If you want a documentary you've got 8 hours worth on 'The Beatles Anthology' DVD.

Surely the important thing is the remastered sound, which should be a lot better seeing as it's 20 years since the first CDs were issued. If the difference really is very noticeable, I'll be buying some of them.

Stereo or mono? Whichever I get, it'll be the wrong one.

the documentaries are a mere distraction. It's the remastering that I want to hear. As for stereo or mono ... it'll have to be both. All of them. I can get by with one kidney.

Get the mono ones then listen to someone else's stereo versions before committing myself.

But I have this pre-ordered at around the £130 mark from Amazon (Stereo for me) which is less per album than these have ever been available for previously (about a tenner a piece). It's been 20 years since they were last released on CD. It most likely sounds better. They're in a nice box, and there's no gun to your head to buy them.

So enlighten me, where's the rip-off here?

are a waste of time, not that bothered with alternative tracks/takes. Just put the album out in a decent sonic form everything else is pointless.
My biggest bugbear art print posts cards! Who really get's excited about some poxy postcards?

believe me i know it's essentially a bargain. I payed £280 for the old skool bread bin in 1998.

I wonder if HMV, Amazon, FOPP etc will be throwing in freebies as they usually do with DVD boxes etc. The recent boxed MILK dvd at HMV was a case in point, it came with a free 65 page book exclusive to the store. You'd have been crazy to buy it elsewhere.

So... yeah.

overpriced! Just had a look on Amazon and their individual cd's are STILL the thick end of a tenner. Ridiculous when you can pick up the Dylan, Mitchell, Young etc classics for under a fiver. And why does the mono box cost 50 quid more than the stereo one? There is absolutely NO reason that this should be the case although I note that Amazon is listing both as imports so my guess is both will be cheaper come September.

or indeed any versions be available for download?

I think that the CD digital mastering exercise, and ever elaborate claims over sound quality, is the biggest scam in the music industry since coloured vinyl and different picture sleeves. Mercifully, by September 9th the Beatles would only have undergone two such 'makeovers'.
Was I the only person who didn't have a clue what was going on with those Stones' re-issues in 2002?
Some were HACD, some were DCD (I think?), some were American, some were British, 'Ruby Tuesday' appeared on about eight different releases on the same day..........I voted with my feet.
Alas, I think I'll be doing the same in September.
Leaving unreleased material out of the equation, by 2009 the Beatles' releases (White Album apart) should, on an 80-minute CD, contain BOTH mono and stereo versions of the album AND the stray 45 sides AND the Christmas flexis.
The logistics of how to do that can be done on the back of a cereal packet in ten minutes flat.
Frankly, any other configuration is a con.
By September 10th, the greatest group ever STILL won't have the representation on the high street that their legacy deserves, unlike The Monkees, The Bee Gees' 60's LP's or The Zombies.
Indeed, the only Beatles CD which will enjoy such a luxury will be the excellent 'Tony Sheridan' double CD put out a couple of years ago.

Beatles fans have been ill served by EMI's CD releases - what follows is a statement from the person behind the Dr. Ebbetts series of Beatle remasters. Dr. Ebbetts Sound Systems sourced the very best quality Beatles records on vinyl and 'released' them to fans. The quality was fantastic.

Anyway, I hope that this isn't too esoteric for here...

DOCTOR EBBETTS CALLS IT QUITS

Dear friends,

There has been considerable buzz surrounding the new Beatles
remasters, due for release in September. There should be. We have all been waiting for this day, and it is about to arrive - finally! Thanks to a long-time supporter and friend to this project, I have had the opportunity to hear genuine samples of the new remasters due out in two months.

They are good.

Very good.

Those of you who will be buying them - and those of you who have already preordered - will not be disappointed.

In fact, I will venture to guess than many of you will be more than pleasantly surprised at how good they sound.

And with what promises to be outstanding packaging all around, it will be a collector's nirvana.

From the outset of the Dr. Ebbetts Sound Systems project, I swore that once EMI did the right thing and released remasters to be proud of, I would not continue doing what I was doing. After all, the only reason I did this was because Apple/EMI/Capitol would not - and because I so very
much love the Beatles.

While my love for the band has not changed, everything else has.

EMI/Capitol began their release of the American LPs on compact disc a few years ago, and now EMI has tackled the British catalogue in fullest detail.

It's what we all wanted. As Beatles fans, it's what we've prayed for.

To that end - and with the heaviest of hearts - effective immediately, Dr. Ebbetts Sound Systems will cease operations.

Many of you will recall that the entire purpose of the Dr. Ebbetts project was to make available to the public the best sounding versions of the Beatles' original LP releases - with emphasis on the American and British catalogues. Believe me, it wasn't a hard thing to do considering the substandard quality of the original CD catalogue from 1987 onward.

The fact of the matter is, the Dr. Ebbetts material does not - and will not - sound better than what is coming commercially in September. People I trust agree with me. The remasters sound remarkably well balanced, with solid, punchy bass, smooth mids and not-to-harsh, yet crisp highs. In comparison, many of the Ebbetts masters fall short - weaker bass, dimished mids, and often too-bright highs.

It's a given that the remasters will not please everyone, but they will be good enough to make the Ebbetts catalogue solidly inferior.

The artwork and packaging of the EMI material will prove to make current Dr. Ebbetts releases look like Xerox machine fodder.

It pains me, seeing as I have invested so much time in this thing, but I humbly and officially put this nearly-fourteen year project to bed.

I have outlived my usefulness in this hobby.

I know there are many who will ask why I just don't continue releasing titles that are NOT being put out by Apple/EMI - foreign releases, rare pressings, etc..

My reasons are complicated, but they are what they are. In short, if the Dr. Ebbetts BLUE BOX set is not the definitive sounding version of the original UK stereo LPs, then why issue them at all?

Many will remember the original BEAT CDs of the 1990s that presented the Beatles US LPs sourced from cassettes. I surely do. They became immediately obsolete with the advent of Dr. Ebbetts. No one bought those BEAT CDs anymore when I came along. Why would they? At the time, my material was far superior.

The Ebbetts BLUE BOX series was only issued because Apple/EMI's versions were substantially inferior to anything I - or any number of needledroppers - were putting out. The Ebbetts BLUE BOX set is at THE HEART of the Dr. Ebbetts Sound Systems collection, in my estimation. If that set is now inferior to the commercial release, then it has no business existing. Suffice to say, I would not release the BLUE BOX set today if new remasters were already commercially available.

I would have no need.

And if my CORE SET is inferior, I don't wish to have the rest of the catalogue branded as such either.

Therefore, it is time to put it all on the shelf.

But now it is time to make way for the "big boys."

Please be sure to secure your copies of the remasters. I guarantee they will replace your Dr. Ebbetts CDs in your rotations and playlists - as they should. Display them proudly and let people know who the greatest
band of all time is.

Remember, quoting my project motto from all those years ago, it is ONLY about the music.

That is why I do what I do today.

Now go put your hard-earned money to good use!

God Bless.

1. The average Joe on the street isn't an audiophile. They account for 0.001 of the population.
2. It doesn't explain (apart from the obvious answer....greed) why a tight, all-encompassing, comprehensive re-issue programme of 12 releases that would actually include much more material and be far more user-friendly to the punter has to, like the Stones' re-issues in 2002, mutate into a 25 release schedule with 11 of those available only in a box set.

My suspicion is that many people who would like to buy the set will instead dabble, either only buying their favourite albums or those that they don't already have on CD (in my case, 'Beatles For Sale').

the whats the new mary jane hitmakers

well i laughed.