Customer Rating:  
Summary: poor packaging
Comment: the music of course is what i expected. but for the dollar that i paid for this you would have expected better packaging instead of paper sleeves basically.
Customer Rating:
Summary: "I think this song's on Something New"
Comment: The sound on the stereo mixes is absolutely amazing, just what the original UK releases deserved the 1st time they came on CD in 1987! I was only a baby during 1/2 of the time the Beatles made it big but I remember as a kid and a teenager friends had copies of these American versions. For years, Americans thought Meet the Beatles was the Beatles' proper debut. Ok, now for the negative part. The packaging leaves a lot to be desired. It's nice to have the original artwork on the "covers" of the CD albums, but you need a magnifying glass to read the liner notes. Also, it would be nice if the CD's included a jewel case or digipack (I know you've heard almost everyone else who's reviewed this complain about this). Of course, the liner notes on the original US releases are cheezy and laughable, but nonetheless entertaining ("They have pudding top haircuts that date back to the 11th century," as if that journalist is some great historian!). More extensive interviews in the book would be nice, but the pictures are pretty cool as are the quotes from all 4 Beatles. I also liked Mark Lewisohn's introduction.
Ok, here's what the CD's contain. Meet the Beatles, of course, is a light version of With the Beatles (albiet with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and "I Saw Her Standing There" thrown in). The Beatles' 2nd Album is just a collection of leftovers from With the Beatles, singles from the UK and their Long Tall Sally EP, with "You Can't Do That" thrown in. Besides, counting Introducing the Beatles (which came out on Veejay in 1963, yes, in America), this "2nd" album would constitute as their 3rd. Something New is really a light version of A Hard Days Night (there was a soundtrack album on United Artists, with instrumental jazz renditions of Beatles' songs conducted by George Martin). This was merely Capitol's way of getting their piece of the pie, nothing really "new," except for a German version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Slow Down" and "Matchbox." Beatles '65 (Capitol really should have checked the year on this one, as it was released in December of 1964) is a light version of Beatles for Sale, with "I'll Be Back," "She's a Woman" and "I Feel Fine" added on. Capitol figured if they left a track or 2 off the American version of the album released in the UK (usually 3) and threw in a few songs from singles released in the UK, eventually they would have enough tracks for a whole other album. Thus, the American Beatles fan wound up buying more albums than the English Beatles fan.
To hear the stereo mixes of these done with the proper care is a real treat, and you have the option of hearing these again in mono, which also sounds good (most of these are under a 1/2 hour, so you'll get to the mono before you know it). Sometimes, in the case of "She's a Woman" and "I Feel Fine," the mono sounds a little better (the vocals are more coherent on the mono). Capitol may not have spent the same kind of care as Parlophone did in preparing the Beatles' albums but this is a nice souvenir to have. Let's hope they include At the Hollywood Bowl, Hey Jude and the American version of Rarities in later editions (I had heard The Beatles' Story was not exactly worth listening to, so I, for one, am not disappointed in its absence). Also, I hope they include the soundtracks to Help! and A Hard Days Night in their entirety, though both of them are 1/2 Beatles' music, 1/2 instrumental music from both movies.
Customer Rating:
Summary: the FABS
Comment: I grew up in the US in the 60's and this is how i remember the BEATLES lp's.If you are a true lover of the GREATEST band in the history of music. Well, you should be ordering this as you read this review!!!! I'll be ordering vol. 2 soon.
Customer Rating:
Summary: For Collectors like me
Comment: In 1987 The English version of the Beatles catalog was released in America on CD for the first time. Having been American and being used to the American versions of the Beatles catalog, I was a little disappointed.
I used to wonder if we would ever see the American version on the market again.
The British versions have nothing wrong with them, and I enjoy them alot. They are simply not the same.
To me the whole point is, many American and English versions differ. So if they were the same, there would be no point in collecting the American versions.
I enjoying hearing the sitar that is missing in Norweigen Wood or some of the differences the collections have.
I am a Beatles collector and will buy an entire CD for just a small instrumental difference or a small difference in lyrics.
To me this is what makes the entire collection worth while.
I like to hear the reverb in I Feel Fine or She's A Woman. I also enjoy the sound of the American discs. Over the years I heard the American albums and got used to hearing the songs in a certain order. When the English versions came out in 1987 I had to look a little harder to find my favorite songs, because the album song orders had changed. Rubber Soul and Revolver just were not the same anymore. I also have to wonder if the album that was released about 1982 called "Rarities" will be released. It will also be interesting to see if the Live album at the Hollywood Bowl in 1964 and 1965 will be released again.
I hope and pray that Capitol releses another volume with Revolver and possibly Yesterday and Today, as well as the few others that were passed over. This collection, as the heading says is for the collector who has to have it all.
The positive side of this is, it feels like an old friend has come back to be with you.........................Now I can remonisce about the 60's the way I remember them.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The packaging complainers are NOT just being picky
Comment: Love the CDs and there's plenty to read about them elsewhere, but the packaging is really as crappy as you've read--you either have to pry the outer box open with your fingers and yank or whack the back of it to get the inner package out. Once you do that, it's just the opposite. On one of my first two handlings, all the replica albums fell to the floor and two of the CDs fell out since there is no internal sleeve to hold them in place. If you want to store the long box away and just use the inner, it can be folded in two and placed in your CD rack, but as a flimsy piece of cardboard with no information printed on the end. For the money, we deserved more.
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