The Beatles in Mono CD-box re-release
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| “The Beatles in Mono” |
Word is out that Universal Music Group is about to re-release the 2009 “The Beatles in Mono” CD boxed set. Originally released by Apple/EMI in 2009, the CDs feature the group’s original monophonic Beatles albums, together with an odds and ends 2 CD set, called “Mono Masters”. Also included were the 1965 stereo mixes of “Help!” and “Rubber Soul”, the stereo version of the CDs featuring a 1987 George Martin remix of these albums.
The release comes probably because of the imminent release of the mono albums on vinyl. Unlike the all-analogue vinyl versions of the mono albums, the CD boxed set has a digital recreation of the master tapes, and this will still be the case with the re-release.
“The Beatles in Mono” was an expensive limited edition release, and was heavily pirated. Not just copying the official release, the pirate copies were done from scratch and included spelling mistakes of the titles. One we heard about, was a White album which referenced the titles as ‘Whil My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and ‘Revolution A’.
We don’t know if the re-release will mimic the original 2009 release, regarding the look of the box, CDs and booklet. Back when the Traveling Wilburys limited edition boxed set went into it’s second printing, they changed the colour of the box.
man, aren't we all glad we scrambled and paid high prices to get this "limited edition" when it was first released? Should've known better!
John
theglassonionbeatlesjournal.blogspot.com/
I love the deluxe editions. I think they are an excellent archive to fill in the details we would have love to have seen in our youth when we originally bought these albums. The cost to produce this limited edition, especially the books/photos not done on a high scale was probably pretty high. Don't mind paying for that. The only thing I wish for is that they would have kept doing the .pdf photos so that I could make a high res. music/DVD mix for home listening-viewing.
So now that EMI Beatles product is now owned and released by Universal… how do they get to use the Parlophone label which is now owned and released by Warner Bros…?
Also… I agree with John in post #1
Should have known better, indeed.
Being a long time follower, I will be not too surprised if this rumored edition will be advertised as being sourced from the recent mono vinyl lp project tapes or whatever, carefully preserving the drop outs from the original recording tapes.
@ Mark McKendrick
That's a spicy meat-a-ball and although a published analysis of this complex anomaly has not been forthcoming, I am given to understand that it is taken care of as a matter of licensing and branding.
That is, the EMI property which had been branded as either Parlophone or Apple is now Universal property branded as Apple with additional licensing on the appropriate items of the Parlophone trademarks and artwork.
The items are then owned and released by Universal under terms with Apple that had been in place with EMI and/or renegotiated at point of Universal's acquisition.
Universal/Apple/EMI/Whoever should just release the individual stereo and mono versions of each album in separate individual packages… The Monkees, Bee Gees, Kinks, Small Faces and The Beach Boys have all done this. But of course Apple didn't… The original 2009 mono boxset was a bit of a 'v sign' to Beatles fans. Not all Fabs fans are made of money: and people should have been given the chance to buy albums individually.