The Beatles Box Set | ||||
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Box set by | ||||
Released | 15 November 1988 | |||
Recorded | 4 September 1962 – 1 April 1970, primarily at Abbey Road Studios, London | |||
Genre | Rock | |||
Length | 9:22:46 | |||
Label | Parlophone/Capitol/Apple | |||
Producer | George Martin, Phil Spector (Let It Be) | |||
The Beatles chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
The Beatles Box Set is a sixteen-disc box set compiling the entire recorded works of the Beatles as issued by the band between 1962 and 1970. It was released on 15 November 1988 in Britain and America, with the same catalogue number (Apple BBX2-91302) in each of those countries. [2] While available also in vinyl LP and cassette formats, the box set was the first complete collection of original Beatles material to be released by EMI and Capitol Records on compact disc.
The Beatles Box Set included all of the original UK album releases by the band, together with the 1967 US album Magical Mystery Tour . The latter had been issued in the UK in November 1976, at which point the LP version superseded the original British EP of the same name. The box also contained the 1988 compilations Past Masters: Volume One and Past Masters: Volume Two, which grouped together singles, B-sides, EP tracks, and foreign releases not found on the band's UK studio albums. Although all these albums had been previously available in stereo on both LP and cassette, the versions of the first four albums included in The Beatles Box Set were the digitally remastered mono mixes issued on CD over 1987–88, [2] which caused a considerable furor among Beatles fans and audiophiles.
The collection was encased in a black oak roll-top box and included a soft-cover book with commentary on the songs by Beatles recording historian Mark Lewisohn. [3] The set was also issued in a black vinyl covered cardboard box in Japan.[ citation needed ] Although The Beatles Box Set failed to chart in either the UK or the US, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. [3]
A new Stereo Box , containing remastered versions of the Beatles' core albums and Past Masters, was released on 9 September 2009 along with The Beatles in Mono and new stereo reissues of the individual albums, including the first four albums given their stereo debuts on CD.
Album | Label | Release date | ||
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UK | US | UK | US | |
Please Please Me | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 22 March 1963 | 26 February 1987 |
With the Beatles | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 22 November 1963 | 26 February 1987 |
A Hard Day's Night | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 10 July 1964 | 26 February 1987 |
Beatles for Sale | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 4 December 1964 | 26 February 1987 |
Help! | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 6 August 1965 | 30 April 1987 |
Rubber Soul | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 3 December 1965 | 30 April 1987 |
Revolver | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 5 August 1966 | 30 April 1987 |
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | Parlophone | Capitol | 1 June 1967 | 2 June 1967 |
Magical Mystery Tour | Parlophone | Capitol | 19 November 1967 | 26 November 1967 |
The Beatles (2 CDs) | Parlophone [4] | Capitol [4] | 22 November 1968 | 25 November 1968 |
Yellow Submarine | Parlophone [4] | Capitol [4] | 17 January 1969 | 13 January 1969 |
Abbey Road | Parlophone [4] | Capitol [4] | 26 September 1969 | 1 October 1969 |
Let It Be | Parlophone [4] | Capitol [4] | 8 May 1970 | 18 May 1970 |
Past Masters, Volume One | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 7 March 1988 | 8 March 1988 |
Past Masters, Volume Two | Parlophone | Parlophone/Capitol | 7 March 1988 | 8 March 1988 |
Worldwide, the British rock band the Beatles released 12 studio albums, 5 live albums, 51 compilation albums, 36 extended plays (EPs), 63 singles, 17 box sets, 22 video albums and 53 music videos. In their native United Kingdom, during their active existence as a band, they released 12 studio albums, 1 compilation album, 13 EPs, and 22 singles. The early albums and singles released from 1962 to March 1968 were originally on Parlophone, and their albums and singles from August 1968 to 1970 were on their subsidiary label Apple. Their output also includes vault items, remixed mash-ups and anniversary box-sets.
This is the discography of Apple Records, a record label formed by the Beatles in 1968. During its early years, the label enjoyed a fair degree of commercial success, most notably with Mary Hopkin and Badfinger, as well as discovering acts such as James Taylor and Billy Preston who would go on to greater success with other labels. However, by the mid-1970s, Apple had become little more than an outlet for the Beatles' solo recordings. After EMI's contract with the Beatles ended in 1976, the Apple label was finally wound up. The label was reactivated in the 1990s with many of the original Apple albums being reissued on compact disc, and the company now oversees new Beatles releases such as the Anthology and 1 albums as well as the 2009 Beatles remastering programme. In 2010, Apple set about remastering and reissuing its back catalogue for a second time.
Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or stereo, which uses two separate audio channels to reproduce sound from two microphones on the right and left side, which is reproduced with two separate loudspeakers to give a sense of the direction of sound sources. In mono, only one loudspeaker is necessary, but, when played through multiple loudspeakers or headphones, identical signals are fed to each speaker, resulting in the perception of one-channel sound "imaging" in one sonic space between the speakers. Monaural recordings, like stereo ones, typically use multiple microphones fed into multiple channels on a recording console, but each channel is "panned" to the center. In the final stage, the various center-panned signal paths are usually mixed down to two identical tracks, which, because they are identical, are perceived upon playback as representing a single unified signal at a single place in the soundstage. In some cases, multitrack sources are mixed to a one-track tape, thus becoming one signal. In the mastering stage, particularly in the days of mono records, the one- or two-track mono master tape was then transferred to a one-track lathe used to produce a master disc intended to be used in the pressing of a monophonic record. Today, however, monaural recordings are usually mastered to be played on stereo and multi-track formats, yet retain their center-panned mono soundstage characteristics.
The Beatles' Story is the sixth album by the English rock band the Beatles in the United States, issued on 23 November 1964 by Capitol Records. It is a documentary double album featuring interviews, press conferences, and snippets of original or orchestral versions of Beatles songs, with voice-over narration. The album's original liner notes described it as a "narrative and musical biography" of Beatlemania. It was produced by Los Angeles–based songwriter and producer Gary Usher and disc jockey and lyricist Roger Christian, and narrated by John Babcock, Al Wiman and Christian.
Long Tall Sally is the fifth UK EP release by British rock band the Beatles and the band's first UK EP to include songs not previously released on an album or single in the United Kingdom. It was released by Parlophone in mono, with the catalogue number GEP 8913, and released in the United Kingdom on 19 June 1964. It was also released in Spain and France.
Yellow Submarine is the tenth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released in January 1969. It is the soundtrack to the animated film of the same name, which premiered in London in July 1968. The album contains six songs by the Beatles, including four new songs and the previously released "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love". The remainder of the album is a re-recording of the film's orchestral soundtrack by the band's producer, George Martin.
The Beatles Collection is a box set of the Beatles' vinyl albums released in the United States in November 1978 and the following month in the United Kingdom. It contains the official catalogue of the Beatles in stereo, and a new compilation called Rarities.
Por Siempre Beatles is a compilation album by the English rock group the Beatles, released in 1971 in Spain and Latin America. It contains various songs from 1965 to 1968 that had not appeared on a British studio album by the Beatles.
Yesterday and Today is a studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Released in the United States and Canada in June 1966, it was their ninth album issued on Capitol Records and twelfth American release overall. Typical of the Beatles' North American discography until 1967, the album contains songs that Capitol had withheld from its configurations of the band's recent EMI albums, along with songs that the group had released elsewhere on non-album singles. Among its 11 tracks are songs from the EMI albums Help! and Rubber Soul, and three new 1966 recordings that would appear on Revolver in countries outside North America.
Past Masters is a two-disc compilation album set by the English rock band the Beatles. It was originally released as two separate volumes on 7 March 1988, as part of the first issue of the band's catalogue on compact disc. The album contains all songs released commercially by the band that were not available on the Beatles' 12 original UK albums or the US Magical Mystery Tour LP. It was compiled by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, who also wrote the liner notes. The majority of the Past Masters set consists of A- and B-sides from the band's singles, including single versions of songs that appeared in a different form on the band's albums. Also included are the full contents of the UK-only Long Tall Sally EP, two German-language tracks, a song recorded for the American market, and a track released on a charity compilation album.
The Beatles in Mono is a boxed set compilation comprising the remastered monaural recordings by the Beatles. The set was released on compact disc on 9 September 2009, the same day the remastered stereo recordings and companion The Beatles were also released, along with The Beatles: Rock Band video game. The remastering project for both mono and stereo versions was led by EMI senior studio engineers Allan Rouse and Guy Massey.
The Beatles Box is an eight-record box set of Beatles recordings, initially released on 3 November 1980 by World Records, a mail-order subsidiary of EMI. It was also issued in two formats by Reader's Digest in New Zealand, Australia and Mexico.
The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings), also known as The Beatles: Stereo Box Set, is a box set compilation comprising all remastered recordings by English rock band the Beatles. The set was issued on 9 September 2009, along with the remastered mono recordings and companion The Beatles in Mono and The Beatles: Rock Band video game. The remastering project for both mono and stereo versions was led by EMI senior studio engineers Allan Rouse and Guy Massey. The Stereo Box also features a DVD which contains all the short films that are on the CDs in QuickTime format. The release date of 09/09/09 is related to the significance to John Lennon of the number nine.
Mono Masters is a compilation album by the Beatles, and is an alternate, all-mono version of the album Past Masters. Mono Masters was originally a two-CD set included as part of The Beatles in Mono box set. The premise of this box set was to compile only Beatles material which was released or prepared for release with a dedicated mono mix. As a result, the track listing for Mono Masters differs from Past Masters on the second half of disc two, omitting some later songs that never had a mono mix, and adding several songs released on stereo-only albums that had unreleased mono mixes. Tracks 9–12 and 15 of disc two were prepared in March 1969 for release as a 7" mono Yellow Submarine EP, two months after the release of the similarly titled soundtrack album, but the project was scrapped, although the EP was mastered. Subsequently, the tracks were only released in stereo, while the true mono mixes remained unreleased. "Get Back" was the final Beatles single mixed for mono format. It was released in the UK in mono, though the US release was in stereo. Thus, the songs that were originally released on stereo singles in the UK are omitted on this release.
Released in 1982, The Beatles Mono Collection is a boxed set of all Beatles' albums which were originally issued on mono LPs in the UK. EMI reportedly pressed a total of 10,000 copies of each reissue mono LP for sale individually. An unknown quantity of unnumbered red boxes were issued in the UK, while 1000 numbered black boxed sets were assembled and issued in the United States by the Dutch East India Trading Co. These US sets originally sold for $79.00 and included a numbered certificate and an order blank for additional sets.
Rarities is the name of two separate and unrelated compilation albums by the English rock band the Beatles. The first was released in the United Kingdom in December 1978, while the second album was issued in the United States in March 1980.
The U.S. Albums is a box set compilation comprising the remastered American albums released by the Beatles between 1964 and 1970. The box set was released on 21 January 2014 in the United States, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the Beatles' first trip to the US and first American album from Capitol Records, Meet the Beatles!
The Beatles EP Collection is a box set of vinyl records by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released by EMI's Parlophone record label in the United Kingdom on 7 December 1981. The box set consists of thirteen of the band's extended play (EP) releases from 1963 to 1967, including the double EP Magical Mystery Tour, and a new disc, titled The Beatles, which compiled previously unavailable stereo mixes of four songs. Released with the Parlophone catalogue number BEP 14, the box set was the third in a series of format-based sets in the UK, after The Singles Collection 1962–1970 (1976) and The Beatles Collection (1978).
The Singles Collection 1962–1970 is a series of reissued singles by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released in Britain on 5 March 1976 by EMI, following the expiration of the Beatles' contract with the company in January, and close to six years after the band's break-up. The collection comprises all 22 of the Beatles' UK singles, which were originally issued between October 1962 and March 1970 on either the Parlophone or Apple record labels, together with a new single pairing "Yesterday" with "I Should Have Known Better".