I've been listening to the new remasters of the Beatles albums, trying to find a single reason for their existence. The single biggest feature distinguishing these CDs from the 1987 releases is the stereo mixes of the first four albums. But of course anyone who ponied up for the two Capitol Albums box sets (or semi-legally downloaded them) already has the stereo mixes of these songs. (Parenthetically - what the hell happened to that Capitol Albums series? There are still a number of Capitol albums they never put out on CD: Yesterday and Today - probably the best set Capitol put together; Revolver; Hey Jude; The Beatles Christmas Album; At the Hollywood Bowl. In fact, some of those albums are more interesting than the ones they did put out. Oh well - end of parenthesis).
Basically, these "remastered" CDs are a bit louder, a bit bassier, and have "corrected" a few of the quirkier "mistakes" from the 1987 CDs (my favorite is the incorrectly timed fade of the double tracking on Eleanor Rigby - good thing I've got the original CD). So basically, Capitol Records has now tried to sell consumers largely the same exact music on the same format three different times in the last 20 years. Meanwhile The Beatles Christmas Album and At the Hollywood Bowl remain out of print, not to mention countless albums and songs by less "worthy" artists in the Capitol archives (just for starters, where's Joy of Cooking, The Go-Betweens 1978-1990, George Clinton You Shouldn't-Nuf Bit Fish, or The Raspberries Starting Over?)
I guess they know that Beatles fans can be duped into buying anything.
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