Beatles (Christmas 2017 releases)

Canada Amazon, Beatles Christmas Box arrived yesterday after about a week (including customs delay). The pre-order and pre-Christmas order still have not. Have cancelled the one so far but as the other was a special deal I am going to hang on a little longer. Because of extra postage and quite a bit of import duty this box has been a little expensive. It is not in perfect condition but the minor issues were clearly there at source not as a result of the transport.

I guess I have learned a few lessons here but in fairness I did pre-order a month before release so had no idea that I would be let down.

 

This is true. In order to get the non-domestic pressing of The Beatles stereo vinyl boxed set a few years ago, I ordered it from Amazon Italy. By the time it arrived at my house in the States, the Amazon outer box was totally destroyed -- in tatters, with big, gaping holes. But the factory box inside was unscathed and of course the product inside that factory box was in perfect condition. Apple knew what they were doing when they decided all of those sets would be packaged that way before leaving the factory. It couldn't have been cheap, but I would bet it saved everyone a fortune in damaged-and-returned boxes.

My Amazon Italy shipping box was so badly damaged that the entire bottom ripped open somewhere in transit and the factory box simply tumbled out, along with my copy of the Amazon invoice and whatever packing materials they used. At that point, with the two boxes separated, the whole thing could have been lost and never made it to me. Fortunately, somebody stuck the factory box back inside the destroyed Amazon box (without the invoice or packing material) and then wrote on the box that the contents had spilled out in transit. They then tried (but failed) to seal it all back up with masking tape, as seen below.

 

I couldn't wait for "next time", so I made it happen!

 

That's cool! Looks like a lot of work. I hate to mention this, but Apple recordings are not distributed by EMI anymore (as you show on the disc label), but rather Universal.

 

And if it was made in England, authorised wouldn’t have been spelt with a zed

 

Actually, the label copy on the new box shows EMI, so I kept it that way:

DAMN!! Good point! By the way, it's "zee"!

EDIT - And... fixed!!

 

Man... that's beautiful! Definitely what should have happened with the release imo. Hope it comes along next year.

 

Love the ‘500 rpm’!

 

You created this? Amazing! Did you copy the records over or use an existing digital source?

 

Actually, that would be @daveidmarx ...

 

Actually, me and my buddies re-created the messages in their entirety. Say what you will, but at least OUR version of Podgy The Bear is at the proper level!!

 

Anyone out there still awaiting a pre-order?

 

I was going to mention that was cool.

BTW, Paul already did that on the CD single of No Other Baby...

 

Hmmm. Where did they get 1500 rpm? It actually should be 500 to 200 RPM, if this is correct:
Compact disc - Wikipedia
Wikipedia › wiki › Compact_disc
A motor within the CD player spins the disc to a scanning velocity of 1.2–1.4 m/s (constant linear velocity) – equivalent to approximately 500 RPM at the inside of the disc, and approximately 200 RPM at the outside edge. (A disc played from beginning to end slows its rotation rate during playback.)

 

Maybe it's a coincidence rather than a deliberate tribute to old-timey record speeds, but 45 x 33 1/3 = 1500.

 

Right! Johnny Cash and co. got it right here:

 

soundstagedirect canceled my pre-order but I just received a copy from amazon.ca

 

Merry Christmas!

 

My Christmas won't be merry until I get my yellow (aka lime) Ram!

 

What are the chances they release a book of all the fan club newsletters?

 

What are the chances any of you actually receive it if they do?

 

I have been thinking about this further and I bet to milk holiday sales, next year Apple/EMI/Calderstone/Sony/Warner/Universal or whoever will release a single LP compilation of the Christmas messages. It was, after all, a stand-alone release to the fan club in 1970.

 

I slightly amend what I wrote three months ago. The next round of Xmas releases won’t be 6 months later, but next November-ish...for Xmas season.

 

Noticed that amazon.com doesn't say "Temporary Out of Stock" anymore but amazon.ca still has it so maybe that's all there is

 

I believe that MusicVaultz in Canada still has these in stock as well, for $109CDN, which is about $87US.