The Beatles will release their entire catalog in digitally re-mastered and prolonged versions in September, the first time such an effort has been undertaken.
The re-releases were announced by Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music for Sept. 9, which coincides with the worldwide release of “The Beatles: Rock Band” for the Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and Wii video game consoles.
The re-mastered albums, which were produced over a four-year period by a team of engineers at EMI’s Abbey Road Studios in London, will all feature the original UK album art, along with expanded insert booklets featuring new liner notes and rare photos. For a limited time, each CD will also include a short documentary about the album.
The collection contained all of the Beatles albums in stereo, including the band’s first four full-length records, which had previously only been available on compact disc in their original mono versions. Another reissue will combine two archival collections–”Past Masters Vol. I” and “Past Masters Vol. II”–into one volume, simply titled “Past Masters.”
All 14 albums will be made available as a single boxed set, which will also include a DVD featuring all of the mini-documentaries included on the individual discs. A complete list of re-mastered albums is included below.
In addition to the digitally re-mastered CDs in stereo, a second box set, “The Beatles in Mono,” will contain 10 of the band’s albums with their original mono mixes intact. As a bonus, the set’s versions of “Help!” and “Rubber Soul” will also include the original 1965 stereo mixes for each album. The mono box set will also be released Sept. 9.
The Beatles “The Stereo Albums” box set:
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Let It Be
Past Masters
The Beatles “The Beatles in Mono” box set:
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day’s Night
Beatles For Sale
Help! (CD also includes original 1965 stereo mix)
Rubber Soul (CD also include original 1965 stereo mix)
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles
Mono Masters