even McCartney's somber ballad 'The Fool On The Hill,' pop hit 'Hello Goodbye,' and flapper-era throwback 'Your Mother Should Know' fit nicely among the overall experience. But the Real Magic lies in the music of the Supreme Leader of the Love-In, John Lennon. From his brilliant ode to 5th Beatle Brian Epstein 'Baby You're A Rich Man,' with its swirling melody line and big-brown-bag-inside-a-zoo surrealism, to his psychedelic stream-of-consciousness masterpiece 'I Am The Walrus,' to the Peace and Love Generation's National Anthem 'All You Need Is Love;' no other artist comes close to capturing that certain colourful expression of free artistic experimental youth, and no other band could capture what these 4 (or 5) Magicians produced together. What started with Rubber Soul and masterfully climaxed in Yellow Submarine found its true heart and soul somewhere deep in the psychedelia of Magical Mystery Tour, the final glowing tribute to that magic fall sparkle, after the Summer Of Love...” – Blue, Amoeba Hollywood |
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"In 1983, my teacher Ms. McKinney gave us questionnaires designed to help us get to know our fourth grade classmates better. One question was 'Who’s your favorite musician/band?' My interviewee, Jed Drinkard, replied 'Michael Jackson,' someone I was still unfamiliar with. Jed described the gloved one and I had no idea whom he was talking about so I illustrated his answer with a red guitar (we were to illustrate the answers). He asked me the same question and I panicked. Looking around, everyone had given the same answer except Lincoln Dickison, who’d said 'The Beatles.' Not knowing the names of the bluegrass, classical, jazz and soul my parents mostly played at home and afraid of not having an answer, I repeated his. When the school day ended, I jumped off the bus and ran to my mother’s record collection, hoping she’d have some Beatles so I could find if I actually did like them. She did and the first record I played was A Hard Day’s Night, which is still one of two favorites. From the classic, opening chord, I was hooked. Nowadays it seems like most people view the early Beatles almost apologetically but to me, the best stuff is the early, unpretentious, catchy and short numbers that echo and sometimes exceed the best songs by the likes of the Miracles, Everly Brothers, Harlan Howard and Del Shannon." - Eric Brightwell, Amoeba Hollywood
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"Rubber Soul is my favorite Beatles album, because I loved the way John Lennon's haircut curls up at the end. That made a huge impression on me at the time, and affected the impact of the music on my heart."- Rick Frystak, Amoeba Hollywood |
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