Tag Archives: Beatles 1

Ltd Ed Beatles Target Singles Box Sets

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I’ve got a feeling that these are set to become quite valuable Beatles collectors items.

Target stores in the USA recently sold an exclusive and official limited edition of four Beatles 45 rpm singles. Each record was packaged along with a Beatles t-shirt in a box. The four vinyl singles are newly-pressed and digitally remastered using the same mastertapes as the 2009 re-issues. This makes these four singles (along with the Record Store Day “Paperback Writer” single released last year) the only vinyl available so far from the recent Abbey Road Studios remasters of the Beatles back-catalogue.

They are “Can’t Buy Me Love/You Can’t Do That“:

“Help!/I’m Down“:

“Hello Goodbye/I Am The Walrus“:

And “Let It Be/You Know My Name Look Up The Number“:

According to sources only 10,000 copies of each single were pressed by Capitol Records – very small numbers by Beatles standards. And only ever sold in Target stores in the United States:

All the vinyl singles have Capitol Records labels, except for “Let It Be” which is on the Apple Records label – just as it would have been back in 1970 when it first came out. The singles look like the original issues except that Sony/ATV is listed as the music publisher. The picture sleeves are in a thicker cardboard than the paper ones that were originally were issued. The contents of each box, deatiling the cover, the labels, and the enclosed t-shirt design are pictured on the rear of each package:

You can see from the packaging that these releases are linked closely to the recent re-issue  of the Beatles “1” CD, which has been released in digitally remastered form. Hence the familiar red and yellow theme and the prominent “1” logos on each box.

What do you think? Valuable collectors item of the future?

See also Steve Marinucci’s Beatles Examiner and the Beatles Target Ltd Release Singles Part 2.

The Beatles “1” – Remastered 2011

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It was released today (Friday, September 2) in Australia:

This is the re-issue, in newly remastered form, of “The Beatles 1” compilation which first came out in the year 2000. As the sticker on the front cover says: “27 Classic Number 1 Singles – Remastered”. Here’s the rear cover:

These are the remasters done at the same time as the big release of all the albums back in 2009. It comes in a cardboard gatefold sleeve that’s in the same format as all the 2009 re-issues.

Below is the front cover of the booklet, which despite some speculation that it would be different, has exactly the same 30 pages and layout as the 2000 issue:

Each page is dedicated to a particular song and gives the recording place and date, chart information and full colour photographs of various record sleeves of that single from around the world.  Even the CD printing is the same as the 2000 issue:

(click on images to see a large version)

A bit disappointing really….

It comes out on September 13 in the US, on September 5 in the UK, and is also expected on iTunes as a digital download on September 6th.

See also:  The Beatles Number 1 Vinyl  and  The Beatles Number 1 – Taiwan Variation  and  Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

The Beatles official site has this promotional video for “1” now on the front page:

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

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I was reading my local newspaper. In this week’s TV section there is an advertisement for a big, new box set of CDs. The very famous and influential classical music label Deutsche Grammophon  has been celebrating it’s birthday – 111 years of recording and releasing music –  with a massive series of “best of” discs. The cover of one of them was shown in the TV guide ad.  It looks like this:

Remind you of anything?

You can make up your own mind…..

For additional info on the impressive Beatles “1” vinyl edition click here, and for the Taiwan CD release here.

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery – Part 2 is here.

Beatles Number 1 – Vinyl

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A couple of days ago I wrote about finally getting a CD copy of the 2000 Beatles compilation, The Beatles – Number One. It was a little unusual in that it was the Taiwan CD release and it has some different packaging associated with it.

In that post I mentioned that when this title originally came out in the year 2000 I got the vinyl edition, and that Apple Records had gone to a lot of extra trouble to make it something really special.

As a result it is really quite a collector’s item if you can get hold of a copy. Here are a couple of pics of my copy of the vinyl Beatles – Number One:

Beatles 1 - front cover

Beatles 1 - rear cover

Because this is a two-record set, the cover is a gate-fold. Here’s how it looks when opened up:

Beatles 1 - gate-fold open

This is the custom record label on each disc:

Beatles 1 - vinyl label

Beatles 1 - vinyl record label

The inserts inside are extensive.

Firstly, there are four individual photos. One of John Lennon, one of Paul McCartney, one of Ringo Starr and one of George Harrison. While these ones are psychedelic in style, the idea is clearly reminiscent of the four photographs that came with the original vinyl editions of the Beatles “White Album”:

Beatles 1 - the four individual photos

Each LP is protected by a cardboard inner sleeve. These are also highly produced with unique artwork, photographs and information:

Beatles 1 - inner sleeve one (front)

Beatles 1 - inner sleeve one (rear)

Each inner sleeve contains photo images of Beatles singles released around the world:

Beatles 1 - inner sleeve two (front)

Beatles 1 - inner sleeve two (rear)

Finally, the set contains a big, fold-out poster of Beatles picture covers from around the world showing different singles releases:

Beatles 1 - large poster

Nice work Apple.

The Beatles Number 1’s – Taiwan Variation

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When the compilation The Beatles Number 1 (27 No. 1 Singles) was first released back in the year 2000 I was a purist and was only interested in any Beatles re-issues that came out on vinyl. That was my focus as a collector.

As the years have gone by I’ve realised that, while I’ll still collect any vinyl re-issues that come out, CDs are after all much more convenient to play – and they often have some variations to the vinyl which are interesting.

While I’ve had the original vinyl of The Beatles Number 1 for years (the packaging of which is AWESOME -more on this soon), there were some CD editions of it that were always of interest. Among these was the Taiwan edition featured here. I recently spied one in excellent condition and going for a very good price on Ebay – and it arrived this week.

Beatles 1 - Taiwan outer slipcase

As you can see – it has a special outer cardboard slip case that clearly proclaims it is from an Asian country – in this case, Taiwan. The unique packaging doesn’t stop there. The pack also contains an additional 36 page booklet (in Chinese) with what looks like a long essay on the Beatles, a wealth of information on each individual track, photographs of the Beatles and the albums each track is associated with, release dates, etc.

The additional 36-page booklet exclusive to this realease alongside the CD

The pack also contains another special insert – a fold-out sheet with lyrics for every song in both Chinese and English:

The fold out lyric sheet

Interestingly the CD jewel case, booklet (32 pages) and CD seem to be exactly the same as the European release. It has “Printed in the EU” on the back and on the CD, so I guess EMI Taiwan just imported these and put together the rest of the pack themselves….

(clockwise from top left): The custom slipcase, lyric insert, CD and special additional booklet

So, there you have it – the slightly collectable Taiwan edition of The Beatles Number 1.

As mentioned above, the vinyl edition of this release is kind of special. Apple really went to some trouble with the packaging and inserts and I will post some photos and info on this edition soon.

Fab Fourum – a Beatles podcast I download occasionally – recently devoted a whole show to the Beatles Number 1, and you can download it here on iTunes (see Episode 021 called: #1 With “1”).