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The classic original Beatles studio albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the Beatles catalogue has seen since its original release. Within each CD's new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. The newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.
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Reviews:
I didn't have this compilation and I'm glad I got it.
I reserve my 5 star ratings for my personal favorites so don't be slighted by my 4 star rating.
While I'm waiting for some Japanese reissues of some Beatles albums, I bought two new remastered ones including this one.
I main reason is this song: You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) [Mono].
"The song is a music hall comedy number and is perhaps the silliest song in the Beatles' catalogue. Lennon came up with the lyrics and title after seeing a phone book. Issued on 12" vinyl for the first time on Rarities."
I let you guys argue about the remastering.
The only disappointment is: I Want To Hold Your Hand (stereo).
"The MONO version sounds better (vocally). The stereo version's guitar on the right channel sounds almost disconnected compared to the mono version."
There are 12 songs that made the Top 40 and only a few that are hard to find on other albums like: Love Me Do [Original Single Version] [Mono] and Across the Universe (alternate version).
When I got the 2 CD set at my favorite music store in Portland Oregon I told the casher "I can see the headlines tomorrow saying 'The economy has fully recovered thanks to The Beatles.'" LOL.
I think we can all agree the the reissues have stimulated us to go over our Beatles collection and that's not bad at all.
Second disc the best
The second disk is the best one to me--primarily because I like the later Beatles.
I'm not having any problems with the remastering jobs done. In my opinion they sound very good to great. Packaging, of course, is a mess. I agree with others on that one. I'm not putting the cds back into the package, but into cd/dvd sleeves that will give them the protection they deserve. How easily they will scratch in the current packaging. I give them an absolute F on that one. What's a "pretty" package worth if the damn things are going to scratch one's cds? Not much. I still love the music!
Don't believe all the hype
I got this CD hoping to be blown away by the sound improvements and I was deeply disappointed. If your looking for that deep rich sound you heard in "Let it Be" (Naked) or "The Beatles LOVE" you won't find it here. The packaging is nice but you need a CD ROM to see the mini documentary. I would not recommend this CD to anybody especially if you purchased the original "PAST MASTERS"
Beatles - Past Masters - 2cd - remaster - video review
Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/R34VNJYZWNL950
Disappointing remastering
So, I should begin by saying that my interest lies in the "remastered" part of the Past Masters collection. As a die hard Beatles fan since I saw them on Ed Sullivan as a kid, it goes without saying that this is a great collection, full of wonderful songs, a must-have for Beatles afficianados, etc, etc.
But does it SOUND significantly better than the equivalent CDs released about 20 years ago, now?
In my opinion: a little, but not much. On many of the songs in this collection, I'm hard pressed to tell the difference. Okay, maybe I can tell the difference, but this new release does not jump out at me as sounding significantly better than the original.
For me, the benchmark for Beatles remastering is the 1999 Beatles Yellow Submarine Songbook. Those remastered songs sound almost like different recordings. They're fantastic! They reach out of the speakers and grab you by the ears. So, I was very encouraged to see that the roster of engineers and producers who tackled that project has a lot of names in common with the team who took on this new re-mastering of the entire catalogue.
If they had pulled off a repeat performance, I was prepared to buy the whole Beatles catalogue all over again, just as I did when I replaced my original vinyl collection.
Alas, the results are pretty pale compared to the Yellow Submarine songbook collection. I don't know why. I suspect it has something to do with the way in which the original recordings were dismantled. Released simultaneously with the 1999 Songbook CD was a re-mastered DVD of the Yellow Submarine movie, which had a 5.1 soundtrack. If you don't have that Soundtrack CD, pick it up. It's stunning!
Sadly, I won't be buying any more of these re-mastered Beatles CDs--at least not if the Past Masters collection is any indication of the overall sound quality for the rest of their song collection. To my ears, it just doesn't sound that much better.
What a disappointment.
