[johnnylexus]

Where can one obtain reasonably good quality Beatles music on CD? Some of the anthologies I've seen have all these "rare collector" versions of songs ... I'm only interested in the orginal songs.

CD Universe has a collection called "Multiselection Box Set" that looks pretty complete (very expensive) but it doesn't seem to have "Meet The Beatles" on it.

Any ideas?

 

[DanG]

Many Beatles CDs are really wonderfully arranged so that you can pop it into your CD player and listen all the way through. I'd suggest you get the individual albums. Revolver is the only one I have right now, but the next on my list is The White Album and Rubber Soul. You'll get many of the most famous songs this way and also the best songs -- you don't need no stinkin' compilation!

I've found that the sound quality on Revolver is quite decent, and it's good on the White Album as well.

 

[dngl]

I have most of the Beatles CDs and although they could use a MoFi treatment (hooray for MoFi coming back!), they're definitely immensely enjoyable.

 

[johnnylexus]

I saw some of the Beatles stuff on Ebay in MFSL format. Do you think it would be worthwhile to go for the MFSL versions? They say that the MFSL stuff came from Japan. What's that all about?

 

[morphsci]

Quote:

Originally posted by johnnylexus I saw some of the Beatles stuff on Ebay in MFSL format. Do you think it would be worthwhile to go for the MFSL versions? They say that the MFSL stuff came from Japan. What's that all about?

Beware of scams. The only Beatles material MFSL released was on LP not CD. You can see the entire MFSL discography HERE.

 

[johnnylexus]

morphsci:

thanks for the warning!

Ebay is LOADED with those supposedly MFSL versions of Beatles CD's. What a rip-off.


I just hope the regular CD's you can buy at stores/online are OK sounding.

 

[dngl]

they're totally listenable and enjoyable. don't worry about it so much. The CDs are definitely of a quality that will allow you to enjoy the music the way it was supposed to be enjoyed.

 

[Hardhead]

I'm going off thread - sort of - but George Harrison's All Things Must Pass is a must buy. I played with my turntable today after borrowing a friend's demagnitizer, alignment and stylus pressure tools and cranked up those lps. O.K. there was a tick or two but it sure sounded great.

The man had his head screwed on right!

 

[DarkAngel]

If you don't want to buy the individual albums, the best anthologies are the Red (1962-66) & Blue (1967-70) both are 2 CD collections with 26-28 tracks each, and do a good job of assembling "original" songs from each time period, CDs are remastered.

This may be all a causal fan would require, but anyone with more than slight interest should get the full CD of their later period masterworks - Revolver, Sgt Pepper, White, Abbey Rd, Magical Mystery Tour (koo koo ka chu) and perhaps a couple others. Fortunately the sound quality is very good for 1960s rock since recordings were made in EMI Abbey Rd studio and have been remastered, they are far superior to Rolling Stone and Who (pye studio) made during the same time period. Many consider Sgt Pepper the best pop rock album of all time.

 

[Twin]

"Meet the Beatles" was a US vinyl release only. When Capitol /Apple began to release the Beatle albums on CD in '87, they only released the original British vinyl releases.
Most of "Meet the Beatles" is on "Please Please Me" which was their first British album.
Interesting reason why the original US and British album versions were different. In the US, Capitol Records was adamant about each release containing exactly 12 songs, while Parlophone in England felt 14 was the right number.
That's why there were 3 other vinyl Beatles US albums that never became CD's, "The Beatles 2nd Album", "Beatles '65" and "Yesterday and Today". All of the songs from those albums appear on one or another of the original British releases.
This link might help.
http://www.algonet.se/~jonwar/beatles.html
Sorry that doesn't answer the question about sound quality. But I hope the info is helpful.

FWIW, listening to the Cowboy Junkies and drinking margaritas as I write. So I hope what I wrote makes sense!

 

[gloco]

I have to agree with DarkAngel's findings (muhaha). The red and blue double cd collections are a great way to get into the Beatles. From there i would recommend Sgt Peppers and Magical Mystery Tour ( i have both on Vinyl!).

George

 

[johnnylexus]

I'm going to go ahead with the individual albums rather than the compilations (as I grew up with all of them). Now I'm debating which of the *early* albums to get ... US or UK .... as you know the UK did not have "Meet the Beatles" adn the US did not have "Please Please Me" etc, etc. It seems like the early UK versions are more available in online retailers such as Amazon, CDNow, etc. than the US versions.

 

[dngl]

Quote:

Originally posted by DarkAngel (koo koo ka chu)

actually, it's googoogoojoob.

Anyway, my parents had the red and blue anthologies on vinyl and that's what got me into music... which led to me getting a cheap stereo... which lead to me spending way to much money on headphones and audio.

 

[Twin]

Now that the margaritas have worn off, I re-read my post to you.

Sorry, I wasn't very clear.

The only versions of all the original Beatle albums available on CD are the British versions.

No US versions of any album was ever put down on CD.

Half.com occasionally has some or all of them at good prices. But it's hit and miss.

http://www.half.com/cat/buy/ctrb.cgi...7705&meta_id=2

Personally, "Revolver" and "Rubber Soul" are my two favorites.

Good luck and enjoy.

 

[DarkAngel]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jon Beilin actually, it's googoogoojoob.

By george I think your right!
Now I have a question for you........who is the Walrus? Answer contained in song "glass onion" from white album.