Yeah, the first 4 were bad... But the Rubber Soul, White Album, YS, AR, and Let It Be from the 87s weren't bad at all.
One forum resident made an interesting case that the bass was overdone on the 2009 revolver. But I generally lean to the Usb stick versions from 2009.
I didn't get a cd player until 1992. I was 21, going on 22, and only had the vinyl and homemade cassette tapes from the stereo deck. When I got my cd player, the first thing I knew I had to do was to get The Beatles on cd. It took a few weeks to own them all, but every time I got paid I bought a couple more. When I had them all, it is still to this day, my favorite sense of completion as it applies to music. Rivaled only by when I had all the Capital albums on vinyl in the 80s. I can't get rid of my 87s because they remind me of a time in my life, where I made a financial effort to own them all and when I first got a cd player. They have been with me through many re-locations from moving and I have always taken care of them for 23 years now. They have a sound to them that also reminds me of how wonderful it was to first hear and own The Beatles on cd.
I also turned 22 in 1992. I got the white album my sophomore year of college in 1990 or 91. Kept in the car most of the time and played the heck out of it. When I got the 2009 WA I thought I would sell it off, but.... I just couldn't do it. It had been with me too long. A year later I ended up selling the 09! I don't even play the mono CD (though I'll be keeping it, as it's part of a set) . It's the 87 or the 2014 mono vinyl.
lol yeah, obviously I know what you mean. Plenty of other cds I still have just because I never decided to get rid of them for cheap, after I uploaded everything to iTunes and then back it up on an external hard drive. But no real sentimental connection to them. Plus nowadays you won't get much for any cds. If you sold the 87 Beatles, you might get 3 dollars a pop, which would come to what? 45 bucks? If I were to get rid of them, I would certainly give them, as a set, to someone who would genuinely appreciate them.
When we bought the mono box set we took our '87 copies to a second-hand dealer, thinking they wouldn't be interested, but they took the lot. Plenty of demand for so-called inferior copies.
Wow, just goes to show you how everyone hears things differently. Me, I think everything about the mono is superior. The EQ on the beginning guitar seems different and more menacing, the drums have tons more weight, and there isn't that mixing mistake : "....oooooown" before the "I need a fix" part. Dan
The 87's are the only versions I own, they still sound good to my ears. Though that statement comes with a caveat - they were actually the first and only Beatles albums I ever owned. So if the first few mono albums were not recorded correctly, it doesn't affect me because that sound is the only sound I've ever known. And honestly, if I hadn't read on these forums they were incorrectly mixed, I never EVER would have known.
The beginning of the mono mix of HIAWG is good, but everything goes to hell at the "I need a fix" section----the drums lose all high end, you can almost see the faders being moved up and down on the lead guitar--nothing one second (like they forgot to fade it up in time), too loud the next. It sounds like a first attempt, frankly, that was never returned to again.
If your criterion in comparing the '87s to the '09s is top end, the '87s come out ahead. What he said.
I strongly agree about the traditional jewel boxes, and have passed on albums that are not in a jewel box (if it was an album I had to have I'd transfer it to a jewel box). Even a "thin" jewel box is better a cardboard package.
Totally agree...I HATE the packaging of the '09 stereos, not only for the digipacks but for how they changed the rear cover artwork for each album...they should've left it alone and put the alternate photos in the booklet inside. Or better yet, released them in a box with mini-LP replica sleeves like the mono set.
