best Beatles collection for my 10-year-old son?

A Hard Days Night

 

Depends on how you spread it out. Don't blaze through all of them in one fell swoop. Spend two or three days with them, maybe more with the ones that are harder to digest like Sgt. Pepper and the longer White Album. When I first started getting into the Beatles this is what I did, starting with Please Me and ending with Past Masters I spent about two great months going through it all and I really enjoyed the music, especially once I got to Help!

 

Sgt Pepper doesn't disappoint.
Yellow Submarine Songtrack is a nice hodgepodge of stuff he's heard and stuff he hasn't.
I agree with the guy that said "Yesterday"...and Today but I'm biased toward album. Hard Days Night, Help, Rubber Soul and Revolver if you wanna spoil him

 

Do it in the span of a year. One album a month for 12 months....not rushed and time to let every one be fully absorbed and appreciated.

 

When I was a kid I would get an album or 2 for Christmas,Bdays etc... UK A Hard Days Night is always a good choice.

 

When I was around that age I first heard the U.S. Rubber Soul and it was a pretty great experience. I also really enjoyed Beatles VI and Yesterday...and Today.

You can actually buy those albums now, but I recommend Help!, Rubber Soul and Revolver as a good intro. A Hard Days Night is another good choice too as I liked the U.S. Version as well as Something New.

The White Album might be a bit too grown up for him.

As others have said here - Christmas is coming - get him the full set as an option as well!

 

The mono box can still be found for $100 or so, right? Just get him that.

 

if you ask him what songs on the albums are his favorites and help him find albums with more music like those, then his musical journey really will be about his interests (and not, y'know, those of some dudes on the internet).

(I suppose I'm responding more to some of the other posters to this thread, since it seems like you're already doing this to some degree and you're instead asking more about what specific releases to buy. I'd say the 2009 remasters of the individual albums should be just fine. almost everyone loves them and they're the standards.)

 

When I was 10, I got the Red and Blue albums. That greased the wheels and I got hungry for more Beatles. Start it off with those two and see where it goes next.

 

I replaced all of my

He already has. Check his first post!

 

I disagree about Pepper and I'm a major league Beatle obsessive. Song for song, Sgt. Pepper is not what one would necessarily expect from The Beatles. If i had to pick ONE of their albums which needs to be appreciated as a whole, it's Sgt. Pepper. Possibly not the best album to start out with.

 

My kids, of a similar age (9-11-13), really like the 66-67 era and the late 60s children's songs. So, while they now listen to everything between Rubber Soul and Abbey Road, you might start with the Blue Album and Magical Mystery Tour. Or make your own mix. One completely unexpected thing about parenthood (among a million other unexpected thing about parenthood!) is how utterly charming it is to have a car full of kids singing away to Obla-di, Obla-da or All Together Now. And it's not just the Paul songs either! Other kid favorites in my household include I Am the Walrus, Octopus's Garden, and Here Comes the Sun!

 

I'd show your kid Yellow Submarine and go from there.

 

Did not see that. Thanks.

In that case. Get him Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver and maybe Pepper. You can't go wrong with those ones. At 10 years old, I doubt the mono/stereo or 1987 remix things will matter to him. Those things will matter when he turns 20!

When I was 10, I really liked Help! The album a lot. The film was funny and silly and got me through a pretty rough 4th/5th grade year.

 

No.

 

Stereo box if you want everything. Mono leaves out Abbey Rd. & L.I.B.

 

my nine-year-old nephew loves the film.

 

I think you're smart to go for the cheapie CDs. But, for a 10 year-old, I also suggest A Hard Day's Night and Help!–both the movies and the CDs. Worked for me. My kids grew up with the Beatles and became fans on their own, but my nephews grew up in an anti-Fab household. The films got their interest going and they both loved the albums too. The older one is a serious fan now... and he even got his father to turn.

 

I wouldn't get him the Anthologies. He's ten. I would get him the Stereo Box. He'll grow to love all the albums. And in 20 years time he'll be able to say that his dad bought him the Beatles Stereo Box when he was ten years old. How cool will that be!.

 

No, get him the individual CDs. Make sure he gets the great early albums first, also.

 

This is what actually what got me into the Beatles.

To the OP, I would buy him Sgt. Pepper's (mono might be better if he's listening through headphones), Rubber Soul and Abbey Road.

 

Bizarre statement.
You actually think the force of your parents music would have blocked you from liking any other music?
My dad was playing genesis and floyd etc when i was a kid in the 70's. It never grew on me.
Around 12 to 18 i listened to 80's synthpop. by 19 or 20 i was listening to the beatles and discovering pretty much every other genre of music. At 21 I started listening to my dads Genesis albums and have been hooked since. I still listen to all of the other genres.
My parent may have influenced me, but I was influenced a hell of a lot more by other things.

 

Best "collection"? Easy.

 

I was into the bootlegs when I was his age. I didn't know much about the difference between stereo and mono mixes but I knew a different version when I heard one (and I liked it). I recall having a dream of owning every take of Strawberry Fields Forever. I was probably even younger.
The hunt for the obscure stuff is important too. Maybe just getting him the individual albums is the best deal but leave some for him to find on his own when he's ready and able to. You have to leave some mysteries for him to find out on his own as he goes along with life.

 

You could also get him a cassette recorder and tell him to wait for a Beatles song to come on the radio and record it himself. Then get him a vhs recorder and let him record various Entertainment Tonight stories about the fabs. Then tell him about Mary Hart and John Tesh and how incredible they were. Wake him up real early to watch Connie Chung too.