[Packaging for the remastered Abbey Road album © Apple Corps Ltd, 2009]
Capitol Records has announced the worldwide release of the entire remastered Beatles catalog, for Sept. 9th. Oh, and it's a doozy:
The collection comprises all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK, and 'Magical Mystery Tour,' which became part of The Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were first released in 1987. In addition, the collections 'Past Masters Vol. I and II' are now combined as one title, for a total of 14 titles over 16 discs. This will mark the first time that the first four Beatles albums will be available in stereo in their entirety on compact disc. These 14 albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.
Within each CD's new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. With the exception of the 'Past Masters' set, newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.
Let's see...A Hard Day's Night, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, The White Album, Abbey Road, and Past Masters...yup, that's gonna have to be this year's Christmas present to ourselves. (Unless we can get a new girlfriend before then who can lovingly and unselfishly fork out the dough to hook us up. Ha!)
At this point we've got to wonder if by September any "brick-and-mortar" record stores will actually be around to sell them. But if Capitol's engineers actually got around to making the magnificent harmony vocals in "Oh! Darling" more prominent in the mix, we won't care where we have to get the albums from.
[Thanks to GloriousNoise for the heads up.]
