Metal website’s official blog or not this is some pretty big and super cool news. The Beatles catalog has been fully remastered and is available as of a couple of days ago and what a day to offer it up to their fans, September 9th 2009 or “9-9-9” (you know like the song “Revolution #9 that says “number 9, number 9, number 9” again and again. This is also cool news for those fans who are a little too young to have fully appreciated the band and might be curious about those round black plates in their parents music collection. Sadly those entrenched in the digital age will need to hold on as these are purely physical releases and not available in iTunes or even Amazon.com MP3 providers at this time. I am sure we shall see this happening soon enough though.

Now I had to check on this with our good buddy Skeleton Pete Parrella because in my book he is The Beatles cognasciente and thanks to his explanation I now understand how their catalog was actually released. Since The Beatles hailed from Merry Old England but were a smash hit success in the States, there were often two different versions of albums released on either side of the pond. For instance the album “With The Beatles” was in the United Kingdom while we got it as “Meet The Beatles”. There were also vast and varying track differences on each of them. The remastered editions are the way that these albums were originally released in England. That means you will not see anything for “Yesterday and Today” which is infamous because of its butcher babies cover. Let’s get back to the actual releases now. The remastered editions come in sleek digipak packages with expanded liner notes and also a Quicktime movie about that point in time in the bands career. Fans can also order up the whole enchilada in full box set presentations and enjoy either the Mono Box set or the Stereo box set. I was told that the band’s earliest albums were recorded in mono and that makes sense given their original time of issue. I know that I mentioned some different track listings being done between the two versions and that is what gives us the “Past Masters” release which now comes as a double disc as opposed to two separate ones. I like that since I now have that much more room in my own music collection shelf 🙂

The Beatles Remasters include:
1. Please, Please me (1963)
2. With The Beatles (1963)
3. A Hard Day’s Night (1964)
4. Beatles For Sale (1964)
5. Help! (1964)
6. Rubber Soul (1965)
7. Revolver (1966)
8. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
9. Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
10. The Beatles (or The White Album) (1968)
11. Yellow Submarine (1969)
12. Abbey Road (1969)
13. Let It Be (1970)
14. Past Masters 1 & 2

I’m going to assume that the bands legacy fans already have these recordings on CD in addition to their vintage record collection but will say that the remasters look and sound awesome that you might want to get yourself building a new collection. Hey you can always put the original CD issues up on E-bay for those absolute diehards who need every iteration of a release. I’m going to start something new with these kind of major release announcements and that is to include the catalog of albums that have been put out at the close of these posts with the code that allows for quick purchase on Amazon.com – If you have read any of my reviews on the main website then you have already seen these kinds of codes. I might as well use similar practices to help encourage the interested reader in expanding their musical minds. Truly there is no time like the present when it comes to experiencing for the first time a band that is new to your ears, or re-experiencing something that you have loved for many a year.

Update: Hope you readers don’t mind me appending this little broadcast post but I just had to do it in order to add in a couple of more releases from The Beatles catalog that were not a part of the initial batch of remasters. I actually remembered owning both the “Red” and the “Blue” albums on vinyl based on my age so seeing them on remastered CD in a newly expanded packaging is awesome tome. The “1” album is only a few years old to my recollection but is a worthy choice as well if you just are seeking a place to start off your collection and appreciation of what they did for modern music and still manage to do some sixty years after their formation.

Official Website: www.thebeatles.com