I've been doing a quick check on Amazon but thought I would ask the good people here who have the knowledge....... Do you need all of 3 of these sets or does the Us albums box set contain everything from the Capitol Years 1 & 2 sets?
The two Capitol Years sets contain the actual original US issue albums, as originally mastered, warts and all. The US albums box set is produced from a hodge podge of masters, many not true to the original US releases. So you get the right track listings, but the sound of the songs may not be what you remember.
There are lots of good videos on YouTube, especially the one by MeanMrMayo that explains the differences well. The newer set is nicer looking, but the Vol 1&2 are more true to the original releases in regards to sound.
Two completely different things, really. The Capitol boxes are both essential, and are my preferred versions for most of that material. But you still need the US albums for Beatles Story and the Hard Days Night soundtrack. (And Yesterday and Today and Hey Jude are nice to have also).
I would.buy Cap Albums 1 and 2 plus individual Y&T and AHDN. That would pretty much have you covered.
They do sound great and everyone that bought them upon release felt the same way...the only shortcoming was in the cheesy packaging and the mini Lp covers were not of highest quality. In this respect, the U.S. Albums box set is the winner.
And the mistake on the first run of the second box, where a fold down was used for one of the mono albums. It was fixed in subsequent runs of that box.
Two of the albums (Ribber Soul & Beatles VI). The other two albums (Early & Help!) were also - and remained - digital folds, as there were no actual mono versions.
Try to nab the Japanese version of the Capitol 1 and 2 boxes, packaging is better, and the CDs actually come with inner sleeves. Very nice sounding sets.
Capitol made good on it though; per their instructions, I sent in my "bad" Rubber Soul and they sent me a 'good' one.
My Beatles VI was fine. My "go to" track to test it out was I Don't Want To Spoil The Party..in the stereo version, there's a faint "whoo" just prior to the guitar solo; in the true mono version it's totally inaudible,
I just checked out both sets on Amazon...why is vol.2 nearly 300 bucks and vol.1 is about 1/10th the price???
I was curious about this, so I posted it for those who might be curious too! There were a few things I did not know about the 2014 set! (I didn't feel like wading through another 8,762 page Beatles thread for information.....especially when a good 1/4 of the responses are totally off topic or snarky- par for the course these days here..............)
They did an amazing job with the mini album covers in the second set. I'm guessing that's the reason.
I don't get the desire for these sets, I had Vol One and Two for about ten years before I finally traded them in. This may be the sound you remember, but to me they sound like ****. What is suppose to be good about them anyway, other than nostalgia?
I prefer the Rubber Soul US version Stereo. The covers are different, and if you play CDs in a player, it's fun to have different track listings even if you are not buying out of nostalgia.
I think the reverb laden Beatles Second Album sounds great. I also greatly prefer the mono She's a Woman. When I first heard the UK mix in 1976, I thought there was something wrong.