The Beatles Remastered CDs Out On 9/9/9

September 9th, 2009 is a true holiday for Beatles fans because the Beatles remastered CD box sets are finally being released. The 1980s CD versions are thought by most to be a very poor example of mastering for CD which is a big reason why people have been wanting new better versions for so long.

But the excitement from 9/9/9 doesn’t just come from the fact that the albums are being remastered for the first time since their original release on CD, it also comes from the mono box set that is being released on that day. This is the first time that the original mono mixes of The Beatles albums (up through 1968 which is when they stopped doing mono mixes) are going to be available on CD.

So why should we care about such an outdated way of listening to music here in the 21st century? Mono was being phased out in the 1960s, why should we listen to mono mixes today? Sure a lot of people think that stereo is all you need because it’s the standard these days, but for those curious about the original intention of The Beatles and their production team the mono mixes are of great interest.

The mono mixes are what the band (along with George Martin & Geoff Emerick) were primarily focused on. The Beatles stereo mixes were done with little input from the band while they were very involved with the mono mixes which were worked on until they were just right. Because of this many feel that the original mono mix of an album such as Sgt. Pepper is the “real” version of the album.

But there’s even more Beatles stuff for fans to get excited about coming out on 9/9/9, for gamers there’s the Beatles Rock Band game which looks awesome from the previews of it I’ve seen. You can play through The Beatles whole career from their beginnings in Liverpool through their final album, Abbey Road. Even the Rock Band instruments look like the original Beatles gear (the best example is McCartney’s bass!) And now for the first time with the Beatles Rock Band game, you can sing harmonies.