The original 12 Beatles albums, plus Magical Mystery Tour and a now-single-disc version of Past Masters, will be reissued this September 9th. Each will be remastered. Is this a long-needed dusting-off of the not-very-satisfying original CDs or another attempt to get Beatles fans to part with their money? Well, definitely the former, if the press release is to be believed:
Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album
art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written
liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be
embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same
date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.
The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at
EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising
state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio
equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the
original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is
the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.
But what of the mono mixes, ask the monophiles? Fear not:
A second boxed set has been created with the collector in mind. 'The
Beatles in Mono' gathers together, in one place, all of the Beatles
recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of
the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two further discs of
mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on 'Past
Masters'). As an added bonus, the mono "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" discs
also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been
previously released on CD.
Could this in any way have anything to do with the forthcoming game The Beatles: Rock Band? Why yes!. It comes out the same day.
One final question: What about digital downloads? Wouldn't this be a great time announce that as an option:
Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will
continue. There is no further information available at this time.