I got me the “Help!” vinyl and I must say it was the best purchasing decision I’ve done in awhile. I bought mine from a seller in Spain for $45.00 shipment included in mint condition still in the wrapper. The sound was well balanced unlike any other Beatles vinyl I’ve bought so far.
In this video I learned what a «part work» is and the word «gibberish». And a lot about the De Agostini company and how they run their business. Thanks for explaining, Andrew!
Very informative video again Andrew & I've a friend who subscribed to premium & collected everything including the double cases to store the albums in & I now think he was one of the lucky ones as apart from the A Hard Days Night mistake right at the start (which he got replaced) he got all the albums on time as well as the gifts without any real damage & I have to say they all sound & look great & up there with my own collection & the 3 Anthology albums are absolutely stunningly packaged.... Great stuff
Interesting video… never heard of these reissues before! They would make a killing if they did a mono albums series, especially if they could get an unworn set of stampers from the 2014 reissues.
I bought half a dozen of these, it was a great inexpensive way to pick up a few of my favourites on vinyl while doing my weekly shopping in Tesco! In that respect they were great.
I had no idea such a release existed. Thank you for this video. I do remember how exciting it was getting those huge Columbia House and RCA Record Service boxes with my newly ordered LPs. Keep up the excellent work, Andrew! We appreciate your dedication.
Worth noting: to my knowledge, no Beatles albums were issued by Columbia House or RCA/BMG Music Service to issue their albums. I have read that these US record clubs tended to short-change payment of artist royalties, since the various "free if you buy more records at regular price" albums were classified as promotional items and thereby exempt from royalty payments. I don't know of any record clubs or subscription services -- or even Reader's Digest Music -- issuing Beatles LPs, CDs or tapes to Americans.
@@48musicfan I recall those record-club albums quite well, and they carried a lot of artists (just not The Beatles). When I bought vinyl LPs or CDs from those two clubs, they arrived sturdily packaged. I did not personally receive any damaged Columbia House/RCA/BMG LPs or CDs.
A collection like this would have been awesome in the 70s and 80s. I stopped buying vinyl in 1989, but I kept a few Beatle albums for sentimental reasons. "Help!" was the first album I ever bought when I was a kid and I was also the guy's first customer in his record store. After paying for "Help!" he let me pick out another album for free. I immediately thought of "Let It Be" but then as I was looking through their Beatle albums I saw "Magical Mystery Tour" and got that one. If I had this collection I would be afraid to play them and even if I wanted to play them I haven't owned a turn table in over 30 years. They would just end up on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. I'm not an expert on collecting but I would imagine this kind of collection wouldn't increase in value over time. It's not like the original thing. The original albums didn't have internet addresses on them.🎶
Hi there. I got my complete set by wandering over to my newsagent every two weeks. As you mentioned, as time went on, it became harder to get them and I didn’t get them all in chronological order but my newsie was great and he made sure I did complete the set. I even got the reissue one for free so I have both albums in my set. What a joy it was to sit down, every few weeks with a mug of tea and listen to each album. My set have all been played once and are now kept In a record box. Im really pleased with my complete set and found your vid a great watch. I didn’t expect the review to be as good as it was but am pleasantly surprised to hear that DA have obviously done quite a good job here. Thanks for making your video. All the best. Paul.
Thanks again for sharing Andrew, I’ve been buying the Dylan series myself and decided to order them from my local newsagents and much like some of the Beatles ones there are finger marks on the vinyl when you first open them and there has been some small imperfections to the sleeves too but they do sound great!
When I first heard about this set I was surprised that the Anthology series was actually making a comeback in it. A missed opportunity to not have Let It Be Naked and the Yellow Sub Songtrack though, but oh well. It really would be cool to see a Monkees vinyl set get issued on 180g with fresh looking covers. Might give people another chance to get Changes and Barrel Full Of Monkees hah!
@@RUfromthe40s I got into them by the time the 09 remastered CDs got released. My parents were and still are big fans of older bands which is what got me into them too around that time. It's always nice to have those days where you're with your family and just relaxing to some tunes!
I bought them all except "1" from my local newsagent. Great to find the best copy by flicking through. The sound quality was very good with low noisefloor. I have the 2012 set too and slightly prefer the Deagostini's. Very similar sound, different cuttings though. Highlights were getting the three Anthologies and the two Live at BBC albums. These sound terrific. From the studio albums, Help! and With the Beatles stood out for SQ. Deagostini also gave me a free AHDN cut 2 and allowed me to keep the flawed cut 1. Good video, Andrew has done his HW!
As always…you create an excitement even in a critique style. I did not know about this collection at all! But every time a Beatles album is culled from the world wide archives I get excited! At 70…that’s great news!!👍👍 Great job again!
Hello Andrew,great review as always. I was bought the White Album as a Christmas gift 2 years ago. I learnt they had got it off e bay;the asking price was a lot lower than the Apple pressings. It was still sealed and perfect with no creases or damage. I have to say the sound quality was very good,clear,vibrant and plenty of depth. I have to say it's my least favourite album,it could have been a brilliant single record,that's why it was the last Beatles record I got
Since I discovered these, I always thought they were just a waste of time. No disrespect to them, but I essentially saw this as the 2012 reissues, just with “DeAgostini” plastered on it. I didnt know McGee actually recut the albums, but you can only do so much less with digital files. Bummer to find out Red and Blue were digital cuts, they’re probably the ones being used on the 2018 Blue reissue. At least it was nice to see the Anthology series repressed. Otherwise, I can’t help but to hold on to my original thought of this set, just a waste of money and time. I really wanted to change my mind, but with a great in-depth review, it sealed the deal for me. Edit: a major turn off was seeing absolutely no copies without any flaws on the cover. Crushed corners, whole creases, even at some point a ripped cover. At least on eBay, as I’m a US buyer.
I made the collection and the value for money is very good, the sound has nothing to envy to other editions of this century. I have verified the album of "A hard day's night" and it sounds great, it is seen that in Spain I do not arrive with these errors. Continue with the videos, they are very interesting, greetings from Spain.
Nice video, as always! I didn’t know a lot about this set, until now, so thank you very much! You cleared out a lot of questions. Nice to get a video on the USB Beatles collection! They now fetch for a pretty penny, when it turns up.
As ever a great review on the Beatles as a part work. The main thing is the vinyl is still being made and a new generation of fans will experience the music as it should be heard.
Since I'm in the US, I hadn't heard of this collection outside of this channel. No "Collection of Oldies..."?? Seems like an oversight there, especially since they included the Red and Blue albums. I can't say I'm entirely suprised that a company known for publishing magazines does very well with album covers and not so well with the albums themselves. Maybe they've learned lessons and the current collections are better. If your review had said they were good quality pressings, I might have felt sad for missing out on this opportunity. However, I can't say I'm gutted. Thanks for this, Andrew. Once again, another educational and entertaining video. 😀
I didn't know about these when they came out. Recently i picked up copy of the Help album still sealed and everything in my local second hand store for a couple of quid. I thought it was a bargain then, but even more so now. Great video, thanks.
Thank you, there is very little detailed information about this set online so this video is very welcome! While I am not interested in the majority of the albums from this series, I did recently pick up Anthology 1, 2 and 3 from it for a price I couldn't pass by. Good to hear they are broadly of decent quality.
Great shows, Question, On what system did the vast Majority of the World listen to the Please Please Me album on first release? I'm guessing 99% mono Dansette players.
Andrew, first of all, thank you for all your interesting and amazing analysis of every Beatles recording and related stuff. I bought the DeAgostini’s Magical Mystery Tour a few years ago and I think the bass and low ends are too loud, it doesn’t sound as clear as other editions I’ve heard through the years. It didn’t say much to me, too contemporary for my taste.
I subscribed to the full set (delivered), had no major problems, a couple of late deliveries, and some of the bonus gifts arrived very late, I found the quality acceptable, and glad I bought the black cases, they keep the sleeves pristine.
I have the complete set bought from Tesco on the week of release whenever I was out shopping. They have remained exactly the way I bought them, sealed and unplayed with no dodgy bent back cards. I even managed to pick up the Deagostini display stand that held them when the series finished which for me was worth more than all the guff you got with a subscription.
Living here in the USA, glad I could take an automatic pass on this set. At the end of the day they were all still digitally mastered. I'll stick with my Dutch analog sourced box set from the 80's.
Been following you since the beginning and I believe that THIS is the first time I've heard you say something "nice" about the 2012 Stereo box set... sort of.
I can already predict the next Beatles big box...The Beatles remix stereo box... Including all the remixed digital albums that are now being released individually... Apple records never seems to come short of ideas...
I got their release of "Kind of Blue". An absolutely stunning pressing. Everything you would want, thick, flat, quiet. I got one of their "Rubber Soul" re-issues, and thought it fine, except for the blurb and wee hologram on the cover rear.
Based on this video I got a copy of the DeAgostini release of Help! You were right, it is much more open and less muddy than other copies that I have although my wife doesn't know why I need eight copies of this in various formats. Eight albums to hold me maybe.
Great review. As ever. Differences in groove spacing (between different pressings for the same album!) is an often overlooked detail (on record cutting) in reviews. Even if it doesn't affect the overall sound quality, it does say something about the mastering engineer and cutter's thinking process on approaching the project...
Fantastic video Andrew. I have the whole collection of these, though I didn't subscribe, I got all mine from my local Premier shop. My AHDN copy has the error on the first track and Sgt Pepper does have the Beatles chatter missing in the inner groove which is a shame, but apart from that the collection is great. The covers are nice, the magazines are very informative and the vinyl albums sound great too. I've also started collecting the Bob Dylan vinyl collection as well. I find the magazines don't have much info about the albums though which is a little disappointing, but the vinyl sounds fantastic. I got the whole Elvis Presley magazine and DVD collection too. Every issue came with various artefacts and posters and it's an absolutely awesome collection. Thanks for the review on this Beatles collection, loved it. 👍
I actually have all of these and subscribed when they came out. They sound pretty decent to me but then I don't have a tonne of reference to go from. I'm happy I have the collection on vinyl. Which is probably what they intended for, people like me to say, "You know I've the ENTIRE collection in vinyl" :D
I subscribed for it all. I had no problems with any damaged covers. I did receive the A Hard Days Night with the error, so phoned them and they sent a corrected version without me sending back the one with the error. I was pleased about that as it makes it one of those oddity’s. Very happy with the set. But I have my 60’s & 70’s Beatles stereo records.
I picked this up at the time in Spain, and some of the issues you mentioned were fixed by the time they brought this here. Like AHDN was OK, and I didn't really experience any damaged records. The freebies were a bit crap, and got rid of all of them. I don't know if you noticed, but the coffee mug only shows the Beatles logo outwards if you hold it with your left hand. I didn't pay the extra for the boxes because I thought they were too expensive for a cardboard box. What I liked from this collection the most was getting the Anthology albums, live at the BBC and love, which seem harder to get nowadays. Currently in Spanish websites like wallapop or vinted, these records go for little money i.e. 20ish euros each. You can recognize them because of the hollogram sticker in the back. So other than Pepper, which doesn't have the gibberish bit, I recommend it as a way to get Beatle records at a good price.
Ive subscribed to the Dylan collection and i think the sound quality is superb overall. The Times They Are A Changin is in mono and up to now, everything else has been in stereo. Im currently waiting for Bringing It All back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, hoping theyre in mono too!
Remember seeing these on a display in Tesco (UK supermarket) and thinking ‘what the…..’. I didn’t buy any as I gave up on vinyl when CD came along in the 80’s but is very interesting to finally find out what it was all about - thank you Andrew!
I'm a UK based Queen collector. Deagostini produced a full Queen set in Italy, but they started the UK set just as lockdown was starting, only releasing 2 or 3 to test the waters. I didn't find a single one in the shops and they shut down the releases due to lack of interest. UK Queen fans felt quite short changed by this.
Don't think it was de agostini it was Hatchette 4 trials were pressed with booklets some were given an lp when the subscription was cancelled. The lps were Queen 1, A Kind of Magic, A Night At The Opera & Innuendo double lp
I do remember these being sold in Tesco at the time in Southport , but was short on money so I did not buy them but definitely wanted them, so thanks to your I now know they are worth buying thank you
This seems an awesome Collection Andrew, but unfortunatelly this would never works in my country, in Brazil this would become really expensive, love your channel, take care!
Absolutely fascinating. Although I try to stay well informed on Beatles releases, I’ve never heard of this before. Very much looking forward to your review of the USB thingy, which is still a primary way I listen to the stereo albums in the car, although I may replace them with my own vinyl transfers, as I’ve done with the mono.
In my country, Argentina, we have La Nación/Rolling Stone Magazine, which do exactly the same thing, and the records are press in Argentina also. But not all is wonder, some times they comes wobble, the covers are mess up, and the records are cut in low sound (some are good, some aren't) from digitized files, and the distribucion are in the local diary store (kiosco). Keep on the good videos!
Was waiting for this video ! I got the whole collection on a Deagostini subscription of course nothing beats the originals but this is still a very nice set to own very well made covers vinyl nice and heavy (know now not 180g !!) bookets were nice a few of the free gifts were good notebook-boxset-backpack rest were just tatt really. To get the love/BBC/anthology albums at that price was too good to turn down. Beside the sound errors on a few albums my experience was very very good beside one of the boxsets arrived with damage to one corner a replacement was sent to me with easy everything else arrived in excellent condition actually some I saw in the shops were in awful condition all corners bent etc etc. Nice collection to have very happy with it great vid as always can't wait for the USB review see it on ebay for crazy money !! Salute !
I got the collection here in Italy by mail. No major problems and a good quality, at least to my ear... Gifts: a (very poor) power bank, a shirt and a mug. I can tell you this: one delivery was very very very late, so late that I thought it was lost somewhere, so I asked for a new one and I got it. Yet, after a long time, the first one arrived from Lord knows where, so now I still have the package that I left unopened: it's quite sturdy indeed. Unfortunately I can't send you a photo here...
Another solid episode. ..I was very interested in this video as I know of a guy who subscribed to DeAgestino and documented the whole process. It wasn't good. ..he got sent damaged albums. ....multiple copies of albums...no extras. ..and the customer service was terrible. The one thing that I did learn in this episode is that it's a new cut...I always thought DeAgestino used the 2012 pressings. Also MPO seems like a decent enough pressing plant. .I have the new Judas Priest reissues which are pressed at MPO they sound great. Anyways thanks for another great episode. Mark Anthony K Projekt Gemineye
Another great video Andrew, well done Sir 👍 I’ve got the Apple USB stick and used directly into my music system it sounds excellent to my ears for a digital source. Mind you, a good DAC is a must to get the best sound in my opinion so looking to your review on that..👍
It would also have been interesting to know that this vinyl series from DeAgostini was discontinued in Germany after a few albums. Subscribers like me were informed that no more albums would be delivered in Germany. 🤷♀
Thanks Andrew, I had no idea this was a thing , which is probably just as well, I mean how many Beatles collections does one need to own - I already have the 1982 Gold Box, the 1988 wooden box (vinyl & CD) and 2009 set. It’s true what you say though, nearly 4 months of recent covid lockdown in Sydney was made so much more bearable by the regular arrival on my doorstep of 12”x12” packages
Another great video Andrew! How about telling us about later pressings of the original LPs? Ive got what appears to be a 1978 pressing of the White Album and despite it not appearing to be a Harry Moss cut, the sound is superb!
I hadn't heard of this set until I clicked on the video. Looks like I haven't been missing out on anything, either. Even though it's a compilation and not a collection of individual albums, I'll stick with the 1980 World Records box set for my mail-order Beatles listening.
About the Clipped beginning of A Hard Day's Night, that was not the case in Japan. The cut-off is the one released in overseas (Spain, Portugal, France)
I have a number of the Jazz DeAgostini pressings, all of which are really good - pressed well and sound great, certainly helps that I got them for less than $10 a piece through the Zavvi Jazz starter pack. Only issues were shipping damage which is inevitable for all records being shipped.
Recently struck a deal with a seller on ebay for the whole set. Sealed as described. Double the price of course, analog or digital, an upgrade or not, Beatles products are always good to have. As long as bills are paid first 😀. Cant wait for it to come in tho’. Thanks for posting this video…luv it!!
I bought the albums as they were released in local shops. Didn't bother with any of the extras. I'll have to check out A Hard Days Night as I've only opened a couple of the LP's! It's nice to hear the background story to this collection. Cheers
Hi Andrew, I subscribed and got the complete set with the boxes and gifts. Overall I thought they did a very good job and I am very pleased with my set. I had no issues with damage or delays either. It seems they got it right some of the time as I was oblivious to any issues. Keep up the good work, love the videos. Any chance you could do a video on contract pressings? I have most variations regarding singles, however might be an interesting topic! Cheers 👍
I bought a sealed copy of BBC Vol 1 and 2. There are a lot of scruffs on the record right when I unsealed them. But other than that, I think they sound great. The vinyl are quiet with no distortion.
I’ve got a Deagostini ‘let it be’ album that sticks on the guitar solo of ‘let it be’. It was like this from new but didn’t return it for some unknown reason, it will look good in a frame though
I bought them all and I play and love them all. I’ve gone on to now collect the original Mono discs plus also trying to collect the equivalent US releases on Capital. DeAgostini reignited my passion for the Fab 4. (I didn’t know about the reissue of HDN so will try to get that issue from the publishers).
I bought this set on order at my local newsagents, so I did'nt have any problems with postal damage. I had a few gaps, (and unplayable copies), in my LP collection. I had Abbey Road on reel to reel copied off a cassette. Rubber Soul was unplayable, (as was Let It Be). I only had A Hard Days Night on 8-track. And I did'nt even know that Sgt Pepper had a big picture in the inside until I goy it in this set. LOL. All my copies have been bought second hand over the years, and I can only assume someone removed the picture from Pepper to put on a wall and glued the cover back together. All in all though, I'm very happy with the quality of these records.
Does this DeAgostini HELP LP rate as one of your best sounding HELP Lp's? Can you please provide a listing of your top three best sounding HELP LP's? THANKS Andrew!
I miss the huge selection of the big old fashioned record stores from years ago! It is stressful when you wonder about a record shipment being damaged in transit.
Nice video, Andrew. I choosed MPO pressing plant for three times. They are reasonably cheap as a pressing plant, I have nothing to say to their customer service, but I have ONE issue with them. The guy who handles lacquer discs in a process of silvering. All of the records I have pressed at MPO, have the same problem: finger spots on lacquers - so all records pressed from the stampers have the same finger spots. Everytime I used MPO for pressing, I have supplied external lacquers from SST GmbH. But when I used other pressing plants, also supplied with lacquers from SST, like Pallas or My45, the records were spotless. So when MPO sent test pressings for the third time with finger spots already engraved on mothers and stampers (as always), that was the last order I made there. Anyway, do you own US 2012 remasters pressed at GZ Media? They were pressed in 2017 and 2018.
After reading extensive review forum threads I bought most of the DEAGOSTINI pressings supplemented by the 2012 vinyl remasters. At first I was blown away by the sound quality. Cut a long story short, I then bought an analogue pressing of Sgt Pepper which sounded so much better than the DEAGOSTINI. I have since sold all my remastered 2012 and DEAGOSTINI albums and bought multiple vinyl pressings (stereo and mono) of each Beatles title - very much guided by Andrews videos of the best sounding cuts. The analogues sound so much better IMO - more dynamic and punchy.
In Germany they stopped divery of these Collection after issue 5 and also cancelled all subscriptions, so I had to have them delivered from Italy from a very helpful owner of a newspapershop in Rome.
Here at " my place," they where sold a piece,i bought just " White Album," for content,poster and pictures,later i gave it as present away,because i have " original," "Capitol," from 198...din' t remember. My grandmother brought it to me. Cheers Young Master Andrew.P.S.critics are not against you,they' re there for improvment.🖐️😎 Next week,while you " talking," new topic,i' ll be on vinyl fair,buying Beatles "Abbey Road," 1969.and some Japanese pressings i hope.
Man.....the postal service can be brutal at times.....I would have screamed if MY vinyl had arrived like that... Quality control AND quality service is EVERYTHING.....even if you have to pay a bit more....
I got me the “Help!” vinyl and I must say it was the best purchasing decision I’ve done in awhile. I bought mine from a seller in Spain for $45.00 shipment included in mint condition still in the wrapper. The sound was well balanced unlike any other Beatles vinyl I’ve bought so far.
In this video I learned what a «part work» is and the word «gibberish». And a lot about the De Agostini company and how they run their business. Thanks for explaining, Andrew!
From 0:00 to 16:06 - OUTSTANDING!! Thank you so much for this. I had never heard of this set before.
Glad you enjoyed it, Mark.
Very informative video again Andrew & I've a friend who subscribed to premium & collected everything including the double cases to store the albums in & I now think he was one of the lucky ones as apart from the A Hard Days Night mistake right at the start (which he got replaced) he got all the albums on time as well as the gifts without any real damage & I have to say they all sound & look great & up there with my own collection & the 3 Anthology albums are absolutely stunningly packaged.... Great stuff
As always, an abundance of interesting information, brilliantly presented. Always a pleasure!
Interesting video… never heard of these reissues before! They would make a killing if they did a mono albums series, especially if they could get an unworn set of stampers from the 2014 reissues.
I bought half a dozen of these, it was a great inexpensive way to pick up a few of my favourites on vinyl while doing my weekly shopping in Tesco! In that respect they were great.
I had no idea such a release existed. Thank you for this video. I do remember how exciting it was getting those huge Columbia House and RCA Record Service boxes with my newly ordered LPs. Keep up the excellent work, Andrew! We appreciate your dedication.
Thank you again, Roger.
Worth noting: to my knowledge, no Beatles albums were issued by Columbia House or RCA/BMG Music Service to issue their albums. I have read that these US record clubs tended to short-change payment of artist royalties, since the various "free if you buy more records at regular price" albums were classified as promotional items and thereby exempt from royalty payments. I don't know of any record clubs or subscription services -- or even Reader's Digest Music -- issuing Beatles LPs, CDs or tapes to Americans.
@@peacearchwa5103 I wasn’t talking about Beatles albums. I was referring to the albums I used to get from Columbia House/RCA Record Club.
@@48musicfan I recall those record-club albums quite well, and they carried a lot of artists (just not The Beatles). When I bought vinyl LPs or CDs from those two clubs, they arrived sturdily packaged. I did not personally receive any damaged Columbia House/RCA/BMG LPs or CDs.
As a huge Beatles fan i love all your videos
Thank you, Rodrigo.
A collection like this would have been awesome in the 70s and 80s. I stopped buying vinyl in 1989, but I kept a few Beatle albums for sentimental reasons. "Help!" was the first album I ever bought when I was a kid and I was also the guy's first customer in his record store. After paying for "Help!" he let me pick out another album for free. I immediately thought of "Let It Be" but then as I was looking through their Beatle albums I saw "Magical Mystery Tour" and got that one.
If I had this collection I would be afraid to play them and even if I wanted to play them I haven't owned a turn table in over 30 years.
They would just end up on a shelf somewhere collecting dust. I'm not an expert on collecting but I would imagine this kind of collection wouldn't increase in value over time. It's not like the original thing. The original albums didn't have internet addresses on them.🎶
❤️
Hi there. I got my complete set by wandering over to my newsagent every two weeks.
As you mentioned, as time went on, it became harder to get them and I didn’t get them all in chronological order but my newsie was great and he made sure I did complete the set. I even got the reissue one for free so I have both albums in my set.
What a joy it was to sit down, every few weeks with a mug of tea and listen to each album. My set have all been played once and are now kept In a record box. Im really pleased with my complete set and found your vid a great watch. I didn’t expect the review to be as good as it was but am pleasantly surprised to hear that DA have obviously done quite a good job here.
Thanks for making your video. All the best. Paul.
Thanks for watching Paul and for sharing your experience.
Thanks again for sharing Andrew, I’ve been buying the Dylan series myself and decided to order them from my local newsagents and much like some of the Beatles ones there are finger marks on the vinyl when you first open them and there has been some small imperfections to the sleeves too but they do sound great!
When I first heard about this set I was surprised that the Anthology series was actually making a comeback in it. A missed opportunity to not have Let It Be Naked and the Yellow Sub Songtrack though, but oh well. It really would be cool to see a Monkees vinyl set get issued on 180g with fresh looking covers. Might give people another chance to get Changes and Barrel Full Of Monkees hah!
@@RUfromthe40s Thats seriously amazing to hear how important The Beatles are for you!! What album got you hooked?
@@RUfromthe40s I got into them by the time the 09 remastered CDs got released. My parents were and still are big fans of older bands which is what got me into them too around that time. It's always nice to have those days where you're with your family and just relaxing to some tunes!
A fantastic informative video as usual Andrew. Many thanks for all the work you put into them.
Glad you enjoyed them, Clive.
I’ve grown to love the alternate reality “Day Tripper” guitar riff that plays in your videos
I bought them all except "1" from my local newsagent. Great to find the best copy by flicking through. The sound quality was very good with low noisefloor. I have the 2012 set too and slightly prefer the Deagostini's. Very similar sound, different cuttings though. Highlights were getting the three Anthologies and the two Live at BBC albums. These sound terrific. From the studio albums, Help! and With the Beatles stood out for SQ. Deagostini also gave me a free AHDN cut 2 and allowed me to keep the flawed cut 1. Good video, Andrew has done his HW!
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Russell.
I always learn a great deal from your site, however, this was something I had never heard about. Fantastic information. Thanks again.
Thanks for watching, Chris.
As always…you create an excitement even in a critique style. I did not know about this collection at all! But every time a Beatles album is culled from the world wide archives I get excited! At 70…that’s great news!!👍👍 Great job again!
Thank you!
Hello Andrew,great review as always. I was bought the White Album as a Christmas gift 2 years ago. I learnt they had got it off e bay;the asking price was a lot lower than the Apple pressings. It was still sealed and perfect with no creases or damage. I have to say the sound quality was very good,clear,vibrant and plenty of depth. I have to say it's my least favourite album,it could have been a brilliant single record,that's why it was the last Beatles record I got
Since I discovered these, I always thought they were just a waste of time. No disrespect to them, but I essentially saw this as the 2012 reissues, just with “DeAgostini” plastered on it. I didnt know McGee actually recut the albums, but you can only do so much less with digital files. Bummer to find out Red and Blue were digital cuts, they’re probably the ones being used on the 2018 Blue reissue. At least it was nice to see the Anthology series repressed. Otherwise, I can’t help but to hold on to my original thought of this set, just a waste of money and time. I really wanted to change my mind, but with a great in-depth review, it sealed the deal for me.
Edit: a major turn off was seeing absolutely no copies without any flaws on the cover. Crushed corners, whole creases, even at some point a ripped cover. At least on eBay, as I’m a US buyer.
I made the collection and the value for money is very good, the sound has nothing to envy to other editions of this century.
I have verified the album of "A hard day's night" and it sounds great, it is seen that in Spain I do not arrive with these errors.
Continue with the videos, they are very interesting, greetings from Spain.
Nice video, as always! I didn’t know a lot about this set, until now, so thank you very much! You cleared out a lot of questions. Nice to get a video on the USB Beatles collection! They now fetch for a pretty penny, when it turns up.
As ever a great review on the Beatles as a part work. The main thing is the vinyl is still being made and a new generation of fans will experience the music as it should be heard.
Since I'm in the US, I hadn't heard of this collection outside of this channel. No "Collection of Oldies..."?? Seems like an oversight there, especially since they included the Red and Blue albums. I can't say I'm entirely suprised that a company known for publishing magazines does very well with album covers and not so well with the albums themselves. Maybe they've learned lessons and the current collections are better. If your review had said they were good quality pressings, I might have felt sad for missing out on this opportunity. However, I can't say I'm gutted.
Thanks for this, Andrew. Once again, another educational and entertaining video. 😀
Glad you enjoyed it, Colin.
I didn't know about these when they came out. Recently i picked up copy of the Help album still sealed and everything in my local second hand store for a couple of quid. I thought it was a bargain then, but even more so now. Great video, thanks.
Nice one, Richard!
Thank you, there is very little detailed information about this set online so this video is very welcome! While I am not interested in the majority of the albums from this series, I did recently pick up Anthology 1, 2 and 3 from it for a price I couldn't pass by. Good to hear they are broadly of decent quality.
Glad it was helpful!
Great shows, Question, On what system did the vast Majority of the World listen to the Please Please Me album on first release? I'm guessing 99% mono Dansette players.
Andrew, first of all, thank you for all your interesting and amazing analysis of every Beatles recording and related stuff. I bought the DeAgostini’s Magical Mystery Tour a few years ago and I think the bass and low ends are too loud, it doesn’t sound as clear as other editions I’ve heard through the years. It didn’t say much to me, too contemporary for my taste.
I subscribed to the full set (delivered), had no major problems, a couple of late deliveries, and some of the bonus gifts arrived very late, I found the quality acceptable, and glad I bought the black cases, they keep the sleeves pristine.
I have the complete set bought from Tesco on the week of release whenever I was out shopping. They have remained exactly the way I bought them, sealed and unplayed with no dodgy bent back cards. I even managed to pick up the Deagostini display stand that held them when the series finished which for me was worth more than all the guff you got with a subscription.
Living here in the USA, glad I could take an automatic pass on this set. At the end of the day they were all still digitally mastered. I'll stick with my Dutch analog sourced box set from the 80's.
who cares?? whether the mastering is digital or analogue doesn’t change anything as long as it’s well mastered
Great content as always! I had assumed they were reusing the 2012 cuts for these pressings so this is quite interesting to hear about
Nice video on Dragositini. I remember Stripey Rambles had an ongoing series about the troubles he was having with them.
Been following you since the beginning and I believe that THIS is the first time I've heard you say something "nice" about the 2012 Stereo box set... sort of.
I can already predict the next Beatles big box...The Beatles remix stereo box...
Including all the remixed digital albums that are now being released individually...
Apple records never seems to come short of ideas...
Superb and informative as usual
Thanks again!
I got their release of "Kind of Blue". An absolutely stunning pressing. Everything you would want, thick, flat, quiet. I got one of their "Rubber Soul" re-issues, and thought it fine, except for the blurb and wee hologram on the cover rear.
Yep i got that one too. Ive yet to hear a CD version thats sounds as good!
It’s a nice pressing, but my god the recent UHQR of KOB is unbelievable, the best sounding record I own.
Based on this video I got a copy of the DeAgostini release of Help! You were right, it is much more open and less muddy than other copies that I have although my wife doesn't know why I need eight copies of this in various formats. Eight albums to hold me maybe.
Andrew you are suoper knowledgable!
Thanks, Andrew. Being in the US, I never heard of this set. I'd like to see Apple reissue the mono catalog.
Mark me down for a Monkees and Strawberry Alarm Clock set! ;-D
Great review. As ever. Differences in groove spacing (between different pressings for the same album!) is an often overlooked detail (on record cutting) in reviews. Even if it doesn't affect the overall sound quality, it does say something about the mastering engineer and cutter's thinking process on approaching the project...
Fantastic video Andrew. I have the whole collection of these, though I didn't subscribe, I got all mine from my local Premier shop. My AHDN copy has the error on the first track and Sgt Pepper does have the Beatles chatter missing in the inner groove which is a shame, but apart from that the collection is great. The covers are nice, the magazines are very informative and the vinyl albums sound great too. I've also started collecting the Bob Dylan vinyl collection as well. I find the magazines don't have much info about the albums though which is a little disappointing, but the vinyl sounds fantastic. I got the whole Elvis Presley magazine and DVD collection too. Every issue came with various artefacts and posters and it's an absolutely awesome collection. Thanks for the review on this Beatles collection, loved it. 👍
Thanks for watching, Stephen.
A video about the Beatles' releases on the Music For Pleasure / Fame labels would be interesting too.
Hi I got this complete set by subscription the quality of the vinyl is superb i had no problems with damaged items. Great videos by the way.
Wow! It's truly a great time to be a Beatles fan.
I actually have all of these and subscribed when they came out. They sound pretty decent to me but then I don't have a tonne of reference to go from. I'm happy I have the collection on vinyl. Which is probably what they intended for, people like me to say, "You know I've the ENTIRE collection in vinyl" :D
I subscribed for it all. I had no problems with any damaged covers. I did receive the A Hard Days Night with the error, so phoned them and they sent a corrected version without me sending back the one with the error. I was pleased about that as it makes it one of those oddity’s. Very happy with the set. But I have my 60’s & 70’s Beatles stereo records.
I picked this up at the time in Spain, and some of the issues you mentioned were fixed by the time they brought this here. Like AHDN was OK, and I didn't really experience any damaged records. The freebies were a bit crap, and got rid of all of them. I don't know if you noticed, but the coffee mug only shows the Beatles logo outwards if you hold it with your left hand.
I didn't pay the extra for the boxes because I thought they were too expensive for a cardboard box. What I liked from this collection the most was getting the Anthology albums, live at the BBC and love, which seem harder to get nowadays.
Currently in Spanish websites like wallapop or vinted, these records go for little money i.e. 20ish euros each. You can recognize them because of the hollogram sticker in the back. So other than Pepper, which doesn't have the gibberish bit, I recommend it as a way to get Beatle records at a good price.
Ive subscribed to the Dylan collection and i think the sound quality is superb overall. The Times They Are A Changin is in mono and up to now, everything else has been in stereo. Im currently waiting for Bringing It All back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, hoping theyre in mono too!
They will both be mono and the sound quality on the Dylan set is wonderful! Incredibly low noise floor like a vontage Japanese pressing!
Remember seeing these on a display in Tesco (UK supermarket) and thinking ‘what the…..’. I didn’t buy any as I gave up on vinyl when CD came along in the 80’s but is very interesting to finally find out what it was all about - thank you Andrew!
It’s a shame these pressings weren’t released in Australia… But after watching this, I’m kinda glad they weren’t.
I'm a UK based Queen collector. Deagostini produced a full Queen set in Italy, but they started the UK set just as lockdown was starting, only releasing 2 or 3 to test the waters. I didn't find a single one in the shops and they shut down the releases due to lack of interest. UK Queen fans felt quite short changed by this.
Don't think it was de agostini it was Hatchette 4 trials were pressed with booklets some were given an lp when the subscription was cancelled. The lps were Queen 1, A Kind of Magic, A Night At The Opera & Innuendo double lp
I do remember these being sold in Tesco at the time in Southport , but was short on money so I did not buy them but definitely wanted them, so thanks to your I now know they are worth buying thank you
Thanks for the review Andrew. I had two opportunities to buy the complete set and something kept holding me back. Glad I didn't get one after all.
This seems an awesome Collection Andrew, but unfortunatelly this would never works in my country, in Brazil this would become really expensive, love your channel, take care!
I have the whole set , the sleeves are vibrant , top quality reproduction on the covers etc . Sound is superb . . A great thing to own . 10/10
I NEVER heard of this! I would have loved to have participated!
Interesting video as always Andrew. The series wasnt available in Australia and it's probably just as well lol. Cheers mate. 👍
Absolutely fascinating. Although I try to stay well informed on Beatles releases, I’ve never heard of this before.
Very much looking forward to your review of the USB thingy, which is still a primary way I listen to the stereo albums in the car, although I may replace them with my own vinyl transfers, as I’ve done with the mono.
Glad you enjoyed it, Mark.
In my country, Argentina, we have La Nación/Rolling Stone Magazine, which do exactly the same thing, and the records are press in Argentina also. But not all is wonder, some times they comes wobble, the covers are mess up, and the records are cut in low sound (some are good, some aren't) from digitized files, and the distribucion are in the local diary store (kiosco). Keep on the good videos!
lol I bought it and never unsealed anything. This review will stop me from erroneous belief I have preserved something.
Was waiting for this video ! I got the whole collection on a Deagostini subscription of course nothing beats the originals but this is still a very nice set to own very well made covers vinyl nice and heavy (know now not 180g !!) bookets were nice a few of the free gifts were good notebook-boxset-backpack rest were just tatt really. To get the love/BBC/anthology albums at that price was too good to turn down. Beside the sound errors on a few albums my experience was very very good beside one of the boxsets arrived with damage to one corner a replacement was sent to me with easy everything else arrived in excellent condition actually some I saw in the shops were in awful condition all corners bent etc etc. Nice collection to have very happy with it great vid as always can't wait for the USB review see it on ebay for crazy money !! Salute !
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Giovanni.
I got the collection here in Italy by mail. No major problems and a good quality, at least to my ear... Gifts: a (very poor) power bank, a shirt and a mug. I can tell you this: one delivery was very very very late, so late that I thought it was lost somewhere, so I asked for a new one and I got it. Yet, after a long time, the first one arrived from Lord knows where, so now I still have the package that I left unopened: it's quite sturdy indeed. Unfortunately I can't send you a photo here...
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Paolo.
Another solid episode. ..I was very interested in this video as I know of a guy who subscribed to DeAgestino and documented the whole process. It wasn't good. ..he got sent damaged albums. ....multiple copies of albums...no extras. ..and the customer service was terrible.
The one thing that I did learn in this episode is that it's a new cut...I always thought DeAgestino used the 2012 pressings. Also MPO seems like a decent enough pressing plant. .I have the new Judas Priest reissues which are pressed at MPO they sound great.
Anyways thanks for another great episode.
Mark Anthony K
Projekt Gemineye
Thank you, Mark. Stay well.
Another great video Andrew, well done Sir 👍 I’ve got the Apple USB stick and used directly into my music system it sounds excellent to my ears for a digital source. Mind you, a good DAC is a must to get the best sound in my opinion so looking to your review on that..👍
It would also have been interesting to know that this vinyl series from DeAgostini was discontinued in Germany after a few albums. Subscribers like me were informed that no more albums would be delivered in Germany. 🤷♀
Thanks Andrew, I had no idea this was a thing , which is probably just as well, I mean how many Beatles collections does one need to own - I already have the 1982 Gold Box, the 1988 wooden box (vinyl & CD) and 2009 set.
It’s true what you say though, nearly 4 months of recent covid lockdown in Sydney was made so much more bearable by the regular arrival on my doorstep of 12”x12” packages
Another great video Andrew! How about telling us about later pressings of the original LPs? Ive got what appears to be a 1978 pressing of the White Album and despite it not appearing to be a Harry Moss cut, the sound is superb!
Good suggestion, Jeff.
awesome! thanks for sharing
I hadn't heard of this set until I clicked on the video. Looks like I haven't been missing out on anything, either.
Even though it's a compilation and not a collection of individual albums, I'll stick with the 1980 World Records box set for my mail-order Beatles listening.
I bought the full set from Tesco they are still sealed & in excellent condition
About the Clipped beginning of A Hard Day's Night, that was not the case in Japan. The cut-off is the one released in overseas (Spain, Portugal, France)
I have a number of the Jazz DeAgostini pressings, all of which are really good - pressed well and sound great, certainly helps that I got them for less than $10 a piece through the Zavvi Jazz starter pack. Only issues were shipping damage which is inevitable for all records being shipped.
Recently struck a deal with a seller on ebay for the whole set. Sealed as described. Double the price of course, analog or digital, an upgrade or not, Beatles products are always good to have. As long as bills are paid first 😀. Cant wait for it to come in tho’. Thanks for posting this video…luv it!!
Very nice, Marc!
@@Parlogram thank you, sir….
I bought the albums as they were released in local shops. Didn't bother with any of the extras. I'll have to check out A Hard Days Night as I've only opened a couple of the LP's! It's nice to hear the background story to this collection. Cheers
I bought them, none of mine came like you indicated, ALL of mine came in proper record mailers.
Great review 👍🏼 is the mini poster and cards included with the White Album? Like you get with the 2012 vinyl and CDs.
I remember seeing these in my local corner shops and being weirded out to see 12” vinyls in the magazine rack
Great.got most from ebay. Thanks
Hi Andrew, I subscribed and got the complete set with the boxes and gifts. Overall I thought they did a very good job and I am very pleased with my set. I had no issues with damage or delays either. It seems they got it right some of the time as I was oblivious to any issues. Keep up the good work, love the videos. Any chance you could do a video on contract pressings? I have most variations regarding singles, however might be an interesting topic! Cheers 👍
Thanks for watching and for the suggestion, Mark.
I bought a sealed copy of BBC Vol 1 and 2. There are a lot of scruffs on the record right when I unsealed them. But other than that, I think they sound great. The vinyl are quiet with no distortion.
Haven't played Abbey Road.
Scott Walker would be a great video, doesn't get the praise he deserves on TH-cam.. Great video as always
I will do a Scott Walker video one day.
I am just getting into scott walker..such an underrated singer and some of the string arrangements are to die for
I’ve got a Deagostini ‘let it be’ album that sticks on the guitar solo of ‘let it be’. It was like this from new but didn’t return it for some unknown reason, it will look good in a frame though
I bought them all and I play and love them all. I’ve gone on to now collect the original Mono discs plus also trying to collect the equivalent US releases on Capital. DeAgostini reignited my passion for the Fab 4. (I didn’t know about the reissue of HDN so will try to get that issue from the publishers).
I got a quirky suggestion for another video from you-- a comparison of the American vs. the UK "Rarities" album!
Cheers!
The silver sticker is a SIAE sticker. I'm quite sure that most of the "mass produced goods" sold in Italy must have those.
It's for music sold in Italy.
I bought this set on order at my local newsagents, so I did'nt have any problems with postal damage. I had a few gaps, (and unplayable copies), in my LP collection. I had Abbey Road on reel to reel copied off a cassette. Rubber Soul was unplayable, (as was Let It Be). I only had A Hard Days Night on 8-track. And I did'nt even know that Sgt Pepper had a big picture in the inside until I goy it in this set. LOL. All my copies have been bought second hand over the years, and I can only assume someone removed the picture from Pepper to put on a wall and glued the cover back together. All in all though, I'm very happy with the quality of these records.
Amazing video, as always. Please could we have a review of the 2019 Singles Collection?
We did that already: th-cam.com/video/_40fitf_Syg/w-d-xo.html
@@Parlogram Oh yes, sorry about that!
I De Agostini has always issued some very cool booklets and audios. Shame I left Italy in 1998.
Scott Walker needs a set like this!!
That would be amazing!
Does this DeAgostini HELP LP rate as one of your best sounding HELP Lp's? Can you please provide a listing of your top three best sounding HELP LP's? THANKS Andrew!
I miss the huge selection of the big old fashioned record stores from years ago! It is stressful when you wonder about a record shipment being damaged in transit.
Nice video, Andrew. I choosed MPO pressing plant for three times. They are reasonably cheap as a pressing plant, I have nothing to say to their customer service, but I have ONE issue with them. The guy who handles lacquer discs in a process of silvering. All of the records I have pressed at MPO, have the same problem: finger spots on lacquers - so all records pressed from the stampers have the same finger spots. Everytime I used MPO for pressing, I have supplied external lacquers from SST GmbH. But when I used other pressing plants, also supplied with lacquers from SST, like Pallas or My45, the records were spotless. So when MPO sent test pressings for the third time with finger spots already engraved on mothers and stampers (as always), that was the last order I made there.
Anyway, do you own US 2012 remasters pressed at GZ Media? They were pressed in 2017 and 2018.
Any idea what the silver stickers are on the back of the albums? Otherwise, a fantastic video!
They are hologram stickers which say 'SIAE', which is the Italian copyright collecting agency.
After reading extensive review forum threads I bought most of the DEAGOSTINI pressings supplemented by the 2012 vinyl remasters. At first I was blown away by the sound quality. Cut a long story short, I then bought an analogue pressing of Sgt Pepper which sounded so much better than the DEAGOSTINI. I have since sold all my remastered 2012 and DEAGOSTINI albums and bought multiple vinyl pressings (stereo and mono) of each Beatles title - very much guided by Andrews videos of the best sounding cuts. The analogues sound so much better IMO - more dynamic and punchy.
In Germany they stopped divery of these Collection after issue 5 and also cancelled all subscriptions, so I had to have them delivered from Italy from a very helpful owner of a newspapershop in Rome.
I find let it be album better than 2013 stereo box set
Great videos keep them coming
Here at " my place," they where sold a piece,i bought just " White Album," for content,poster and pictures,later i gave it as present away,because i have " original," "Capitol," from 198...din' t remember. My grandmother brought it to me. Cheers Young Master Andrew.P.S.critics are not against you,they' re there for improvment.🖐️😎 Next week,while you " talking," new topic,i' ll be on vinyl fair,buying Beatles "Abbey Road," 1969.and some Japanese pressings i hope.
Good luck at the fair, M.
Man.....the postal service can be brutal at times.....I would have screamed if MY vinyl had arrived like that... Quality control AND quality service is EVERYTHING.....even if you have to pay a bit more....