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budaniel MusicFan
Joined: 12 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 21 February 2010 at 1:46pm | IP Logged
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Hey all,
So, I originally bought ALL the original first Beatles CDs that were released in the 80s, including Past Masters 1 and 2, and eventually I added Anthology 1 to that. I've since bought Capitol Albums box 1 and Capitol Albums Box 2. Do these two boxes in anyway cancel out ANY of the original CDs? In other words, by having these two boxed sets of Capitol albums, do I have every song duplicated from ANY of those original 80s CDs? I'm trying to do some CD house cleaning. I've tried to do a bunch of side by side comparison of track listings and it's just giving me a headache because album names and track listings are all over the place. So I figure, before continuing with this headache, there might be an expert here who already knows the answer. Thanks in advance.
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AndrewChouffi MusicFan
Joined: 24 September 2005
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Posted: 21 February 2010 at 3:29pm | IP Logged
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The 'Capitol Albums' box sets in no way cancel out owning the '87 versions because many of the Capitol versions are different edits, different mixes, more compressed, reverb added; in other words, 'Dexterized'.
Andy
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budaniel MusicFan
Joined: 12 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 21 February 2010 at 3:34pm | IP Logged
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I thought the Capitol Albums versions were supposed to be improved! I was under the impression that hardcore fans were not happy with the mastering on the original releases from years ago. Thanks for clarifying that.
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Roscoe MusicFan
Joined: 18 July 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 21 February 2010 at 4:37pm | IP Logged
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At the time of their release, the Capitol boxes were good supplements to the original CD releases, particularly for mono/stereo versions that were not included in the UK CDs. For being higher generation sources, many of the tracks sound surprisingly good.
The Beatles remasters from last September rendered much of the material on the Capitol boxes obsolete. But they still contain some unique items:
- Fake stereo versions, if you're into those
- The "James Bond" intro to "Help"
- The heavily reverbed versions of "I Feel Fine" and "She's A Woman", which were technically the hit versions in the U.S.
- The single-track vocal version of "And I Love Her" (which was the 45 version in the U.S.)
Also, many veteran U.S. Beatles fans like the Capitol boxes because those versions are the ones that they grew up with.
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Brian W. MusicFan
Joined: 13 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 21 February 2010 at 7:10pm | IP Logged
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budaniel wrote:
I thought the Capitol Albums versions were supposed to be improved! I was under the impression that hardcore fans were not happy with the mastering on the original releases from years ago. Thanks for clarifying that. |
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That was never the purpose of the Capitol Albums boxes. The purpose was to get the AMERICAN mixes and the AMERICAN tracklistings on CD, so that everyone who was alive back then would own on CD the identical versions they owned in their youth.
The purpose of the new remasters that came out last year was to improve the sound quality.
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aaronk Admin Group
Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 21 February 2010 at 11:12pm | IP Logged
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What was the verdict on the sound quality of the new remasters? Personally, I didn't have a problem with the '87 discs and the Red/Blue albums from '93. They didn't sound hissy or poorly mastered to my ears. Were the improvements worth the investment?
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AndrewChouffi MusicFan
Joined: 24 September 2005
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Posted: 22 February 2010 at 8:34am | IP Logged
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To Aaaronk:
I really like both the mono & stereo remasters as a general rule. In particular, it's great to finally have the first four albums in stereo from a master tape after all those bootleg CD from vinyl.
Andy
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budaniel MusicFan
Joined: 12 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 22 February 2010 at 10:40am | IP Logged
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Thanks all. it's even more confusing than I thought. I would have never made heads or tails of it on my own. I guess I'll just keep it all. now, should I be getting those remasters from last september???
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AndrewChouffi MusicFan
Joined: 24 September 2005
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Posted: 22 February 2010 at 11:26am | IP Logged
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To Budaniel:
At least the first four remasters should be purchased.
Andy
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aaronk Admin Group
Joined: 16 January 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 22 February 2010 at 12:54pm | IP Logged
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Thanks, Andrew. Unless an older version of a CD sounds mediocre to poor, I generally don't rush out to buy "remastered" CDs. Up to this point, I haven't even bothered to try to listen to a copy, but I'll take your word that they are worth it.
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budaniel MusicFan
Joined: 12 October 2004 Location: United States
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Posted: 22 February 2010 at 1:29pm | IP Logged
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I didn't even realize the ENTIRE catalog from 87 had been remastered and reissued last year. I should have guessed considering the beatles were all over "Rock Band". And now I see there are mono and stereo versions. Why does a big part of me just want to call it a day and live with what I have?
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Roscoe MusicFan
Joined: 18 July 2005 Location: United States
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Posted: 22 February 2010 at 2:26pm | IP Logged
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budaniel wrote:
I didn't even realize the ENTIRE catalog from 87 had been remastered and reissued last year. I should have guessed considering the beatles were all over "Rock Band". And now I see there are mono and stereo versions. Why does a big part of me just want to call it a day and live with what I have? |
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I was very pleased with the remasters, particularly the mono box. I was particularly psyched to get the mono versions of "Help", "Rubber Soul", since I never cared for the stereo mixes of those (neither the 1965 originals nor the 1987 remixes). It was also great to finally get the mono mixes of Pepper, Revolver and White Album on CD. And while some complained about the light use of dynamic range limiting on the stereo CDs, I thought they all sounded excellent. Obviously a lot of care when into these remasters.
But if you're not a die-hard Beatles fan, you may choose to stick with your old CDs plus the Capitol boxes. Unless you're planning on purchasing the mono box (fairly expensive), you wouldn't be getting that much new & unique stuff, other than the stereo mixes of the first 4 albums (which are hit & miss IMO).
I will say that if you are interested in the authentic hit versions of the singles (i.e. the mono mixes in almost all cases), you may want to try to track down the "Mono Masters" disc from the mono box.
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