Beatles Remastered Vinyl

I had a big vinyl listening day the other day and I finally got round to listening to some of the Beatles Box set, Sgt Pepper sounded great, by far the best I have ever heard it, but then I've only ever heard it on CD before.

Maybe I shouldn't mention this as its a little embarrassing but as I have only ever heard it on CD before I'm used to the last track just stopping, on the Vinyl I didn't realise it goes on indefinitely, I sat there for 10 mins listening to the same loop over and over again until I got bored and then I realised that I could have sat there all day, doh 

Great idea though, never ending vinyl 

Vinyl is never ending. That's part of the fun.

So far no one has convinced me this box is worth getting over the Blue Box I already have.

Great for you Jay!  I have to think the blue box is superior to the latest offering - it's done from the original tapes.

I'm not going to buy the vinyl box set.  I still have all the Beatle LPs I bought in the 1970s plus the remastered CDs set.  It may be fun to pick one of the remastered LPs and give a listen one day, but it's not a high priority for me.

I guess where this box set really comes into its own is for people like me who have only ever heard The Beatles on CD and have never owned any of their albums on Vinyl, as I really can't fault it, so far all the albums I've listened to sound great, far better than the CD versions I own, I really feel it is worth every penny.

As I said before I wish Bowie would do something similar, but I'm also a big Elvis fan, and he released so many albums, what with all the film soundtracks and everything else, it would be great if something similar was released for all the studio Elvis albums.

MMMmm, I feel a new thread coming on, 'What Artist Vinyl Box-sets Would You Like to See' 

Agreed an Elvis box set would be nice I guess it would contain 

My Aim Is True

This Year's Model
Armed Forces
Get Happy!!
Trust
Almost Blue 
Imperial Bedroom
Punch The Clock
Goodbye Cruel World
King Of America
Blood & Chocolate
Spike
Mighty Like A Rose
The Juliet Letters
Brutal Youth
Kojak Variety
All This Useless Beauty
Painted From Memory
For The Stars
When I Was Cruel
North
The Delivery Man
My Flame Burns Blue
The River In Reverse
Momofuku
Secret, Profane & Sugarcane
National Ransom

Could be quite expensive ... 

Guido, I thought Elvis C, The Imposter (as opposed to Elvis, The True king) died on the bog in 1977, not long after he made racist remarks about Ray Charles and James Brown. Apparently the autopsy found he was full of crap and bile (or was it blood and chocolate?).

Guess I must have been wrong - he must have been keeping a very low profile these past 35 years... glad to see you conducting your lonely crusade. You obviously have a thing about lost causes...

He apologised for that remark, which only came about because Bonnie Bramlett kept on and on at him when he was trying to have a quiet drink and watch the detectives ... it was also the era of punk when people said things just to annoy Bill Grundy .... most of the noise was down to the way the press reported it .... and I'm sure you'd agree it was journalists out for a story who engineered the whole thing 

I've met Elvis and have to say he's a really nice dude ... he was at the bar having an R Whites as one would expect from a secret lemonade drinker, who was trying to give it up, but it was one of those nights, I ordered a black label ... Elvis is no more a racist than Ron Atkinson, He has played anti-racists concerts and has no more time for racists than any of us. I would ask you to forgive and forget his one unfortunate transgression in extenuate circumstances after all accidents will happen.  He has made some great records. 

And he did some great work with Sir Paul.

There's a man in the launderette and he's looking through your underwear for clues
And the milkman is working through the News of the Screws

He says

If you've got something to hide, if you've got something to sell

If you've got somebody's pride she might kiss and tell
Or wind up with a fight fan in the Hammersmith Hotel
You better speak up now if you want your piece
You better speak up now
It won't mean a thing later
Yesterday's news is tomorrow's fish and chip paper

Guy

It's not my place to "forgive" Costello for his racist remarks. Ray Charles did, which is a measure of the great man.

I don't think Costello is a racist either (he's not Skrewdriver, is he?), but he did say racist things. And you are being disingenuous to suggest that it was all Bramlett's fault, or the media's. Drunk or not, he said it. He also never apologised to Charles or Brown, which is probably what he should have done.

What I can't forgive Costello for is his skinny ties, his turgid power pop, strangled whine of a voice and his eighth-rate Dylanisms.

Everyone's a critic.

I think he is a great artist. My wife has problems with his pitch accuracy. 

Dylan is a hack.

I actually was a critic of sorts (music reviewer for some of the UK pop rags) back in the day, oddly enough.

In terms of achievement, Costello isn't fit to polish Dylan's, Charles' or Brown's boots, but if you're satisfied with the second rate, that's your prerogative.

Isn't it interesting how the meaning of prerogative has changed? I took it as the modern usage but the original is a special right bestowed on an individual or class by a government or state. Thanks Wikipedia!

Anyway, Kevin, of course my Dylan comment was a joke, but it certainly must be someone's opinion, whether or not they are a paid critic now or have been one in the past. To describe Costello's lyrics as 8th rate Dylanisms is a delight and I enjoyed reading it. 

It never fails to fascinate me how English vocabulary shifts Connon - one of the strengths of the language IMO.

Take the word "gay", for example. Its original meaning in the 17th century was "addicted to pleasure" - a gay girl was a slut or prostitute. Then, around the 19th century, it was taken to mean "happy", "carefree" or "joyful". Post the Second World War,  of course, it has come to mean "homosexual". Now, young people use the word "gay' as a synonym for "rubbish" or "worthless"...

In the late 70s, when Costello made his outburst, the "N" word  was still used quite casually in England, in schools, workplaces and elsewhere. Now it is perhaps the most taboo word in the language. One hears the "C" word frequently in pubic, in films and on TV here, but outside Tarantino movies and gangsta rap, it's scarcely heard, except in old films, books and TV shows. If Costello - or for that matter, Eric Clapton with his infamous onstage racist rant in '76 - had said what they'd said today, their careers would effectively be ruined, instead of being temporarily derailed.

K

PS - I took your "Dylan is a hack" joke as just that - hence the . Back in the 1980s, which were, let's be frank, not good years for Dylan, he was memorably described by someone on the Melody Maker as "a cactus-faced crock of crap"

I just browsed through Art Dudley's comments about the Beatles Stereo Vinyl Box Set (Apple AEMI 33809). He listened through and wrote 4 pages about it in the March 2013 Stereophile. Makes me happy to find a great story like this in a Hi-Fi mag.

And very sad to read that that these records were mastered from 24bit/44.1kHz digital. Why on earth!? Story goes they thought it is "good enough" and wanted to preserve the original master tapes. 

Not for me, thank you.

If only someone like Music Matters could get hold of the masters and produce a true analogue reissue. I'd be first in line. 

Does anyone think we will get the Mono remasters anytime soon? If so do you think they will use the original masters.

Graham.

I regret to say Graham, probably not.