The Beatles Remastered

(From thebeatles.com)

We are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (09-09-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game.

Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.

The collection comprises all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK, and 'Magical Mystery Tour,' which became part of The Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were first released in 1987. In addition, the collections 'Past Masters Vol. I and II' are now combined as one title, for a total of 14 titles over 16 discs. This will mark the first time that the first four Beatles albums will be available in stereo in their entirety on compact disc. These 14 albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.

Within each CD's new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. With the exception of the 'Past Masters' set, newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.

A second boxed set has been created with the collector in mind. 'The Beatles in Mono' gathers together, in one place, all of the Beatles recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two further discs of mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on 'Past Masters'). As an added bonus, the mono "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all original inserts and label designs retained.

Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time.

Paul and Ringo Please

By Frank Scheck

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - In terms of teasing musical foreplay, this was downright frustrating.

During Paul McCartney's show-closing set for David Lynch's "Change Begins Within" concert at Radio City, an empty drum kit sat tantalizingly behind him. As the ex-Beatle delivered rousing versions of such hits as "Jet," "Lady Madonna" and "Let It Be," among others, the entire audience waited breathlessly in anticipation. When would Ringo Starr, who had just finished his own solo set, be joining him?

It wasn't until nearly the end of the marathon four-hour evening that McCartney announced that the presence of a special guest, one "Billy Shears." Sure enough, the ebullient Ringo bounced out, sharing a microphone with his former bandmate on "With a Little Help From My Friends" and thrilling the sold-out crowd with the closest thing now possible to a Beatles reunion.

Watching Ringo behind the drums while McCartney and the rest of the all-star lineup performed "Cosmically Conscious" and "I Saw Her Standing There" made it seem, if only for a little while, that everything was all right in the world.

Not that everything was necessarily all right with the show, which raised some $3 million for Lynch's foundation, whose goal is to teach the practice of meditation to 1 million "at risk" children around the world.

Hosted by Lynch and actress Laura Dern, the evening featured a gallery of musical stars, but the inclusion of endless earnest speeches about the glories of Transcendental Meditation too often made it seem like a glorified infomercial.

It also served as a reunion of sorts for veterans of the Beatles' 1968 sojourn to India to study with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, including Donovan (whose set included "Hurdy Gurdy Man," accompanied by My Morning Jacket's Jim James), flautist Paul Horn, and Mike Love of the Beach Boys.

Many of the stars performed material clearly inspired by the occasion. Sheryl Crow, accompanied by Ben Harper, covered George Harrison's "My Sweet Lord." McCartney paid tribute to John Lennon with "Here Today." And Harper and Eddie Vedder killed with a rendition of Queen and David Bowie's "Under Pressure."

Other highlights included Moby and Bettye LeVette dueting on "Natural Blues" while accompanied by the TM Kids Choir; Vedder's intense solo acoustic renditions of such songs as "Far Behind" and "Rise"; and pianist Angelo Badalamenti's show-opening rendition of his eerie "Twin Peaks" theme.

Surprise guests included Jerry Seinfeld ("Don't meditate on me, I gotta do some jokes here," he cracked) and an uncharacteristically serious Howard Stern, who announced that he's been meditating for 38 years and who credited TM with saving his depressed mother's life many years ago.