By By Daniel S. Levine, Staff Writer
It took Apple Records and EMI 22 years to get it right. While other artists’ albums got issued and re-issued on CD numerous times, The Beatles’ catalogue sat untouched, only remixed when a soundtrack (“Yellow Submarine”) or compilation (“The Beatles 1”) required it. Now, all these years later, all 13 albums, plus the “Past Masters” rarities compilation, have been remastered to a standard that all future remasters should adhere to. The remasters were released on September 9 to coincide with the release of “Rock Band: The Beatles.” They are available in two distinct box sets, “The Beatles in Mono” and “The Beatles in Stereo.” ‘In Mono’ includes all the albums up to “The White Album” and a bonus disc of additional mono mixes. This box set is extremely limited and more expensive than the ‘Stereo’ box, despite having fewer discs. For those who don’t care about the differences between mono and stereo, the ‘Stereo’ box is the way to go. It includes all 13 albums, “Past Masters,” and an exclusive DVD with mini-documentaries for each album, totaling 16 CDs and one DVD. The box is designed like a tall monolith, housing the discs in two piles. There is no single book, rather, each album has its own book that includes all the original liner notes, plus new notes. There are some packaging discrepancies, though. “The White Album” does include a reproduction of the poster, but the four separate portraits are printed on the package, rather than being separate mini-posters. While all the albums have their LP labels reproduced on the disc, “Let it Be” has a green apple instead of the red one on the original 1970 LP. These are just minor quibbles though, since the important thing is that these albums sound radically better than ever before. Phil Spector’s “Let It Be” strings jump out of the stereo, you don’t have to raise the volume to hear “The White Album’s” “Long, Long, Long” and, most importantly, you can hear McCartney’s bass without needing a bass boost function on your stereo.Thankfully, the stereo albums are available separately (mono albums are exclusive to the ‘Mono’) so if you can’t afford to get them all in one go, you can still pick and chose which ones you want.