The Beatles

[WhiteCrowNZ]

can you imagine a chart composed almost entirely of Jackson and the Beatles?

Says a lot of the state of modern music.

[Captain Tancredi]

Well, I've bought my first of the remasters- 'Let it Be', on the grounds that I already own 'Sgt Pepper' and 'Rubber Soul' and borrowed 'Hard Day's Night' and 'The Beatles' from my folks the last time I was over there. And I thought most people are going to go for the early albums first so I'll start at the back and work forwards...

Curious to see the version of last week's NME with the White Album cover, though- it looked like a massive misprint because you've got your ordinary NME cover and then this big blank space with just "The Beatles" in it. As if the graphic people meant to put something there but forgot.

[Si Hunt]

It seems obvious that they tried to create an album without a title. I mean, "The Beatles" isn't its title is it, that's the group name. But you can't do it. People will always have to call it something. At least "The White Album" is a better name for an album than "The Beatles".

Si.

[Simon R]

That's true of all self titled albums though isn't it? Kylie did the same thing in 1994!

[Rob McCow]

It's better than calling all your albums 'Seal'.

Perhaps it should be simply 'the white album' as in a description of what the album is, rather than the capitalised 'White Album'.

[Dino]

Dammit! My copy of Sgt Pepper's... has started to get stuck and jump on Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite and Within You Without You already?
It seems like fate is determined I should never listen to this album in perfect quality?
One of my biggest Beatles mistakes is being emotionally blackmailed as a child into letting a friend borrow my Dad's copy which had great sentimental value.
His thug bun vendor of a brother tore the cover up in jealousy after thinking his younger brother had outdone him.
They stapled it together and to this day he still ****ing chuckles about it to this day? And if his collection of Who records got damaged in a similar way...

Of course I've lost the reciept? I blame my nephew for knocking it out of the CD when the disc was opened?
Mind you he is only three?

[Si Hunt]

My copy of Sgt Pepper gets stuck at the end of "Day In The Life".

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Good grief! A superb article at the NME on George Harrison, for his (would have been) 69th birthday.

http://www.nme.com/blog/index.php?bl...atl&more=1&c=1

[Dino]

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-...ereo-vinyl-box

EMI officially announced today the huge news we first reported last week – that there will be a vinyl stereo box set of the Beatles albums on 180 gram vinyl Nov. 13 in North America and Nov. 12 in the rest of the world. (Listings can be found on Amazon.co.uk for England.) The vinyl remasters will be available both in boxed vinyl (Amazon is pricing it at $399) and digitally through iTunes, the announcement said. The remastered vinyl albums will also be available individually.

The set will limited to 50,000 copies worldwide and will include all the original albums the “Magical Mystery Tour” album as originally released in the U.S., plus “Past Masters” as a two-record set. All the extras from the original releases, like the poster from the “Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band” album, will be included.

View slideshow: The Beatles remastered stereo vinyl set
It will also include a 252-page hardbound book written by Kevin Howlett (“The Beatles at the Beeb”) with a chapter for each album.

The set will mark the debut in North America in stereo of the first four UK versions of the albums "With the Beatles," "Beatles For Sale," "Please Please Me" and "A Hard Day's Night." Additionally, some tracks, like "Love Me Do", "She Loves You," "P.S. I Love You," “I’ll Get You,” and “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)” are in mono.

Seventeen million remastered CDs were sold within seven months, EMI said, “resounding evidence of the timeless relevance of (the Beatles') legacy.”

EMI's announcement noted the best-selling vinyl LP of 2011 in the United States was “Abbey Road.” The vinyl set has been in the works since 2009. “The project demanded the same meticulous approach taken for the CD releases, and the brief was a simple one: cut the digital remasters to vinyl with an absolute minimum of compromise to the sound,” according to a description of the new set.

“When The Beatles’ albums were first released, the listener enjoyed a tangible relationship with the music in the grooves of a record. There was an emotional connection to the artifact carrying the sound, and this bond was strengthened by the LP sleeve. Rather than a merely functional object to protect the disc, it was elevated to a stylish accessory,” the announcement said.

“Certainly, the cover of a Beatles album conveyed a message about the music it was wrapped around. For example, the dominant orange and brown hues and elongated faces on the front of 'Rubber Soul' seem to embody the sound of the record. With the advent of the cassette tape in the seventies and the compact disc in the 1980s, album artwork was reduced in size and importance, losing much of its charm. That is partly why vinyl LPs have not, as predicted, been discarded.”

“If we look at it by today’s standards, whoever the most popular bands in the world are, they will typically put out an album every four years,” producer Rick Rubin said in a 2009 radio series interview. “So, let’s say two albums as an eight year cycle. And think of the growth or change between those two albums. The idea that The Beatles made 13 albums in seven years and went through that arc of change. It can’t be done. Truthfully, I think of it as proof of God, because it’s beyond man’s ability.”

Much early fan reaction to our preview story on this, however, was critical. Some have wondered why there's no mono vinyl box. (EMI said there will be one in 2013.) Others wondered why there's a box set at all and have said they'll pass on it.

The mono box set, which was said to originally be limited, still is available today.

Several retailers had stated the announcement wouldn't happen until Oct. 1, but EMI decided not to wait.

Full detailed listings for the stereo vinyl box set:

The Stereo Albums: Available individually and collected in a boxed collection, accompanied by a 252-page hardbound book.

"Please Please Me": “Love Me Do” and “P.S. I Love You” are presented in mono (North American LP debut in stereo)
"With The Beatles": (North American LP debut in stereo)
"A Hard Day's Night": (North American LP debut in stereo)
"Beatles For Sale": (North American LP debut in stereo)
"Help!": Features George Martin’s 1986 stereo remix
"Rubber Soul": Features George Martin’s 1986 stereo remix
"Revolver": Original album
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band": Packaging includes replica psychedelic inner sleeve, cardboard cutout sheet and additional insert
"Magical Mystery Tour": Packaging includes 24-page color book
"The Beatles" (double album): Packaging includes double-sided photo montage/lyric sheet and 4 solo colour photos
"Yellow Submarine": “Only A Northern Song” is presented in mono. Additional insert includes original American liner notes.
"Abbey Road": Original album
"Let It Be": Original album
"Past Masters, Volumes One & Two" (double album): “Love Me Do” (original single version), “She Loves You,” “I’ll Get You,” and “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)” are presented in mono. Packaging, notes and photographic content is based on the 2009 CD release.

Copyright Steve Marinucci. Please do not reprint in full on other sites without permission.

Muhwu ha haa!

[Si Hunt]

What a load of absolute bollocks!

"An emotional connection with the artifact carrying the sound"!

And as for what Rick Rubin's going on about, an album every four years, what the hell is he on? It's typically more like two years, and he forgets that an album in the old days meant 30 minutes of music, where-as today it's typically almost double that. And maybe he should speak to Rihanna, who has released a new album every year for the last 3 or 4 years.

"The idea that The Beatles made 13 albums in seven years and went through that arc of change. It can’t be done. Truthfully, I think of it as proof of God, because it’s beyond man’s ability."

An absolutely shameless, disgraceful load of bullshit designed to flog the same old product to gullible people. They should hang their heads in shame.

Si.

[Rob McCow]

Of course it's possible to put out 13 albums in 7 years!

- The production process wasn't nearly as complex back in the 60's.
- The Beatles had a good work ethic, spurred on by Paul McCartney.
- You can find a few 'Throwaway pieces of crap' on every Beatles album.
- They stopped touring and just made albums. Surely that made it a little easier.

Anyway, people like saying these things about The Beatles because they were actually very very good and a lot of people agree on that.

[Si Hunt]

Green Day are releasing three in the next six months!

Si.

[Rob McCow]

You can find a few 'Throwaway pieces of crap' on every Green Day album. About 12 per album, in fact.

[Dino]

So... I did search, I was looking for a Paul McCartney thread and couldn't find one. I'm happy to start a new one if that's OK.
But new Paul McCartney album out this week. "New". I heard the first song and thought it was typical McCartney, but quite catchy. And then I've heard the follow up single "Queenie Eye". The title is based on a game he used to play as a child (If you say so!) and wouldn't you know it?
That's even catchier as well! So working with four different producers has really worked.
From what I've heard of the two, it doesn't sound like it's going to have award winning lyrics.
But it does have really catchy tunes.
I'm going to have to buy it soon then. Maybe even today!

[Wayne]

All these years later and people are still talking about Hansen.