"The Beatles - The Capitol Albums Vol 1" review

Well, it's finally here (at least in the UK - a few more hours to go for those in the US ).

First things first - I can now tell you officially that the packaging SUCKS!!
The book isn't hardback as was stated on the Capitol retail blurb (maybe the US one will be hardback?), the Mark Lewisohn "essay" takes up only about 5 of the fifty or so pages, the print quality of the mini-LP sleeves is poor and whoever decided the folding box within a box idea was a winner is either insane or has a very sick sense of humour! I've already had all four discs spill out onto the floor when, for a brief moment, I forgot the crazy design of this package and pulled out the inner box with the whole thing in the vertical position - what was I thinking? .

There are more gripes about the packaging (no printing on the spines of the mini-LP sleeves or the spine of the foldable box thing etc..) but now it is time to move onto the music.......

I'm shocked to say ........ it's OK!!!

Sure, the Duophony "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "This Boy" on the stereo "Meet The Beatles" is laughable (how many hi-hat beats to the bar was it Steve? ) and the horrendous "She's A Woman" / "I Feel Fine" double wammy will never be anything other than a bad joke - but there are a lot of fine sounding tracks here. It's nice to have an officially released stereo "With The Beatles" represented here sounding pretty close to the UK original . I take back what I said about "It Won't Be Long" on another thread (it was based on an mp3 someone posted - in the words of Mr L "I should have known better" ) - the US stereo version sounds almost as good as the UK original!

Of course, even the relatively untampered tracks sound better in their first generation "UK" state but I am pleasantly surprised how listenable some of this stuff is .

As for the thrill of hearing this music as it was heard in the states in 1964, I can highly recommend it. So "You Can't Do That" sounds weird - who cares? I feel like I have been given an opportunity to time warp to the birth of stateside Beatlemania and I am enjoying the trip just fine thank you very much .

Roll on Vol. 2!

 

Thanks for the great news!

 

So I guess it isn't maximized and No-Noised?

 

Malc,
I'm glad you like the sound on the disc's! I think a lot of people will be surprised about the sound. If you look at the Beatles U.S. catalog as a whole, not all of them sound all bad! I think just having the mono mixes of the U.S. albums is worth the price alone. And, if you look at the amount of re-channeled tracks, compare to the true stereo and mono mixes, it comes out to be a small percentage. Besides, you get the mono counterparts for the re-channeled tracks, so...who cares! You really have me looking forward to this, tomorrow morning!

 

Anybody know which B&M has the best price on the set here in the US?

 

As I said last week, many of these tracks sound surprisingly good. The stereo Beatles For Sale tracks are outstanding. A very pleasant surprise.

One thing, I'm not sure I detect extra echo on the hard days night tracks. Did Dexter add echo to everything or just some tracks?

 

Try Best Buy or Target, $44.98!!!

 

I've been playing the UK box tonight also, having bought it today during my lunch break. The timing of this release could not have been better...my wife and I have been watching the Anthology DVDs for the first time in DTS 5.1, and we finished the 3rd episode last night, which of course is the episode which is all about the Beatles making it in the US.

Malc is right, the packaging sucks although I do actually think the mini sleeves are quite good overall, except the discs easily fall out as Malc has noted...be very careful when you open the freakin' thing!

From what I can tell on first listen, it's not compressed or NR'd. If it has been, it's very subtle...for example, the tape hiss on the right-hand channel during the intro of the stereo mix of "Roll Over Beethoven" is very audible.

I've really so far only been listening to the stereo stuff and I agree with Malc about the sound too...it actually sounds pretty GOOD to my ears - the odd sonic disaster aside (namely the echo-drenched "She's A Woman" & "I Feel Fine" of course). LOVE hearing those songs in STEREO on CD and of course that alt. mix of "Thank You Girl" on Second Album.

The stereo songs on Meet The Beatles and Second Album (duophonic tracks aside) sound really good. In fact even the duophonic stuff sounds better to my ears than the dreck we've been forced to listen to all these years on those 80s CDs.

No, in fact most of what I've heard tonight sounds better than nearly anything on the crappy 80s CDs - even if they are 2nd or 3rd generation tapes, or whatever they are/ Put it this way, to hear the tracks off With The Beatles and Beatles For Sale in stereo which have only been in mono on CD up to now is quite a treat and one can only assume the UK catalogue with twofer mono/stereo CDs won't be long coming now.

Those cynics and naysayers among you - get out and buy this set. I am convinced you will enjoy it for what it is - a large dose of nostalgia and FUN - and it will send the right signals to Apple.

My initial impressions are very favourable...I've really enjoyed it so far and I think you American fans are gonna love this set! Especially the baby boomers among you

 

Hmmm, Time warp... Nice review...

 

I tried to get it on Saturday, but they are charging... $100 USD for the box set around here!!! I had to pass

 

No hint of excessive limiting to push up the rms level to my ears. Here's the waveform for the mono "And I Love Her" from "Something New" which looks like a textbook digital transfer to me:



I don't detect any obvious use of NR yet either - the end of the "stereo" She Loves You was pretty noisy .

 

Looking good!

 

I agree with Malc S that the packaging is terrible (the US book has a soft cover too). I've having a hell of a time getting the discs to slip back into that folding box (which I'm sure will split in time! )

But the music sounds great ... which I guess is the main thing. And, I don't know ... I kind of like those echo-y versions of "She's A Woman / I Feel Fine" in a perverted sort of way!

 

Are they still as distorted as they were on vinyl?

 

Not to my ears ... but I could be going deaf!

 

The packaging for this new product is truely sad BUT the overall sound (both stereo and mono) is quite good, infact better than expected!!
I was quite worried about the sound quality of Beatles '65, from what I had heard from the capitol web site, but I can't really fault it all that much.

I'm trying not to listen too carefully for no-noising, etc. since I just want to enjoy the music but if it's there then I haven't noticed it and that IS a good thing as far as I'm concerned.

Hope everybody can enjoy these as much as I have so far.

Oh, regarding the sleeves; I'm going to be scanning them and putting the discs into proper jewel cases!!!!!
Perhaps some of you graphic wizzards could come up with a much better replacement for us graphic-challenged few??

 

told ya so

 

I heard that the next step is seperate cd's in late Feb. '05
and seperate mono or stereo sets in April.
Can't imagine why anyone would buy that way.

 

Those waveforms actually look promising !!!

 

What do you mean, 'seperate mono or stereo sets'?

 

Yep, the packaging is a real stinker so I would recommend keeping the discs out or CD-R copies. No hardcover book here either.

Listening to some of the tracks through headphones you can hear the hiss and dropouts in places. I am already giddy at the prospect of having the US Rubber Soul on CD. I believe the mono mixes on that album and Revolver are identical to the UK versions. Plus, the original UK stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul are not actually on CD. George Martin remixed those for the '87 discs.

 

Okay Beatle People, recieved my Beatle box today from Amazon.com for $49.99 total. They sent it out on Sat., the 13th. So you can't beat the service. And others are correct, the box is cheap and flimsey. And what's with the blurry titles on the cds, like very late pressings of the original lps? Just started listening to the music but sounds good to this 1st Gen. Beatle fan.

Rob

 

I hear lots of grousing about the packaging but look at it this way. Remember all those beautifully packaged remastered CDs out there that have been maximized and NR'd to death? I would MUCH rather have a poorly packaged, well mastered CD than the other way around. If this sounds good, I'm going to be a happy camper even if they package it in Ziplock bags.

 

I don't know that I've seen anywhere - is this set being released in the UK or is it only an import?