Entertainment For Lively Minds
Beatles Mono Box set for just £85!!!!!
Posted by Grant on 22 May 2010 - 9:08am.
Just checking my emails and the mono box set is available on Amazon for £85 at DVD's online - they say they have limited stock, but I've ordered one and face it, you can't go that far wrong!
Here's the link! Happy shopping!
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-listing/B002BSHXJA/ref=sr_1_1_olp?ie=UT...
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Good but not quite as good...
as your headline implies. Minus £85! I'll have some of that ;-)
Wow!
One Beatles Mono Box duly ordered. Thanks so much for the tip off!
Apologies for the original heading
almost fell off my chair in excitement and in a flurry of enthusiasm typed in the heading. Don't want to be accused of stating that Amazon were going to pay us for taking the box set off their hands!
You're all in for a treat.
The packaging alone is worth twice the price and the music is of course excellent, with the added bonus of the original stereo mixes of both Help! and Rubber Soul.
Do us a favour and let us know if ever the stereo box turns up cheap, will ya..?
Splendid!
Cheers Grant - been wanting this for ages, but always felt a bit grumbly about the hefty price tag. Have just ordered one - can't wait!
Be careful
Is "DVDs online" a reputable supplier?
There are a large number of poor counterfeit copies around, these are Russian or Chinese made. Use google to find out more.
Here'a a discussion on amazon :
www.amazon.com/Counterfeit-Mono-sets/forum/FxJSILL721YI5V/Tx3JGLXTX09PE6...
If the price seems too good to be true then it might be. I hope none of you who ordered the sets get burnt.
Russian Beatles
bootlegs selling via Amazon ? Eat your heart out William Gibson ...
Thanks
I almost dived in with my credit card.
Presumably though, anyone who has placed an order today using a credit card can get onto their card company and have the transaction cancelled.
I don't think you have the same protection with a debit card.
Dodgy Counterfeits
I'm glad this thread has been posted. I've coveted a mono box for some time but couldn't really afford to shell out around £200 for one.
There have been quite a few on sale on ebay at silly prices but after becoming rather suspicious I thought I'd do a bit of investigative work. It transpires that there a lot of dodgy pirate copies coming in from China and these have been flagged up on Youtube.
I even went to the trouble of emailing one of the sellers who said that he couldn't confirm that what he had for sale was a bona-fide item.
I'd advise caution.
What about stereo?
Tell me, is it worth getting the stereo versions of the early albums (say, up to Beatles For Sale) or is the left speaker/right speaker split still enough to drive a man insane?
'fraid so
The remit was very much just making a perfect master of the original tape and they didn't want to tinker with the stereo mixes at all even though they have a terrible mix with drums in one ear, vocals in another, Bass panned hard to one side, guitar panned over to the other etc.
No use for listening to on your iPod or whatever. The stereo mixes are annoying and unbalanced on headphones, Mono sounds murky and flat if your ears are used to stereo.
No doubt there will be some new Stereo remixes in the future so they can sell us a whole new box set.
Hmmm
Actually the stereo mixes improved throughout, only the early albums have such huge separation. However some audiopholes think that Beatles For Sale is superior in stereo.
The mono mixes to my years are not at all murky and simply a revelation, especially Pepper. I probably prefer the original Parlophone vinyl but these CDs are very special and both mono and stereo are much superior to the original CD issues.
Thanks
I got the mono box set on release and topped up with stereo versions of later albums. I think I'll start working my way backwards until they start to turn me schizophrenic.
Interestly, from my old vinyl, I thought Rubber Soul to be a worse stereo mix than Beatles For Sale and Help, especially the contemporaneous singles. On Anthology 2, Leave My Kitten Alone, originally intended to conclude Beatles For Sale, sounds great. Then, as late as Revolution, B side to Hey Jude, the stereo is frankly disturbing.
Easy, tigger
I love the hard stereo pans on the Beatles recordings. I think it makes them (and a few other contemporaries) sound unique and endearingly batty.
Anyone else agree?
You can certainly get some revealing mono mixes...
...from the harsh channel separation on Beatles recordings - Rain is probably the best (listen to both the left and the right) but both Think For Yourself (original stereo mix) and Revolution are good, also.
Doh!
After Googling around - no sign of 'DVD's (sic) Online' anywhere - and reading the many many comments on Amazon about fake mono boxes, I have cancelled. Not too keen on ending up with a fake set. But nevertheless, thanks to Grant for well-intentioned heads-up and NickW for warning. I guess 85 for a pristine box set is being rather unrealistic!
I'm thinking of doing the same...
how did you cancel? I've never had to do so before...
Er Warning was from me actually
I think canceling is the prudent thing to do.
oops
Sorry Dai, indeed it was. Thanks!
I went to my account page and sent a message to the seller stating I wished to immediately cancel the order. This appears to be the only option available, unless I am missing something - I very rarely use Amazon.
No problem
I actually accidentally bought a counterfeit stereo box set on ebay. I noticed that something was seriously wrong although the quality, in this case, was pretty good. I threatened the seller with exposure and he refunded my money and let me keep the box.
He claimed his supplier had let him down. I had no way of knowing if this was true or not but I gave him the benefit of the doubt.
indeed
I was just enjoying the postmodern element from a safe and cowardly distance ...
Apologies, folks.
Saw the feedback results and thought it was legitimate.
I assumed that since they were selling through Amazon they'd be okay. Was I being naive?
I don't think so.
I pre-ordered mine through Amazon last year - if I'd hung on, I would probably have been tempted by this apparent bargain.
Hmm..
A lady called Diane, from "DVD's Online" has just written to me, very politely asking why I cancelled my order. I wonder how best to respond. Is it acceptable to reply and accuse the very civil-sounding author of this note of possibly - most likely unwittingly - dealing with forged Fab gear? I don't know.
I got the same email...
and I don't know how to respond either.
Would "Sorry luv, but someone gave me a whisper that you might be knocking out bent gear" be OK?
A "friend" ...
... told you that there are some cheap counterfeit boxes around and you are just being careful.
Ask her how they can sell them so cheap and where they get them from ? Apparently you can buy them from China at a rate of 10 for $300.
Check this out too :
He's good that guy...
he should present the Minnesota version of 'Watchdog'.
Obvious innit
the text is printed backwards on the sleeves...
So have I
and I've just explained my reasoning, explaining that if she can promise that the box sets are genuine Apple Corps product, then I'll buy one. I mentioned the Amazon forum, but not this blog.
She might as well know. I've left the door open for her to convince me. They're still up on the Amazon site.
I'll let you know what she says.
It's Sunday afternoon
and I've not had a reply to my email explaining why. I was in HMV Liverpool this afternoon and they've got the box set going for £219 (behind a glass case). They've now sold out at DVD's Online. It'll be interesting to monitor.
I suppose at that price it was too good to be true. Ah well, no harm done and thank you to all of you who gave me and others the heads up. That's why I love this blog - there's always some good advice to be gained.
I went and bought a Death In June t-shirt instead as consolation.
I consoled myself with a copy of...
the Little Feat Hotcakes and Outtakes box set instead.
Buying from DVD's Online on Amazon Marketplace
you are covered by Amazon's AtoZ Guarantee which, as a buyer, is comprehensively coppper bottomed. If the CD's aren't kosher you will have no problem getting you money back.
Quality
Those who have bought legitimate copies of the box sets may wish to compare and contrast with the unauthorised remastering of the same albums by a chap named den0iZer (crazy name, crazy guy!)
These appeared in Bit Torrent land about a year before the EMI box sets. The sound is so good that the remastering could only have come from the original tapes, meanwhile the first four albums are in true stereo. And they sound better than the official versions - sharper, punchier, less cluttered.
Apparently. That's what they say. I wouldn't know. But I did shell out £450 for both box sets when they were released so please don't send me to prison.
Well ...
I've not heard those particular versions but I doubt very much that they came from the original master tapes. Before the official versions were released there were a number of different "remasters" available. Most or all were sourced from "needle drops" of original vinyl and then manipulated digitally. Some of these did indeed sound better than the original 1987 CDs.
As for "sharper and punchier" this seems to be the modern trend towards louder mastering which severely limits the dynamic range of the material. If you want more "punch" then turn up your volume knob.
The official Beatles remasters generally buck this trend and it results in a more rewarding listening experience in my opinion.
But...
They are absolutely and definitely not needle drops. True, there have been countless attempts at remastering The Beatles from high quality vinyl (The Dr Ebberts versions used the MFSL vinyl as source) but ultimately that's what they all sounded like - digitised versions of vinyl records.
Den0iZer's version are not hot mastered as you suspect - a quick look at any of the tracks in Nero Wave Editor confirms this. I have no idea where he gets his material from (well, actually I do) so if bootleg labels Yellow Dog and The Swingin' Pig can gain unlimited access to first generation Beatles tapes, and Mash-Up King Mark Vidler even admits to having the 4 track master of Sergeant Pepper on his hard drive, it's highly possible that Den0iZer was working with master recordings. By all accounts, this stuff is out there and available if one knows where to look. Proof lies in D's stereo versions of the 1st 4 albums - many of the tracks from these albums had never been available in true stereo mixes on CD, not even on The Capitol Years box sets. That is to say, he couldn't have assembled these records from existing CDs.
Best of all was his reissue of Beatles Oldies But Goldies - never officially on CD, nonetheless an essential and well-sequenced collection of the pre-Pepper era. And the first Beatles album that I owned.
If you need proof of the incredible quality of these discs, do a blindfold test on both versions of Abbey Road. The difference is nothing short of astonishing. You'll need to get the Nero .nrg (i.e. totally uncompressed) file versions to get the full effect.
Apparently. I wouldn't know.
Fair enough
I'll look out for these and give them a try. Watch for my review here. I have bought every official Beatles CD ever released (some multiple times)for any watching lawyers
out of interest
how much is a lightly used (on decent hi fi) MFSL Pepper worth ?
Probably about 25 to 30 quid ($40-$50)
Guesstimate
thanks
I'd probably keep it while I retain a turntable but it's interesting to know.
fakes
I purchased this set last week from the seller mentioned in the original post and can confirm that the item is indeed a fake. There are numerous spelling mistakes throughout the booklet, the artwork is kinda blurry and worst of all - THE MUSIC IS CLEARLY STEREO! Furthermore, Help! and Rubber Soul do not come with the 60s stereo mixes.
Thanks for letting us know
and sincere regrets at you having been ripped off, get in touch with Amazon, you should be able to get some form of recompense.
Thought I'd take a punt on this for £1.20
My local library got the box set in for borrowing. So I borrowed it to, you know, listen to it.
Very good value indeed.
Oooh
That's a good idea. I might check with my local library to see if they have it. Never thought of that.
Beatles in mono...
... that's so 2009.