Are you done buying new Beatles releases?

I'm done buying older vinyl cds etc. I will buy New releases as they come out.

 

Pretty much, it would depend on the record. I have purchased just about every reissue in the last 10 years or so, just to conclude that I like some of the original pressings better.

 

I stopped a little over 45 years ago. I have what I need...........

 

On balance, I'm probably done. Now I've got the vinyl Mono box that should do me. Being a sucker for super deluxe editions I went for the Pepper set. Other than a cursory play when I got it home it's sat on the shelf. Time to draw a line.

 

When the DeAgostini BBC sets are released that will be it for me.

Possibly!

 

Incidentally, I conducted a little experiment over the weekend, for a lark. Pulled out my crusty old Beatles CDs from 1988 and played them back-to-back with the shiny new 2009 stereo remasters.

The conclusion? Old 'primitive' 1988 CDs beat the remasters! Yeah, I was as shocked as you probably are. Especially considering how over the moon I was back in 2009 when I first heard the remasters. Back then I remember thinking: "Finally, the digital treatment the Beatles deserve!"

Today, those same 'amazing' remasters sound horrible to my ears. Bloated, obnoxious, boomy... The old 1988 CDs sound great, just as I feel the Beatles should sound in digital format.

Goes to show how little one can rely in one's own judgment...

In the light of that, I think I won't be spending any money on any future Beatles reissues. I'd much rather keep the money for that rare occasion when I bump into the original pressings.

 

"When I'm 64" rhymes with "when I hit ignore."

 

If you keep listening to the 87-88 CDs for a few years, and then you go back to the 09 remasters, I'm sure they will not sound "obnoxious" at all, they will probably sound much better to you than the old CDs.

Beatles fandom is a curious lot. Always those blanket statements, those extreme opinions. Those 80s CDs "sucked big time" for many years (some of them really did, some others didn't), almost everybody was over the moon with the remasters, and then in a few years the 80s CDs are pure gold, and the remasters become a disgrace.

The truth is usually in the middle ground. No doubt that the remasters are superior technically: Hi-res transfer of the master tapes and modern techniques of digitization are miles ahead of the technology used in the 80s. It's clear that the level of detail is improved in the remasters. Besides, there were technical problems in the 80s CDs, some of which were released in a rush: the first four in mono were transferred using a stereo machine, there was also some azimuth problem with Revolver...

But then, there is the question of tonality and mastering decisions. That is a matter of taste. I favour the 87 Pepper and White Album, although I would never express it in terms of "the 87 are great, the remasters suck big time". I prefer the mastering style of those albums in the 87 CDs, but the remasters are technically better, they provide more detail, fuller bass... Actually, I'm happy to have both versions, because they are just different experiences of the same albums.

 

I am of the exact same opinion regarding obvious superiority of 2009 remasters. That's why I was so shocked when I was forced to admit that, hey, I actually prefer how the old CDs sound! It was one of those strange phenomena where louder reproduction sounds worse. Typically people say that if you're comparing two different masterings of the same track, the louder one will definitely win. But this time around, the much louder 2009 remasters sounded so ham fisted, so crude compared to the more delicate 1988 masters.

I tend to agree with you -- our perception is fickle.

 

I am adding my name to the list of members that want a cleaned up "Let It Be" on Blu Ray. And a 25 minute Helter Skelter. That's it for me...

 

I would like stereo remixes of all the Beatles albums. Centered vocals and no panning. No EQ, limiting or compression. Similar to the mixes of Beatles for sale and hard days night.A man can dream.

 

Still waiting for Giles Martin to remix all the albums

 

I'm not holding my breath for any new releases having tuned blue once too often.
Ian Anderson and Jimmy Page have set the standards for DEs and SDEs and are prescient
enough to get them to the fans who have been with them from the beginning.

If we don't see another Beatles SDE release from UMG/Paul/Yoko within a year it ain't
happening and they can kiss their aging fan base (with their disposable income) goodbye.

(The severely limited edition of the RSD SFF single was a real slap in the face when
the Long Tall Sally EP was so widely available I was able to purchase 2).

 

The Beatles fan base is aging. Would remixing the entire catalogue not bring a new generation of younger fans on board?

 

I'm certainly not done buying new Beatles releases, and never will be. Over the past 20 years we've had some excellent releases and I'm looking forward to see what comes next.

 

...remixes "not as INTENDED"

 

The remasters are to me the best sounding cds to date

 

I have several YB Parlophone pressings, a BC13 box and the Mono box. I think I am done. Understand that most if not all future reissues will likely come from the 24/48 digital conversion done several years ago....not 24/96 or 24/192 let alone 384 or DSD.... The original master tapes have deteriorated considerably over the past 30yrs, according to industry sources, so will well be left with digital. No thanks.

 

The master tapes were transferred at 192/24 before the remasters works began.

 

If they keep remixing the albums I'll buy them.

 

I now have the 2009 mono and stereo box sets. I am done. The sound quality on both sets is amazing. Enough to last me for the next 40 years.

 

I have mixed feelings & some regrets spending $140 on the Sgt Pepper remix.

It offered about 1/10th the excitement the Anthology albums in 95-96 had. For less money & more product. That had 2 brand new songs the first in 25 years, perhaps 20 or so original songs as studio outtakes, things like Not Guilty, or Leave My Kitten Alone.

There were also good alternate versions of premier songs like Strawberry Fields & Across The Universe that differed a great deal from the regular or official versions. As well as lots of demos & very early stuff. & 2 big budget music videos.

All that was perhaps $35 bucks for 6 CDs, with inflation maybe it's equal to a hundred dollars in today's money or $75.

Or Let it Be Naked which sucked but it was around $12 only.

If the recent Pepper box had had, new mixes that were really wild different & new, & unheard tracks like Carnival of light & the 67 jams had been included with that $140 price tag, but various versions of the same 13 cuts for $140 paled in comparison to anthology.

An expanded remixed Let it Be with 20 extra-new, enhanced edited, Twickenham tracks & 20 extra minutes of footage in a recut version of the film, & a new music video could be worth $140 bucks to me.

Mostly Apple puts out stuff for fans like me, we mostly don't like & only occasionally is meaningful with lots of gold nuggets. Mostly they put out stuff I don't like I used to buy it by rote, programmed like a lemming. They refuse to put out stuff people like me want.

Beatles Anthology 4, the other reunion songs, expanded Let It Be Carnival of Light, stuff I actually want.

Sometimes I still buy, Sgt Pepper would be a nice but for $20, if you got the works in progress + new mixes... They're so bad they called them outtakes, when all they were is alternate mixes or unfinished versions, Anthology had outtakes. They actually are trying to change the meaning of the word instead of breaking out the good stuff.

Same with the solo Beatles, no good stuff no $$$$

 

I'd like to be done, but I won't be able to resist a remixed White Album, no matter if it's done well or not.

 

I would rebuy the entire catalog if they offered us the high resolution 2009 remasters to supplement my 2012/2014 viny sets. 24/192 or whatever they were, or DSD.

They should have done that by now.

 

Since joining the forum I’ve been slowly building my Beatles ‘collection’ cough cough. I’ve got the 2009 Mono cd box, the Let It Be and Abbey Road remastered cd’s and the Sgt Pepper 50th remix cd. I think I may be done. I was thinking of buying the Beatles For Sale, Help and Hard Days Night remasters. But I don’t really need them because I like the mono’s. The original stereo mix of Help on the mono cd sounds fine as well. There are a few remixes I can buy but they are compilations and I don’t like compilations, I prefer listening to albums. The only exception is the Mono Masters cd which really is essential IMO.