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!
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