The Beatles - Past Masters

The Beatles Past Masters Volumes One and Two on 180-gram double LP

Cut at Abbey Road Studios using non-limited 24-bit digital masters sourced from the original analog master tapes!

"Love Me Do" (Original Single Version), "She Loves You," "I'll Get You," and "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number" Presented in Mono

Pressed on 180-gram vinyl; the Beatles' Past Masters albums make their North American LP debut in stereo

Optimum audiophile-quality sound from a first-rate team of producers and engineers

Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time - "Rain" - Rated 469/500!

For years the most anticipated vinyl reissues have been from the one, the only Beatles catalog. Finally, after a delay due to the meticulousness of the remastering process and assorted other hurdles, that day has come. The Beatles catalog is getting the audiophile treatment! 180-gram vinyl pressings cut at Abbey Road Studios using the non-limited 24-bit digital masters sourced from the original master tapes!

These titles update the Beatles classic albums, which have continued to sell strongly and attract new generations of fans long after the quartet disbanded in 1970. For this reissue, individual titles were sourced from the original master tapes. Then each title was copied into 24-bit/44.1 kHz files and cut to lacquer at Abbey Road Studios. It was a painstaking process with maximum attention paid to every detail.

The Beatles were so prolific during their decade-long reign, full-length albums couldn't contain all their music. In England, the Fab Four often released singles that never appeared on their British albums. Some of the quartet's best-known material saw the light of day on EPs and 45s. We're talking internationally recognized songs ranging from "I'm Down" to "Across the Universe." These non-LP tracks are wondrously and seamlessly assembled on Past Masters. Once two separate releases, the anthologies are combined here on a double album for the enjoyment of fans everywhere.

For its Beatles' Stereo Albums series on LP, Capitol/Apple turned to a crack team of engineers to remaster the entire studio catalog from the original sources. The team, including Guy Massey, Steve Rooke and Sam Okell with Paul Hicks and Sean Magee undertook a four-year restoration process for the LP versions, combining state-of-the-art equipment, vintage studio gear and rigorous testing to meet the highest fidelity standards and produce authentic unsurpassed sound rivaling the original LPs. There is no longer any need to pay hundreds of dollars for Japanese pressings!

Savor the rising harmonies on early classics such as "She Loves You" and "From Me To You," and witness the edginess and palpable electricity flowing through raw, rock n' roll numbers "Long Tall Sally" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand." The second half of the collection, beginning in 1965, spotlights equally influential, timeless singles like the grandly distorted "Revolution" and poignant "Across the Universe." Listening to the set in order also functions as a microcosm of the band's evolution in the studio as, for the first time in analog, distinctions pertaining to equipment, recording techniques, and studio ambience can now fully be detected.

Extensive testing was done before engineers copied the analog master tapes into digital files using 24-bit/192 kHz resolution and a Prism A-D converter. Dust build-ups were removed from tape machine heads after the completion of each title. Artifacts such as electrical clicks, microphone vocal pops, excessive sibilance and poor edits were improved upon as long as they were judged not to damage the integrity of the songs. The 24/192 transfers were done to produce an archival copy of the tapes and then those files were reduced to 24/44.1 kHz files for final mastering. De-noising technology was applied in only a few necessary spots and on a sum total of less than five of the entire 525 minutes of Beatles music. 

The digital files were cut to lacquers at Abbey Road Studios. Engineer Sean Magee cut the LPs in chronological release order. He used the original 24-bit remasters rather than the 16-bit versions that were required for CD production. It was decided to use the remasters that had not undergone "limiting," a procedure to increase the sound level.

Steps to eliminate vocal distortions and inner-groove distortions were addressed using a digital workstation. The latter can affect high-middle frequencies, producing a "mushy" sound noticeable on vocals. Using what Magee has described as "surgical EQ," problem frequencies were identified and reduced in level to compensate for this.

Lastly, the first batches of test pressings made from the master lacquers that had been sent to two pressing plants were judged. Records with any noise or click appearing on more than one test pressing in the same place were rejected, on the grounds that undesired sound had been introduced either during the cutting or pressing stage. The remasters have the absolute best sound quality, producing the quietest vinyl lacquers.

For producer Rick Rubin, The Beatles' recorded achievements are akin to a miracle. The most popular bands in the world today typically produce an album every four years, Rubin told a 2009 radio audience. That's two albums as an eight-year cycle. "And think of the growth or change between those two albums. The idea that The Beatles made thirteen albums in seven years and went through that arc of change ... it can't be done. Truthfully, I think of it as proof of God, because it's beyond man's ability."

Side 1

Love Me Do

From Me To You

Thank You Girl

She Loves You

I'll Get You

I Want To Hold Your Hand

This Boy

Kom, Gib Mir Deine Hand

Sie Liebt Dich

Side 2

Long Tall Sally

I Call Your Name

Slow Down

Matchbox

I Feel Fine

She's A Woman

Bad Boy

Yes It Is

I'm Down

Side 3

Day Tripper

We Can Work It Out

Paperback Writer

Rain

Lady Madonna

The Inner Light

Revolution

Side 4

Get Back

Don't Let Me Down

The Ballad Of John and Yoko

Old Brown Shoe

Across The Universe

Let It Be

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Customer Reviews (2.33 Stars) 3 person(s) rated this product.

So What? posted on 03/29/2013 4 Stars Reviewer: RB I gave this 4 stars because I love the music but the sound of this LP is not that great. After listening to several recent "new and improved masters" from the Beatles catalouge I have decided they missed the mark. How hard would it be to re-issue vinyl from the original analog masters? Instead we have to listen to vinyl mastered from the new digital masters. Oh well, such is progress.

Did Anyone do a Sound Check? posted on 02/18/2013 1 Stars Reviewer: Matt S. I'm not a professional reviewer and I don't generally do reviews, but with this album, I thought I had to. After hearing all the hype about EMI's Beatles re-issue project, I was excited to "re-fresh" my collection of this band. The few reviews out there were not favourable, but I thought I would still give one album in the re-issue a try. The vocals on side 1, track 2 are so poorly mixed they are recorded low, sound hollow and have an echo presence as if they are in distant background. Ok, maybe one song, but on Side 1, it was 5 tracks. The following all sound the same: Side 1, tracks 2, 3, 7, 8, 9; Side 3, track 4 is medium volume; side 4, tracks 1, 2 and 8. Side 4, track 1 was always low, but this is still not good. I don't care how nice the packaging is, I'm returning the album and not going to chance any others in the collection. I'll being very cautious with any EMI release in the future. It's a shame what they have done to the music of this classic band.

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