NewsPICTURES: George Harrison / The Apple Years box 1968-1975
Although we reviewed the George Harrison Apple Years 1968-75 box set earlier this month, at that point we didn’t have the opportunity to show you an SDE photo gallery of the box.
We are pleased to correct this now and below you will find an extensive collection of images from the box itself to the hardback book and each individual album (with images of inner sleeves, gatefold artwork and booklets).
The box itself is very impressive. It’s a high quality design, spot varnished and features an ingenious ‘foldaway’ lid that tucks in behind the discs which are secured by slots in the felt housing.
The book, although small, is again really nicely done with gloss varnished photos that look stunning. While the vinyl replica packaging isn’t quite as obsessive as the Japanese issues that many of you will be familiar with, these are still very good with all discs coming in inner sleeves that boast period artwork and Kevin Howlett writes some typically impressive notes in the booklets.
The Apple Years 1968-1975 is out now. Photo gallery below.
Apple Years Box
- • UK Order: The Apple Years
- • USA Order: The Apple Years
- • CANADA Order: The Apple Years Box Set
- • GERMANY Order: The Apple Years
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13 thoughts on “PICTURES: George Harrison / The Apple Years box 1968-1975”
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I know I can order this on Amazon, but frankly, a box set needs to be inspected and, you know, held in my hands. I’ve been to several HMVs and good independents around the Midlands and no-one has got one or knows if/when they’ll have one in. Has anyone seen a copy in a shop?
Whilst I’ve read all the comments regarding jewel case v. cardboard sleeve (cardboard for me please, they’re more space efficent) I am nervous about boxed sets being posted out. I got a reduction from Sainsbury’s (remember them!) when the Dylan box came damaged and so I’m reluctant to order something this good/delicate/costly on line.
This is a superb box set of immaculate quality and a lesson to all the other companies reissuing artists’ legacies (I’m talking about the Mellencamp cake box).
I know… that Mellencamp box still shocks me how bad it was.
All sleeves have advantages and disadvantages, imo.
The Jewelcase can be surprisingly fragile, but on the other hand I’m sure I’m not the only person who simply has a few boxes of the different types so I can easily swap them out if there’s a problem.
Cardboard sleeves, for me, only work if they’re of good quality. I have a couple of US releases with sterling reproductions, one by Bill Dixon the other Julius Hemphill. The cardboard sleeves in the cheaper collection sets are awful, and you can’t compare them in any way with their Japanese counterparts. Most of what I see are truly low-rent, I could make better myself with a color printer (no, I’m not joking).
As for cardboard as a basic material – well, Vinyl always came in cardboard sleeves, so it’s not like this is new. I’m not someone who needs or even desires my collection to look pristine the whole time. For example my old LP sleeves would show wear over time, as some cardboard sleeves do.
I have no idea why the west can’t make cardboard sleeves to the same standard as the Japanese. I suppose it’s to do with costs, but the general music business is missing a trick here. If they released Mini-LP’s in US and British releases, they could make a killing.
I hate jewel cases and much prefer cardboard sleeves. I rarely have an issue with damaged sleeves but jewel cases? I reckon 20% arrive damaged and I buy a lot of CDs. Anyhow to make more storage room those CDs that are in jewel cases I take out and store in poly sleeves. I`ve created room for many, many more in my storage shelves and with the cardboard sleeved CDs inbetween they look quite good.
I agree with Mark A. In my experience it’s the jewel cases that so often arrive damaged, cracks in the lid or back case, spokes broken off from the centre holder so the disc won’t clip in etc. It is indeed nice to see this set in such good aesthetic quality packaging. The Japanese mini LP CD issues are the standard to hold all else too. As thse have increased in popularity outside Japan, the quality of card sleeves and packaging in the west has had to up its game, to the extent that Rhino in the US for instance have their mini LP sleeves made in Japan for their US manufactured discs.
I agree that both the inner sleeves and the finish on the booklet photos are really nicely done.
I’m happy that the sleeves are cardboard and not digpak, or jewel case, even though they are not of as high a quality as the typical Japanese editions. Cardboard sleeves have far more character and aesthetic appeal than a plastic box with a paper insert.
The reasons that cardboard sleeves arrive damaged are that they have not been packaged properly, or they have been shoddily manufactured and hence defective from the very start. I had a hand in a small scale Japanese paper sleeve reseller enterprise for several years, and literally thousands of paper (cardboard) sleeve CDs passed through my hands and not a single one ever had any defect to it.
Hi, I have seen that some japanese sites says there will be “bonus tracks” exclusive for the japanese version. Do you know if this is true and what are the bonus tracks?
I’m almost certain all these boxes have the same tracks….
If the individual albums had worked out cheaper I wouldn’t have bothered with this but I got a good deal on the box.
As mentioned, it’s a shame this box and the Dark Horse box weren’t more similar in packaging style. I much prefer jewel cases over cardboard cases, which usually arrive damaged in some way and are not replaceable.
A bit of a shame that the discs themselves are not just jewelcases like the Dark Horse Years box. Glad that the box itself seems to be the same type/format though :)