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The Beatles / 1 expanded with restored videos and remixed audio

By Paul Sinclair

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204

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The Beatles‘ best-selling 1 compilation will be reissued and expanded in November as CD+Blu-ray and CD+DVD sets featuring remixed stereo and surround sound and for the first time fully restored full length videos for each of the 27 number one singles.

The original promo films, classic television appearances and other carefully selected videos spanning the band’s history have been painstakingly restored with 35mm negatives scanned in 4K and digitally restored along with other processes such as frame-by-frame cleaning and colour-grading. This has created outstanding standards of clarity and quality.

The standard two-disc editions (CD+Blu-ray or CD+DVD) feature 27 videos, with bonus content of Paul McCartney audio commentary on three films and and Ringo Starr filmed introductions for a four of them. These can also be purchased without the CD element.

The Beatles / 1 CD+blu-ray with restored videos and remixed audio
Standard CD+Blu-ray of 1 in gatefold digi-sleeve (click to enlarge)

A deluxe three disc set, 1+, offers a second video disc (dvd or blu-ray) with a further 23 videos including Rain, Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day In The Life, Hey Bulldog, Don’t Let Me Down, Free As A Bird and Real Love, along with many alternate promos of classic tracks including Paperback Writer, Day Tripper and Hello Goodbye. In total, the deluxe edition gives you over 200 minutes of video content via 50 individual films (20 of these weren’t used at all in The Beatles’ Anthology, with others used only in part or in alternate edits).

This deluxe 1+ also offers enhanced packaging and is presented in an expanded 124-page illustrated hardcover book with notes by music journalist Mark Ellen and detailed track/video annotation by music historian and author Richard Havers.

Exciting though this video content is, the sound is a very big deal since all editions of the new 1 reissue feature newly created stereo and 5.1 Dolby Digital and DTS HD surround audio mixes, produced from the original analogue tapes by Giles Martin with Sam Okell at Abbey Road Studios (Jeff Lynne and engineer Steve Jay have remixed Free As A Bird and Real Love). The CD with these packages uses the new stereo mixes, not the 2009 remasters (a 2LP 180g vinyl package will follow).

1 and the deluxe 1+ are both released on 6 November 2015.

pre-order

deluxe_blu

1+ Deluxe CD + 2 x blu-ray

deluxe_DVD

1+ Deluxe CD + 2 x DVD

beatles_oneLP

2LP vinyl with stereo remixes

beatles1_blu

1 standard edition CD + blu-ray

cd+dvd

1 standard edition CD +DVD

bluray_only

1 single blu-ray only

standardDVD

1 single DVD only

cdonly

1 CD only (with new stereo mixes)

track_listing

beatles1_blu

The Beatles 1

CD + Bluray / CD + DVD

  • 1. Love Me Do
  • 2. From Me To You
  • 3. She Loves You
  • 4. I Want To Hold Your Hand
  • 5. Can’t Buy Me Love
  • 6. A Hard Day’s Night
  • 7. I Feel Fine
  • 8. Eight Days a Week
  • 9. Ticket To Ride
  • 10. Help!
  • 11. Yesterday
  • 12. Day Tripper
  • 13. We Can Work It Out
  • 14. Paperback Writer
  • 15. Yellow Submarine
  • 16. Eleanor Rigby
  • 17. Penny Lane
  • 18. All You Need Is Love
  • 19. Hello, Goodbye
  • 20. Lady Madonna
  • 21. Hey Jude
  • 22. Get Back
  • 23. The Ballad of John and Yoko
  • 24. Something
  • 25. Come Together
  • 26. Let It Be
  • 27. The Long and Winding Road

Video Extras:

Paul McCartney audio commentary

  • Penny Lane
  • Hello, Goodbye
  • Hey Jude

Ringo Starr filmed introductions

  • Penny Lane
  • Hello, Goodbye
  • Hey Jude
  • Get Back

deluxe_blu

The Beatles 1+

CD+2Bluray or CD+2DVD

Disc 1 (same as above)

Disc 2 Video (DVD or Blu-ray)

  • 1. Twist & Shout
  • 2. Baby It’s You
  • 3. Words Of Love
  • 4. Please Please Me
  • 5. I Feel Fine
  • 6. Day Tripper *
  • 7. Day Tripper *
  • 8. We Can Work It Out *
  • 9. Paperback Writer *
  • 10. Rain *
  • 11. Rain *
  • 12. Strawberry Fields Forever
  • 13. Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows
  • 14. A Day In The Life
  • 15. Hello, Goodbye *
  • 16. Hello, Goodbye *
  • 17. Hey Bulldog
  • 18. Hey Jude *
  • 19. Revolution
  • 20. Get Back *
  • 21. Don’t Let Me Down
  • 22. Free As A Bird
  • 23. Real Love

* alternate version

DISC 2 VIDEO EXTRA

Paul McCartney audio commentary

  • Strawberry Fields Forever

More detail on the video clips:

  • 1. LOVE ME DO
    Newly edited clip, featuring material from BBC TV’s The Mersey Sound, with performance footage filmed on 27 August 1963 at the Little Theatre, Southport.
  • 2. FROM ME TO YOU
    A live performance at the 1963 Royal Variety Show, filmed at The Prince Of Wales Theatre, London, on 4 November 1963.
  • 3. SHE LOVES YOU
    A live performance from the Swedish Television show Drop In, recorded on 30 October 1963 during a short Scandinavian tour.
  • 4. I WANT TO HOLD YOUR HAND
    From the Granada TV programme Late Scene Extra filmed on 25 November 1963.
  • 5. CAN’T BUY ME LOVE
    First broadcast in the TV show Around The Beatles, filmed on 28 April 1964 and broadcast the following month. It features a different audio track to that of hit single, recorded by The Beatles on 19 April 1964.
  • 6. A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
    Live performance at the Palais des Sports, Paris on 20 June 1965, while on a short European tour.
  • 7. I FEEL FINE
    Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965. One of ten films shot that day to satisfy global TV demand for broadcast material to accompany The Beatles’ hit records.
  • 8. EIGHT DAYS A WEEK
    A brand new clip edited from material filmed at the Shea Stadium concert in New York City on 15 August 1965, during which the band performed twelve songs, but ‘Eight Days A Week’ was not among them. The clip says so much about the band’s frenetic lifestyle in 1965, at the height of Beatlemania.
  • 9. TICKET TO RIDE
    Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965.
  • 10. HELP!
    The less frequently seen clip of those filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965.
  • 11. YESTERDAY
    Paul performing on The Ed Sullivan Show, videotaped in New York City on 14 August 1965 and broadcast the following month, the day before the single was released in America.
  • 12. DAY TRIPPER
    Three versions of this clip were filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965. This is version 2, in which all of the group are wearing polo neck sweaters, except for Paul, who wears a black shirt.
  • 13. WE CAN WORK IT OUT
    There were three versions of the ‘We Can Work It Out’ video filmed atat Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965. This is version 2 in which all four Beatles are wearing black polo neck sweaters.
  • 14. PAPERBACK WRITER
    Filmed in 35mm, and in colour, in Chiswick Park, West London, by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg.
  • 15. YELLOW SUBMARINE
    This clip is newly created from original Yellow Submarine footage.
  • 16. ELEANOR RIGBY
    This clip is taken directly from the Yellow Submarine movie.
  • 17. PENNY LANE
    A ground-breaking clip by Swedish director Peter Goldmann that captures The Beatles in Stratford, London, and at Knole Park in Kent, with additional material shot in Liverpool.
  • 18. ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE
    Filmed in Studio One at Abbey Road, on 25 June 1967, and beamed around the globe as a part of the TV programme Our World. This colourised version was created for The Beatles Anthology TV programme in 1995.
  • 19. HELLO, GOODBYE
    London’s Saville Theatre was the location for this promo film, shot on 10 November 1967; The Beatles wear their Sgt. Pepper outfits.
  • 20. LADY MADONNA
    Just prior to leaving for India, The Beatles met up in Studio Three at Abbey Road, on 11 February 1968. They were filmed while recording ‘Hey Bulldog’.
  • 21. HEY JUDE
    Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 4 September, for broadcast on David Frost’s TV show, Frost On Sunday. The introduction by David Frost is different from that on disc 2.
  • 22. GET BACK
    The promo clip made available at the time of the original release of the single featured performances from the Apple rooftop synched to the record. This new clip has been rebuilt to replicate the original but with improved picture quality.
  • 23. THE BALLAD OF JOHN AND YOKO
    This original promo clip features outtakes from the Let It Be movie, with other private footage shot in Amsterdam, London, Paris and Vienna.
  • 24. SOMETHING
    The video features George and Pattie, John and Yoko, Paul and Linda, and Ringo and Maureen. and was filmed at locations in Berkshire, Surrey, and the Mull of Kintyre.
  • 25. COME TOGETHER
    The clip was created in 2000 by Melon Dezign for the launch of thebeatles.com and the original Beatles 1 album.
  • 26. LET IT BE
    A 1970 promo clip was made available to support the release of the single and it was different to the one featured in the Let It Be movie; this clip has been rebuilt from the original footage.
  • 27. THE LONG AND WINDING ROAD
    This clip is taken straight from the Let It Be movie.

DISC TWO

  • 1. TWIST AND SHOUT
    From the Granada Television programme Scene At 6.30, which was videotaped on 14 August 1963.
  • 2. BABY IT’S YOU
    One of two clips used to promote the single taken from the 1995 Live At The BBC album. The clip is enhanced by the inclusion of unique colour footage of The Beatles filmed outside the BBC’s Paris Studio on Lower Regent Street, London.
  • 3. WORDS OF LOVE
    When On Air – Live At The BBC Volume 2 was released in 2013, it included ‘Words Of Love’, a Buddy Holly composition that the band recorded for radio. This new clip is a mix of existing footage and innovative animation.
  • 4. PLEASE PLEASE ME
    A live performance videotaped on 9 February for The Ed Sullivan Show, which was screened on 23 February 1964.
  • 5. I FEEL FINE
    Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965, this clip shows The Beatles eating fish and chips during their lunch break.
  • 6. DAY TRIPPER
    From the TV special The Music Of Lennon & McCartney that first broadcast in mid-December 1965.
  • 7. DAY TRIPPER
    Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965, with the group wearing their Shea Stadium Jackets with the ‘Nehru’ collars.
  • 8. WE CAN WORK IT OUT
    Filmed at Twickenham Film Studios on 23 November 1965 – showing The Beatles wearing the Shea Stadium jackets.
  • 9. PAPERBACK WRITER
    Shot on videotape at Abbey Road, on 19 May 1966, this studio version is prefaced by a short introduction by Ringo. It was broadcast on The Ed Sullivan Show in America.
  • 10. RAIN
    ‘Rain’, the B-side of ‘Paperback Writer’, was filmed in colour at Chiswick House, West London, on 20 May 1966.
  • 11. RAIN
    This black and white clip is a new edit from several takes of ‘Rain’ videotaped at Abbey Road on 19 May 1966.
  • 12. STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER
    Directed by Peter Goldmann and with newly restored footage, this was filmed at Knole Park, Kent on 30 and 31 January 1967.
  • 13. WITHIN YOU WITHOUT YOU/TOMORROW NEVER KNOWS
    The merging of these two tracks, one from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, the other from Revolver, was created for The Beatles Love show by Cirque du Soleil, which opened in June 2006 in Las Vegas. This video was created to promote the Love album released later that year.
  • 14. A DAY IN THE LIFE
    Filmed in Studio One at Abbey Road on 10 February 1967, this includes classical musicians, who were asked to wear evening dress, fake noses and funny hats for the recording session.
  • 15. HELLO, GOODBYE
    This clip is another shot at London’s Saville Theatre on 10 November 1967; The Beatles wear their ‘street clothes’.
  • 16. HELLO, GOODBYE
    This third version was also shot at London’s Saville Theatre on 10 November 1967; it includes elements from the first two films but with additional footage unique to this edit.
  • 17. HEY BULLDOG
    The original footage from a 1968 shoot for the ‘Lady Madonna’ promo film was unearthed in the mid-1990s. It was revealed that The Beatles were recording ‘Hey Bulldog’ and is an edit done to promote the reissue of the Yellow Submarine movie in 1999.
  • 18. HEY JUDE
    This is an edit of the two other takes filmed on 4 September 1968 for the Frost On Sunday TV show. This has a different David Frost intro to the clip on disc 1.
  • 19. REVOLUTION
    One of two versions, this was shot the same day as ‘Hey Jude’. John’s lead vocal is completely live, as are most of Paul and George’s backing vocals. The instrumentation, including Nicky Hopkins’ electric piano, is from the master tape.
  • 20. GET BACK
    This clip was assembled in 2003 to support the release of the album Let It Be…Naked and utilises studio footage from the famous Get Back/Let It Be sessions.
  • 21. DON’T LET ME DOWN
    This was the B-side of ‘Get Back’ and this clip is a composite of two live performances from the Apple rooftop in 1969. It was made available to support the release of Let It Be…Naked in 2003.
  • 22. FREE AS A BIRD
    The 1995 video is a work of art by director Joe Pytka, who used the concept of a bird’s-eye view to pay homage to many Beatles songs and images.
  • 23. REAL LOVE
    This video directed by Geoff Wonfor and ex-10cc and leading pop promo-maker Kevin Godley, this video was made in 1996 to support the release of the single.

deluxe_blu

1+ Deluxe CD + 2 x blu-ray

deluxe_DVD

1+ Deluxe CD + 2 x DVD

beatles1_blu

1 standard edition CD + blu-ray

cd+dvd

1 standard edition CD +DVD

bluray_only

1 single blu-ray only

standardDVD

1 single DVD only

cdonly

1 CD only (with new stereo mixes)

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204 Comments

204 thoughts on “The Beatles / 1 expanded with restored videos and remixed audio”

  1. Late post (I know), but just wanted to add my disappointment over the Free as a bird video. Since all the old clips looks so great after the fantastic restoration, how come Free as a Bird’s still being presented in 4:3 letterbox aspect?! And restoration of the clip is still not very sharp. Cropping it to fit the TV-screen only makes the resolution worse. How could this pass through the amazingly strict filter at Abbey Road?

  3. Liking a lot of the DVD footage but REALLY disappointed with the graininess of the singles from 1969 and Let It Be compared with the other stuff, and Free As a Bird looks like it has been downloaded from a fan copy of a VHS copy uploaded to youtube. Let It Be has lots of tears / rips on the film – the kind of stuff the promo trailer claimed had been cleaned up and restored frame by frame with the latest technology by leading experts… did they run out of time to fix the 1969 stuff?

  4. This is a very difficult thing to write, but in all honesty I wish I had not bothered. I only bought this for the 5.1 mixes and they are frankly dreadful. I have tried & tried but cannot find anything much to like at all – they are not what I would call a surround mix at all but instead at best they are “Big Stereo”, and I get the definite feeling the mix has been done to the picture in the same way it is for films – avoid anything too much in the rear channel because of “exit sign syndrome” and the result is seriously bad for me.
    Whilst I can understand – in a limited fashion – the thinking behind this decision (and was it Giles’ choice, or did he have his hands tied) it is flawed as the films were created to accompany the music yet the surround mix has been done the other way around.

    If you are a beatles fan, buy this for the stereo mixes & the restored footage – you will love it. If you are buying this for the surround – don’t.

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  9. Here’s what’s different in the Japanese issue if anybody’s a completist or just wants something different (mine is the CD/2DVD version):

    1. CD is SHM-CD.
    2. Pack comes with a wrap-around card (not an obi, but you know the thing if you’ve bought DVDs or box sets from Japan) which explains what it is and what it contains in Japanese.
    3. The slipcase has some Japanese writing in small letters on the back and has a slightly deeper spine than the actual hardback book, in order to accommodate:
    4. An interesting 72 page softback book which has the text in Japanese, followed by all the lyrics in English and Japanese. (No lyrics in the normal book — what? Unthinkable!) Alas and alack, these appear to be standard English lyrics rather than fun Japlish ones.

    The book itself seems to be identical to what you get elsewhere — ie it’s all in English with no Japanese at all. However, all the disks state “Made in Japan.”

    The setup menu on the disks gives you the subtitles options “English”, “Subtitles Off” and “Japanese” (in Japanese characters). However, I think the subtitles only work on the Ringo & Paul introductions, so there’s no chance of a Japanese singalong. Shame.

  10. Still waiting for mine from Amazon yes Amazon has been out of stock since release day. Amazon is really becoming a waste of time any more!
    We should all boycott them a while and maybe they will get their shit together!

  12. I got my copy of the deluxe 2bluray & cd edition. the sound and picture quality are stunning, the booklet was informative too. Since Universal have held the back catalogue we have some excellent new product by the Beatles

  13. By and large I’m happy with the new stereo mixes. In the main, the changes are faithful to the spirit of the original mixes, and the centring of the vocals is to be welcomed. The memo however clearly didn’t reach Jeff Lynne given his questionable remixing of Free As A Bird and Real Love. Despite the unavoidable physical limitations of tracks built around demo recordings, I’ve always adored both songs. The overall sound may have been slightly homogenous given its a series of overdubs rather than a single performance, but the artistic decisions taken by the Threetles at the time were respectful to the song and the occasional flourishes – the slide guitar, the ukulele ending, the harpsichord opening to Real Love – were well judged. It’s therefore genuinely upsetting to hear what Jeff has done to these remixes. FAAB first. The overall sound is now much muddier. The slide solo is muffled. If anything, Lennon is harder to hear than before. McCartney’s vocal lines come out too far in places and he sounds older than I remember. George’s vocal line represents a different vocal take (‘love we once knew’ v ‘life we once new’) and now sound, well, awkward frankly. The coda no longer works at all. The reverse ‘turned out nice again’ dialogue that magically sounded like ‘made by John Lennon’ is no longer reverse. And no longer magical. The ascending whistling sound is now far too prominent. The ukulele sounds different too. In Real Love, whilst the clearer keyboard intro is interesting, in the way that listening to isolated multitrack sessions are interesting, it effectively means John’s piano has been completely removed. Additional Harrison guitar licks added sound unfinished and unnecessary. I would have welcomed changes that improved overall fidelity (these new mixes don’t) but why start making different artistic judgements 20 years later on tracks on effectively a greatest hits set. Witless tinkering at its worst. Betrays the integrity of the original mix. Achieves nothing.

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  16. There is no bigger Beatles fan (without being a total nerd) than me so why did I just give the CD and 2 Blu Ray disc set that we fans have waited for for years only 4 stars on amazon? Four reasons:

    1. The most serious – three songs are missing the opening couple of notes when you select the DTS surround mixes – Ticket to Ride, All You Need is Love and The Ballad of John and Yoko. They play fine with both other audio selections. Doesn’t anyone actually check such a premium product? I mean what is the point of getting Giles Martin to work on it and then screw it up at the authoring stage? Well as with the Lennon vinyl box with two cuts of Sweet Little Sixteen on side one of the Rock ‘n’ Roll LP (Universal are still to make any effort to send me a replacement months after I filled out their official online form) it would seem that Apple has lost interest and control.

    2. Because this is based on a compilation CD rather than a project to present existing Beatles video/film elements in their best possible form there are odd non-synch videos in the playlist and for Come Together a new cartoon. I like the cartoon but it’s still a little jarring amongst the other prime vintage material. It’s interesting to note how poor some of the Let it Be footage looks – very grainy when projected in HD onto my 8 foot screen – perhaps this is a major reason Let it Be hasn’t been released on Blu Ray yet. It also shows up the poor contemporary TV pictures. When you get to Paperback Writer it’s like the sun coming out.

    3. The menu is frustrating – the songs load quite slowly four at a time on consecutive pages unless you use the pop-up menu where a sensible list of all 27 tracks is presented. You cannot access the pop-up menu, however, unless you have started one of the songs playing from the fragmented menu or “play all” option.

    4. And finally my beloved Ringo. I really love this guy – his drumming is great and his solo albums continue to move and entertain with real heart in his lyrics and vocals. His short “introduction” pieces on this Blu Ray are just a near complete throwaway. Little to no effort has been made to get any meaningful interviews out if him. OK he’s more than done his fare share over the years and I’d almost be happy with a non-appearance compared to this. It just seems almost insulting and would have been better left off. I’ve yet to watch the second disc or listen to Macca’s commentaries.

    1. Paul’s commentary on Strawberry Fields starts with him just describing what you are seeing. Literally, “And here we are running towards the camera. And now we’re running away from the camera.” Eventually he starts to give something a little more substantive. I wouldn’t buy the set for the Paul & Ringo content, it’s nothing a Beatles fan wouldn’t already know.

      So far I am disappointed in the stereo mixes on the CD, they sound just like the 2009 stereo mixes. I thought the work they did on Yellow Submarine Songtrack and Love was pretty revolutionary and would like to have heard more in that vein.

      The cleanup on the videos is pretty impressive though.

  18. The price has gone up from £33.99 to £35.99 in the meantime. Not a problem for those who wait it out, but if you’ve cancelled maybe so, although probably a strong argument for a discount in customer services as they are effectively telling you to cancel if you “think” you ordered the blu ray.

  19. Just had a web chat with Amazon who confirmed there is still a Blu Ray deluxe version so looks like someone updated the description by mistake, triggering the email and subsequent confusion.

    I’ve suggested they amend it back and sent them a link to this article to show the mayhem it’s caused.

  20. It’s not clear from the Amazon email whether they think I ordered the BluRay by accident instead of the DVD, or I thought I was ordering the BluRay, but actually ordered the DVD edition.

    Not long to wait now anyway :-)

    1. They are effectively saying “you probably think you ordered the blu-ray but it’s actually the DVD version” – except that’s probably wrong, so as per the post just ignore for the time being. I think it will be changed BACK soon :)

  21. Amazon in Germany (and France) have labelled theirs up “1+ Edition Deluxe CD+2Blu-ray” which is reassuring . Germany coming in at around £36 including postage. Maybe amazon uk will sort out, but what a mess up so soon to release date, probably leading to loads of possibly unnecessarily cancelled orders.

  22. I got the same Amazon email this morning. Due to the lack of clarity on their website over what you will receive and the bother of potentially dealing with an unwanted item, I have cancelled my Amazon order and placed an order with Badlands for slightly lower price and free postage.

  23. The thebeatles.com pre-order Amazon link for the BluRay Deluxe edition goes to the same page that I originally ordered from. So might be OK.

    Though the thebeatles.com pre-order HMV link for the BluRay Deluxe edition goes to a HMV page with no option to order a BluRay Deluxe edition! So who knows!

  24. I’ve just received an email from Amazon saying my Bluray order had an incorrect description and it’s now a CD version.

    I can’t find the Bluray Deluxe on Amazon.

  25. I’ve just received an email from Amazon, saying I might not have ordered the correct one. I’m sure I ordered the BluRay but it looks like the BluRay is no longer available, my order link now points to the DVD!

  26. Hi, I ordered the deluxe edition with blu ray from Amazon. Got an email today to say that the description has changed and it’s not blu ray but DVD. Looked for deluxe with blu ray and says unavailable. Is it available anywhere else?

    1. Don’t really under what’s happening here. Amazon have two 1+ deluxe products

      CD+2blu-ray

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01576X99U/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B01576X99U&linkCode=as2&tag=superdeluxeed-21

      and

      CD+2DVD

      http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01576X9J0/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B01576X9J0&linkCode=as2&tag=superdeluxeed-21

      But as you say they have changed the description of the blu-ray to DVD. So why are there now two products at different prices that are both DVDs?
      Try going back to amazon with those links and point out that the first was was the blu-ray and the blu-ray is available in Amazon France, Germany etc.

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  34. With the 5.1 mixes,this will entice many people like myself who have an interest in The Beatles,but don’t consider themselves major fans.The price point makes it very attractive,so it’s pre ordered!

  35. Well it finally came to pass after one very long and winding road :-)

    I’ve recently been sorting through back editions of Record Collector to hang on to features and ditch the bulk of the issues for space considerations. Waaay back in March 1995 – still seems recent enough to me, but a frightening 2o years ago now! – Keith Badman annotated a guide to a proposed EMI video compilation from 1987.

    The Beatles Greatest Hits video was first mooted in The Beatles Book in September that year and was slated for a Christmas release, making it as far as a test tape. The article reports that much of the footage was in poor condition, and some of it was in B&W at that! With a few exceptions it seems almost all the footage for that intended release has been included here… plus some additional material that was never part of that project, some of which didn’t exist until much later of course (the Anthology videos and the Love track, of course).

    I sit somewhere between those who only like The Beatles from their hits and those who’ve devoured every album they did, but I’ve long hoped something like this would happen. It was the reason I purchased the anthology DVDs just to see at least some of these films – although the programmes were very entertaining in themselves – so I for one am very happy with this. Definitely a Christmas present to myself this year :)

    Now if only we can get Jean Michel Jarre and Kraftwerk to release DVD promo compilations. They’re about the only acts I can think of from those I’ve followed since my teens who’ve never done such a thing, although Jarre did at least gather up the early ones onto the Images video to accompany the compilation album of the same name. But then neither has released proper 7″ singles compilations either.

    I loved the EMI ‘Sight and Sound’ CD/DVD packages – the Blondie and Ultravox (although not badged as such; it seems that branding had just been abandoned by then) sets spring immediately to mind – as it was such an obvious idea, but really gave you a time capsule for that band.

    Come to that, it would be nice to see proper, chronological and unsegued promo DVD sets from Talking Heads (also lacking a proper singles set too, of course) and Visage too rather than the existing packages – as amusing as Storytelling Giant is.

    Still, one dream at least has finally come to pass…

  36. Grippy: According to CDJapan (so don’t take this as gospel): “The DVD disc is encoded for region 2 (Japan, Europe, and Middle East), and no subtitles are included.” Which answers two of your questions, if you believe it…

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  40. Then maybe the book could be bigger next re-release as well. I cannot begin to say how resentful and angry it makes me when credits either on screen or books themselves are so tiny. I won’t even go into how small box sets are so frustrating…and when it comes to pictures being THUMBNAIL sizes in things such as thoughs. Sad.

  42. your right also AlexKx they probably should also add USB for those that want this. Since they are covering nearly all bases they might as well go all the way since they did with the 2009 set.

  43. Okay, Michael K, I give up. You’re right. Giles Martin’s stereo mixes are obviously better than George Martin’s mono/stereo mixes. Gotta be, right? He’s got more technology at his fingers. Even though none of us have actually heard yet what Giles Martin means by “remix”. For all we know, he might have done a “Love” on these.

    I am delighted to have all those promos in stunning quality, so I can ditch all those old “mono bootleg VHS” (!!!) versions. And the 5.1 versions are making me very excited. But I’d like to have the option of watching them with the original audio, which if you remember we were all gushing lovingly about just a few years ago when the remasters came out. Give me stereo remixes, but also give me the original. Surely that’s not too much to ask?

  44. Mmmmkay. SO I meant a question mark at the end of the second sentence of the second paragraph. Also just to be clear when I said it would be the same price for the customer I meant as the multi-disc set. Just because everything could be on one blu-ray audio disc or USB device does not mean the price would go down. Hell, if anything it could cost more to some degree because it would be the best format (either the blu-ray audio or USB device), right?

  45. having it on Multiple formats is fantastic ! every fan of the beatles still wants cds ! Remember AlexKx a lot of the fans of the beatles are now over 60 so they probably won’t be able to deal with USB’s or Blu-Ray Audio that is why putting it out on so many formats is a win win for the people and a win for the beatles !

  46. Thank goodness it sounds like in that case they will have something to hold back for each individual studio l.p.s that hopefully will get similar treatments. As it is I feel very confident that those bonus features of alternative videos should also have been held back for super deluxe editions of each individual studio l.p. That looks like a big mistake unless there is more of whatever that I and or we do not know about, eh?

    With that said I never said that there should not be multiple formats at this time. What is this cockamy thought proccess. It makes infinite more sense to have and or use everything on one Blu-Ray Audio. It would still be the same price for the customer duh. Instead there all of this stuff to deal with. It would seem a USB device could just as well have done in the package as well.

    Personally if the 23 bonus alternative videos had to be released on any compilation the red and blue ones would have made more sense unless they were going to come up with a new four c.d. set (or one that expansive in terms of the hit songs).

  47. The audio is remixed…which means if you want to watch the Beatles promos with the original George Martin mixes (and don’t you? really?) you’ll have to mute the sound and sync up a CD somehow. A shame — if this is true it loses a huge amount of credibility. Is it worth sticking around and hoping they release a comprehensive set of promo films later, divorced from the “1” concept — original film, original audio?

    1. MiG, if you were around when these first aired, like many of us, you probably watched them on a small black and white TV with one little speaker. They were exciting but let’s not go back there. I want to see these in the upgraded picture and sound quality we have today, in hi def and 5.1 sound mixes we can’t get elsewhere . All of Martin’s fantastic mixes are available on CD and LP. Enjoy.

      1. Hear hear. I personally have had enough of ‘let’s keep everything old’. I think Paul and Ringo have preferred to get on with ‘shinier, newer’ since it started to become possible to outstrip the original quality by an order of magnitude.
        And while the audio visual restoration of the material has proved how well it was recorded, we’ve already seen how the stereo mixes of the 60’s did not have the focus of anybody in the production crew or band.
        Therefore, I’m not surprised that for Apple people, the best mixes are the new ones.

        If you want to run mono against 1, why not just go back to your mono bootleg VHS for ‘proper authenticity’??
        Actually, Apple should ship the 180g vinyl with a VHS tape :)

      2. Well put! I don’t understand why people feel that remixing is ruining the Beatles legacy. People who are at the top of their game are using the best technology of today to blow the cobwebs off of these masterpieces.

        Look how amazing the restored videos look after technology and a skilled restoration team got their hands on them. Surely remixing is the audio equivalent. I don’t see people saying “the faded colour and film noise is how the videos should be presented”.

        Also, people who think we should only be listening to it in mono because that is how The Beatles intended it to sound is a load of tosh. Mono was the superior format then because they didn’t really have the knowledge or technology to do good Stereo mixes. 50 years on, a lot has been learnt and if the Beatles weren’t embracing new technology the surviving members wouldn’t have allowed this.

  49. What I find interesting is which TV performances has been used. There’s nothing from Ready Steady Go! though there is one performance from ‘Around The Beatles’ which was released on video as a ‘Ready Steady Go!’ special.
    Let’s hope for some further releases with all the ‘Ready Steady Go!’ performances released together along with ‘Around The Beatles’.
    The later had specially recorded studio songs which The Beatles mimed on the show. A couple of songs were released on the Anthology CD including a cover of Shout. It would be great to hear and see the whole show with decent sound quality.

  50. Amazing over the last 2-3 years there have been so many deluxe, super deluxe editions of some of our fave artists that we grew up with over
    a number of years, and there are too many to mention whether it would be
    rock, classic rock, blues, jazz, new wave, and with so many formats in which to chose it’s outstanding and i won’t go into all of them, but the
    main purpose for us listeners & fans alike is to get the best sound possible
    to suit your style of music. I can also understand there are a number of
    people & fans, once the new editions are due they certainly go over each new edition with a very keen eye. Bluray audio, mono,stereo, 5.1 bluray 5.1
    dvd-a sacd, shmcd, there will always be i guess an argument/debate until the cows come out to pasture, this one sounds better than that format.
    It’s great reading too, to read everyone’s different opinion, wouldn’t it
    have been great if they added this, oh why was this left out the list goes on
    and on, it’s brilliant reading, and no doubt you cannot please everyone and that will never change. One thing we all must do is thank Paul for
    his amazing contributions and keeping literally everyone updated thanks Paul!! Now the latest deluxe or super deluxe edition with The Beatles was
    that a title of one of their best of’s not quite sure. With so many best of
    Beatles albums that have been remastered reissued and box set’s along
    comes Number 1. A stunning looking package and the extras are great.
    At one stage i was looking at the best of, The Blue & The Red album, those
    2 would have done very nicely, and i have a couple of shmcd albums and
    they sound amazing and the best part too although they are from Japan
    and expensive it’s great stuff with lyrics inclusive,Can’t Buy Me love
    this case a big Yes.

  55. I did not mean to use a question mark where I ask “The packaging just as easily would exist?” I meant to use an exclamation mark there because I was exclaiming! Read what I mean and not what I type! Lol!

    Truth be said…why not a USB device instead, eh? Or at least included?

  56. So it is impossible to do a Blu-Ray Audio that has all of these features on them and they have to resort to multiple formats (of which some people say are dead anyway) because the public are too stupid to understand what they are getting or are the producers and fellow lap dogs too stupid? The packaging just as easily would exist? Where does this ideology come from?! There is no reason any of the “music videos” would be missing! What is this contrived crap?!

    1. It would have been cheaper for them to make one product (a blu-ray) with everything on it. Instead they are trying to present a choice with six or seven different variants. I don’t have an issue with it myself.

      1. I think it’s about fulfilling Neil Aspinall’s aim to have ‘1’ become the best-selling album of all time. When he did some market research in the late nineties and conceived what was then known as ‘Project X’, the industry was unbelieving because The Beatles had just sold a lot of product with ‘Anthology’. How could there be more demand?
        2000 had their teeth falling out and by 2010 when it turned out to be the best-selling album of the decade, their hair fell out as well.
        Judging by the number of Beatles t-shirts I see on kids aged about 18, Apple have again done their research. The old guard are being provided with bootleg-crushing quality, sure, but these youngsters EXPECT such quality! Again, a win win.

        2. I see a lot of kids with Beatles shirts and I see kids with The Ramones shirts. I can’t imagine a lot of kids are listening. Just trying to be cool. Now if some Beatles or Ramones tracks had a rap by Pitbull in the middle they surely would listen.

    2. Blu-ray penetration in the U.S. (and I suspect the UK) is very low. Blu-ray has only a 21% unit share of the U.S. physical media market (Blu-ray + DVD). So they couldn’t just make a Blu-ray and they wanted to offer packages with and without the video and I guess, with and without the big book.

      I do think the seven variants are a bit confusing and when there’s confusion, consumers delay purchases. What they could have done is what most Blu-ray movie releases do and that would be to have combined the Blu-rays and DVDs in the same package. But they were probably afraid that Blu-ray users would sell the DVD’s and vice-versa. Also, any video package should have probably contained all the videos. “Deluxe” should have been reserved for the book addition. But that would have still been five versions. Also, especially for the holidays, you want to hit all price points. So in the end, they probably know what they were doing.

  58. Very pleased that this is happening – hopefully the price will drop during the pre-order period but it still feels like an essential addition to the Beatles catalogue. Can’t believe this hasn’t happened before really in spite of the issues over rights.

  59. Thanks Paul, for a heads up on this long awaited release. I just clicked on your Canadian link and Amazon already has the Deluxe CD-2 Blu-ray listed at 30% off. Ordered.

  61. Well…it’s what we have as standard here in Japan…for those of us who just can’t wait around a couple of weeks for the foreign sellers to ship over for two thirds the price. Also, it shows it’s going to be a domestic Japanese release rather than an import.

    Grippy above mentioned one problem with Japan: there might be hard-coded karaoke subs (in Japanese!). Another: the book might be in Japanese. Then again, it might have an exclusive lyric sheet…

  62. Nobody has mentioned that Giles Martin did the 5.1 mix on the Love album , which worked well so I assume that planted the seed for future 5.1 mixes .

    1. I think Paul, George and Ringo were sufficiently impressed with the ‘Anthology’ and ‘Yellow Submarine Songtrack’ remixes to have ordered up remixes of the whole catalogue but the media and fan reaction was adverse at the time which turns out okay because by getting into the ‘remasters’ projects, they allowed the technology to mature and Giles to get almost as much experience with the catalogue as his dad. It’s a win win and I really envy current kids who will discover The Beatles via 1+ !!

  63. Great news that we’re finally getting a Beatles compilation to watch.

    I know some people on here are wondering why the 5.1 surround sound, mostly from folks who first heard The Beatles in mono.

    You have to remember it’s over 50 years since The Beatles released their first single. Since that time, anyone born in the 60’s onwards, will be listening to their music in stereo. If the music is going to be remastered, it makes more sense to have a stereo track though I’m sure a mono track could have fitted on a blu-ray as well.

    If anyone has heard some of The Beatles tracks in 5.1 from previously released material, you will know that the vocals will come from the centre speaker. The instruments from the other speakers. Obviously, the later material sounds the best when The Beatles recorded on multi-tracks, you’ll hear things much clearer when the instruments are separated. To me, it adds new life to the songs and the harmonies sound great.

    I remember reading an interview with Giles Martin regarding some of the technology used in the ‘Rock Band’ game. They had to find a way of separating the bass line in the early songs for the game. I wonder if this technology was used to create surround mixes for the early songs.

      1. That ‘frequency separation’ technology (basically a form of ‘EQ extraction’) has come on a long way since ‘Rock Band’ and I’m not surprised that Apple have waited for it to mature before taking advantage. The real test of its application will be on ‘She Loves You’. Although it doesn’t offer to separate instruments in a mix (that’s not how it works), it can offer a remix situation the power to create the illusion of separation which, added to availability of sub-mixes (say bass and drums mixed down together) can be more than enough. I think ‘She Loves You’ is the real test as very little assistance is available.

  64. Happy Christmas present me! I can’t wait. Wonderful wonderful news – the Deluxe set is of course the only one to go for.

    CD/2DVD is currently 9500 yen in Japan (51 GBP). It claims a SHM-CD, but that might be standard across the board?

      1. Hear hear. SHM-CD is short for SHAM-CD and the inclination to buy it is God’s (or possibly Rod’s) way of telling you you’ve not spent enough on cocaine. :)

  65. Like everyone else, I feel that Apple (Ringo, Paul, Yoko, Olivia) should release “The Beatles @ Shea, The Hollywood Bowl, and of course Let it Be, all on Blu-Ray. These are really significant and historical pieces that should be shared with the world, and generations to come.

  68. This is the set that caused the hook to come across the stage on the Apple bashers. :P
    I’m not ordering right now because by the time this hits retail stores, this incredible bargain will become moreso, I believe.

    Thanks for the definitive pre-release coverage, Sir Paul :P

    2. good heavens… I spent all year eyeing a marantz surround sound receiver in OPEN BOX at Best Buy.. I decided against it figuring… “let me focus on a great stereo piece because I only listen to Beatles anyway…” now I’m on the hunt for that surround sound and some 5.1 speaker setup…. music of the season indeed!

  69. I wish they would put out more unreleased alternates takes and demos. Particularly Paul’s beautiful alternate take of Golden Slumbers as partly heard on the bonus disc of The Anthology. The threetles talk over the playback by George Martin. Is this available anywhere?

    1. Not really the remit for this kind of release. It’s primarily about the videos. They’re only straying from the standard studio versions when they have to because no ‘promo film’ exists.

  71. This is wonderful ! Especially with the Surround Sound Mixes. The Beatles camp is making them timely and relevant once again. This will be the music gift of the Christmas season. Cannot wait!
    DJ Berexa Pgh, PA

  72. So next Giles will be remixing the core catalog. I kind of wish the videos were available separately. I realized Giles has remixed the audio here but I’m tired of rebuying the same tiles from The Beatles again. I’m happy and done with the last remasters.

    1. Don’t think it’s a given that he will do that ‘next’ but if they were to do a super deluxe edition of Revolver of Sgt. Pepper, it seems an obvious bit of content to include!

  75. Are any of these editions limited? I will put the deluxe blu ray version on my christmas list but I don’t want my gift-givers to have to work too hard (or possibly not be able to obtain it at all.)

  77. Actually it’s not largely alternate, but 10 of the 23 are, going by the asterisks. Anyway, I’d appreciate a definitive answer re the original studio recordings if you can give one. Thanks.

  78. Apologies, but I’m still not all that clear re 5.1 (even though I’ve read the above carefully several times).

    Put simply, are the 27 original studio recordings presented in 5.1? Or is it only the largely alternate versions and live songs that are in 5.1?

    Thanks.

    1. Where it is a ‘promo video’set to the studio version, that’s in 5.1, where it’s live performance from the Ed Sullivan Show (for example) it’s *that* in 5.1. So it’s a mix.

      1. Under Giles, the surround sound mixes are an evolving project. These ‘1’ mixes are unlikely to be the same mixes heard in Anthology. And if the whole catalogue is now going to remix/surround, then it’s likely that fresh work is or has been done. Unless of course, they’d hit paydirt back circa Yellow Submarine Songtrack but even then, that was somebody else’s work. Giles and the tech are very much a ‘live’ issue in 2015 and I think if some new kit arrives prior to releases, their content may well be revised accordingly. We have seen that McCartney has been prepared to abandon continuity in his own Archive Editions to take advantage of remixing (or, more likely, a remixer, his recent enthusiastic discovery of the mixing prowess of Spike Stent).

        McCartney probably isn’t making any money on his archive series but profitability on Beatles releases is not in doubt.
        ‘1’ is set to become the best selling album of all time (which Neil Aspinall predicted in 2000)

  79. Kind of baffled why people want newly remixed versions, not done by the original team(s), in a 5.1 format for music that was largely released in mono at the time! Buffing up the past to make it sound nicer by today’s standards is just that…it’s not going to get any closer to whatever this idea of a holy grail or definitive Beatles recording might be.

    Restoring old video footage, cleaning up it, great. The 2009 remaster series surely put all the audio needs to bed, no? We got HQ mono and HQ stereo. Whatever we get now is, as someone mused, will be “fake” in as much as it’s been created long after the event by some other people.

    Oh well, it looks a nice package mind you.

    1. ‘Authenticity’ doesn’t make the charts. Although Neil Young (and even Paul McCartney recently, probably because he’s been listening to Neil) is outraged at people listening to music via the speaker on their phone, the fact they’ve forgotten is that the current 70+ fans discovered them via pocket radios. Nothing has changed.

      The ‘authentic’ stereo mixes may be approaching religious relic for some Beatles fans but they’ll be dead when the next generation is sucking up 1++ in Hologram Telepathy mixes.

    2. If you want to be anal-retentive about it, anything but the original vinyl UK releases is not authentic, including the recent mono LPs that were remastered from the analog tapes and even if they were, it doesn’t really matter because every different playback system that’s used to listen to them varies the sound far more than the difference between different mixes and mastering.

      I’m intrigued by the 5.1, but I’ve got to believe that at least on the early recordings that were intended for mono, they’re going to be terrible mixes, probably not doing much more than adding echo and sending the return to the surrounds and re-channeling vocals to the center channel, which a Dolby Surround mode on a receiver can accomplish automatically anyway (except in the cases where vocals were only in one channel). But we’ll see. Many years ago, at an AES convention, I heard a 5.1 demo of Yellow Submarine that was apparently different than what eventually got released on DVD (or even the more recent Blu-ray) that really sounded fantastic. But of course, that’s later material that worked in stereo, even if the Beatles didn’t pay much attention to the stereo mixes until the White Album.

      While I’d like the video, it’s probably something I’d only watch once or twice, so I’m holding off until I read reviews on how the 5.1 sounds and whether this has been over level-compressed like the original release of “1” was. Even for the Beatles, I do get tired of buying the same stuff over and over.

  81. …and to think that this could all be on one Blu-Ray Audio disc, right? I mean there is no reason for it to be spread out on so many discs and formats, right? Even a USB device could do all of this, right?!

    1. There is a reason. Marketing. It’s easier to communicate about a new ‘1’ with 27 videos to match the 27 songs. If they hadn’t done that the package wouldn’t really have made much sense. They could have left it at that, but inevitably people would have complained about loads of ‘missing’ videos, which is why the deluxe exists with two discs.

      they are leveraging the existing ‘1’ brand to maximise sales, basically. Can’t say I blame them and with the deluxe everyone *should* be more or less happy!

      1. There’s also the fact that although Beatles collectors (those who have bought every release and bootleg and then re-downloaded them anyway via torrent while complaining on Amazon :) think they’re the target audience for Apple product, the band happen to be a little bigger than that (then as now).
        For instance, I haven’t got a surround system or Bluray player and have no intention of getting one at present. So I’ll have the DVD set.
        Remember the ‘extremely limited’ 24bit USB flac Apple is still not sold out 6 years later.
        http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B002VH7P4O/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_new_olp_sr?ie=UTF8&condition=new&qid=&sr=

  82. Excellent stuff, amazed there are people moaning about any of this! £40 for double blu and CD isn’t too bad either if you ask me. That looks like nice packaging as well.
    The lack of Let It Be footage also bodes well…

  84. I’m assuming the BluRay/DVD’s will have the audio of the actual live performances they depict (rather than the studio audio overdubbed) for the earlier songs?
    So – we’d be getting 5-channel mixes of the (presumably mono) live audio on those early films??
    I’ll need that explained…

    1. This is a ‘videos’ and ‘number ones’ set so of course the visual elements will be used to illustrate the tracks on ‘1’ (in their remixed form).
      That is, no soundtrack from the live clips is used.

      1. I sincerely hope that’s not the case. I’m assuming that the videos use live tracks when appropriate, like live performances and the Ed Sullivan show. And I think that’s the case, otherwise there wouldn’t be multiple alt versions of the same song.

  85. Anyone know if the Box of Vision will be updated? It could use some extra pages for the mono mixes and now 1+.

    I have both 1 CDs and vinyl. Why not another?

    And…perhaps a similar package of The Rutles is in the works?

    1. SACD or double DSD would be fabtastic as per listening to DSD which I conclude is the best sound ever and as close to pure analogue in pristine high def as you’ll ever get!!

  86. Very positive all round, but Craig (above) is right i feel with the ‘two products mashed together idea’. I never bought the 1 album, it was indeed a very casual fan/ Abba Gold type compiltaion – nothin wrong with those – but of no use nor interest to many readers of a blog like this and with a naff cover to boot.
    I can see the marketing sense tho ‘ more sales projected with audio and visuals than a lower key affair of just the visuals.
    Not complaining however… could always have gone the other way and only be availible as part of some hideously exspensive bells and whistles set… and then released seperately a year later. No ones ever done that before of course…

    1. Yes…I’m holding out for App versions of some of those over-indulged boxed sets that are currently languishing in glass cabinets in stores.
      It reminds me of an earlier era when you had boxed sets like George Harrisons and Godley & Creme sitting up on the top shelf until they went mouldy. Remember those?

          1. I managed to get that MMT box new for a song last Christmas although it was quite possible as it was around release time to pay excessive amounts for it too. The recent Beatles’ stuff tends of be of ‘temporarily limited editions’ so that retailers can simultaneously scam the gullible and delight the diligent. Of course the absolute worst prices are via Apple’s own shop but I suspect that to SOME fans, buying ‘directly from The Beatles’ adds some frisson.

  88. Looks great.

    Unusually(?), DVD appears as comprehensive as the blu-ray?

    @Adrian Grove – very pleased with my cd mono box set. Is that what you are referring to, or should I really pursue the vinyl version?

  91. I was wondering what the #thebeatles1 thing was all about. Fantastic news, and it comes out the same month as my birthday, what joy! Now if we could only get a release of Let It Be…

  92. the prices are somewhat eyewatering, but wowee, that looks like amazing content. bought, somehow, i am sure some organ somewhere in my body can be sold to fund the 2 DVD or Blu variation.

    1. Surely shome mishtake.
      The most expensive version is a fraction of the price of any of the recent spate of deluxe editions of 30 minute albums yet features 200 mins of 4k video and the audio in a selection of hi-res REMIXES. If you put a coin in a box every day from now til Christmas, you’ll have paid for it long BEFORE Christmas! :P

  93. I am looking forward to this very much. But I wish they would also release The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl CD. The Beatles at Shea stadium DVD/Bluray.Let it Be DVD/Bluray. And give the anthology a Bluray release too

    1. Ringo was asked about these things during the year and said ‘It’s all coming out but not THIS Christmas’. That was when I knew THIS set was happening although its content exceeds all expectations, must say!

      Also bear in mind that when EMI sold to Universal, there was a press statement which outlined that Apple/Universal had scheduled projects into the middle of the current century. It doesn’t mean they’re going to publish the schedule!

      1. As of the mid to late eighties, Apple not EMI were in charge of any use of the Beatles’ image and material. They no longer generated or controlled projects although they owned the copyright in the sound recordings. Similarly with Universal. There is no creative contribution or direction from the record company. Apple licences its projects.

  96. I’ve been waiting since my family got their first video recorder back in 1981 for there to be a release of all the Beatle videos. Instead of feeling excited by this news, I feel a sense of relief. Why has it taken this long for Apple to finally get this released???
    My excitement is also dulled by the fact that this is now being released at a time when a lot of first generation Beatle fans have passed away, I know several members of my family would have loved to have seen this, sadly they won’t. The Beatles fan base will have shrunk in the past 20 years since the Anthology and clips of the videos were shown prompting many to think a compilation was inevitable, especially when ‘1’ was first released.

    True they are still getting new fans coming through but wouldn’t it have been nice for the original fans to have seen these films especially as they had remembered seeing them back in the sixties.

    I’m not keen on them using the ‘1’ format for this release, I understand why they have as the original album was so successful. But the reason for it’s success was it was bought mostly by casual fans and people who weren’t that bothered about the Beatles but they could get an instant Beatle record collection for a tenner. i.e the same people who bought ‘Abba Gold’

    But this isn’t going to appeal to those people, they aren’t going to be interested in seeing these videos or know about the history of them, so sadly by using the format of the ‘1’ compilation means that the films aren’t all in chronologically order, which is especially annoying when they could have put all of both discs contents on 1 Blu-ray. So Penny Lane isn’t next to Strawberry Fields Forever and Rain isn’t next to Paperback writer.

    But they’ve had to break the concept anyway so they can included all the other videos so what was the point.

    Although the ‘1’ was wildly successful it still has a crap cover, I was really disappointed the first time I saw it but I thought ‘It must mean something’ or ‘it will be revealed when I see the album properly’ or ‘it must be done by a famous artist’

    No, it’s just a big scruffy yellow number 1 on a red background without having any significance other than the tracks on the album were number one in the UK and US which wasn’t that great a concept as it meant Please Please me and Strawberry Fields Forever were excluded. Just think of all the timeless classic images the Beatles put out and that was the best they could do, I bet they paid the design team a fortune for it.

    As for 5.1 mixes…. I bought the albums in mono last year and believe me they can’t make them sound better than that.

    3. The answer to the question ‘Why has Apple taken so long to….’ is always diverted into palaver about the principals of the company and their this and that yadda yadda.
      Actually it’s always and already about RIGHTS.
      Apple’s post-Beatles split mission, triggered by a call from Paul to Neil was ‘We should try to get TV and film clips before they disappear’, continues past this release. It is very likely that the ‘Let It Be’ set that’s been on the cards since 1995 (likely revised many times) is STILL awaiting all of the jigsaw pieces of rights to be acquired/resolved and in Apple control. When that is achieved (as per Hard Day’s Night which had issues), you get a release. You also get takedown notices on YouTube when it’s all accomplished because to allow rights infractions can make those rights vulnerable.

      1. Apple have had the rights for the majority of the films being released on this collection since the 60’s and 70’s. Neil put together ‘The long and winding road’ in the early 70’s which was made up of the promo films and the tv and live performances they had acquired up until that point. Apple continued to buy up rights and chose not to do anything with them with them in the eighties while the legal cases went on and because they were keeping them to be the crown jewels for the project which became Anthology. Apple were disappointed that they couldn’t get the money they were hoping for from the TV rights to Anthology, using the films as a bargaining tool, which might be one of the reasons they didn’t do anything else with the films becasue they didn’t think they would get the revenue from a compilation that could have been released at any point after 1995 with no issues of rights. This release is being driven by Universal who are looking to get the return on their investment.
        Neil continued Apple with good intentions but it became too over protective and ultimately too greedy to the detriment of Beatle fans.

        1. I think the essence of what you’re saying (‘Neil Aspinall played hardball’) is undoubtedly correct. What other 60’s band’s video material is THIS saleable in 2015?
          Neil and Paul have conspired to never undersell. Others, the record companies and principals of Apple included, have ended up selling their material at bottom dollar (I’m thinking of Ringo and John compilations released by third parties in the past couple of years) and are then surprised when the material loses value.
          I think it mostly comes down to a McCartney attitude of ‘Let them wait’. That boy seems to have known HE could!

          As for the fans, well ‘fanatics’ are never happy and who can blame Ringo and Paul for having an ambivalent attitude to them (Ringo’s quite open, Paul’s typically ‘managed’). After all, Paul has been unable to lay his hands on his loop tapes and Super 8 movies for the simple reason that fans broke into his house and stole them a loooooong time ago.

  102. Pre-Ordered the Deluxe.
    It didn’t even really need thinking about although like a poster above I would have liked to see a 5.1/stereo audio-only disc, I can make my own easily enough once the set gets to me.

  104. Any clarification on the surround mixes? 5.1 is only Dolby but DTS is HD? That would make it compatible with a lot of setups out there. Still worth having for the 1+ video package on Blu-ray.

  106. SWEET! I’ve been fascinated by these since reading about them in Mark Lewisohn’s books, and the only place I’ve seen them is multi-generation copies or fan edits on YouTube. Pre-ordered the deluxe already! :)

    1. Not only puts them to shame but puts most previous Beatles releases to shame as well. I remember when ‘1’ came out in 2000 that a reviewer said something like ‘If you take 2001 to be the first year of the next century, then this Beatles compilation bearing 27 number ones is the bargain of this century’.

      Looks like it’s been trumped for this century by ‘1+’

  112. Forgive me if I’m being a bit dense, but are they saying that the audio on the video tracks has been mixed to 5.1, or do we have actual audio only 5.1 versions of the studio recordings? I’m hoping the latter, but fear the former will be the case.

  113. Nice!
    If only EMI was this quick with remastering (& hopefully expanding) Anthology Volume I, II, III…
    I think this is the 3rd time in 15 years a new version appears (including the original release in 2000).

    1. I think this is the kickoff. If they did this, we’ll probably get all other albums and videos in this format in the next few years. I guess they already working on it as we speak.

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