It's been all over the media that the entire Beatles catalog was digitally remastered from the original analog tapes. The release of the 13 recordings last week was a global event, tied to the release of The Beatles: Rock Band. I was in line early and got the boxed set of all the albums plus a DVD of short documentaries for each album. I must admit that I avoided work most of the day to immerse myself in listening to the fresh sounds and reading the extensive liner notes for each CD. There are the original liner notes, recording notes from the engineers, George Martin notes on the studios, musicians - lots of inside information about how The Beatles made this great music. The remastering brings out instruments that were buried in the initial CD releases in 1987 - especially evident in the White album (The Beatles), Revolver, and Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. One aspect I really liked about the new releases it that they are the British releases - ignoring the old Capital Records mashups from the early years. The Beatles had a policy of not releasing any singles off an album after it was released so there were 33 songs that never made it on British albums. These are all package on the two CD package Past Masters which also is brightened up with the remastering. The majority of their songs were mixed in mono and stereo until the Abbey Road and Let It Be - I got the all stereo mix but there is also an all mono boxed set availalbe for you die hard mono junkies.
Bottom line is that The Beatles created a musical legacy that evolved rapidly over the 7 years that they recorded together. Listening the the music in the new remastering format should let everyone see - once again - how The Beatles changed music for our generation and generations to come.
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