DEAL ALERT: The Beatles U.S. Albums
The exquisitely packaged Beatles US Albums box set, which contains 13 superb Japanese-style vinyl replica ‘mini-LP CDs’ (complete with ‘drawer’ box) is currently fantastically cheap on Amazon UK.
This set was released at the beginning of 2014 to mark the 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ legendary first trip to the USA. It contains all the Beatles albums that were released in the USA with the original running orders, including Meet The Beatles, Something New, Yesterday and Today (complete with ‘Butcher’ sleeve) and Hey Jude.
Apple choose not to stay faithful to the original mixes (instead reverting to the 2009 remastered versions) but each CD here does contain stereo and mono versions.
If you’re quick, you can pick this up for £53, which is officially the lowest price ever on the site and about £4 for each vinyl replica CD. Please note: you have to go to ‘other sellers on Amazon’ to see Amazon UK selling at this price, where it currently reads: “Back-ordered. Due in stock June 8 — order now to reserve yours”
In the US Albums box:
- Discs 1: Meet The Beatles Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: January 20, 1964
- Disc 2: The Beatles’ Second Album Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: April 10, 1964
- Disc 3: A Hard Day’s Night [OST] Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: June 26, 1964
- Disc 4: Something New Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: June 20, 1964
- Disc 5: The Beatles Story Original Release: November 23, 1964
- Disc 6: Beatles ’65 Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: December 15, 1964
- Disc 7: The Early Beatles Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: March 22, 1964
- Disc 8: Beatles VI Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: June 14, 1965
- Disc 9:HELP! [OST] Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: August 13, 1965
- Disc 10: Rubber Soul Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: December 6, 1965
- Disc 11: Yesterday and Today Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: June 20, 1966
- Disc 12: Revolver Mono Mix & Stereo Mix, Original Release: august 8, 1966
- Disc 13: Hey Jude Original Release: February 26, 1970
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25 thoughts on “DEAL ALERT: The Beatles U.S. Albums”
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Well I just bought this set, almost 5 years after its release. However, when trying to remove the discs from the inner plastic sleeve, I noticed with horror almost every disc was lightly stuck to this plastic sleeve. Although removable, the playing surface of all the discs seem to have been ‘corroded’ presumably by some chemicals in the plastic sleeve. Two of the discs are unplayable with a lot of skipping and distortion and other CDs have skipping on one or more tracks. I’m taking my set back to the store and, give the packaging a ZERO for this. Next time, put the CDs in proper trays, ultra slim ones could be used to somewhat replicate the LP sleeves. Very disappointed.
Currently available (20/11/16) from Amazon.de for just over 40 euros :) . http://www.amazon.de/U-S-Albums-13CD-Box-Set-Limited/dp/B00H8XF9I0
I’m going to follow up on my previous post and say that I managed to get a perfect, new set from Amazon.de. This box may be the 2009 remasters but I A/B’d the 2009 Revolver with the new US version and the 3 Revolver tracks on Yesterday and Today. Whatever they did: https://www.cnet.com/news/the-beatles-us-albums-remastered-review-and-overview/ on my equipment, which is adequate, the US versions sound crisper, clearer. Here is a very detailed comparison, including an update at the bottom: http://www.thebeatlesrarity.com/2014/01/21/the-u-s-albums-box-set-a-comparison-with-the-original-capitol-releases/
Has anyone been able to get this box from any seller in New condition, that is, with four square corners and the cd’s not flopping loosely inside?
I’m in the US and just received a box from Amazon.uk in an oversized shipping box, which allowed for a crushed corner. The US seller’s copy looks New but has a UMe (Universal Music) logo on the bottom and must not have the foam strip inside the cd box because you can hear the discs flopping in there.
Utter good sounding junk. Best get the Capitol Vol 1-2 as well as the Dr Ebbetts US collection of the other albums because most of this is the 2009 remasters NOT the original Capitol mixes. Music listeners can get the UK 2009 remasters which are the best releases now, I prefer the mono set because those were the approved versions by the band themselves and sound better anyway, ad least to me. One note, they did throw people a bone here and there with capitol mixes but not really that many.
Lovely packaging on this set but why do record companies insist on having a loose bit of paper on the back of the box with the contents? This is an integral part of any set for me and it seems ridiculous to just have it flapping around where it can get damaged, especially when you can’t slide it into the box itself to try to preserve it because of its size. The same thing happened with the Bowie ‘Five Years’ CD box and others like the Paul McCartney SDE releases and Nirvana are equally guilty.
This Amazon.co.uk offer has now ended. Not only has the price climbed by £4, but the offer (at this new, higher price) is restricted to “Amazon Prime” customers only. Good, then I’m not tempted to buy this very unauthentic revisionist box, which frequently bears little sonic resemblance to the 1960’s Capitol albums. I’ve got the Two “Capitol Albums” boxes, which have the actual U.S.A. mixes for 8 of these albums. As for the “U.S. Albums” box, its most glaring fault is the use of the 1987 remixes for most of the 1965 songs. And the stereo version of “The Beatles Second Album” lacks Capitol’s added reverb.
The 1987 remixes for 1965 songs are now the defacto “official” versions, whatever you may think of that decision. They used them for stereo CD and vinyl box sets, as well as here.
This is a nice set. I picked it up when around the time it came out. Growing up these were the Beatle albums I knew. It seemed odd at the time, but I’ve gotten so accustomed to the original UK releases that these seem foreign now.
I am a 51-year old American. The British albums are the only Beatles I’ve ever known, as my first Beatles purchases were the ’87 CDs. Though totally legit, these seem like bootlegs to me.
I…do…not…need…this….
Yes…you…do…need…this…the…voices…in…your…head…are…telling…you…to…get…it…
Unfortunately the mixes on these are identical to the British versions so if you have them already won’t hear anything new.
The mixes that originally were released in the US back in the 60s have been officially consigned to history. Given these tweaks were never approved by the Beatles themselves nor George Martin (indeed both parties were irked by the sound created, and on top the reshuffled tracklistings), this is probably for the best. It does however mean these releases fail in their purported attempt of recreating those albums.
Nonetheless I do have sympathy for American fans were grew up loving those mixes and are now denied getting official copies on CD.
This was well discussed at the time. Most of these mixes were released officially on CD on the Capitol Album box sets.
Cheers, Paul. I ordered it as soon as I read your email. It’s been on my wish list for some time.
Thanks Paul all the albums are on Spotify but nothing like the physical product in your hand! Cheers
Thanks Paul. I’ve been trying to decide if I really needed this set for a couple of weeks but at this price I couldn’t resist any longer!
Thanks Paul, just grabbed a copy. Great price.
This was not on my wish list by any stretch of the imagination, but I wouldn’t miss it for this price :D
Looks like it’s gone…
Not gone…still there!
Thanks Paul, I was looking at this last week when it was £61, £53 is a no-brainer, yes I have none! The cost has had to come from my Who – Final 7″ singles box fund, any idea when this is due for relelease Paul?
Got it, thanks Paul!
Nice, but still looking for the MONO cd box for acceptable price. Any idea?
Five years ago I put it in my cart on amazon.com (even though I live in France). I had noticed that the price went up and down a lot, so I kept checking from day to day until it reached a reasonnable price. When it hit 150 $ I ordered it. I have never regretted it! This box is so great.
I used the same method for the US box years later and got it for 90 € on amazon.fr. I wanted to have “A Hard Day’s Night” and “Help!” because of the instrumental bits, and “The Beatles Story”; I kept the box to store some other Beatles records, and sold the 10 remaining CDs as second hand for 70 € :D
I think that if you check the price on a daily basis you’ll have a good surprise some day… Putting the box in your cart is a good way to have a message like: “Important messages about items in your Cart” which tells you when there’s a price drop.
Hope this helps :)