Can't Buy Me Beatles?

[John Carvill]

For anyone anticipating the forthcoming Beatles remasters, here's the
first 'proper' review I've seen, from UK muso mag MOJO:

"EVER SINCE THE BEATLES first emerged on CD in 1987, there have been
complaints about the sound. Back then the convenience of storage and
cue-ing, the miraculous dearth of surface noise, plus the erroneous
predictions of the format's longevity ("You can gouge 'em! Put jam on
'em! They'll last for ever!") made naysayers look like ridiculous
luddites. But in 2009 CD is the beleaguered format, dissatisfaction
with Beatle CDs is not the crank's preserve, and anyone lucky enough
to own original vinyl copies of the Beatles singles and albums will
appreciate the advantages in clarity and dynamism they enjoy over
owners of the corresponding CDs. Compare Paperback Writer/Rain on
crackly 45, with its weedy Past Masters CD version, and the case is
closed.

It's a payoff, of course. Vinyl noise or CD murk? You pays your money
and you takes your choice. Only now you don't have to. Because here
are the Beatles CD Remasters, four and a half years in the development
and bursting onto a market prepped and tweaked by the hoopla
surrounding Beatles: Rock Band.

"You're in for a shock," Abbey Road sound legend Alan Rouse had
promised MOJO back in July, when we were first allowed some ear-time
with the still-unpackaged discs. Brilliantly, that's still how it
feels a month later...."

http://www.mojo4music.com/blog/2009/08/beatles_remasters_reviewed.html