Why I Will Buy the Beatles Remastered CDs (The Stereo & Mono Box Sets)

I have long owned all of The Beatles albums on CD (Please Please Me through Let It Be, the Anthology sets, and even the compilation albums like The Beatles 1.) Considering this you may be wondering why am I so excited to buy all of their albums again (many of them twice more in fact because 10 of their albums are including both the mono box set and the stereo box set) on 9/9/9?

The Original Mono Mixes On CD For The First Time

I think it's easiest to explain my excitement over The Beatles Mono Box Set because it represents the very first time that many of the band's original mono mixes have made their way onto CD. And it will be the very first time that I'm hearing most of these mixes! As a student of the history of The Beatles this excites me because I know that they spent much more time on the mono mixes of legendary albums like Rubber Soul, Revolver, & Sgt. Pepper than they did the stereo mixes.

In fact, at the time the stereo mixes were really just an "afterthought" in comparison with the mono mixes. People at that time didn't really know what to make of stereo. They thought it could even be a "fad." Most people listened to their albums on a mono playback system at that time so it only made sense for them to be more concerned with those mono mixes.'

Along with the historical importance of these mono mixes, there's also the fact that many people claim they sound better than the stereo mixes. For example John Lennon said that the mono version of Sgt. Pepper was far better than the stereo version. I want to hear for myself to see if I agree with him.

The mono box set includes the first 10 Beatles albums in their original mono mixes (that's all of the studio albums through 1968's The White Album.) Why no Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, or Let It Be? There was never a mono mix made for those albums because by 1969 mono had been totally "phased out" and stereo had become the only standard.

These mono versions of The Beatles albums will only be available as a part of the box set, they will not be sold separately. The only Beatles albums sold separately will be the newly remastered stereo versions.

The Remastered Stereo CDs Should Reveal New Details

So I've explained why I'm so excited about the mono set, but what about The Beatles Stereo Box Set? I've already got their albums in stereo, so why should I care about that? The current CD versions that I (and every other Beatles fan) currently own were released in 1987 when CD technology was still pretty new. The mastering for those CDs was not done very well.

The newly remastered CDs should reveal new details in the music. It should be more clear and the CDs will also be louder in comparison with the older CDs.

There is a concern about over-compression (look up "the loudness war" to learn more) but there have been reassurances that these CDs have not been over compressed. I'll have to hear them for myself to render a verdict on that. Although from what I've heard from clips of the remastered songs, I don't think it will be a problem.

This box set also includes a DVD documentary which adds to it's value.

Plus, I just really like the idea of having every single song The Beatles released from 1962 through 1970 included in a single box set (and that's exactly what it contains as it has all 13 of their studio albums along with the Past Masters set which includes all of their non-album tracks.)