The Beatles – Box Set Reviews – Part 1

Over the last decade, The Beatles have released big box sets of some of their classic albums, each containing a lot of fascinating extra material, the most recent being for Rubber Soul this month. Smaller and cheaper versions have also been available with fewer tracks, but I’ve shelled out for the biggest super deluxe box sets with everything in, as I love their music. They were such an iconic group, who produced countless classic songs and experimented in ways that others had never done before, inspiring many artists that followed.

Each set comes with a big hardback book full of insightful information about the genesis of the album, the music scene and the world in general at the time, the writing and production of the tracks, the story behind the album cover, and much more, along with loads of photos. Most of the text is by former radio producer and author Kevin Howlett, but there are introductions from Paul McCartney in all of the sets, additional forewords by Giles Martin (son of George Martin) in some cases, and input from other people here and there too. The print is small and occasionally poorly contrasted (e.g. black text on a red background), but I’m able to use my phone to take photos of the pages and then use my computer to enlarge the text on my big monitor, adjust the colours, and even have it spoken to me if I wish. So I still get to enjoy it.

As for the music, it goes without saying that it sounds fantastic now it’s been remastered, with great clarity to everything, and there’s plenty of variety to keep things interesting. The discs, which are housed in cardboard sleeves, include the remastered stereo and original mono versions of each album, a Blu-ray Audio disc in most cases (one of which also contains videos), alternate mixes for a couple of albums, and 4-track EPs in a couple of cases.

But the most interesting and important CDs in each set are the sessions discs, featuring demos, rehearsals, alternate takes, studio banter and so on. They present the songs in brand new ways, making you feel like a fly on the wall in the studio as you get to hear how they developed. Those discs should be listened to in conjunction with the track by track discussions in each book, which provide a detailed analysis of every song, including the stories and inspirations behind them, the recording dates, the instruments played, the tracks and overdubs on the master tapes, the relevant tracks on the sessions discs and in the Anthology sets, notable live performances and cover versions, and more.

I don’t have the equipment to play the Blu-ray audio discs in surround sound, so I’m only listening to the audio from the CDs, but I’m happy with that. There have also been separate sets for those who want vinyl instead, and while I’m pleased it’s still a popular format, I’m glad they’ve kept it separate, because I don’t buy or play music that way. It irks me when box sets force you to pay a lot extra for a vinyl record in order to get everything on CD, so I’m glad the Beatles haven’t gone down that route.

I therefore want to do a comprehensive review of all their box sets, and mention their other albums along the way for completeness. And because there’s so much material, I’m going to split it across 2 posts. So in this first post I’m going to cover their box sets for Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. Pepper, and take a quick look at the albums that preceded them. None of this is sponsored or gifted, as I bought all the box sets myself, and I hope you enjoy!

Glen kneeling and smiling towards the camera next to a long couch on which are waxworks of The Beatles. Ringo Starr is holding his drumsticks, while the other 3 are playing their guitars.
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September 2026 Favourites

Hello again, I hope you’ve had a good month. I know the news hasn’t been very cheerful lately, but other than sending love to the amazing people at the RNLI (who some people bizarrely get mixed up with the equally wonderful RNIB), and reassuring you that I’ve never used AI to produce my content and have no plans to do so, I’m not going to comment on recent events beyond that.

Instead, I’m going to share my usual mixture of entertainment that I’ve been enjoying, including TV shows, autobiographies, interviews and more, as well as an update on how things are going for my mother and I. None of it’s sponsored or gifted as usual, and I hope you find it interesting.

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Sneaky Sasquatch – Game Review & Progress

Now that I have more time on my hands, since leaving work to become a full-time carer, I’ve been getting back into video games as one of various ways to keep myself entertained. And I’ve started with Apple Arcade, seeing as I own a Mac and was able to use a special offer of 3 months for the price of 1. I played a few games on there during lockdown in 2020, but then stopped and have only recently taken another look at it.

My initial assumption was that I would just write relatively short reviews in my monthly Favourites posts, as I’ve done with other titles previously. But I’m currently playing a game that is absolutely massive in scope and has been keeping me busy for a few months already, so it warrants a post of its own to do it justice. I will move on to try other titles in due course, but I want to see how much of this one I can complete first.

The game in question is called Sneaky Sasquatch. It was one of the original launch titles on Apple Arcade back in 2019, but it’s still getting updates and high ratings now. So I thought I’d take a look to see what all the fuss is about, and it is indeed very addictive. There are some aspects I can’t do very well or at all because of my limited eyesight, but on the whole it’s a lot of fun.

I’m therefore going to share my general thoughts about the game here, along with a more in-depth look at the progress I’ve been making on the various tasks and missions you can do, which I’ll keep updated every so often. None of this is sponsored or connected with the developers in any way, so all opinions are my own, and I hope you enjoy!

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Queen Album Review – Innuendo

By the time the 1990s began, Freddie Mercury’s health was in steep decline due to AIDS, which he was diagnosed with in 1987. The band denied it whenever they were asked about it, and the press couldn’t get definitive proof to back up the suspicions they’d had for at least a couple of years. But Freddie’s increasingly gaunt appearance fuelled the rumours, especially when the band accepted the award for Outstanding Contribution To British Music at the Brit Awards in 1990, to celebrate their 20th anniversary in the music business. A clearly emotional Brian May delivered their acceptance speech, with Freddie only having the energy for a quick “Thank you, goodnight” at the end. It would turn out to be Freddie’s last ever appearance in public, giving the footage particular poignancy in hindsight.

Behind the scenes however, tucked away at Mountain Studios in Montreux to avoid the intrusions of the media, Queen were busy in 1989 and 1990. Freddie was determined to keep recording until it was no longer possible, and the band agreed to credit all the songs they produced to the group as a whole to avoid any arguments, which made things a lot easier.

The Innuendo album that came out of those sessions in February 1991 was an immediate hit, going straight into the charts at number 1 in the UK for 2 weeks, and remaining in the top 10 for a further fortnight. It stayed in the top 100 for 19 weeks altogether until 22 June 1991, dropping out 5 months before Freddie passed away on 24 November. It then returned to the charts for a further 16 consecutive weeks from early December.

Colourful drawings of the 4 members of Queen, from the booklet with their Innuendo album. John is wearing a colourful jester's hat with bells on, and has a pointy white beard and curly moustache. Brian's hair is made of blue and green striped snakes, and his face is partially obscured by a white theatrical mask with colourful feathers sticking out of the top of it, as if he's just pulled it off to reveal himself. Freddie is wearing a black and white chequered top and has cats crawling over his shoulders plus a black cat on his head. Roger's outfit has red and white stripes along with blue stars, while a blue bandana around the top of his head has yellow stars and suns on it, and he has long blonde hair billowing out to the sides.

As an album in itself, it’s a beautiful mix of genres and themes in the way that Queen were renowned for, harking back to their 70s sound at times. But given what we now know about what the band were going through, it’s quite moving too, as there are clear references to the fact that things were drawing to an end. And while Freddie’s condition meant he was too unwell to go on tour, he still found it in himself to deliver some absolutely incredible vocals. So the difficult circumstances certainly didn’t diminish the quality of their work, and it’s widely regarded as one of their best albums.

A blue-tinted photo of the 4 members of Queen posing together, from the booklet with their Innuendo album.

One big frustration, however, is that the music videos have never had a proper release on DVD or Blu-ray, including the last one that Freddie ever recorded. They had been featured on the Greatest Flix II & Greatest Flix III VHS tapes, and some of them appeared on the Japanese-only Greatest Karaoke Hits VHS & DVD releases with on-screen lyrics. But they were omitted from the Greatest Video Hits 2 DVD, and while fans clamoured for a third DVD of videos to tie up all the loose ends, it never materialised. Thankfully they are on Youtube, but I like to have my own personal DVDs and Blu-rays of their work where possible.

So with all that said, here’s the latest in my series of in-depth Queen album reviews, looking at each of the tracks on Innuendo, including alternate versions, music videos, live performances, covers and more where appropriate. I hope you enjoy!

P.S. If you’re wondering why I seem to have skipped an album after my recent post about A Kind Of Magic, it’s because I already reviewed the Collector’s Edition of The Miracle 4 years ago. I have added a few little extras to it, but I didn’t need to write a whole new post.

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August 2026 Favourites

Well, I never thought I’d want a summer to end, but I’m glad that one’s out of the way! Occasional spells of hot weather are welcome, but to have 6 intense heatwaves in close succession over the last few months has been quite exceptional, and ultimately it got too much for my mother and I. So it has set us back a bit, but it also led to an important realisation about being a carer, which is helping me to move forward. You can see the blog post I made yesterday for more about that, it’s been good to get it off my chest.

It means I still haven’t been anywhere exciting for a while, but at least I’m getting out of the house again for local walks and shopping, which I’m happy about. And when I’ve been at home, I’ve been enjoying plenty of entertainment as usual, with a few TV shows, a couple of audiobooks and an addictive game. So I hope you find this latest roundup interesting as usual.

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Caring For Mum – Grief Encounters

Since leaving full-time work earlier this year to focus on caring for my mother, it’s been a difficult few months for reasons we hadn’t expected. We’re doing better now, but it was a rough ride sometimes that has set us back a bit and given me pause for thought.

For one thing, I managed to pick up a foot injury, which stopped me from going out. I believe it was metatarsalgia, as it affected the ball of my foot. Thankfully it’s been slowly getting better with rest and more appropriate footwear, and I am now going out around my local area for walks and shopping again quite comfortably. I still get occasional faint twinges, reminding me to be a little bit careful, but they’re increasingly rare and disappear quickly.

In addition, while I was recovering from that, we had a series of 6 intense heatwaves to deal with here in the UK. Occasional spells of hot weather are fine and very welcome, but this was a relentless period of above average heat and stifling humidity with barely any respite between each wave. Suffice to say it did my elderly mother no favours, and thus required me to stay indoors most of the time to look after her. We both got quite fed up with it, as it felt like it was never going to end! And now it finally has, it’s taking time for Mum to get back into the full routine she had several months ago, as being unable to do much for so long has affected her confidence and independence. So it’s still limiting how much I can go out, as she doesn’t like being alone for too long.

What’s really struck me as I reflect on the summer, however, is that I’ve been on a similar rollercoaster ride to last year in terms of my mental health while caring for Mum. And as I’ve found myself making comparisons and noting the similarities, something has finally clicked in my mind. It was probably obvious to everyone else, but it’s only in hindsight that I’ve been able to see and acknowledge it by name.

I’ve been grieving. I’ve been going through the stages of grief. So I wanted to offload and structure my thoughts with a post and a video about it.

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Queen Album Review – A Kind Of Magic

By the mid-1980s, it seemed as if Queen weren’t on top of their game any more. Their 1984 album The Works had sold well and they were still attracting big crowds to their shows, yet something was missing. The band were tired of the endless cycle of recording and touring – particularly Freddie, who went off to make his own solo album, Mr. Bad Guy – and they weren’t dominating the music scene in the way they used to.

It felt like the band had passed their peak, and they were just sailing along without making much of a splash. But then fate smiled upon them and presented them with the crest of a huge wave in the form of Live Aid in 1985. Their barnstorming 20-minute set of classic hits, regarded by many as the best rock set of all time, delighted existing fans and drew in many new followers who had little to no awareness of them. And most importantly, it re-lit the fire within the group, reminding them what they were capable of and why they were loved.

They capitalised on that success by releasing the song One Vision in November 1985, and then a couple more songs the following March, before blessing the world with their latest album, A Kind Of Magic, in June 1986, which also served as the soundtrack to Highlander. It deservedly shot straight into the UK charts at number 1, and stayed in the top 10 for 16 weeks, out of a total 30 weeks in the top 40.

It was their first chart-topping album since The Game in 1980 and Greatest Hits in 1981, and their final 3 studio albums with Freddie that followed all reached number 1 as well. This was therefore the start of their revival – although, as the Magic tour would be their last set of concerts together, it was also the beginning of the end in a sad way, which Freddie was privately aware of.

So to celebrate the 40th anniversary of this classic album and Freddie’s final ever concert, I’m going to dig through each of the tracks here, looking at music videos, alternate versions, live performances, covers and so on. And don’t forget you can find lots of videos in the playlists that I’ve linked to beneath the table of contents as well. I hope you enjoy!

Double page spread from the booklet with Queen's album A Kind Of Magic. It shows a dazzling, colourful array of cartoon imagery against a black background littered with tiny colourful stars and other objects. The large cartoon imagery across both pages includes representations of all 4 band members, some dancers, a microphone, two bowls of water that each contain a fish, another fish flying around with a wide open mouth that gives it a shocked expression, a rabbit jumping out of a top hat while a frog appears to be diving towards it, a cauldron, a lamp with a large genie that has emerged from it, and a blue book with the word Magic on the cover.
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Taking The PIP – Reform Style

*Sigh* Ok, fine. I steer clear of politics in this blog as much as I can, and have especially avoided mentioning Reform given their deliberately and dangerously divisive way of conducting themselves. But it was inevitable that they were going to start attacking disabled people, as they’re already adept at spreading misinformation and inciting hatred towards immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and anybody they consider ‘woke’ or ‘lefty’. Of course we were next. I may be visually impaired, but like most people I saw this coming a mile off.

Disabled people are simply a burden they don’t want to deal with, so they want to cut as much support as possible and shift the responsibilities on to others, without caring if people suffer as a result. And it will naturally be a vote-winner amongst their supporters to paint us as fraudsters and scroungers, because they have no respect for us and no understanding of the benefits system (even though any of them could need it at any time, and some of them already do use it).

Me writing a post like this isn’t going to change their minds either, I know that. As much as I’d like them to read what I have to say, consider it thoughtfully and discuss it with politeness and respect, I won’t be at all surprised if I just get insults thrown at me instead. That seems to be what happens if you dare to criticise Reform on social media, and I could easily put together a bingo card of predictable responses. But I’d love a Reform supporter to prove me wrong, showing a willingness to read and think about things with an open mind, instead of just blindly believing what their party tells them.

I also know that their welfare policy announcement and press conference – for which they didn’t consult disabled people as far as I can tell – is just an attention-seeking distraction technique, and me having a rant is exactly what they want to keep that discussion flowing. So I’ve been in two minds as to whether to write anything about it. But I don’t appreciate them using disabled people like myself as a political football, in their latest attempt to try and kick discussions about their dodgy dealings and a pointless by-election into the long grass, especially when it involves spreading lies about us and threatening to wipe out our support. We can’t just roll over and let extremists treat us like this.

So here are my initial reactions to Reform’s proposals, beginning with some clarifications about PIP.

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July 2026 Favourites

Hello again, hope you’re doing well. I know it’s lovely to have sunshine in the summer, but this exceptional period of hot and dry weather is getting a bit much now isn’t it? If you or someone you know is affected by wildfires, droughts or the heat in general at the moment, I hope you’re staying safe and comfortable as best you can.

Naturally it’s been having an impact on my mother, so even though after my foot injury I’m feeling well enough to go out a bit more again, I’ve still had to stick around at home a lot of the time to make sure she’s ok. I’ll be giving a little update about my caring situation in this post.

So again there’s nothing for me to write about in London just yet, but I’m hopeful that will finally change during August, particularly with a booking I have for my birthday that I’m very much looking forward to.

However, there is plenty of entertainment for me to review from July, including a couple of crime dramas I discussed on Radio 4’s In Touch, along with some audio and TV comedies, and I’ve even tried getting back into playing video games. And, as ever, none of it’s sponsored or gifted. So I hope you enjoy!

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Queen Album Review – The Works

Following the poor reception to Hot Space in 1982, which had focused too heavily on funk and disco sounds, Queen took the hint and brought more rock elements back into the mix for their 1984 album The Works. It also helped that they had taken a break in between those releases, focusing on solo work instead, so they came back refreshed as a group.

The result is a combination of 70s and 80s styles that is much more interesting, and it gave us huge hits like Radio Ga Ga, I Want To Break Free and Hammer To Fall, although the video for one of those songs didn’t go down well in America.

In the UK, the album jumped straight into the charts at number 2 for a week, and while it never managed to reach the top spot, it did return to the second place position 3 months later for a fortnight. It spent 57 consecutive weeks in the top 100 initially (25 of which were top 10), but then kept returning for a little while every so often. So in total it was in the chart for 94 weeks, which is the longest for any Queen album. It’s also their only album from which all of the songs were released as either A or B-side tracks on singles.

So for the latest in my series of Queen album reviews, here’s a look at each of the tracks, along with alternate versions, live performances, covers and more. I hope you enjoy!

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