Any love for The Beatles CAPITOL albums CD's ?

Excellent choice, sir!

No, they don't have to compete. It's good to have both IMO, especially if yer a serious Beatles collector. Some days I'm in the mood for the American albums, some days the British...

 

Picked up the Vol 1 box yesterday in Notting Hill for just £10.

Packaging is weird, but hey, it is what it is. Very good mastering to my ears.

The album's sequencing takes some getting used to if you're not a American Baby Boomer...but yeah, it does have an excitement and immediacy to it that anyone can grasp.

The extra reverb of IFF and especially SAW was quite a shock though, I had to check my Yamaha receiver while playing them to make sure I had it set to EFFECT OFF...

 

Conversely, the first time I heard the UK mix of She's A Woman, I thought it was an alternate take. Sorry, but I like the reverb slathered U.S. mono single much more.

 

Just to be clear, most American Gen-Xers also grew up with the Capitol LPs -- we weren't permanently converted to the UK albums until 1987. And just as Sidewinder43 said above, when I first heard the "proper" UK mix of "She's A Woman," it sounded like a demo to me. I got used to it, of course, and now I prefer it, but there was certainly an excitement to those reverbed Capitol versions. One of the best things about these sets is that I finally got to hear the MONO Capitol mixes, which are considerably less insane than the fake-stereo, double-reverb, crazy-cake stereo LPs I grew up with!

DISCLAIMER: Most of the Capitol releases did NOT have maximum-Dexter amounts of reverb on them; in fact, most of the Capitol LPs had sound almost as good as the UK albums. No original UK recordings were harmed when making the Capitol LPs. No U.S. fans were harmed by growing up with the Capitol LPs. Dave Dexter Jr. is not a monster. It was all about marketing and money -- and don't worry, the Beatles made plenty of it off us!

 

In about 1971 we started getting Capitol LPs (stereo only, on Apple) in record stores here. The biggest draw was 'Second Album' with Thank You Girl, never released in stereo in Britain, and a rockin' track list and hokey 'It's 1964 and You Are There' jacket photos! Other Capitol albums were disappointing, fewer mix variations and most track listings the same or similar to Parlophone LPs. I had bought one Capitol album before, in 1968, we all did, Magical Mystery Tour. But I even bought a new stereo version of that, ON APPLE in 1972! Very sweet item, very tasty!

 

I had zero interest in the Capitol mono recordings when I owned the CDs, therefore do not have them in my iTunes! I only became interested in mono when the Beatles released the mono box set in 2009

I do like the Capitol set, but it’s UK Stereo all the way for me ( Even though I own the original mono UK LPs, EPs & Singles, as a collector)

 

Are these out of print?
I thought so but just saw major retailers online selling them new.
Target, Walmart and Amazon.

 

Anyone?

 

I saw them at a local Barnes & Noble within the last month. It puzzled me at first because I didn't know that there were CD's out that had both mono and stereo mixes on one disc but then I twigged that they were the Capitol albums.

 

Simple.... These were the Beatles records I grey up on since '64.
Have all the UK, and most other world variants...
But I have to say I loved it when they released these sets.

 

Well, it's not so simple. In 2004 and 2006, the first eight "original" Capitol albums were released on CD in two volume longbox releases (but in cardboard sleeves), complete with random folded cardboard and plastic inserts to fill in the spaces in the longboxes. Then, the Capitol releases (all of them except for those that were identical to the analogous UK releases) were remastered and released in 2014. The 2014 releases are akin to Japanese mini LP releases and are nice for what they are. But it's all Beatles and all very good. I like it all (except for Mr. Moonlight, of course).

Bottom line is that both releases had mono and stereo versions, but I couldn't tell you how they all differ. I just love the subtle variations.

Or were you asking about vinyl only? In that case, I believe that the 2014 versions are the only vinyl releases in the past 20 years or so. But, this all gets so very complicated...

 

The digipack releases were what I was referring to. I'm sure that the original box sets are OOP.

 

I was just asking about the cds.

 

The 2014 U.S. albums that are mostly the 2009 remastered content also have mono and stereo on one disc.

Online they are long box images though.

 

I was just answering your question that it appears that the Capitol albums are still in print on CD, I dunno about 2009, 2014, whatever. All I know is that I saw them, they had both mono and stereo on one disk, and they were ostensibly the Capitol albums. They were in digipak. Can't tell ya anymore than that.

 

Yeah, if they were digipak then they were certainly a more recent reissue.
I was just distinguishing between the Capitol albums that are part of the Capitol albums bix sets from 04 and 06 with Capitol masters and the Capitol albums that are part if the 2014 U.S. Albums box that used the 2009 remasters.

 

There was "brick" style packaging in addition to the long boxes. They sorta look like digipaks.

 

I recall when these first came out thinking they were just the 87/88 masters resequenced with the Capitol artwork so I had zero interest.
I was also unaware they had the unique Capitol sound or that they had both stereo and mono.

 

Capitol was the Beatles U.S. label per EMI.
Their authorized presentation of the Beatles to the U.S. market was not garbage.
And the sales and money generated for the band wasn't either.

 

I'm sure there's an obvious answer that will embarrass me, but why was Yesterday and Today not included in this box?

 

Which box?

The 2004 and 2006 Capitol Albums sets each had four albums. Yesterday And Today was the ninth album that fit their criteria, so it presumably would have been in Volume 3, which didn't happen.

Yesterday And Today was included in the 2014 US Albums box.

 

Sorry, I meant the 2004 and 2006 boxes. I'd like to pick up the U.S. albums, and after reading a bit about those vs. the US Albums box I realize I'd rather have the 04/06 sets.

 

Originally, the plan was to have a Vol. 3. Various factors prohibited. In hindsight, I bet that Capitol/Apple wishes that they had included Y&T with V.2.

 

As do no small number of fans...

 

I still don't understand why they never finished up, and released Vol.3. Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't these sets the original Capitol mixes? And, as far as I know, those mixes have never had any other official CD release. I understand that a lot of people don't like them, but from a purely historical perspective, I'd love to have a complete digital copy of them; however, without having all the albums, it seems kind of pointless to me... Especially since the only US album that I'm really attached to is "Hey Jude".