In MOST cases...buying a BOX SET is a great deal.....NOT in this case....you'd be further ahead to buy the individual British import cd's on amazon and also the 2 past masters...and have money left over....if you REALLY want the rare stuff....invest in the 3 anthology 2cd sets and the BBC set...and the LET IT BE NAKED....you'll pretty much have it all...I have been a Beatles collector and fan since 1963...and this is what I did.

First off, I love the Beatles. I have a bunch of their actual ablums (LPs), and some tapes. I was thinking about upgrading my collection to CD, so I looked for a comprehensive box set, thinking I could get a better deal than buying each of their CDs individually.

This, however, is not the case - I added up all of the Beatles' CDs individually, and came up with $231.19, including Past Masters I & II (including $15.85 for standard shipping/handling). This collection costs over $300.

Maybe I am missing something, but I see no reason to buy this set.

Dave Gruska

What you get are the 12 original U.K. Beatles albums (13 discs, because The Beatles a.k.a. White Album is a double set), plus both volumes of Past Masters, which fill in all the songs that did not make the albums. If you are a completist, this is definitely for you! You can hear the Fab Four from their days as the Liverpool Lads who conquered America, right up to the rooftop sessions at Abbey Road. There is a lot of good music here, some mischief, and a few mis-steps, but it's both history and legend, and it's all together now!

This is the ultimate in Boxed Sets. 15 CD's of classic music that continues to stand the test of time. The albums reproduced are the UK originals (as nature intended them, before US Capitol re-arranged them up to Revolver - more about that later), plus 2 Volumes of Past Masters which gathers together all non-lp singles (#1 hits all of them) and their B-sides (some of which other bands would have killed for as A's), 4 EP tracks, 2 German language versions, alternate versions (in the case of Love Me Do, Get Back & Let It Be) and a giveaway (Across The Universe). This is everything. There are plenty of revelations here. John's 1 take effort on "Twist & Shout", The clarity of Sgt. Pepper (you'll hear things you haven't heard before), the shaky nerves in Paul's voice on the original "Love Me Do" their first UK single, the youthful vibrance of the "Please Please Me" album. It's amazing to think of how prolific The Beatles really were considering that when "Rubber Soul" was recorded & released, 2 other prime cuts, "We Can Work It Out"/"Day Tripper" came out at the same time as a non-LP "Double-A" single. Such was the quality of their work. I mentioned the UK albums as nature intended. We got them this way in Australia. This is how I know them though I only bought them in the early 70's when I was old enough, earning money & working. The notable exception is "Magical Mystery Tour" which is the American LP version. This proved a smarter idea than the original Double EP released in the UK and here and was eventually officially released in the UK in 1976. LP wise in the States you guys got a different deal which becomes understandable when one reads Bruce Spizer's "The Beatles On Capitol Records Part 2 - The Albums". I've got vinyl versions of all of those US albums including Help! & Rubber Soul which were very different & Revolver which, compared to the UK version, was missing 3 tracks that were included on the very controversial US "Yesterday.. & Today" LP released prior to Revolver. If you've got the original US Capitol LP's or even later pressings, keep them because they are now no longer available. So no more quibbling please. Yeah the CD's might be a tad short but that's how albums were recorded back then. Bear in mind that the UK versions generally had 14 tracks per album compared to the average 11 or 12 on their US counterparts. The "White Album" of course carries 30 cuts. They've also been remastered with the 1st 4 CD's in Mono. The artwork has been reproduced right down to the original liner notes. My version is in a Wooden Roll-Top Box with a great 50+ page informative booklet by Mark Lewisohn. This is a marvellous way to have the complete collection. If you're a fan all that matters is the music. Nuff Said!

The only Beatles songs I couldn't find in this box were the instrumental pieces only avalible in American (not UK) albums, but those were not really Beatles, they were George Martin. Are those worth so much to complain about? Maybe you should find a compilation of just George Martin instrumentals.

I'm not sure about what bearboya said, but I counted 129 songs in here. None of them are repeated. The first 14 discs are the British albums (the American versions have more George Martin and less Beatles), and the last two discs are all the singles not included in the albums. Where are the repeated ones?

The other albums you've heard about (like Red and Blue) are anthologies, so you won't need them when you have all this.

But on top of all that, I totally agree with skooterfd and Dave Gruska. You would save $73.14 if you bought all 16 CDs from Amazon.com separately, and the plastic box can't be worth that much. There's free shipping too.