This may surprise some of you, but probably not. The Beatles (as of August ’09) are the 2nd biggest selling music act of this decade. Second, only to Eminem, whose sales reach into the 32 million mark for the 2000′s and the Beatles with 28.2 million. For a band that broke up 39 years ago this is an impressive feat. Now that they have reissued their entire catalog on 9/9/09 and Eminem may be in jeopardy.
That day my local Target store was sold out of everything Beatles. All the single disc reissues, the boxed sets and even the old (not remastered) cd’s. The following Sunday, my girlfriend and I driving home from vacation stopped at every mall in a 3 hour radius seeking the elusive limited edition mono box sets and each store had the same response, “we sold out in 5 minutes”. In the UK last week, the billboard top ten were all Beatles albums and one Michael Jackson record still lingering.
I currently have possession of the stereo box set and let me just say (before we get into the music) it is visually pleasing. Packaged in cardboard digi-packs with extensive booklets. These booklets include the original liner notes, additional notes on what was happening in the Beatles career when the album was recorded and technical notes on the recording process. Not to mention the pictures! Clearly prepared with love and care, the pictures were well researched to be from and right around the time each specific album was being recorded. It makes you wonder why the most famous band of all time didn’t do this when they first released their cd’s in ’87 instead of giving us cheap one page booklet with nothing in it.
Oh, and the music, wait till you hear the music…
Check back in tomorrow for Part 2
I’m still pissed about not finding the mono box sets and also entering into the creepiest town ever and still turning up empty handed. Boo Mono Box set, I want you so badly.
[...] You can read Part 1 here. [...]
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