The remastered Beatles box sets are available for pre-order on Amazon.
The Beatles Stereo Box Set. List Price: $259.98.
The Beatles Mono Box Set (LIMITED). List Price: $298.98
Right now, Amazon is selling them at their list prices, but I am assuming those prices will get lower as we approach September 9. Right?
Product details after the jump…
FEATURES:
-Dimensions: 12″x6″x3″
-Description:
Hard black glossy lift top with magnet clasp
CD’s packaged in three panel digi-pak with digital mini documentaries
Remastered by Guy Massey, Steve Rooke, Sam Okell with Paul Hicks and Sean Magee
-Contains:
All 13 Studio remasters plus Past Masters (digi packaging with digital mini documentaries)
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Let It Be
Past Masters
DVD of all 13 mini-documentaties (Running time: 40 minutes)
The Beatles Mono Box Set (LIMITED)
FEATURES:
-Dimensions: 5.75″x5.38″x2.63″
-Description:
Hard white glossy slip box
Limited edition and numbered (10,000)
CD’s packaged as mini LP replicas (replica artwork, sleeves and gatefolds)
Remastered by Paul Hicks, Sean Magee with Guy Massey and Steve Rooke
-Contains:
Origianl Mono version – 11 albums (12 discs)
+= mono mix CD debut
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
Beatles For Sale
Help! (CD also includes original 1965 stereo mix)+
Rubber Soul (CD also include original 1965 stereo mix)+
Revolver+
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band+
Magical Mystery Tour+
The Beatles+
Mono Masters (features all of the mono trakcs that appeared on singles, EP’s or that never made it onto the 13 albums)
Essay written by Kevin Howlett
*note: Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road and Let It Be are not included as they were originally recorded in stereo
Shouldn’t the mono box be cheaper than the stereo one? I mean, it has fewer albums (and if you want to get technical about it, less actual audio information).
You’d think… But it’s for collectors and audiophiles…who are willing to pay whatever. I think the justification is that a ton of extra work was done to remaster the mono mixes, and there is a limited number of potential buyers for the mono mixes, so to make up for the lower number of sales they’ve got to charge more to make it worthwhile from a business point of view.
The audiophreaks are just thankful that EMI is making these available at all. Personally, I’m planning on purchasing the stereo box day of release, and just sampling the mono box via lossless torrent that’s bound to appear by the evening of September 10 at the very latest…
I am so broke right now…
lets get a monkees box and then well talk…
Listen to the Band is a fine box set, son.
http://www.amazon.com/Listen-Band-Monkees/dp/B0000032HE
That one’s out of print, but it’s been replaced by a new one.
seems a little like the holy relic trade to me, pieces of the true cross and all that. I lived through all those recordings, one by one-can’t see how having them could be better than that. Not to mention the shrine space something like that demands…I’m hoping to get a lot more use out of a pair of walnut-cab marantzs I found,circa 1978, and let it be
As predicted, Amazon dropped the prices. The stereo box is currently down to $207.98 and mono box is down to $239.99. 20% off of list.
Stereo is now down to $204.99, while the mono box is holding steady at $239.99.
Damn. I was thinking of going with the mono set since I have the later day stuff on nice vinyl still and would love to have the early shit in all it’s gloriously flat mix–as intended. No more hard pans left and right!
Over at the Steve Hoffman boards, there is an ongoing Beatles Box Set Price Watch thread in progress…
In case anybody (else) was wondering, here is the track list for the Mono Masters discs:
DISC ONE: Mono Masters, Vol. 1
1. Love Me Do (Original Single Version) (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. From Me To You (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Thank You Girl (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. She Loves You (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. I’ll Get You (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. This Boy (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
8. Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
9. Sie Liebt Dich (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
10. Long Tall Sally (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
11. I Call Your Name (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
12. Slow Down (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
13. Matchbox (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
14. I Feel Fine (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
15. She’s A Woman (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
16. Bad Boy (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
17. Yes It Is (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
18. I’m Down (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
DISC TWO: Mono Masters, Vol. 2
1. Day Tripper (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
2. We Can Work It Out (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
3. Paperback Writer (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
4. Rain (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
5. Lady Madonna (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
6. The Inner Light (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
7. Hey Jude (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
8. Revolution (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
9. Only A Northern Song (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
10. All Together Now (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
11. Hey Bulldog (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
12. It’s All Too Much (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
13. Get Back (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
14. Don’t Let Me Down (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
15. Across The Universe (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
16. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) (Mono) (2009 Digital Remaster)
Weird. Apparently, “Ballad Of John & Yoko,” “Old Brown Shoe,” and “Let It Be” only ever appeared in stereo? Who knew?
Apparently, “Only A Northern Song”, “All Together Now”, “Hey Bulldog”, “It’s All Too Much”, and “Across The Universe” were scheduled for a 1969 EP, which never got released, so these were apparently never previously released in mono… Huh.
Anyone know what the tracks are on the stereo Past Masters cd’s? Would be nice to hear the stereo mixes for “Thank You Girl” and “From Me to You”.
$199.49 and $229.49 now.
Doh! The mono box is back up to $239.99.
You can stream some clips at Amazon now. Even as crappy, online streaming files, they sound pretty good. Punchier, for sure.
It’s about time the mono mixes were released on cd, but really you’re just paying for the DVD and packaging. The mixes have been available for years.
Mono boxes are sold out at Amazon! Holy shit, maybe they really are limited? Or is this just a gimmick?
fucking great…
I have the singles & ep boxes that came out several years ago. They were very limited and were never re-pressed. The Beatles are weird about product. Sort of shameless about some things and completely unwilling to take advantage of many things.
Pretty much the only place you can get the mono box pre-ordered is through the Beatles.com store…and they charge both shipping and tax. That brings it close to $300. Fuck that. Another great marketing move from EMI. Way to miss the demand and shoot yourselves in the foot when profits are a valuable commodity in your business. If there’s anyone with a brain left at that company, they’ll ship some additional products to all vendors (brick & mortar and online) when we reach the one after nine o nine. And don’t forget everyone: there’s plenty of mono product from the Capitol years with that badass echo!
Apparently, more boxes are being manufactured. Fear not.