You’re right about building a CD collection. So many people are donating their CDs to charity shops and you can pick them up for cheap. And unlike a second hand record or cassette their sound quality does not decline unless the disc is damaged.

I have the original 1987 CD of Sgt. Peppers and the 1995 CDs of the Red/Blue albums. They both sound great. CD is truly the best overall medium for audio recordings.

On Friday I went to a local charity shop. I was browsing through the CDs while a man behind the counter was sorting through a batch of CDs that had been donated that day. Amongst the CDs he was checking I spied a copy of Please Please Me without a case. The man picked up the CD and told me that he had never liked the Beatles despite being English and alive during the height of Beatlemania. He regarded the CD for a few moments and admitted that he didn't know any of the songs and I assured him that he would recognize some of the songs if he heard them. By then I had picked out a few CDs and placed them on the counter, but before I coukd offer to buy Please Please Me he put it in one the cases of one of the CDs I was buying and told me he was going to throw it out anyway and I could have it for free! Case or no case I'm glad I went to that shop last Friday. Incidently it's a 1987 copy made in Australia. It's in mono and I have yet to hear it, but it will be fun to listen to it in the car while I drive around town.

I'm so glad you mentioned the muffled sound at the opening of the song "A Hard Day's Night" on the 2009 stereo remaster. How could they let it be released like that?!?!

I totally agree with your choice of the 1987 transfers for the later albums. They are more visceral-sounding than the remasters. However, there is one tidbit worth mentioning: in 1986-87, Canada got sent by accident digital transfers of the original stereo mixes of Help! and Rubber Soul, not the George Martin remixes. In pre-Internet days, nobody noticed the mistake and those versions made it onto CD there and remained in print well into the 1990s. These are my favourite versions of those two albums, having the edge over the transfers on the '09 mono box, in my opinion. Check them out if you get the chance.

You're not the only one working in a record store who got 'Brothers In Arms' burned into your brain by too many in-store plays. Ha! :) (And I was astounded at the number of copies we moved of that album weekly in Waco, Texas.)

I personally prefer the Mono Masters compilation over Past Masters, simply because the singles sound much better with their mono mixes in most cases. There isn’t a direct correlation, so you need Past Masters to get a few of the later singles tracks, but it’s worth the extra cost to get both. I will also give a shout-out to the CD singles and EP collections from the early 90s. These were a big improvement over the 87/88 CDs for many of the tracks… especially for the early catalog. I think I might even prefer them over the 2009 CDs in many cases.

Before they released the official Beatles cds in 87 I bought the 1st Beatles related cds, they were : Beatles First (Polydor), Wings Greatest (Japan),and Milk and Honey (Polydor). This was around 1984. Great video, thx!

Many people prefer the CD because it’s harder to scratch it or get dirt on it, they’re more durable, they take up less room in your home, and usually they could put more songs than vinyl. If there is such a demise of the CD how come they are so expensive on Amazon? They should be giving them away

"Brothers in Arms" was playing everywhere in 1986 and I agree with your accessment. It's even worse all these years later.

I don't know if you still read comments on this video, but I wanted to mention something weird I noticed with a particular CD over here in the United States. Our 1987 CD of Rubber Soul still used the American cover artwork. It has the brown letters, and even the Capitol logo in the corner. What's weird is that even though it has the Capitol artwork, it has the same tracklisting as the canon version of the album, and underneath the tracklist is the parlophone logo and the EMI copyright information. It's just a really weird release, and I'm pretty sure this only applies to Rubber Soul because my copy of Help! from 1987 uses the canon artwork and lacks any mention of Capitol.

When the first 4 1987 CD’s came out, bootlegs CD’s featuring the UK stereo stereo mixes started appearing, as well as session bootlegs that sounded like they were ripped from the master tapes! People speculated that while compiling his “Beatles Recording Sessions” book, runners between the EMI vaults and Mark Lewisohn’s listening station were diverting the tapes to bootleggers. Also around this time, the individual MFSL Beatles albums were circulating on the market, giving diehard fans a listen to the stereo versions they were being denied on CD.

I just got me the 87/88 CDs in the wodden box! I’ve been owning both 2009 sets for some time but craggy a complete collection. So I got me the first CD editions! Great addition to the collection 🎉🎉❤️❤️✌🏻✌🏻

The CD release of magical mystery tour was very annoying because it did not contain the 24 page color booklet

I remember when the final sale 8 tracks were on a "sale" to make more space for cassette titles. Part of the reason I think vinyl bounced back is clear. If you see the CD spinning, you just see a fast spinning disc. A regular vinyl record will just spin reliably within view. It's all old and familiar, too. This adds to the appeal. No matter the format, each of them has something unique in all of them making for something enjoyable.

Fantastic video. Great points about the various CD releases. The ol’ 87s have lots of variations due to so many pressed at various locations.

I also bought the first-ever Beatles CDs back in '87 here in the US....like you, I bought a CD player, but mine cost just several hundred dollars US. I think that in the UK CD players cost more because tech overseas was always a bit more backwards than in the States...in any case, I did hear the "squeaks" in Ringo's drum pedals! Keep in mind that, at the time, compact discs were all the rage and I had all of the US Beatles albums on compact disc (which I played on my Walkman) and the sound was horrific! A the time record stores were 100% vinyl and stores CDs were so rare that they (the jewel boxes) were packaged in these very long cardboard boxes (?), presumably to prevent people from pinching them from stores. I still have them 30-plus years later, although I threw those stupid cardboard boxes away. Yeah, I remember the SGT. Pepper cutouts...I was thoroughly confused by them since I never actually owned the vinyl with the original sleeve. Having the proper UK albums instead of the cobbled US versions was a real plus as well. I had Yesterday & Today on vinyl and the cover was super boring with the Beats sitting around a large piece of luggage? (steam trunk, I think) I tried to peel the cover off to see if the original "butchered babies" cover underneath was there but, alas, I just ruined the sleeve to no avail.

1:46 To be fair, the deep cuts on Brothers in Arms that were never played in heavy rotation on radio or MTV are really good

I agree on most of your choices for the ultimate Beatles CD box. When the first four CDs came out in 1987, the only one I bought was A Hard Day's Night, and it certainly didn't make me fall for the new CD format. My US LPs sounded much better so I knew something was very wrong. I was very selective with the following Beatle CD releases I bought. The early Sgt. Pepper and MMT discs are still my go to versions. I've never been pleased with the White Album on CD until the most recent remix, and I still don't really like any Abbey Road CD. Nothing seems to sound as good as my 1970s UK LP pressing. It was fun hearing your memories about the arrival of the Beatles on CD. I remember those days hanging around the record store discussing new releases and how they sounded.

I always find the CDs made in the 1980s not only analogue and mixing problems etc, it usually has strong digital jitter effects because of bad digital clocking. And as far as I can remember none of the Beatles CDs from That time make a difference. So I usually prefer the versions from the newer times. My favorite Stg. peppers eg. is the 50th anniversary version, it‘s unbelievable good.

"to be fun to compile what I think is the best sounding set of CD's using just these three official sets" - and then you choose the Toshiba black triangle "Abbey Road"

I'm quite content with the mono box set, but I do have a soft spot for the stereo mixes of A Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale and Help.

I grew up in the 90s/2000s. CDs were common and cassettes were somewhat common too. Records felt old fashioned and out of touch. Don't get me wrong, I love vinyl (I own over 500 records and all of the Beatles UK albums) but CDs are to my knowledge, the best physical format. It wasn't until I got into vinyl, cassettes and shellac discs, that I realized how excellent CDs sounded. Being born into the CD era presented them as standard. Shouldn't all music sound as good as CDs? I was very wrong. It took me years to realize this.

It's good that you noted that the 2009 Mono Help! and Rubber Soul contain their original Stereo Mixes. I have a 1987 German CD of Revolver that I swear blows away the British and U.S. versions. It just has so much depth and detail that it's almost shocking. After watching this video I'm glad that I held on to all of my 1987 Beatles CDs. How does the Japanese Abbey Road handle John Lennon's blood-curdling scream in I Want You (She's So Heavy)? It clips on the 1987 CD but they managed to have corrected it on the 2009 release. There were also special editions of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The White Album in mini-LP reproductions. Also, who manufactured the Beatles Singles Collection and EP Collection CDs? How about a review of The Beatles USB Box?

I remember feeling angry and outraged by the massacre they made to Beatles music in the 1987 CD's. I completed my CD set between 1989 and 1990, and too well do I recall the indignant feeling that all those new mixes had been done by incompetent people who neither loved nor cared, nor even knew about the impressive Beatle legacy. In particular, most of the fadeouts in the earlier records were mercilessly butchered, and I remember my rage at listening to the "Kansas City/Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey!" CD rendition where Paul's screaming fadeout had been brutally cut off, just as the falsetto "la-la-la-la-la" in "Misery" 's coda. Memory fails me now and I don't have the records at hand, but I remember how nasty and disrespectful the treatment to Beatle music in most CD's sounded and felt back then. I also missed the charming little anomalies/errors I had grown with, such as the brief cut in Lennon's harmonica at the beginning of "I should have known better" which was listlessly smoothed over in the spurious CD rendition, and Paul's voice cracking in the second ".... was in vain" in the sweet "If I fell". I felt that the system had not had enough with murdering Lennon, they had to murder The Beatles themselves in as many ways as they could. Now it's all really over and, at 62, I don't care that much any longer, but I still believe that a sinister cabal of idiots, oblivious of any notion of history and heritage, had taken over the music industry. The same happened in England overall, a country I used to love and admire, but I feel so embarrassed about and so sorry for today. The show can't go on, and this "curtains" time is bitter and sad indeed......

Great video....I still love my Beatles CDs, particularly the 2009 Mono box which is a thing of beauty

Very enjoyable video Andrew! The release of the Beatles on CD in 1987 prompted me to go out and buy my first CD player - it was a Sony Discman which I bought in 1988. My first CD purchase was Past Master Vol 1 and Band On The Run. I eventually bought all of the Beatles discs within the next few months and while I was disappointed that the first four were in mono I completely understand it with hindsight. I have to admit I was more excited about the mono box in 2009 so I made sure I got that the week it came out. Watching your video will inspire me to do a A/B comparison between the 87 and 09 discs. Thanks again for sharing this!

First of all, how you managed to switch to producing video every week AND increase your production quality at the same time is astounding to me so well done there. Second of all, this was a phenomenally informative video, as always. It’s interesting, I was born nearly ten years after the first CDs were released but I’d never purchased a Beatles CD until 2009 when Please Please Me (of all albums) caught my eye. I was obsessed from that point but I also fell into the hype of the remasters and completely negated the existence of those original CDs. Now I think it’s worth taking a listen. Thanks for the great video!

How could anyone dislike the Brothers In Arms album not only is it brilliant songwriting and musicianship it's also a very well mixed album particularly the drum solo intro to Money For Nothing and So Far Away

On first listening to the 1987 CDs I remember thinking certain songs faded out a second or so earlier compared to the vinyl versions I was familiar with. I'm guessing they did this to avoid obvious hiss from the tapes. Now I'm so used to the CDs when I listened to an original vinyl single last week I noticed it *did* fade a fraction later so I wasn't imagining it!

I bought my first CD player near Christmas time 1988. At the same time, I bought the entire Beatles catalog---the 13 studio albums, and the two Past Masters. These were the only CDs I owned for nearly two years, playing them over and over. I since have built up a collection of close to 1000 CDs, and I still have them all. Although I have dubbed most of them onto a hard drive,, I still listen to CDs quite a bit, as there is a nostalgia that you only get from hearing them as I did all those years ago, either on my stereo system, or even just an old boom box.

Great video as usual. Picked up a couple of the 2009 CDs at a library sale years ago, but never noticed the quick time files!

Love your videos. They are very interesting and informative. One note about vinyl sales outselling CDs in the U.S. This is in dollars, not units, which makes sense since the average cost for an LP in the U.S. is $24.99 while the average cost of a CD is $12.99, almost double the price.

Interesting that CD sales are also rising again now. And although they were outsold by vinyl that is in monetary terms. In unit sales CDs are still ahead because they are roughly half the price (a neat reversal of 30 years ago). It's nice to have your favourite material in both formats actually because each reveals something slightly different about the music and, as Andrew says, CDs are currently terrific value.

First reissues CDs were usually mastered the no bullshit way. Same goes for the Beatles. No fancy EQing, no brickwall limiting. The 2009 are kind of OK, but a little bit too bass heavy and with slightly altered dynamics. I'm still waiting for good transfers of the original stereo mixes in HD format. I also hate that you can only get the mono albums in the box set.

Another great video Andrew. I've always been a big supporter of the CD format for numerous reasons...far too many to list here...but long story short. ..if you take care of your CD'S you will have a fantastic sounding version of the albums you love. ..with no popping. .clicking or need of record cleaning...plus the fidelity of a CD is much greater then vinyl. I own the complete 2009 Beatles catalog in stereo ...but I also own quite a few of the US album versions on CD...those came with both the stereo and mono versions of the songs. Personally I like the stereo versions of Hard Days Night. .Beatles for Sale and Sgt Pepper but the first 2 are a must in Mono. ..same with Rubber Soul. But again...this is all personal taste. Great stuff..looking forward to your next video.

Great video. I have all three sets and my favourite is the mono for all the albums. The music sounds more immediate to my ears. I also have the U.S. box set and it is soooo much fun. BTW, alot of people are making comparisons to vinyl here. I love cds, but a well mixed, well pressed album on good quality vinyl played back on a high quality system sounds more dynamic and lively than digital formats to my ear. CDs, as great as they are, sound more compressed to me (this is a broad genralization and doesn't always hold true, and sometimes I prefer the cd version...and yes the surface nose on some vinyl is too much!).

Back in 2009 I compared the old vs new and preferred the newer ones. I managed to get the Black stereo boxset. A friend actually gave me the breadbox (without the CDs)

Totally agree that now is the time to be building your CD collection before they become the next big collectible thing. I buy hundreds of CDs from charity shops of albums you would never find cheap on vinyl. You can discover great albums on CD in shops where the only vinyl to be found is Val Doonigan and Englebert Humperdinck.

I sold the 1987 cds when I bought the 2009 ones but recently bought the 1987 cds again. Thanks to this video I realized I should have just only rebought the later albums on the 87 cds.

I have a 1987 White Album CD and it sounds great. After all, it was my introduction to the album before I finally got a proper vinyl pressing.

I really appreciate your videos. Alas, this makes me regret getting rid of my - once prized - first generation Beatles CD collection. I joined the 2009 craze - both mono and stereo - and I uncritically accepted as the new cannon. But you can't blame me... Listening to SGT Pepper, MMT, and the White Album in mono was magical. I will look for some of these first generation at second hand shops. Thank you!

Oh hell yeah, the original Help Stereo mix in the Mono box, TROUNCES Martin's remix whether on the 1987 CD or the 2009 Stereo CD.

The e.p collection from 1992 gets over-looked once again.I can't remember if it contains the same mono mastering as the 1987 editions.I'll have to check.

I visited Korea in early 1992, and bought a Beatles compilation cd that seemed legit, despite being on a Korean label. The sound quality is quite excellent.

It all goes to show that with more choices available, the more people will disagree.

I'm not familiar with the 1987 issues as it was before my time. All I know is that having got stuck into both 2009 boxes, it's mono for me all the way for the first four albums and Sgt Pepper. In fact, the 2009 stereo pepper wasn't good at all to me, but weirdly the 2017 remix (especially the 5.1 mix) have turned it into my favourite beatles album. On a similar note, I like how this channel recognises how much sound quality affects the enjoyment of music!

I love the 1987 discs! That’s what I grew up with!

I need to get out all my 1st press UK original albums, '87 cd's, 2009 boxes, and 2014 mono lp's and compare all of them. It'll be fun, so we'll see. I run a tube amp and love toggling back and forth between lp and cd. We used to collect the Dr. Ebbett's cd's which we thought were better than the '87's. When the 2009 boxes came out Dr. Ebbett's put on his web page he is retiring since he can't replicate the 2009 boxes which to him were vastly superior. So I guess many fans thought the Ebbett's cd's were better than the '87 cd's, but worse than the 2009 boxes.

Recently listened to The Beatles official KZfaq channel MMT, and it’s so bass heavy. These CDs or transfers of them are my preferred “on the go” way of listening to The Beatles. Thanks for the content.

In my opinion, the only *real* way to judge the different editions of Sgt Pepper's is by how they handled the high-frequency "dog whistle" tone at the end of the album, before the looping inner groove! ;) Seriously, they do have differences. When I first heard the 2017 mix, I noticed that the tone sounded different from the 2009 CD I was used to. So I used Audacity to take a frequency spectrum plot of that tone on the 2009 stereo CD, and found that though it has a peak at 15kHz, it's not a pure tone - it's a very wide peak, very noisy, with several other peaks at other frequencies. This means that it's quite loud even below 15kHz, making it quite easy to hear. Then I took an equivalent frequency plot of the 2017 version, and found that it's a nearly pure 16kHz tone (not 15!), with an extremely sharp, narrow peak. This higher frequency and less noisy peak means that 2017 is a lot harder to hear than 2009. (I don't have the 1987 CD, or an original vinyl LP, to compare it to.) IIRC, from digging around a few forum discussions on the subject (Steve Hoffman forum etc) apparently the dog whistle tone on the original vinyl LP was never recorded onto tape, but was generated at the mastering stage. (The post I saw cited Lewisohn's Recording Sessions book here, so that *should* be reliable info.) So for the 1987 and 2009 CD, they took the sound from a vinyl copy instead, hence the noise. So presumably for the 2017 edition, they must have generated the pure tone again from scratch. (But at 16kHz instead of 15?) Not sure if everything in the above paragraph about the origins of accurate, but it's what I saw people talking about when I looked into it at the time!

Absolutely cracking video - thank you. I only collect on CD and am a huge Beatles fan so this felt like it was tailor made for me!

Here in America, we have the Beatles Capitol Albums Vol 1 and 2 released in 2006. First the songs are in Stereo, then again in order in Mono. You should here the stereo version of "She's A Woman". That opening guitar sounds like it's being played in a huge dome. Pretty cool.

Man, I don't remember the hype of the '87 releases. But I do remember the 2009 remasters and the hype that surrounded it. And also the Beatles Rockband. I did buy some of the remastered albums. I did buy the 1987 Beatles CD's.

When i really started to pay attention to music in 1998 i would record music off radio on cassettes. In 2000 i started buying CDs and haven't stopped. Been finding good deals on CDs on Ebay,Amazon and at thrift shops and book stores. Now Lps are a little harder to find for a good deal. Great in depth video about The Beatles early CD releases.

Good to FINALLY hear someone else make note of the "poor EQ choices" on the 2009 CD of "Revolver." They turned "She Said She Said" from one of the most explosive rockers ever into a polite pop track. Glad I kept my vinyl!

Got a Phillips CD player and a copy of Def Leppard Hysteria around 1987, sounded so damn good was impressed with the technology, plus you could dub some damn good sounding cassettes from CDs using dolbly C and metal tapes.

In general I'm not big on remasters, but I was impressed with the Beatles 2009 stereo remasters. I found it had a pleasing mix with more detail than the previous versions I'd heard, but I found relative to a lot of remasters I was less aware of the compression. The 1987 remasters were okay, some were better than others, but I can't remember which ones off the top of my head, in general they were more lifeless as compared to the 2009 masters. For money reasons I decided not to go with the Beatles in Mono remaster, although it looked great and I was very tempted. I also originally listened to the Beatles on various vinyl releases although I never kept track of the specifics. The Beatles sounded great on the vinyl's I had, which were mostly from the 60's and 70s. I also had the White Album on cassette, which was actually pretty good.

Your channel has some of the best Beatles content on KZfaq. I always look forward to the videos. Thanks!

You are spot-on on that Sergeant Pepper 87 CD got one on eBay for cheap and it does sound great but still love the Giles Martin mix a little bit better😀✌

Very informative as always! 👍

I was at Silver Platters the day of each CD album grouping releases. Exciting times! I still have my 1987/88 albums along with each of their long boxes. I was careful to open them and glued the openings so they all still look brand new. Of course being the Beatles nut I have been since 1974, I also have every other CD release.

I was first getting into the Beatles music not long after the CDs were released. Cassettes were fine for everything else, but the Beatles I just HAD to have on CD. I took the nearly $200 I got at graduation and bought a small CD player. I would go into my local music store and order a new CD each week. Then I moved on to the McCartney/Wings CDs. I still have all those old discs. Man, those were good times!

I am a younger Beatles fan and my Dad weaned me on them. My first experience was the Yellow Submarine Songtrack, on CD and Tape (and eventually the first LP I bought, imported from the UK), as one parent’s car had a CD player and tape deck, and the other only had a tape deck. To this day, I still love those remixes and they and the film and they give me a profound sense of nostalgia (I eagerly look forward to Giles taking a crack a remixing Only A Northern Song). I got the 2009 stereo and mono sets from my local library and imported them into my iTunes (my mom didn’t have the money (they had since divorced) and my Dad had all the 87-88 CDs and the two OG Captial sets and wasn’t gonna re-buy it all AGAIN). I have listened to these across various Apple devices over the years and love them all. Though, perhaps because I am someone who listens to my music on my phone, I have no problem enjoying and loving the remixes for the Beatles albums Giles has done for Sgt. Pepper, White Album, 1, LOVE, and Abbey Road, along with the new mix of All Things Must Pass. I would love to actually get a copy of the Mono box now but ebay prices are yikes. I look forward to the Let It Be box in October and I expect it’ll be great! I’m not a big audiophile guy, but I appreciate your opinions about the various CD releases. I often have trouble decerning things like EQ difference or warmth but I like the perspective of your decisions about each set in your ideal set.

Another great video - I actually sold my breadbin set to buy the 2009 Stereo remaster box which I really like.

When did they have high manufacturing costs for CD's? As far back as the very early 90s, the cost of CD manufacture was £1.00 and the typical price of a Beatles CD was £16.49! I'm sure you can see the profit margin there! If manufacturing costs for CD's WERE high (which I'm very skeptical about) it must have been in the very early days. Record companies made an absolute killing with CD's.

Brings back some lovely memories of 'Our Price' record shop and the Beatles CD releases of 1987. I had just bought a CD player and my sister bought each CD on the day it was released. I think the 2009 remasters actually make the Beatles sound like a more modern band. maybe it was because I had spent over 20 years listening to the 1987 releases. The best listening I have ever had with these albums is when I heard them played on classic 1960s HiFi from a PC and DAC source (using rips of the 2009 issues). The recordings were not made for high resolution modern equipment - you need the warmth of the old valve amps and the lumbering huge speakers of the 1960s

I have a 30th Anniversary limited edition of The White Album on CD. It came in a digipak modeled off the vinyl sleeve instead of the bulky double-jewel case. It also included mini versions of the posters.

Andrew I bloody loved this video. A1* mate. The retro introduction was incredible. And your memories of Our Price and of buying your CD player ready for the Beatles on CD releases and going home with your first 4 albums was just great (I loved Our Price and still have a few vinyl, CD and cassette with the Our Price stickers).And then what a great collection you put together which I find is spot on with my own preferences. Bang on mate. There is subjectivity and then there's just right, lol. And yes there's something clear and honest about those original 1965 stereo versions of HELP! and Rubber Soul instead of George Martin's 1987 rethink although again it's still MONO for Rubber Soul. And is that why the 1987 Revolver sounds a bit strange then? How could they be so careless as to use a misaligned machine to do the transfer? And then using a stereo machine to transfer the first 4 MONO albums was bad too, although I did know that one. But just incredible little video mate, genuinely. For some reason this one just really touched me. Thank you. Peace and Love.

My first real experience listening to the Beatles was cd. Around 1992 I can recall going into Hastings (RIP :() and seeing the "bread box" on the shelf. I think it was over $199.99 at the time. Which was a gob of money for a working young man. I can still remember trying out a new Beatles album as I worked out on the treadmill and bike. That was my Beatles listening session back in time. Nothing quite like discovery the Beatles for the first time. Im glad I didnt marathon an all day session but rather listened to one album a week. So, my first exposure as an american was to the british versions. Did it right ;) Still have the cds though the bread box fell apart after a few years. The little black booklet I didnt discover until months later. Such a cool little read. Here are my preferences: Please Please Me-mono 2009 (I think they got this one right despite tape issues(?)) cheating with needledrop of the Hortzu as far as stereo. With The Beatles-(I cheated) needledrop of the "wide" stereo version. Though the mono 2009 isnt bad. Beatles For Sale- I think thats the one they got right in the 2009 set in stereo. Not a mono mix fan either of this album. A Hard Days Night- dont like any of them. But I guess the 2009 versions are ok. (Accept for the glitch or whatever the heck that is at the begining chord on the stereo. Was that done on purpose? Because it makes no sense as to why that crinkly sound is there. ) Too bad, because imo this is the best early Beatles album. Should be given the deluxe treatment and redone proper as a mono/stereo package. If Peppers can then this should be also. Help!- the canadian one that has the original 65 stereo Rubber Soul-the canadian cd that has the 65 original stereo (not a big fan of the stereo mix of this album either. So mono 2009 also) We need a stereo remix in the year 2030. Maybe by then technology will catch up to do something besides the dreadful "demixing" process of today. But I digress :D Revolver-dont like any of them. Poor Revolver. My favorite Beatles album and its been misaligned, wacked out with weird equalization and mistreated :( We need this redone as a deluxe package with AAA mastering of the stereo. Needledrop original stereo to DVD-A for this title also. (cheated again. Im just a cheat lets face it!) MMT-the 87 stereo is very nice, though I prefer the mono mix. The 2009 mono from the box is well done. Sgt Peppers-87 cd sounds balanced and well done. The Beatles- Ill go for the 87. Pretty close to the tapes from what I gather. The 2009 just seems jacked up and level matched across all the songs. Some say the 87 anniversary edition sounds better, but I cant tell any difference in the regular 87 and 87 anniversary. Abbey Road-japanese black triangle all the way. Ive always wondered if this is the same mastering as the Pro-Use lp? Let It Be- the 87 sounds good. Im one of those meanies that hate the remixes and think that the Beatles still havent been served well on digital on some seminal albums. Could be so much better Id think. Maybe one day theyll do the stereo's over. Or at least A Hard Days Nigjt and Revolver stereos. Id like AAA for all stereos but more concerned about different mastering and eq. So needle drops it is for me on many of these! (mono transfer to stereo head machine for the first four 87s...eep...gee whiz ...still cant get wrapped around that one)

For casual listening, I've gone largely with 'The Beatles in Mono' box along with the 1987 CDs of 'Abbey Road' and 'Let It Be' because I do most of my listening over headphones. But this is somebody who was brought up on his dad's "breadbox", so I'll always have a place in my heart for the stereo mixes. I also have The Blue Album for singles/mixes included in Past Masters Volume Two but missing from the Mono Masters (namely, "Old Brown Shoe" and "The Ballad of John & Yoko").

I vividly remember buying a Japanese pressing of Help! vinyl on Apple label. The sonic fidelity quality was stunning, in many ways surpassing digital. The Japanese vinyl quality seemed to always surpass all other domain versions.....

Enjoyed your vid. 1987 Worked Downtown San Francisco. First break that day, run to Rainbow Records on Market St., buy all available Beatles...that evening on my Sony CDP-101, slightly disappointed they are mono, but I was impressed. Had that Japanese Abbey Road I got at a small specialty Record store in Daly City, Ca. I always thought it was very hissy. I also have a 1998 White Album anniversary edition. It is mini gatefold, and all the pics are mini, with an acrylic slipcover. I was wondering why you didn't include the 2015 Sgt Pepper remastering, 2018 White Album Remastering and the 2019 Remastering of Abbey Road. All three of them are superb in 5.1 OMG.

Great video Andrew! Based on the education I got from you, I recently bought the 1987 copy of the white album. I also got Abbey Road but with a newer mix from a few years ago.

My first CD was the 1987 Sgt Pepper but I had to wait a year or to listen to it as I didn't have a CD player. And obviously still have the CD ...

Just discovered this channel, daygum...what a find (for me). This video right here is amazing. FANTASTIC presentation, just boss level. Wonderful content, wonderful content. THANK YOU so much for this and all of your other videos, (I've been binging the last two days.) : )

Andrew, your posts are very informative, visually striking and your narration is top notch. I wish they’d let you bring up some of the Bootlegs and their history, but I know that’s just dreaming. Keep these great insights coming!

I bought the mono cd box in 2019 for £200, I have the stereo 2009 cds for Yellow Submarine, Abbey Road, Let It Be and Pastmasters. Used to have all the 1987 cds, yet sold them. Today I picked up the 1987 Sgt Pepper cd for 25p. Equally fortunate to find the 1962-66 (red) vinyl for £3. Despite lots of circular scuffing (albeit light) I took the risk. Equally shocked and delighted that it had some of the lowest surface noise I’ve encountered on a ‘vintage’ record, my copy is from 1983.

You and I must be about the same age! I remember exactly where I was when I first heard about the Beatles being released on CD - in my car driving to work, it was an item on the Today programme on Radio 4. They even played a burst of 'I Saw Her Standing There' which sounded really great over FM radio and I imagine caused some of the older listeners to have fits of apoplexy and write letters to the Times. I think the first four Beatles CD albums came packed together in a rigid pvc sleeve. Mine have the ADD/AAD sticker. Although I am now firmly back into vinyl records, I do remember how wonderful CDs seemed when they first came out, sounding far better than my scratchy old vinyl that had been played to death on a Dansette since the 1960s. CDs had no clicks, pops or jumping and you could skip past the tracks you didn't want to hear so often (Within You, Without You) I tend to prefer the mono mixes on both vinyl and CD - at the risk of sounding heretical, I don't think George Martin really understood stereo at all - or maybe to be fair, the source recordings didn't offer him the scope to create a proper 3D sound stage. Thanks for another great video. I do hope you will cover the coloured vinyl Capitol juke-box Beatles singles at some stage?

Holy crap, 800 for a CD player! Man I really take all this technology and Spotify/KZfaq for granted.

I love the Beatles on CDs and now I’m beginning to like the 1987 version of the Beatles music I not only love the 2019 masters but I also really love the remixes are great.

I like the 87 mixes for Help and Soul. Not a fan of the bass boosted 09's nor the packaging especially the white band slapped on the sides.And just because Giles last name is Martin doesn't mean he automatically gets to remix anything.

Ah. So many memories with those classic CDs. So many car rides with "Sgt. Pepper's" and "The White Album" and "Abbey Road" blaring from my dad's broken speakers. I could punch my younger self in the face for losing my Beatles collection, then punch myself with the other hand for losing my Pink Floyd collection.

Those 1987 releases do have a charm that I felt were missing in the 2009 issues, even though the packaging in 2009 was fantastic. I do have the Parlophone Bread Box UK issue , alongside the US issues that came out in a longbox Capitol designed. I also own both stereo and mono box sets of 2009.

The 2009 remaster sounds fine to me in the mid-range and the high end with the one obvious exception of "She Said She Said" which was butchered. Also the beginning of the song "A Hard Day's Night" sounds like the tape has been horrifically mangled or the oxide has fallen off. It's sounds like an old cassette. The master tape sounded perfect on the 1992 "Red" CD set. Also the entire "A Hard Day's Night" ALBUM seems to be rolled off on the high end as well. My ears keep expecting higher frequencies and a more open sound stage but instead it sounds blanketed and claustrophobic. Did they mis-transfer the whole master tape or has it degraded?

Very good history background... I have a lot of the cd's. I should see what I have. I DO have the mono cd box. Also, I don't like, Brothers In Arms, either.

Until watching this video I never even thought about my copy of The White Album. I bought the HMV limited edition box set but, looking at the disc inside, mine is also numbered 25846. I knew the HMV box was numbered but I hadn't even considered the fact that EMI would have numbered the CDs.

I like your calm voice and informative videos. Thanks for the content.

The day Sgt. Pepper was released on CD, I was playing the classical music station at the store I helped run. Morning Pro Musica was hosted by Robert J. Lertsema, from WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. In that warm, low, slow voice, he introduced the CD as a masterpiece in it’s genre, and as an historic release. Then he played it in full, without interruption, right through the inner groove.

Please Please me (mono version, 2009) With the Beatles (mono version, 2009) A Hard Day's Night (mono version, 2009) Beatles for Sale (stereo version, 2009) Help (stereo version from mono set, 2009) Rubber Soul (mono version, 2009) (alternatively, stereo version from mono set, 2009) Revolver (mono version, 2009) Sgt. Pepper (1987 version) Magical Mystery Tour (1987 version) The Beatles aka The White Album (1987 version) Yellow Submarine (1987 version) Abbey Road (Japanese promotion version, 1983) Let It Be (1987 version) Past Masters (1988 version)

I have the 2009 CDs of Sargent Pepper's and Help. I also have the 1996 Anthology 1, 2 and 3 on CD. I have Anthology 1 on vinyl.

Hard to beat a physical format (true of books too), but fortunately streaming services like Apple Music are starting to offer lossless streaming which is a convenient way to have access to that level of sound quality. Great video as always!

My dad had no vinyl Records, but he had a ton of cds! He also burned cds from friends over to CD-rs or even minidisc and cassette (it was when I discovered dads old minidisc player in the dusty drawer with a few minidiscs right next to it, that I also discovered the Beatles. He had copied some songs in random order (not an album, nor a compilation). The first one was “We can work it out” thus making this the first Beatles song I remember listening to). That’s why I love cds! They’re a huge part of my childhood. I now own tons of cds (bought at flee markets for example) and a few Beatles box sets. Spectacular video as usual!! Keep up the wonderful work! :)

i'm working my way through your work reverse chronologically, so kindly disregard if i'm just late to the party...but if you haven't done these "ultimate collection" lists for other formats, i'd love to see you do them someday! vinyl, of course, but even cassette too

The best way to listen to a Beatle song, was and always will be through a 3 inch transistor radio speaker!

Barclay James Harvest had similar phasing problems remastering the albums they recorded at Abbey Road. EMI still had the original machine they had been recorded on and the tapes played fine on that which reduced the complexity of remastering them. I wonder if it was the same machine?! Might well be as they were recording at Abbey Road from 69-73.

I bought the Japan Box. I also bought vinyls of these two records decades of go. Tracklists Meet The Beatles 1-1 I Want To Hold Your Hand 1-2 She Loves You 1-3 From Me To You 1-4 Twist And Shout 1-5 Love Me Do 1-6 Baby It's You 1-7 Don't Bother Me 1-8 Please Please Me 1-9 I Saw Her Standing There 1-10 P.S. I Love You 1-11 Little Child 1-12 All My Loving 1-13 Hold Me Tight 1-14 Please Mr. Postman The Beatles' Second Album 1-15 Can't Buy Me Love 1-16 Do You Want To Know A Secret? 1-17 Thank You Girl 1-18 A Taste Of Honey 1-19 It Won't Be Long 1-20 I Wanna Be Your Man 1-21 There's A Place 1-22 Roll Over Beethoven 1-23 Misery 1-24 Boys 1-25 Devil In Her Heart 1-26 Not A Second Time 1-27 Money 1-28 Till There Was You

Please Please Me: 09 Mono > 09 Stereo With the Beatles: 09 Mono > 09 Stereo A Hard Day's Night: 09 Mono > 09 Stereo Beatles for Sale: 09 Stereo > 09 Mono Help!: 09 Original Stereo (included in the mono set) > 09 Mono Rubber Soul: 09 Mono > 87 Stereo Revolver: 09 Mono > 09 Stereo Sgt. Pepper: 09 Mono > 87 Stereo MMT: 87 Stereo > 09 Mono White Album: 87 stereo > 09 Mono Yellow Submarine: 09 Stereo Abbey Road: 87 Stereo Let It Be: 09 Stereo Past Masters: 09 Mono > 09 Stereo

Really informative as ever Andrew. Apart from the first 4 I bought them all on release date in the HMV box sets. These were a bit tacky apart from the Sgt Pepper one which I loved at the time. I remember thinking that I’d never need to buy another copy of the albums again as the sound would be that amazing! I do still like the sound of them on the whole. Listened to Abbey Road today and it sounded great

What a service this video is. Thank you so much making it. Very helpful.