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1962-1966 (The Red Album)
Artist : The Beatles
List Price : $34.98 USD
Your Price : $24.97 USD
ProductGroup: Music
Release Date : 1993-10-05
Studio : Capitol
Label : Capitol
Avg. Customer Rating :  (206 reviews)
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Reviews
Customer Reviews for 1962 1966
Where's the (digital) beef?!?
Rating:
If you've spent any time burning your own audio CDs (i.e. "Redbook" CDs as they are known in optical media world), then you probably quickly figured out that all 26 tracks will easily fit on one standard CD-R (or, if you know your blank CDs, that'll be a Taiyo Yuden!).
So, why are we "given" two CDs? Easy? So the record company can charge $23 instead of $13.
Of course, the label's reason (read: pandering excuse) is that they are being "faithful to the original release." Since when are COMPILATIONS considered to be "original releases"?? Even classic packages such as Marley's "Legend" merely cherry pick the best (and best-selling) songs from his albums--just as every other "Greatest Hits" or "Best of" disc does.
The VERY least that the label could have (SHOULD) done was to add extra tracks. God knows the Fab Four recorded enough hits and out-takes in order to fill these two discs out with a plethora of B-sides, different takes of classic songs, and sides that were unreleased for one reason or another.
Those of us who pay attention wouldn't be sitting around wondering why so many albums by so many albums lesser groups are jammed to the gills with studio cast-offs, lame live versions and the occasional gem. (E.g. look at the "remastered" version of "Who's Next", a half-baked attempt to "recreate" the failed "Lighthouse" project, whose only notable result was the greatest album the Who and Pete Townshend ever recorded.)
Even scraping the bottom of the barrel (creatively at least) they could slapped an interview onto one of the discs. The remastered version of Tull's "Thick As A Brick" has a fascinating 13-14min interview recorded around the time the album was made.
What serious Beatles' fan wouldn't want to hear a good interview with the group, especially one from the period right before the became The Biggest Band in History, selling more than 170,000,000 records (that's more than Elvis and Barbara Streisand combined!).
Bottom line is:
The great songs are here (most of them anyway, "Twist and Shout" anyone?). The CDs sound is excellent; I'd love to a Mobile Fidelity version!
But this package could have been fully fleshed into something interesting, something perhaps even special. That way the $23 we shelled out for this "two" disc set would have been worth it.
Yet with this Beatles' set we get exactly what we would have paid for in 1967.
Hello, record company executives!! It's 40 years later. Time to get a clue. Instead of taking advantage of the 80-82 mins ea. CD gives them, the label decided to pretend they still had to work within the time constraints, between 45 and 50 mins using both sides.
And they wonder more and more people are downloading more and more music: they can pick exactly the songs they want without what used to be called "filler"--but is nowadays called "hit singles".
Customer Reviews for 1962 1966 Cd
Beatles 62
Rating:
I enjoy every song! These songs I grew up with so they bring back happy memories of singing these songs on the way home from school.
Editorial Reviews for 1962 1966 Audio Cd
Amazon.com
The closest the Beatles came to a greatest hits package, this document of the early part of their career features hit singles (in chronological order) and selected album tracks, running from "Love Me Do" through the groundbreaking Rubber Soul and Revolver albums. While this may be an excellent intro for beginners, real fans will never be content with only selections, especially when you're dealing with those aforementioned albums. Capitol packages the collection on two discs, copying the original vinyl version--but, of course, CDs hold more music than records did. Still, you do get 26 bona fide classics, so there's no real need to complain. --Bill Holdship
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