The Capitol Albums Vol. 2 [Box set, Original recording remastered]

The good news is that for American Beatles fans we get the albums the way they were originally released in the U.S. The sound is extremely good considering the age of these mastertapes. The gems here are "The Early Beatles", "Beatles VI" and"Rubber Soul". "Rubber Soul" was altered as well but Capitol curiously chose to remove 4 songs and replace two of these with acoustic tracks from "Help!" creating a much more folk-rock sounding album when compared to their British masterpiece. Each one has its merits incidently this one does have the false intro for "I'm Looking Through You" that was on the original stereo issue.

(Please note: The first pressing doesn't feature the original mono mixes (nor does "Beatles VI" although "The Early Beatles" and "Help!" do) but the stereo master remixed for mono. Capitol corrected the problem with a second pressing. You can tell if you have the first or second edition because the false start for "I'm Looking Through you" on "Rubber Soul" is on the mono mix first edition and it shouldn't have been since the false start was a unique feature to the stereo mix in the U.S.)

"Beatles VI" actually came out before "Rubber Soul" and featured tracks from "Help!", the earlier "Beatles For Sale" and single tracks such as the gorgeous B-Side "Yes It Is". The stereo tracks sound extremely good. "Help" has some terrific songs on it but the American release was always weaker than the British although I have always liked the James Bondish intro to the title song that wasn't ever on the original British release. For those purists that want Ken Thorne's score it makes its CD debut here alternating with the album tracks as on the original album release. Unfortunately Capitol elected (according to Bruce Spizer)not to recreate the gatefold jacket due to time constraints--that's too bad as it was a nice feature of the original packaging.

"The Early Beatles" features the oldest songs from their catalog--it's actually a reduced version of their first album "Please Please Me" featuring many of the tracks from the Vee Jay release. The stereo tracks sound great although keep in mind that they have that odd mix with instruments primarily in one speaker and/or vocals that George Martin elected to use early on (it was in case someone listened to a stereo LP on a mono player so it would create a fairly natural sounding "fold down" to mono). The stereo imaging is similar to the original release on vinyl from what I can tell.

The box this set comes in isn't all that great. The long box features a box that folds over to house the CD cardboard holders. Two complaints here 1) The packaging still looks cheap even though it's been improved and 2) the cardboard holders should have had plastic sleeves to hold the CDs in so they don't get scratched up. The reproduction of the album graphics are closer to the original ones although, again, they've been modified for the CDs. The pictures are much cleaner and clearer looking.

The booklet is great with rare (and not so rare) photos quotes from the band and a brief essay by Bruce Spizer who has written a number of books on the band's U.S. releases. Again I would have liked to see sturdier packaging but this does improve slightly on the previous packaging. Evidently the first set didn't set the world on fire like Capitol had hoped selling only a million units so I was surprised to see Capitol move forward with this release. Hopefully they'll release the last set and include "Yesterday and Today", "Hey Jude" (aka "The Beatles Again").

I just got off the phone with the vice president of sales for Capitol Records, and he said to call the 800-468-2362 number to exchange your set for the correct one. He told me that they will send you a prepaid envelope to put your set in, and then they will send you a new one. Amazingly, he said that the Capitol people AND the Apple people didn't notice the mistake, and it took some techincal people to realize what had happened!

And if you want to find the CORRECT version in the store, here's how- there won't be any sticker saying which on is which, but if you look on the regular sticker that is on it, look AFTER the catolog # and look for 'SK1'. THAT is the correct version!!!! Will probably be a few weeks before they make their way into most stores, but if you want to keep the screwed up one, go for it and then get the correct one.

He also told me that within the next year they plan on releasing 'The Travleing Wilburys' albums- FINALLY! V.3 of The Wilburys also is supposed to have a DVD with it too. AND (like Mazzy was saying) within the next year they also plan on reissuing the complete Beatles catalog in newly remastered discs with 5.1 stereo. He also says that new pics and other info for many of the albums has been discovered and will be included with the new reissues, especially since next year is the 40th anniversary of 'Sgt Peppers'. So it looks like there will be a LOT to look forward to from Capitol.

As far as a Volume 3, he says it's up to the Apple people to decide when it will be done. I asked about the deal with 'A Hard Day's Night' since it was released through United Artists and he said he didn't know whether it would be part of any of the sets or not. There's been some sort of legal battle over it and other material (like some of the video footage from 'Let It Be) in Denmark. So we'll have to wait and see (and I bet they'll be a LOT more careful on future ones!!)

Well,ever-eager to have the latest Beatles product,I rushed out to a local shopping mall record store that had an unbelievably low price on the set,though I was concerned that I might get one of the defective sets,with the wrong mixes for the mono renditions of "Beatles VI" and "Rubber Soul",so,as soon as I got home,I immediately cued up the mono version of "I'm looking Through You",and it had the false start.MY HEART SANK.I got the defective pressing(the false start is only supposed to be on the stereo mix).As of the date of my writing this,Capitol still had yet to announce how we can get the corrected "Rubber Soul" & "Beatles VI" discs.I didn't listen to the rest of the set,because I was so brought down that Capitol was so careless.They can't be trusted to properly present The Beatles music any more today than in the 1960's.Really,what I would have prefered would have been a proper remaster of the original British albums(mono,stereo & perhaps surround) on SACD.Presenting the music from Capitol's 3rd generation tapes was a dubious idea to begin with(though I did like "The Capitol Albums Vol.1",and the set achieved what it set out to do).Capitol should have postponed the release of Vol.2,instead of disappointing me and thousands of others by shipping a half-baked(partly defective) turkey.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 143 reviews  4.1 out of 5 stars