Beatles vinyl remasters – first photo
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| PRNewsFoto/EMI /Apple Corps Ltd |
About the records
Every Beatles Album to be released on Vinyl, as a boxed set and individually. 12 November 2012 in the UK/Europe and the next day in the USA.
Manufactured on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl with replicated artwork, the 14 albums return to their original glory with details including the poster in The Beatles (The White Album), the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’s cut-outs, and special inner bags for some of the titles.
About the book
Each album will be available individually, and accompanied by a stunning, elegantly designed 252-page hardbound book in a lavish boxed edition which is limited to 50,000 copies worldwide.
The book, exclusive to the boxed edition, is authored by award-winning radio producer Kevin Howlett and features a dedicated chapter for each of the albums, as well as insight into the creation of the remasters and how the vinyl albums were prepared. The 12”x12” book showcases a wealth of photographs spanning The Beatles’ recording career, including many images which were not included in the 2009 CD booklets.
North American debut
The titles include The Beatles’ 12 original UK albums, first released between 1963 and 1970, the US-originated Magical Mystery Tour, now part of the group’s core catalogue, and Past Masters, Volumes One & Two, featuring non-album A-sides and B-sides, EP tracks and rarities. With this release, The Beatles’ first four albums make their North American stereo vinyl debuts.
The Monos
In 2013, the remastered albums will make their mono vinyl debuts.
History
Since it was recorded, The Beatles’ music has been heard on a variety of formats – from chunky reel-to-reel tapes and eight-track cartridges to invisible computer files. But there has never been a more romantic or thrilling medium for music than a long-playing twelve-inch disc. We ‘play’ records. The process of carefully slipping the disc out of the sleeve, cleaning it and lowering the stylus provides a personal involvement in the reproduction of the music.
When The Beatles’ albums were first released, the listener enjoyed a tangible relationship with the music in the grooves of a record. There was an emotional connection to the artifact carrying the sound, and this bond was strengthened by the LP sleeve. Rather than a merely functional object to protect the disc, it was elevated to a stylish accessory. Certainly, the cover of a Beatles album conveyed a message about the music it was wrapped around. For example, the dominant orange and brown hues and elongated faces on the front of Rubber Soul seem to embody the sound of the record. With the advent of the cassette tape in the seventies and the compact disc in the 1980s, album artwork was reduced in size and importance, losing much of its charm. That is partly why vinyl LPs have not, as predicted, been discarded.
None of that would really matter, were it not for the enduring power of The Beatles’ music. In September, 2009, The Beatles’ remastered albums on CD graced charts around the world. Seventeen million album sales within seven months was resounding evidence of the timeless relevance of their legacy. Through five decades, the music of The Beatles has captivated generation upon generation.
For producer Rick Rubin, surveying The Beatles’ recorded achievements is akin to witnessing a miracle. “If we look at it by today’s standards, whoever the most popular bands in the world are, they will typically put out an album every four years,” Rubin said in a 2009 radio series interview. “So, let’s say two albums as an eight year cycle. And think of the growth or change between those two albums. The idea that The Beatles made thirteen albums in seven years and went through that arc of change… it can’t be done. Truthfully, I think of it as proof of God, because it’s beyond man’s ability.”
Price tags
Amazon (USA): $399.99 | Amazon (UK) £445.40 That’s a whopping $721.46, nearly twice as much as in the USA (Update: The price at Amazon (UK) dropped to £299.99 the day after). But there are better prices to be found in the UK, What! music has the box for £274.99, which is equal to $445. Here in Norway, the price is NOK 4399, and that’s 767 American Dollars. So if any Americans are complaining about the price tag: You are spoiled rotten!
If the content is really reproducing the covers, inner sheets and labels as the originals were at first, it's okay for me; I buy it… I don't need a presentation copying the 2009 stereo cd remasters.
For the original analog masters, I still have my vinyls made in the '70s.
P.S.: Always a pleasure to follow your blog.
Hey Roger you have right with the date of released on November 13th. I preordened my Box Set on from Amazon USA thanks to you and to your blog. Thanks man!
Me too! 345€ on French Amazon for whom interested…
I just pre-ordered it, so pumped!
These LPs are from the digital remasters, right? Can anyone explain why? Transfering from Analogue source tapes to digital cannot add any fidelity – it can only alter or degrade it. So what is the sense in mastering vinyl from a 2nd (at least) generation digital source? Surely they'd be better going back straight to the analogue masters and using them?
I am sure this will cause complaints.
At what bitrate are the actual 2009 digital remasters (as opposed to the CDs themselves which came out in 2009, which are definitely 16-bit/44.1-kHz)? A friend has a "rip" of a 24-bit/44.1-kHz, 3-DVD set whose artwork says "Made in Japan"… PLEASE tell me they remastered those albums AT LEAST as high as 24-bit/96-kHz. Otherwise, the LPs are for show only.