Beatles Monophonic 1964 U.S. Albums Box Set Coming Cut AAA

also available individually (good idea!)

‘The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono’ Spotlights Seven Albums

Released in America Between January 1964 & March 1965;

180-gram Vinyl LPs Analog Cut from the Original Mono Masters

London - September 12, 2024 – Originally compiled for U.S. release between January 1964 and March 1965 by Capitol Records and United Artists, seven Beatles albums have been analog cut for 180-gram audiophile vinyl from their original mono master tapes for global release on November 22 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe. Out of print on vinyl since 1995, the seven mono albums are available now for preorder in a new eight-LP box set titled The Beatles: 1964 U.S. Albums In Mono, with six of the titles also available individually.

All seven albums – Meet The Beatles!; The Beatles’ Second Album; A Hard Day’s Night (Original Motion Picture Sound Track); Something New; The Beatles’ Story(2LP); Beatles ’65; and The Early Beatles – feature faithfully replicated artwork and new four-panel inserts with essays written by American Beatles historian and author Bruce Spizer. The albums’ new vinyl lacquers were cut by Kevin Reeves at Nashville’s East Iris Studios. The box set collects the seven albums, and all except The Beatles’ Story are also available individually.

Comments

2024-09-12 01:50:32 PM

miguelito wrote:

I so want this!
- 2024-09-12 02:21:32 PM
  
  PeterG wrote:
  
  Yes, completely irrational, but I want it too.
  
  I was spinning Rubber Soul mono a short while ago, and again reminded that the original Beatles sound is starkly different than our recent allotments. There is no substitute
  - 2024-09-12 02:37:34 PM
    
    miguelito wrote:
    
    It is quite amazing how different the mix (obviously) but also the tonal balance is in the mono versions (I have the CDs).
    - 2024-09-12 02:56:55 PM
      
      bwb wrote:
      
      and it appears this mix is different than the last mono set so I think I'll wait until some more info comes out. Hopefully this won't sell out and jump in price like the last set
      
      https://www.beatlesbible.com/2024/09/12/beatles-1964-us-albums-in-mono-vinyl-box-set/
      
      "A 13-CD box set, The US Albums, was released in 2014. It contained the same tracklisting as on the original albums, but used the standard EMI mixes. The new reissues will feature the original 1960s Capitol mixes available in North America."
    - 2024-09-12 05:49:31 PM
      
      Michael Fremer wrote:
      
      These will be the American tapes, meaning they were "Don Dexterized". He was the American producer who took the raw materials sent from the U.K. and "Americanized" them. They will sound very different from what you have!
2024-09-12 01:53:17 PM

miguelito wrote:

Can you please point me to where I can preorder this? Thx.
- 2024-09-12 02:14:25 PM
  
  bwb wrote:
  
  https://www.thebeatles.com/beatles-1964-us-albums-mono
  
  the question now is ... how do these compare to the uber expensive, out of print box released a few years ago ? I know this et doesn't have as many titles but hopefully they will follow
  - 2024-09-12 02:35:25 PM
    
    miguelito wrote:
    
    Thank you for the link. Interesting question, but honestly, the original mono vinyl set is so outrageously priced that that is a non-issue for me. And I have listened to a friend's and I don't think I was blown away by the quality (but that was a while back).
  - 2024-09-12 04:49:52 PM
    
    Norman Maslov wrote:
    
    Didn’t mixes and completly different album configurations. Not what the Beatles intended but what all the people in North America heard that first year
    - 2024-09-16 11:02:21 PM
      
      Michael Fremer wrote:
      
      Not just that first year Norman. Most Americans knew nothing about British records until the 1970s. Maybe you and I and a few others did but most didn't.
2024-09-12 03:06:19 PM

Josquin des Prez wrote:

Cut by Keven Reeves? No thanks...pass.

Oh, we didn't really want any dynamic range on these anyway. I like playing records that sound "just like the original! But played at low SPLs in the next room with the door closed."
2024-09-12 04:07:23 PM

Spin The Black Circle wrote:

Nope! Kevin Reeves is a disaster!
- 2024-09-12 05:59:18 PM
  
  Scott Coleman wrote:
  
  I would need to see positive reviews of this. His work on the Verve By Request releases has been disappointing. I played Art Deco last night and got angry all over again. Granted, I am not sure on the Verve series what he is getting to work with, but still,
2024-09-12 04:46:54 PM

Norman Maslov wrote:

These should be the Capitol Dexterization added reverb mixes. It seems they are. When Capitol issues their US Capitol CD box a few years ago they used the uk mixes which didn’t make sense for the concept. If this is the guy who cut last year’s Jellyfish reissues, I’d be a bit cautious.
- 2024-09-12 05:48:10 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  I too am concerned. I published this press release in a rush to get to the gym and need to append it because clearly some readers are confused about what this is, never mind the KR caution!
- 2024-09-16 10:58:43 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  These are the Dexterized tapes, no "seems". The US Capitol CD box used the UK mixes. My friend Steve Berkowitz, who also did the mono AAA UK tapes box told me the Capitol tapes were just too far sonically deteriorated so these will be interesting. I'm most concerned about Kevin Reeves's cuts. I wonder if his variable pitch computer is working.
2024-09-12 08:02:14 PM

Azmoon wrote:

Not interested in buying these. The "original" tapes are at least one generation, probably 2, from the actual masters. EMI sent Capitol a tape and Dexter did his thing, which is many cases is an abomination. The $299 price for the box set is crazy. You can order the individual LPs for $30 each. Or pay $120 more for a box.
2024-09-12 09:45:16 PM

Thomas Ream wrote:

This is funny.....cynically, as long as we buy, they will keep pushing new, different and maybe better reissues onto us....like many, I own the mono box, the stereo box (poorer sound), the boxes of reissues, all of which follow the UK releases. But those of us in the US received their Beatles in this way (the first one I owned was the so-called "Beatles Second Album"), and there is some, not small, nostalgia value here.... I also, to this today, hold that the US release of "Rubber Soul" is superior to the UK, kicking things off on side 1 with "I've Just Seen a Face" and side 2 with "It's Only Love" which fit Rubber Soul in a way that I don't feel songs like "Drive My Car" and "What Goes On" do....but Rubber Soul isn't part of this one. Maybe our next box will be Rubber Soul, with the UK and US versions included! I keep my purple label US Rubber Soul, despite its tacky dual mono sound, when I want to hear the Rubber Soul I grew up with.
- 2024-09-16 11:01:08 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  I wholly concur with your comment re: "Rubber Soul" track list and also this is how American kids heard The Beatles. For most the band had broken up before most Americans knew anything about the British original albums.
2024-09-13 01:02:04 AM

Steve wrote:

I will wait for Mikey's review until I buy. I've always heard the Capitol tapes were inferior to the Parlophone originals.
2024-09-13 02:40:39 AM

DAVID CLAPP wrote:

It must be pointed out these 'American' versions of the Beatles LP's are a complete abomination of the bands original intent. I thought it was agreed upon decades ago that the original British versions (mono and stereo) of their LP's would be released worldwide and these greedy 'money grab' bastardized versions would be forever discontinued, relegated to the dustbin of history where they belong...

Not only is the content butchered, songs missing usually 11 per record, instead of the 14 on the original British releases), but the mixes were screwed (reverb and other atrocities) with...
- 2024-09-13 05:20:05 AM
  
  HiFiMark wrote:
  
  Fair points David, but let's face it - this is not an audiophile play or an appreciate-the-art play. This is a nostalgia play for those of us who grew up in the 50's and 60's in the US and, in theory, have the money to relive the nostalgia, including the AM radio and portable mono record player sound quality.
  
  The other play I suspect is for the well healed young hipster, new to vinyl, who wants to get into the coolest band ever and what better way than a shiny, slick, and colorful box set. The British mono box is all but unobtanium now...
  
  In the end, it's just fun. Whether or not it's worth the shekels to each record buyer for said fun is the question...
2024-09-13 10:42:39 PM

AnalogJ wrote:

I have an original of AHDN I got when I was a kid. Beat to death, of course. I hope they do Help! I like the soundtrack album. Less so, but worth having is AHDN.

But keep in mind that the Capitol tapes were not only made from copies of the original matters masters, but Capitol sonically futzed with them. For me, more of an interesting collectible than the optimal way of listening to the songs.
- 2024-09-13 10:44:42 PM
  
  AnalogJ wrote:
  
  Original masters (not matters masters)
2024-09-14 03:22:45 AM

Silk Dome Mid wrote:

They've emptied my wallet for the last time. The music is great, but I've been Beatled to death.
2024-09-14 07:56:32 PM

Stephen Aldrich wrote:

Maybe I'm missing it, but not finding any reference in the release to these being the Dexterized mixes/masters. Are we assuming this, or is there confirmation? I've had a boot CD set for ages of the Dexterized albums, taken from an unplayed set of 7.5" open reel Capitol tapes that sound great, assuming you like the sound of this to begin with. And this is the point here, while there is a target market for these as a whole, the Dexter sound is likely to limit the appeal of this release to many.
- 2024-09-16 11:06:31 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  It is definitely the Dexterized tapes and they have great appeal IMO to Americans who grew up listening to those thinking that's how The Beatles records sounded and never knew about the better sounding but far more polite U.K. originals.
2024-09-14 07:56:34 PM

Stephen Aldrich wrote:

Maybe I'm missing it, but not finding any reference in the release to these being the Dexterized mixes/masters. Are we assuming this, or is there confirmation? I've had a boot CD set for ages of the Dexterized albums, taken from an unplayed set of 7.5" open reel Capitol tapes that sound great, assuming you like the sound of this to begin with. And this is the point here, while there is a target market for these as a whole, the Dexter sound is likely to limit the appeal of this release to many.
2024-09-15 01:34:57 PM

Al in New York wrote:

I DON'T BELIEVE THEM when they say these are cut from the original tapes. The original Dexter tapes that are 60 years old and probably shedding.

This will eventually be like the Mobile Fidelity scandal, where we find out that it was "cut" from a 1990s digital transfer of the "original" tapes.
- 2024-09-16 11:14:22 PM
  
  Michael Fremer wrote:
  
  Many original 60 year old tapes play fine. It depends on the tape formulation. The U.K. Beatles mono tapes were in fine shape and that box demonstrates it. I believe you inaccurately state the Mo-Fi Beatles box 'scandal'. While there is no proof of a digital intervention, I've been told that Mo-Fi had the tapes for a finite time period and cut lacquers from tape. The tapes were hand carried from the U.K. I've heard that story from people who were there and knew for sure. When the demand for boxes surpassed Mo-Fi's ability to press from parts they'd made, they are rumored to have used a Sony F-1 backup to cut more lacquers. But that's just a rumor
- 2024-09-17 06:29:46 AM
  
  Doron wrote:
  
  My understanding is that all the mfsl box were sourced from the original master tapes with the exception of MMT . But it’s interesting to note ! That’s the single mfsl records and the box set were mastered but two different people .
2024-09-16 06:14:28 PM

rl1856 wrote:

$300 for this box. How much for mint capital mono LPs ? Wonder if they will do a series of these boxes; a mono '65-'66 box followed by a '67-'70 box. The later would likely be a mix of mono and stereo. The UK Mono Box is now very expensive and in some cases mono YB Parlophone pressings may be cheaper. As for me, I have the mono box a BC13 box and several purple label US Capitals. I may consider the C(r)apital Mono Box.