Apple Corps/EMIThe reports are true: a new 16-LP vinyl box set containing all 12 Beatles studio albums in stereo is coming out November 13.
The release date has been circulating online for several days, apparently the result of MusicDirect.com posting the box set on their website, a posting that had been removed by Wednesday afternoon, replaced with a message reading that the product "may have been discontinued or no longer available for purchase online." On Thursday, however, EMI officially announced the box set details -- and they're sweet.
Included in the set, remastered by Abbey Road studios over four years, are The Beatles original 12 U.K. albums, the U.S.-originated Magical Mystery Tour album, and Past Masters, Volumes One & Two, featuring non-album A-sides and B-sides, EP tracks and rarities, all on 180-gram vinyl with replicated original artwork and covers. In an interesting bit of trivia, EMI notes the box set will mark the first time The Beatles’ first four albums are released on stereo vinyl in North America. If you're a purist, the remastered albums will make their mono vinyl debuts in 2013.
Also included in the box se are all the original album extras, including the poster in The Beatles (The White Album), the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band’s cutouts, and special inner bags for some of the titles. There's also an illustrated 12"x12", 252-page hardbound book. However, you'll have to buy the box set to get it -- and only 50,000 copies of the set will be sold worldwide.
If the extras aren't that important to you, you'll be able to purchase the albums on vinyl individually. The EMI announcement doesn’t include suggested retail, but Amazon.com is offering the box set for $399.99.
The remastered Beatles collection was previously released on CD in 2009.
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