The Beatles Collection
| The Beatles Collection | ||||
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| Box set by the Beatles | ||||
| Released | 2 November 1978 | |||
| Recorded | 11 September 1962 – 1 April 1970, EMI, Trident, Olympic and Apple studios, London; Pathé Marconi Studio, Paris; EMI Studios, Bombay | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 533:40 | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Producer | George Martin, Phil Spector (Let It Be) | |||
| The Beatles British chronology | ||||
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| The Beatles American chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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The Beatles Collection is a boxed set of vinyl albums released in the United States in November 1978 and the following month in the United Kingdom containing the official catalogue of The Beatles in stereo, and a new compilation called Rarities.
The American issue by Capitol Records contained the British pressings of the same 12 original Beatles albums, with an American pressing of Rarities (which differed from its British counterpart in that it included the previously released English-language versions of "She Loves You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand," rather than the German-language version found on the British pressing). The American edition of the boxed set was a limited edition of only 3,000 numbered copies. The limited availability of the American release resulted in the British release becoming popular as an import into the US.
The boxed set did not include a number of Beatles recordings, including those released on the Magical Mystery Tour album. The album had been released in the United States in 1967, but it was not counted among the group's official catalogue because it was not issued in the United Kingdom until 1976. The collection also failed to include the non-album singles that had been previously released on the twin compilation packages, 1962–1966 and 1967–1970.
Along with the LPs listed below with their sleeves, the collection also includes the inserts contained in the individual albums including the cardboard cutout sheet in Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and the photos and poster in The Beatles.
A company specializing in audiophile vinyl pressings, Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab, released a similar boxed set in 1981 called The Beatles: The Collection consisting of the 12 British versions of the albums (Rarities was not included, but Magical Mystery Tour was), pressed off the original Abbey Road studio master tapes (except for MMT) using a technique called "Half Speed Mastering" and pressed on Japanese "virgin" vinyl. The set was highly acclaimed for its sonic accuracy and only approximately 25,000 were released. In this case, the actual covers for each album was a photo of a studio master tape (the same photos appear on all the covers) along with the engineer's log sheet. The original album covers were put together in a full-sized booklet.
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