beatle new remasters.

The current word seems to be that they'll be available as digital downloads sometime in the future (2008? 2009? Who knows). I've seen nothing that would indicate Apple/EMI have any interest in upgrading the CD catalogue as long as the '87s continue to sell briskly.

BTW for those who are dissatisfied with the sound quality of the canonical U.K. albums on CD as released in 1987, there are alternatives (at least for many of the tracks) that sound better. My faves being:

The Compact Disc E.P. Collection
The CD Singles Collection
The Capitol Albums Vol. I
The Capitol Albums Vol. II

The latter two box sets contain both mono and stereo versions of the tracks comprising the first eight Capitol Beatles albums. The mastering is great. The Compact Disc E.P. box sounds great too, although there is some overlap with the CD Singles box. In some cases the E.P. box has the better sonics (particularly on the early A-sides.)

The mastering on the Capitol albums is fine as far as it goes, but of course these are from the 2nd generation US masters, not the originals in Abbey Road. The 'Love' album showed what could be done with them.

Obviously EMI are going to use the Beatles to promote some new-fangled internet related cobblers. Meanwhile we'll just have to make do.

You forgot to mention the remasters of:
Yellow Submarine songtrack
One
Let It Be
and the forgotten The Beatles 1998 30th anniversary edition.

quote:

You forgot to mention the remasters of:
Yellow Submarine songtrack
One
Let It Be
and the forgotten The Beatles 1998 30th anniversary edition.

Er, not to quibble but (which of course means quibbling follows) Yellow Submarine Songtrack and (I presume you meant) Let It Be...Naked are remixes/resquences (although obviously not as radical as Love); both sound great though. 1 is remastered but is an example how remastering isn't always a good thing - the Abbey Road boffins spiked the treble a bit. Compare those tracks to their counterparts in the singles/e.p. boxes - much warmer and not smothered in noise reduction.

What is the 1998 30th Anniversary Edition - do you refer to the "white album" re-packaging?

<bump>

i have noted that japanese vinyl beatle albums are offered for about $40. seems a little steep, but of course everything is relative. anybody have some, know anything about these, how they're mastered, ?? artie.