Right: The Stereo Remasters

Having read comments on various forums about rips, tears and even missing CDs, it appears that my decision to order the Boxed Sets from Beatles.com might have been the correct one.

It only cost £20 more than from places like Amazon. They arrived this morning in two sturdy cardboard boxes fastened with that tough brown parcel tape. Inside were the boxes wrapped in four layers of bubble-wrap? The boxes themselves were shrink- wrapped and made of laminated tough cardboard including the sleeve for the Stereo Box.

I opened the Mono Box first…each CD was in a re-sealable plastic sleeve and the covers themselves were again made of cardboard and included a facsimile of the original vinyl album sleeve and another semi transparent sleeve to protect from scratching. All round a superb job. The Stereo came next and is in itself a work of art. A tall box in a sleeve which opens to reveal 2 compartments separated by a plastic divider, holding the albums, each one shrink-wrapped. The sleeves are the same quality as the Mono set.

To criticize the way in which this has been put together smacks of nit picking, but personally there are a few things that I would have liked to seen done differently. Firstly…why couldn't the Mono box have had the same design as the Stereo…after all this is the set aimed at the collectors? Why couldn't the Stereo set have had the same re-sealable plastic covers as the Mono and also included the inner sleeves etc? Minor points I know and of course it's a personal opinion, and maybe others are entirely happy with them the way they are.

My sets (CDs) were manufactured in the EU...exact country not known, but the packaging was all made and printed in the UK. Despite what a lot of us were hoping for, the sets do not appear to be numbered, not even the White Albums. And of course there are no bonus tracks, unless you count the original stereo mixes of Help and Rubber Soul which are actually on the Mono Discs. Many had been prophesying that we would at the very least have a snippet of Carnival of Light....

So what about the sound? Now this is where any review becomes entirely subjective…after all we are all different ages and hear things (even the same natural sounds) differently. As one becomes older the first thing to go is the lower register which affects your ability to hear bass and deep sounds…maybe that's why the 1987 CDs sounded so harsh and brittle after George Martin had "digitally remastered" them. My system will be different to anyone else’s and Speaker Placement, size of room and any one of a number of things can and do affect what comes out of the woofers and tweeters for your aural enjoyment.

Right: The Mono Remasters

So... how do they compare with first of all the 1987 CDs? This is a no contest...the Remasters win on all fronts. It's like the difference between a black and white TV, and my Panasonic 42" plasma.

Some have said, elsewhere that they prefer the vinyl and that it is still better. I wouldn't go that far...they are certainly different to the original LPs. For a start the warmth that you get from vinyl is missing, but they make up for that in their own way…no snap crackle or pop for example...on the minus side however purists will notice that one or two things have been sacrificed for the sake of aural clarity including the " chair" sound at the end of A Day In The Life.

Another forum has had a thread running discussing whether or not the good Doctors needle drops are superior to the remasters...the majority say yes. In my opinion this is nothing more than elitism. I have a number of originals from the Doc so was able to do an AB comparison. As good as they are they do not come anywhere near the standard of the Remasters.

It is not my intention to review each and every track or compare Mono to Stereo - each of us will have their own particular preference - although I will say that, for example, the first two albums have a quaint naivety in stereo, but literally attempt to wreck your speakers in mono.

In this weekend’s newspapers there were a number of reviews varying from the cloth eared to the modern equivalent of William Mann with his "Aeolian cadences". Perhaps the best was from Ken Kessler who is editor of a UK Hi Fi Magazine - his quote that "To appreciate the magnitude of the challenge, think of it as on a par with an art restorer cleaning a begrimed Turner. " probably sums it all up.

Those responsible for these discs have brought out subtle nuances in the vocals, enhanced the background and cleared away the sonic dirt which we knew all along was hiding even more brilliant music.

I believe that in years to come, these new discs, will be seen as the definitive versions.

If you haven't got them, then beg, borrow or steal, but whatever you do, don't let them pass you by.