Beatles CD Boxsets: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Hello everyone!
Today we have an overview of 3 Beatles CD Boxsets, that we dubbed the good, the bad and the ugly:
1. The Beatles EP Collection from 1992;
2. The Beatles US Albums;
3. The Beatles Capitol Albums Vol 1.
Which is which? Stick with us to find out.
Of course these are just my personal opinions, and they are obviously influenced heavily by my experiences with them.
We'll most probably address each of these sets in more details in the future, as at least he EP collection one deserves more in-depth audio testing and comparing with other versions of some of the songs included in it.
We're also closing the video with a somewhat surprise reveal if you decide to stick around till the end.
Anyway, thank you for watching!
00:00 Intro
02:25 The Beatles EP Collection
06:40 The EPs Detailed
19:53 My top 5 EPs
23:39 Good, Bad or Ugly?
25:08 The US Albums
40:43 The Capitol Albums Vol 1
45:39 Closing Thoughts
The links mentioned in the video:
1. Comparison of the Mono and Stereo CD Boxsets of 2009:
• The Beatles on CD | Mo...
2. Audio comparison between Mono and Stereo 2009 CD versions of MMT and others:
• The Beatles Mono vs St...
3. Detailed listing of the mixed sources for the tracks used on the Beatles US Albums box
(the work done by these guys - especially "slane" on the stevehoffman formus to figure these out is incredbile):
forums.stevehoffman.tv/thread...
#thebeatles #beatlesEPcollection #beatlesUSalbums #mono #stereo #audio #EP #beatlesUSalbums #beatlescapitolalbums #paulmccartney #johnlennon #ringostarr #georgeharrison #beatles #capitol #boxset #beatlesCD
The music used in the video is: I'm Happy For This Guitar by Freedom Trail Studio.

[@laszlomolnar298]

Thank you for the presentation, very nice. I have a modest Beatles collection. The stereo and mono boxes, both cd and vinyl formats, the BC-13 blue box (80’s reissue), all the super deluxe cd box sets with the single vinyl remix releases, Meet the Beatles 50th anniversary Japanese box, all the individual Japanese mini lp replica cds from around 2014, The Box of vision which was really a storage box for the 2009 individual Cd releases. It does have a nice book. Odds and ends like single vinyl releases, red and blue albums, Let it be naked, Love Songs. 45s of Real Love, Free as a bird and Now and then, Anthology cd and dvd, all the blu ray releases. I passed on those orange Capital boxes but definitely want to get the EP box now.

[@BurgundySkies]

Thank you for being here! My friend, I would not call that a modest collection, but a very nice rounded one. I am aware we have fans that have way larger ones, but many of those border the insane 😃😃😃... in a good way.

[@mission4714]

I have a Japan Box, and I have vinyls of Meet The Beatles and The Beatles' Second Album that I bought in the seventies.

[@BurgundySkies]

How does that Japan Box sound? I've always heard that for the most part, Japanese pressings were beautiful releases but sound wise did not fare that well when compared to UK or German ones?

[@mission4714]

@@BurgundySkies Albums Beatles! 5 April 1964 Odeon OR 7041 ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ ‘She Loves You’ ‘From Me To You’ ‘Twist And Shout’ ‘Love Me Do’ ‘Baby It’s You’ ‘Don’t Bother Me’ ‘Please Please Me’ ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ ‘PS I Love You’ ‘Little Child’ ‘All My Loving’ ‘Hold Me Tight’ ‘Please Mister Postman’ Meet The Beatles! album artwork - Japan Beatles No.2 5 June 1964 Odeon OR 7058 ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’ ‘Thank You Girl’ ‘A Taste Of Honey’ ‘It Won’t Be Long’ ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ ‘There’s A Place’ ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ ‘Misery’ ‘Boys’ ‘Devil In Her Heart’ ‘Not A Second Time’ ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’ ‘Till There Was You These are in the Japan Box.

[@Stco23]

BTW, some of those CD's from The Capitol Albums that you have are copy controlled and contain Rootkits if you try to play them on your computer. There are releases of The Capitol Albums that don't have those copy controlled discs and I recommend people getting those instead. I watched a video by VWestlife about these copy controlled discs. I will have the title of the video just below! "Copy protected" audio CDs & installing the Sony rootkit - VWestlife

[@BurgundySkies]

Haven't "computerized" them yet, but good note, thank you.

[@andrewperkin7192]

Just had this video recommended and your channle is in my list of channels to keep up with!

[@BurgundySkies]

Thank you very much for checking us out. Happy to have you here!

[@MrSailorsam]

Yes, you are correct about the Capitol Albums box just horrible packaging but only place to get original US mixes (that's what I grew up lustening to).

[@BurgundySkies]

And I truly sympathize with American fans. And tbh... I really think that some of these options should be made more widely available: ie. both US and UK mixes, both Mono and Stereo, both CD and Vinyl. So people can really enjoy the full extent of this amazing catalogue. Moreover I think American fans got screwed on thrice on this: 1. With fake Mono on Vol 2 initial release, 2. With the quality of packaging and 3. since the third volume was never released and then the US Albums Boxset had completely different mixes. I hope they make this right sometime in the future.

[@dwcinnc]

I like that the mono and stereo mixes are on all but one in the US Albums Box.

[@BurgundySkies]

Well I think The Beatles Story and Hey Jude were not originally released in Mono right?

[@Zholobov1]

The Copy Controlled are obviously 2004 CDs, that compaign lasted from about 2002 to 2005, as far as I remember. For "The Capitol Albums" Vol. 1 & 2 boxes I chose the Japanese editions: they were much better than the European ones in all aspects. The gatefold covers are excellent, wish they had done The Beatles' Story as well. As far we've got only the stereo version of that album on CD, which is in the 2014 "US" box. But the really bad thing about 2014 box is the considerable number of wrong mixes they put on the CDs. In this case 2014 was worse than 2004 & 2006 boxes.

[@BurgundySkies]

Yeah, the Japanese ones are also more expensive to procure Near Mint unfortunately, but yeah, with the square nice boxes they did seem better. In the end it matters more why would one get them: sound or just as collectibles?

[@Zholobov1]

@@BurgundySkies as a collector I buy almost everythinh I can get, but of course I'd like to have an ideal product, which is not the case with these multiple Beatles releases, unfortunately

[@mission4714]

My editions of The Capitol Albums are NOT Copy Controlled. Where were the Copy Controlled versions available?

[@Zholobov1]

@@mission4714 they were available worldwide in 2004, I bought my first copy in Spain, then some 15 years later my second wife presented me the Volume 1 box without Copy Controlled

[@ilabelle1]

As a Beatle fan I find it really frustrating that for the most important band in the history of music that the box sets are so hit and miss. It’s kind of disrespectful. You are right in saying the good, bad and ugly.

[@BurgundySkies]

You know what, that is the perfect word. Disrespectful. I mean I am happy they keep doing special editions with new mixes and stuff. Super greatful. But let's face it. None are ever cheap. Yet they are very inconsistent. And moreover some are just bad quality.

[@girlswanted7]

Yes, but since 2017 we got multiple high quality album box sets of many of their later albums….

[@ilabelle1]

@@BurgundySkies It’s such a shame. Like you I’m happy with whatever comes out. For instance I love my mono box on CD. Let’s call that the good. I also generally love the uber deluxe box remixes but I’ll still hang on to my 2009 mixes. I’m bummed out that I got rid of my 87 mixes. There are some changes on the remixes that bug me, not a lot but still. They’re like a small stain on a shirt that no one sees but you know it’s there. The people in charge should really buckle down and go all out and give the FANS what they want. Especially at the prices these things are! Instead we get a continuous drip, drip of shabby incomplete “product”. For what? Well to make money of course!

[@BurgundySkies]

we did get some good ones, although I would argue the quality is inconsistent.

[@paulf6973]

The US Albums box is amazing, if you hear me out. Firstly, you get pretty much everything the band released up to Revolver in stereo and mono. Not quite everything, but close. And secondly, this is the best sounding mono mixes available on CD, IMHO. They're properly EQd and a little louder than the Mono box, and sound less muddy. For the most part, you can rip the tracks and recreate Please Please Me to Revolver as playlists or copy CDs.

[@BurgundySkies]

I won't disagree, bur yeah... I did not get it for the sound specifically. I was pretty content with the Mono and Stereo boxes. By the way, interestingly enough, the Us Albums Box is entirely included on Apple Music. Actually that is the only option to listen to most tracks in Mono, as the Mono version of the UK albums are nowhere on streaming. However the transfer seems very very crappy and sounds awful to me, at least in headphones.

[@paulf6973]

@@BurgundySkies Ah, interesting. I don't use Apple Music, but that's good to know

[@BurgundySkies]

Just don't get your hopes up in terms of quality. Now I many not agree with all the mixing, mastering, eq choices of those US albums, but one thing I do know from my CDs. They sound pretty sweet. Not the case with at least some of those they transfered to Apple Music. Not sure why, the rest of the Beatles catalogue there sounds great. But actually... do try it out and let me know what you think.

[@Stco23]

You can't recreate Please Please Me with that set because Misery and There's A Place wasn't released on a Capitol album until Rarities in 1980 and Rarities is not included with the set.

[@Stco23]

The US Albums box set is amazing if you don't care about audio quality and just want to listen to The Beatles in the track order of how the US albums were back in the 60s. However, if you care about how the albums sounded back in the 1960s in the US, this set is going to leave you disappointed! To make the set close to amazing, I recommend buying The Capitol Albums Volumes 1 and 2 (and try to get the original US mono mixes of Beatles VI and Rubber Soul), and placing all of the discs from those sets into the US Albums box set! It turns a bad set into a good set!

[@mission4714]

As far as the EPs go I favour the Beatles Hits EP because all the tracks are credited, McCartney-Lennon. I have noticed that for years.

[@BurgundySkies]

They also sound damn good!!!

[@michaelharrington75]

The US albums is actually a good deal because you get stereo and mono mixes of almost every song up to Sgt Pepper. There's also a few unique mixes on there that aren't on another else. Its also well packaged. The Capitol albums are neat if you grew up in the US and want to hear the mixes like they were up until 1987. I don't think anyone outside the US would have any use for them?

[@BurgundySkies]

Well I guess that is still the case, but there are a few reasons for people outside the US to maybe get them: 1. Completionist collectors of course. 2. Curiosity. 3. Or like me, I was not looking for Capitol sound necesarily but rather just to have at least one CD copy of every main Capitol Album, and I was les concerned about the mix.

[@girlswanted7]

I remember seeing a similar box set in the late 1990s at Tower Records.

[@BurgundySkies]

You should have grabbed it. But who knew?

[@girlswanted7]

@@BurgundySkies Even back then they were extremely expensive and I was a kid. I didn’t realize the mono Vs stereo difference with the Beatles especially before social media etc.

[@BurgundySkies]

I don't think that many people thought about that back then, people just listened to what they had.

[@ObadaAlina]

❤

[@stephenrostkoski837]

The Capitol Albums packaging is awful all the way around. I actually put my Capitol CDs in the better US Album sleeves. I was able to get used copies of the US Albums pretty cheaply when they were first released.

[@BurgundySkies]

Partially did that as well. To think people are now paying 200 dollars for the correct vol2 given the quality is...

[@ilabelle1]

Hmmm…just subscribed. Interesting content.

[@BurgundySkies]

Thank you for being here and for subbing!

[@Test_Card_Tom]

The Beatles No.1 CD cover photograph looks dreadful. Why so much red colour?

[@BurgundySkies]

I mean... some of the other design choices in that period are also... uhmm... questionable. But what you gonna do?

[@girlswanted7]

The early American albums with the reverb especially in stereo was awful. A lot of the songs were unlistenable.

[@BurgundySkies]

So I guess I should consider myself lucky I can now listen to these as a novelty. On the other hand although as a child or teenager I listened to mostly UK versions of the tracks, the medium I used was less than ideal so... what do I know? 😁😁

[@girlswanted7]

@@BurgundySkiesAt this point I’m excited for a proper stereo mix box of Rubber Soul and on. The Revolver box D Mix was fantastic (for the most part) so I’m excited for future releases.

[@BurgundySkies]

I was excited for that Rubber Soul potential box for most of 2023 and then... Oct came. :(. Don't get me wrong, I like Now and Then and I liked the new Red and Blue, but my heart was set on Rubber Soul.