The Beatles U.S. Albums box set - your impressions...

I just saw a commercial for the Beatles 1 album. It had the 50th anniversary logo at the beginning. Seemed strange that they would be advertising that...

 

Not so strange considering this: http://wogew.blogspot.de/2013/12/upcoming-50th-anniversary-usa-events.html

 

You said 'would have' instead of 'would of.' I think I am in love.

 

I agree that the stereo track must have been in place before 1971, as I am pretty sure, I bought mine in 1970
and it has the true stereo tracks.

 

I guess that's an indication of where the Beatles stand in popular culture at this moment, for the target demographic. But hey, at least that's not the only thing available. I hope we never get to that point...

 

I am quoting myself here to correct a mistake I made when "Lukpac" asked me what I found wrong with John's vocal on the stereo version of "I Should Have Known Better". The bad double-tracking was, of course, on the following track, "If I Fell."
It was typical of John's impatience with "tracking".

I still hear a vocal wobble on ISHKB though.

 

If you have a chance to stop in a record store in canada, you might find one relatively easily.

Several years ago, I was in Ottawa (I think) and found a store with loads of copies (sealed - must have been a re-issue).
Bought one, and sure enough it had the mastering error.

 

It's a bit far from Denmark though

 

What if he were to start using the subjunctive tense? Would that be going too far?

 

I saw that this morning, a Walmart ad. I was listening with headphones (it was very early) and the music was in very tinny mono. Sounding like a 64 bps mp3, at best. It was frustrating to hear.

 

There's lots of amateurish/"sloppy" mixing on the stereo AHDN LP.

It was their first real attempt at mixing 4-track tapes into a releasable two channel product, and it clearly shows them failing at times.

They got a lot better at it with the next album.

But just as soon as they'd figured that out, there quickly came the need for periodic (and then constant/multiple) 4-track to 4-track reduction mixdowns, which they were never really able to figure out how to make consistently good stereo mixes from.

It's a shame they weren't able to secure an 8-track machine until mid-1968, as it took them very little time to master the art of stereo mixing from that (just in time, too, as their "mono-centric" world was already being forcibly taken away from them by late '68/early '69)...

 

Aside from the *mistakes* (no harmonica edit fix in ISHKB, fading down the wrong vocal track on If I Fell, etc), I'd argue the *sound* of the mixes is great. Also interesting is that Beatles For Sale and Help! were 3-point L-C-R mixes, but AHDN often had tracks panned to 4 different points.

 

I'm absolutely with you on this point, Luke. One of the reasons I was disappointed in the 2009 A Hard Day's Night stereo remaster is that they applied some of the most heavy-handed changes to the album that, to my mind, needed them the least.

 

Gonna pick up the box set today at Barnes & Noble. I have a couple gift cards and that will help make the price pretty reasonable. It's all your fault on here. I hope you're happy!

 

It's the mass-appeal product in their catalogue. Target had it priced at just $10 last week. Not a bad deal for a CD with 27 No. 1 singles.

 

Exactly! I was just getting a couple of them to finish my 2004 and 2006 Capitol sets. But was that good enough? Oh, no. I had to keep reading this forum.

 

The only disc in this box with previously unissued (on CD) unique mixes is Yesterday and Today. I'll buy that as a separate disc and forego the box. I sure don't need The Beatles Story either - it's a load of infantile promotional rubbish highlighting the worst aspects of Beatlemania. They should have included At the Hollywood Bowl instead and let the screaming speak for itself.

 

If they added the HW Bowl album then they would have people clamoring for all manner of 60's, 70's, and 80's albums, some that feature 50's artwork.

 

Now, that would be cool! Maybe if they did it with some kind of mylar underneath, then have The Beatles with their instruments! Nah, it wouldn't work.

How about a compilation with just movie songs? Hey, they do it with Elvis, why not?

 

Why not? Because it wouldn't work!

 

Probably THE. Worse cover.