Customer Reviews

The Capitol Albums Vol. 1

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nice to finally have these songs with decent sound quality. I've skimmed through the albums and I definitely prefer the mono versions. The stereo versions all have tons of reverb and the instruments and vocals are hard panned to the sides. It's like listening from the top seat of an empty basketball arena, with the band on opposite ends of the building. This is not what really bothers me though. The packaging is what really bothers me.

They put the discs in cardboard replicas of the the vinyl covers. THESE THINGS SCRATCH CDS!!!!!! My Pearl Jam - Vitalogy, No Code, Tragically Hip - Trouble at the Henhouse, Rurouni Kenshin box sets, all scratched like crazy because of the stupid cardboard cases. Now I buy slim cases and leave them in those instead. A couple of these discs even got scuffed when I took them out to put them in the slim cases. Please, I'm begging you, no more cardboard cases!

The greatest attraction of this set, that which creates the biggest emotional response, is the packaging.
Each CD comes in it's own little album jacket. Exact. It's like handling miniatures of what you got in 1964 at K-Mart or Kresge's or wherever you bought your Beatles records.
The stereo sound is pristine.
And the mono mixes are wonderful AM radio renditions.

This is set is trading on nostalgia--for Americans. The Beatles had their first release in N. America with the Canadian Beatlemania. For the first few albums the order in which they were released, the contents of the albums, even the titles, varied considerably. So, it is only marginally connected to the past of a Canadian who was a teenager in 1963.

By volume 2 things are in synch.

I love these CD's. As a youngster I bought the albums and wore them out, then I bought the re-issues and wore them out. All the music is great. It is nice to hear the stereo versions (although I think the mono is better).
I do think the packaging is second rate on this compilation. For the amount of money you pay, you should get something better than flimsy little replicas of the original album covers for the cds. These are stored in a cheap folding holder and then into a cardboard outer sleeve. The enclosed booklet is fine with some great quotes and pictures.
If not for the cheapy packaging, this would be a 5 star for sure.