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The Beatles - The Beatles Stereo Box Set CD (album) cover

THE BEATLES STEREO BOX SET

The Beatles

 

Proto-Prog

4.65 | 73 ratings

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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Career perfection

As bands go it doesn't get much better than The Beatles for great music and incredible songwriting. The question is, do you need their box set? For most fans of rock music the answer is Yes. If you already have copies of their best albums that sound fine to you I suppose you could skip this. But for fans stuck with old CDs or vinyl in poor shape, this is the perfect opportunity to get the whole show for a reasonable price.

I'm no audiophile but I know what I like, and to me these new remasters sound pretty damn good. The mix is quite nice and new things pop out here and there that I'd not heard before. The packaging is a joke of course, but 99% of box set packaging is a joke. Just something we have to deal with. Instead of proper jewel cases they come in these lame paper sleeves guaranteed to cause disc wear eventually and wear out pretty fast. The selling points are many however. First, you get everything. All of the proper studio albums are here, along with both parts of the fantastic "Past Masters" collection of rarities. All are lovingly presented in the best possible sound. Next, the booklets are well done. Each album's booklet features great photography, with dates and places for each photo, and come with lengthy historical and recording notes. George Martin's comments one each album are particularly interesting to read. Last, they throw in a bonus DVD with a mini-featurette of each album. The whole thing totals less than one hour, so it is pretty thin really, but nevertheless enjoyable. If you can't afford to purchase the whole set and wish to get a good sampling of the band's career by buying individual CDs, I'd recommend Please Please Me, Rubber Soul, Magical Mystery Tour, and Let It Be-Naked. These are their four best albums and cover each of their stylistic phases well.

If you are a parent or uncle/aunt of teenagers, do them a favor and give them this box set for a birthday or Christmas present. Every kid should have the chance for a Beatles obsession phase and experience the days when music was special.

Finnforest | 4/5 |

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