Beatles 80's Capitol rainbow pressings

I know there have been numerous discussions on these and I won't be surprised if this thread closes down very quickly. But till it does, I just want to heavily stress the very high quality of these for anyone interested in the best sounding Capitol pressings of the U.S. albums. I just played side one of Rubber Soul which I hadn't heard in a while on this particular pressing...I couldn't get over the rich smoothness of the overall sound. Just to pick the opening track (I've Just seen A Face) as an example...the acoustic guitars sound cleaner than on any other copy I have of the American album..no shrill or fuzziness whatsoever and the "S's" on the lead vocal are downright creamy.

I was lucky to get a few of these sealed at 35-40 bucks apiece about a year ago. If you're a fan of the Capitol albums (as well as the American Apple releases ), I highly reccomend them.

 

The 1983 pressings? I have a complete set of these. Not albums I listen to a lot, but they were very well done.

 

I have a few 60's originals, all the Apple -represses from the 70's and a few of the Purple (large logo) Capitol repressings. To my ears, these outdo them all.

 

They were recommended to me on here a few years ago, and I was lucky to get them all then for $20 or under. You're right -- they are wonderful!

 

That is hard to do now- the '83 rainbows and '88 purples tend to go for a pretty penny on Discogs. And yeah, they do sound mighty fine (the '78 purples ain't bad, either) My first Beatles LP collection was mainly '83's, '87's and '88's, simply because I was buying them new in '87/'88.

 

Hard to figure how they sound so much better than originals as the tapes were much more worn than in the 60's. Vinyl quality perhaps?

 

This is timely. I've enjoyed the two American albums CD boxes but would like to gather a collection of vinyl versions. Hard to find in good nick in the UK but at least I can be reassured that 80's pressings are worth tracking down.

 

Bought most of these for 20-25 bucks a couple years ago. Only one I'm missing is "Revolver" which is a tad pricey from what I've seen.

 

I think many of the 1978 &1988 Purple Label SW'S & C1'S were done by Wally Taugott. many of the members here think he does a very good job on these.
I am trying to find as many of these as I can & finding some of the titles very difficult to find.
but did find a 1978 Rubber Soul & a 1988 Abbey Road Wally's for less than $25 so they are out there.takes some looking.
also have a 1983 Beatles White Album Capitol Rainbow Label & it sounds very good.

 

I've raved about the purple labels in other threads, to DK Pete's point my 1983 rainbow Abbey Road is a great sounding pressing.

 

I have the '83 Capitol Of Canada pressing of Yesterday & Today with all songs in true stereo. In fact the three Revolver tracks are way more dynamic than the other songs. It seems like they escaped all the Capitol compression, bass reduction etc.

 

I think the 83' and 88' pressings are by far the best sounding as far as Capitol US issues are concerned. I own a complete set of each, along with the original mono/stereo 60's Capiol pressings. I once owned just about all of the other 70's issues, when I was a serious "label variation" Beatles collector. Sold off those quite a few years ago, keeping the first and final pressings of the US catalog.

 

Can we resolve definitely here which of the later purple labels were digitally done? I have Wallys of Sgt Pepper, MMT and TWA and I love how these sound (ditto a UK White Album from around the same time that states it was digitally remastered).

 

Mastering quality.

 

Here's a question I've asked on this forum but have never received a response, and since your copy of the Capitol "Rubber Soul" is still handy, maybe you could confirm this for me. On every Capitol version of this album I've heard, "You Won't See Me" is LOUDER than the other tracks--by like 4dB. I think Ditto "Think For Yourself." I've also noticed volume discrepancies on "Meet the Beatles." It's possible that in the original mastering the various tracks from UK singles were mastered at different levels and no one corrected it. I don't have the rainbow 80s pressings of either of these albums, but I do have the late 70s purple label and the late 80s purple label reissue (with the smaller logo and Wally in the run out groove) and on both editions the volume discrepancy is there. If you cue up a CD copy of these albums, adjust for volume differences between LP and CD, play the CD concurrently with the LP, and switch from Phono to CD you'll hear the jump in volume on various tracks. Or maybe you won't, and I just have weird pressings . . .

 

good question. I am trying to find out the answer to this question myself. trying to find the best sounding Purple US Stereo pressing's as I already have the new Mono Box & the Stereo UK Box. as far as l can tell the 1978 Purple Label were all done analog & the 1995 Purple Label re issue were all done digitally from the UK catalog.
it's the 1988 Purple Label (Src) Specialty Record Corporation C1's that I wonder about. looks like most were done by Wally Taugott in Los Angeles.maybe some of the early Albums are analog & some of the later Albums are done digitally.i don't know but sure would like to know for certain.
maybe someone w more Beatles knowledge than me can answer this question.
or maybe i'm all wrong on this!

 

What is your setup? If I may ask...

 

Better mastering.

 

I have a few of the "retro" rainbows, and I completely agree with you. At some point I would like to acquire the whole set of 'em. My '83 rainbow of Yesterday and Today is one of the ones that was mistakenly pressed in mono, even though it was sold as stereo. Sounds fantastic!

 

My understanding has always been that the US versions of the albums with C1 cat numbers, released in 1988, were the final pressings of those albums and were indeed AAA.

 

good to hear.thanks. it must be the 1995 Purple Label C1 Limited Edition that were done digitally.
I guess i'll go with 1988 C1 Purple Label.

 

Yeah, there were not versions of the US Capitol albums after 1988, which is why those are so pricey these days.

 

good information.thanks.

 

I won't lie - there was talk of reissuing Meet The Beatles on LP earlier this year to commemorate Capitol's 70th. If it had been done right, I'd have been stoked to see that reissued.

 

I started snagging these over the last two years. They are very nice sounding. I'm not sure what's going on with my copy of Abbey Road. It is the purple label pressing but the vinyl is very poor with what looks like pock marks and scuffs and funk that will never clean off. I bought that one brand new back in the day. Maybe end of the day on a Friday pressing? . Still looking for a replacement copy although,on my set up, the newer pressing (180 grm ) sounds more pronounced.