The Beatles (White Album) [3CD]

I used to refer to "Abbey Road" as my favorite Beatles album, but this remastered release of "The Beatles" has changed my mind. This is The Beatles at their finest. The White Album covers the gamut of music, from the delicate and beautiful acoustic gems "Blackbird" and "Julia" to the proto-heavy metal of "Helter Skelter", the blues on, you guessed it, "Yer Blues", ragtime on "Honey Pie," avant-garde on "Revolution 9", and plenty of good ol' rock n roll. There are plenty of hits here (not in the singles sense, as none were released), and maybe a few misses. At 30 tracks and 94 minutes (more than twice as long as Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band), it feels a little bloated and some tracks (for example, "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill," "Rocky Raccoon," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da") aren't quite as worthy as the rest. And I now understand what the "Yer" in "Yer Blues" means. It's a substitute for "the". For example, if you were to consider genres of music, you'd have to consider "the blues,". Or, you have your rock n roll, you have your opera, you have "yer blues." Get it? With six CDs and one Blu-ray, housed in a very white book (individually numbered; mine is # 0055720) featuring a few essays and an in-depth look at the recordings, the super deluxe set set provides 107 tracks in all, many of which have never been released before. In fact, some were not known to exist until work began on this 50th anniversary release. That 107 becomes 137 if you count the mono version of the tracks on the Bluray...and 167 if you count the 5.1 tracks on the same disc. It's a lot of music (five and a half hours, to be precise). Somehow it never occurred to me that the starkly plain "artwork" of the album stands in (obvious) contrast to the garish, very '67 cover for Sgt. Pepper's. This contrast goes beyond artwork and serves as a good framework to view the music. Whereas Pepper employed a lot of studio experimentation and, one might say, extravagance (garish music, one might say), The Beatles is much more straightforward. Certainly it has some extravagance, even self-indulgence (the avant-garde "Revolution 9" is Exhibit A, but George doing 102 takes on his "Not Guilty", not even included on the album, is also...guilty). Still, on the whole, "The Beatles" is a much more no-nonsense, straight ahead album (double album, even). The name of the album also seems to say more than might first be thought: this is The Beatles, making music together, for the most part, and doing it very well. And as the essays in the book make plain, this is not the sound of a band starting to break up. All of the demos and session outtakes make it pretty clear this is a group of guys still very much interested in supporting each other's songs. Above all, the 50th anniversary set SOUNDS exceptional, and that's the whole idea, isn't it? Music that sounds great? In his remastering, Giles Martin (yes, son of Sir George) has done a tremendous job adding more life and space to these very familiar tracks. For whatever reason, I didn't even have "Back In the U.S.S.R." in iTunes from the import of the original album. With this set, I've awarded it four stars (and the sound of the jet engine at the end of the song no longer sounds like it's coming out of an ancient transistor radio). The opening chords of "Dear Prudence" are no longer stuck in the right channel, but are delightfully spread across the sound stage, adding depth and much clarity, which is also very noticeable during the first chorus. "Julia" gets a similar, very beneficial treatment. On "Birthday," Martin divided up the guitar sound, balanced centrally, to the right (I think John) and left (George), which really brings the song alive. Likewise, the brass on "Savoy Truffle" crackles with a clarity you don't hear on the original. After hearing the remastered album, one comes away feeling as if one had been there in the studio. The clarity and life in these tracks is astonishing. Paul's bass and Ringo's skins especially come off a lot better with the remastering. It's like the visual idea of "HDR" applied to music.

Another great clean up job by Giles Martin, similar to his work on Sergeant Pepper's, which was amazing, The White Album shines for the first time. Throughout the set, starting with the newly remixed 2 original discs, I'm hearing background sounds that were previously buried. Vocals are more pronounced, more in the center channel. McCartney's bass is deeper with greater punch. Dear Prudence has the opening guitar shimmering. Lennon's vocal in this song has greater presence and is centered in the room. The higher end of Ringo's cymbals and drums are now audible. Lots of haze has been removed from Glass Onion. Ringo has greater punch. Ob La Di features a much sharper piano, with the chorus of the song spread clear across the soundstage. It's a Party Going On !! The chorus of Bungalo Bill, which was a nasty mess before, is vastly cleaner. While My Guitar Gently Weeps--Listen to the crispness of Ringo's hi hat, snare and cymbals. Very smooth recording now. I swear that Clapton's solo at the end of the guitar rose out of the speakers to grab at your heart. All vocals are hanging much tighter in center channel. And I doubt you've ever heard Harrison's moaning at the end of the song like you now hear it on this remixed disc. The entire original 2 discs are so vastly improved sonically. I won't carry you through each song, but it was all very pleasing and VASTLY improved. Esher (disc #3 in this box set)--We'll leave it to the historians to tell you the significance of this disc. Short version: an early bunch of recordings, mostly acoustic, of the Beatles doing significant songs from the White Album before they went deep into the studio to finalize them. I've heard many boots of these recordings over the past few decades, and they totally lacked clarity, muddy, cruddy sounding versions of these. Man, did Giles clean up this. Yes, there's a little hiss, but largely eliminated. It mostly sounds like you're in the studio with the Beatles. On many, they're giddy, having a great old time. While they lack some of the polish of the final published versions, these sound terrific, better than any Esher bootlegs I've ever heard. Very intimate. Beatles unplugged, with some overdubbing. Disc #3, Esher demos, is not one you'll listen to once and forget. You'll want to play it again. The sessions discs (3 of them) have pro's and con's. The Pro's: Giles Martin had access to all the recorded sessions from the White Album tapes--and he's a hell of a curator--and these are the ones he's picked. They're all interesting alternative takes on these famous songs, and a few that didn't quite make it. He has hand selected the best of months of recording sessions. They sound great. The Con's: if you're deep into Beatles bootlegs or the multiple sets of outtakes what have been commercially released, you may not need these. I've found the session discs fascinating and real good sound quality. But if you're not a completist, yes, you could merely buy the 3 disc Beatle set, with the original 2 disc recording, plus the Esher demos. But as people would point out, the nearly 2" thick book that you get in this set, plus 6 amazing discs, makes this the true collector item. I opted for the 6 disc set and I'm extremely pleased. Giles Martin did cut through the clutter of all the bootleg and commercially released session stuff, and I found these three discs easier to listen to than what's been on the market before. Yeah, they sound better than all previous. If you're into sound quality, have good or great gear, value the Beatles recordings and want to hear them without the murky previous sound, are a completist AND will love to see this massive book (that holds the CD's) sitting on your shelf, want disc #7 (which is even higher fidelity recordings). Go for it. Makes a great gift item for people you love.

Super happy with my new Beatles box. Super fast delivered. The box was well packaged, everything was complete and everything that was supposed to be included was included, very good sound on the CDs.

Wer glaubt Helter Skelter ist der Beginn von Metal soll sich mal Birthday und zwar die „Party, Party...“ Stelle in 5.1 reinziehen. Das VOLLE Brett. So heavy war schlicht und einfach KEINE andere Band weit und breit. Weder die Stones, noch die WHO.... ich liebe die 68/69er Phase, ausgenommen mal die Get Back Sesssions. Von Bulldog, über das Weiße Album, old Brown Show, geht back, Come together.... da waren sie trotz all der bescheuerten Reibereien eine richtig geile Rockband. Schade, dass das heutige Bild der 4 in der Allgemeinheit nur schwarz weiß Bilder, kreischende Teenies und yeah yeah yeah ist. Nun denn. Warum genau feiert man eigentlich erst ab Pepper mit diesen fantastischen Ausgaben ? Rubber Soul und Revolver hätten‘s ja wohl auf alle Fälle mehr als verdient. Ok, hab bislang nur die 5.1 Bluray genießen können. Komm nicht los davon um den stereo mix oder den Session CD’s zu lauschen. Und ich denke die 5.1 disc wird noch sehr lange in meinem Player stecken bleiben. (Vielleicht bis 2019 wenn Abbey Road 50 wird !?) Der 5.1 Mix ist Bombe und zwar ne richtig große. Würde so sagen Zar-Format. Mindestens. Der Yer Blues läuft gerade... was für ein geiler Sound ! Meine Nachbarn freuen sich - oder auch nicht. Mir doch auch Latte, „it‘s the bloody white Album ! It‘s out, it‘s sold...“ wie Paul mal sagte. Das großartige weiße Album, da kommt niemand ran ! Niemand !! Beatles Forever ! Trotzdem... Don‘t pass me by, Rocky racoon und Cry baby cry werden weiterhin geskippt.

Que decir del Album Blanco... !COLOSAL¡¡¡ Las mezclas estan bien... pero sobre todo el Disco grabado en plan acustico y en plan amiguete con las primeras versiones de estas magnificas canciones, son todo una Gozada. EL PRECIO MUY CARO. Que se le va a hacer... Soy Beatlemano.

23年前に30周年記念盤として発売されて買った。シリアルナンバーも付いてて当時は 貴重だったが、その後40周年が出て手放してしまった。 3年前にも50周年記念のデラックス盤も発売された。 だけど、普段聴く使い勝手がいいのでまた買うことにしました。 レコードで聴いてた頃のワクワク感は健在です。

I had the original 2 album. I have since replace it with the 20th anniversary CD edition and one more time with another CD remaster from 2010 I think. This album lies deep inside me for a long time even I am not a Beatles collector really. Now I brought finally the BIG box - the super deluxe edition. I would have to say that this one is by far my favorite of all Fab Four super deluxe editions. I also love Sgt Pepper and Abbey Road but this one for starters is a double album now greatly enhanced with gorgeous Demos and alternative outtakes. The second part is surely for someone who appreciates of how those tracks came along to the finished product. the big Book housing all CD's and BluRay is very handsome and a nice treat for a fan or collector. It also includes the Poster and the 4 Portraits of all members. The highlight of this super heavy box would be the BluRay disc featuring a fantastic surround sound or Stereo if you wish or even a mono mix of how the original was meant to be. The only thing I struggle is that Slipcase. I have similar stuff in my collection from years of collecting and know that some day it will become yellow and brittle...(even if you keep it out of sunlight) It's so rewarding getting a decent re-release like this and for an fantastic price. Thank you Amazon