Classic Beatles Vinyl Remasters Headed for November Release

In the digital age, will music fans embrace the past?

Beatles fans were no doubt thrilled a few years back when Apple -- the record label, not the electronics company -- released the Beatles' remastered studio albums on CD.

Then a year later the albums were made available for digital download through iTunes. But for many old school Beatles fans, it probably just wasn't the same.

Not to worry, the record label is rectifying that with the November 12 release of the entire collection on 180-gram, audiophile quality vinyl. Not only will you hear them the same way you did when you brought them home from the record store -- remember those? -- but all 14 albums will come with replicated artwork, including the poster in The Beatles (The White Album), the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart Club Band's cutouts, and special inner bags for some of the titles.

Boxed set available

The albums will be sold individually as well as in a limited edition boxed set.

The titles include The Beatles' 12 original UK albums, first released between 1963 and 1970, the US-originated Magical Mystery Tour, now part of the group's core catalog, and Past Masters, Volumes One & Two, featuring non-album A-sides and B-sides, EP tracks and rarities.

Since it was recorded, The Beatles' music has been heard on a variety of formats -- from cumbersome reel-to-reel tapes and eight-track cartridges to invisible computer files. For many music fans -- including some born long after albums had mostly disappeared -- there is a certain romance to listening to music on vinyl.

More than a piece of cardboard

Then there is the cardboard sleeve containing the vinyl disk. For many, it added to the whole music experience. Rather than a merely functional object to protect the disc, it was elevated to a stylish accessory.

With the advent of the cassette tape in the seventies and the compact disc in the 1980s, album artwork was reduced in size and importance, losing much of its charm.

Maybe that's why vinyl LPs have not, as predicted, been discarded. Below is a list of the Beatles albums included in the collection. Some albums were released in the U.S. under different names:

  • Please Please Me. "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You" are presented in mono (North American LP debut in stereo)
  • With The Beatles (North American LP debut in stereo)
  • A Hard Day's Night (North American LP debut in stereo)
  • Beatles For Sale (North American LP debut in stereo)
  • Help! Features George Martin's 1986 stereo remix
  • Rubber Soul. Features George Martin's 1986 stereo remix
  • Revolver
  • Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Packaging includes replica psychedelic inner sleeve, cardboard cutout sheet and additional insert
  • Magical Mystery Tour. Packaging includes 24-page color book
  • The Beatles (double album). Packaging includes double-sided photo montage/lyric sheet and 4 solo color photos
  • Yellow Submarine. "Only A Northern Song" is presented in mono. Additional insert includes original American liner notes.
  • Abbey Road
  • Let It Be
  • Past Masters (double album). "Love Me Do" (original single version), "She Loves You," "I'll Get You," and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" are presented in mono. Packaging, notes and photographic content is based on the 2009 CD release.

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