The Ones Mastered 9.09: The New Beatle Remasters

Perhaps Paul had some of his fortune tied up with Bernie Madoff. Maybe Ringo owes some quid to the taxman. But just as they were fading from the public eye, The Beatles have something new for sale.

Only days after Macca & Ringo played on stage together for the first time since the 2002 Concert for George, Apple Corps announced that long-awaited remastered versions of the entire Beatles studio catalog will be released on September 9. In BeatleLand, even release dates are cheeky, as the date is 9.09.09, or Number 9.

If you are a fab dweeb, you also know that the Beatles Rock Band video game is being released on the same date.

The records, from Please Please Me through Abbey Road, and including the essential singles/leftovers comps Past Masters I and II, will be available in both stereo and mono editions. Each CD will also include an extra DVD with a making-of-the-album documentary, which is more than enough for a lot of Beatlemaniacs to soil themselves.

As anyone familiar with Beatles recordings will tell you, their stereo separation often leaves much to be desired. For example, "Lady Madonna" has all the vocals on one side and the piano-driven music on the other. On headphones or an iPod, it's actually quite annoying. So the prospect of cleaned up and enhanced mono recordings is exciting indeed. I also remember reading somewhere that the White Album sounds better in mono than stereo, but I guess we'll just have to see.

And anyone who has heard the soundtrack to the Cirque deSoleil show LOVE knows, remastered Beatles sounds pretty incredible.

To help you remember the release date, the Fabs have worked up a little ditty. Take it away boys.