The 1960’s represented a time of great advances in technology and this was as true of music recording and reproduction as in everything else. During the period that The Beatles were recording (1962 - 1969) the primary format was Mono - the installed base of mono players was massive with stereo the preserve of hi-fi fanatics and some Easy Listening and classical purists. In fact, Mono was so important that the Beatles themselves (once they had started to take an interest in the physical production of their music) that they attended only the Mono mastering sessions. The stereo mastering was often done separately - sometimes quite a bit later and without their involvement. So for many, the mono masters are considered to be the pinnacle of audio reproduction of The Beatles - this is how they were meant to sound at the time given the importance of the single channel medium.

From Please Please Me to The Beatles (White Album), all the original mixes are represented here in full, glorious mono! The Past Masters CD has been recreated as Mono Masters to properly reflect this period. This set duplicates the Past Masters track listing with the exception of those tracks that only ever appeared in stereo. However, as an added bonus, five tracks, never previously released in mono, are included in the package. These are “Only A Northern Song”, “All Together Now”, “Hey Bulldog” and “It’s All Too Much” all from the Yellow Submarine project plus “Across The Universe”. These titles were originally scheduled for release on an EP in 1969.

There is a fantastic essay in the Mono Masters booklet that explains in some detail the history of these recordings and which goes some way to highlight just why these versions are so eagerly anticipated.
With the collector in mind, both Help! and Rubber Soul discs now additionally contain bonus content in the shape of the original 1965 stereo mixes on CD for the first time, since Sir George Martin had actually remixed these for their CD debut in 1987 rendering these original mixes unavailable.

All the albums (apart from Mono Masters) come in their original vinyl-style packaging reduced in exquisite detail to CD-sized format. This includes everything from the recreation of the vinyl label (printed on the cd itself) to the paper inner sleeve replete with the original text. The jackets themselves are exact reproductions of the original UK vinyl releases and since they are being manufactured in Japan, they are of the very highest quality and had the very highest possible attention to detail in the production.

Apart from the first four albums (Please Please Me - Beatles For Sale) which have been available in mono on CD since 1987, the remaining titles are making their CD debut in this format and all plus the Mono Masters set have received the remastering treatment by a dedicated team of engineers and Abbey Road studios.

PLEASE PLEASE ME

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. Misery
3. Anna (Go To Him)
4. Chains
5. Boys
6. Ask Me Why
7. Please Please Me
8. Love Me Do
9. P.S. I Love You
10. Baby It’s You
11. Do You Want To Know A Secret
12. A Taste Of Honey
13. There’s A Place
14. Twist And Shout

WITH THE BEATLES

1. It Won’t Be Long
2. All I’ve Got To Do
3. All My Loving
4. Don’t Bother Me
5. Little Child
6. Till There Was You
7. Please Mr Postman
8. Roll Over Beethoven
9. Hold Me Tight
10. You Really Got A Hold On Me
11. I Wanna Be Your Man
12. Devil In Her Heart
13. Not A Second Time
14. Money (That’s What I Want)

A HARD DAY’S NIGHT

1. A Hard Day’s Night
2. I Should Have Known Better
3. If I Fell
4. I’m Happy Just To Dance With You
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can’t Buy Me Love
8. Any Time At All
9. I’ll Cry Instead
10. Things We Said Today
11. When I Get Home
12. You Can’t Do That
13. I’ll Be Back

BEATLES FOR SALE

1. No Reply
2. I’m A Loser
3. Baby’s In Black
4. Rock And Roll Music
5. I’ll Follow The Sun
6. Mr Moonlight
7. Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey
8. Eight Days A Week
9. Words Of Love
10. Honey Don’t
11. Every Little Thing
12. I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party
13. What You’re Doing
14. Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby

HELP! (Mono and Stereo)

1. Help!
2. The Night Before
3. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away
4. I Need You
5. Another Girl
6. You’re Going To Lose That Girl
7. Ticket To Ride
8. Act Naturally
9. It’s Only Love
10. You Like Me Too Much
11. Tell Me What You See
12. I’ve Just Seen A Face
13. Yesterday
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy

RUBBER SOUL (Mono and Stereo)

1. Drive My Car
2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
3. You Won’t See Me
4. Nowhere Man
5. Think For Yourself
6. The Word
7. Michelle
8. What Goes On
9. Girl
10. I’m Looking Through You
11. In My Life
12. Wait
13. If I Needed Someone
14. Run For Your Life
15. Drive My Car
16. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
17. You Won’t See Me
18. Nowhere Man
19. Think For Yourself
20. The Word
21. Michelle
22. What Goes On
23. Girl
24. I’m Looking Through You
25. In My Life
26. Wait
27. If I Needed Someone
28. Run For Your Life

REVOLVER

1. Taxman
2. Eleanor Rigby
3. I’m Only Sleeping
4. Love You To
5. Here There And Everywhere
6. Yellow Submarine
7. She Said She Said
8. Good Day Sunshine
9. And Your Bird Can Sing
10. For No One
11. Doctor Robert
12. I Want To Tell You
13. Got To Get You Into My Life
14. Tomorrow Never Knows

SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND

1. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
2. With A Little Help From My Friends
3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
4. Getting Better
5. Fixing A Hole
6. She’s Leaving Home
7. Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite!
8. Within You Without You
9. When I’m Sixty Four
10. Lovely Rita
11. Good Morning Good Morning
12. Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
13. A Day In The Life

MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR

1. Magical Mystery Tour
2. The Fool On The Hill
3. Flying
4. Blue Jay Way
5. Your Mother Should Know
6. I Am The Walrus
7. Hello, Goodbye
8. Strawberry Fields Forever
9. Penny Lane
10. Baby, You’re A Rich Man
11. All You Need Is Love

THE BEATLES (WHITE ALBUM) - DISC 1

1. Back In The U.S.S.R.
2. Dear Prudence
3. Glass Onion
4. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da
5. Wild Honey Pie
6. The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill
7. While My Guitar Gently Weeps
8. Happiness Is A Warm Gun
9. Martha My Dear
10. I’m So Tired
11. Blackbird
12. Piggies
13. Rocky Raccoon
14. Don’t Pass Me By
15. Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?
16. I Will
17. Julia

THE BEATLES (WHITE ALBUM) - DISC 2

1. Birthday
2. Yer Blues
3. Mother Nature’s Son
4. Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
5. Sexy Sadie
6. Helter Skelter
7. Long Long Long
8. Revolution 1
9. Honey Pie
10. Savoy Truffle
11. Cry Baby Cry
12. Revolution 9
13. Good Night

PAST MASTERS (VOLUMES 1 & 2) - DISC 1

1. Love Me Do (Original Single Version)
2. From Me To You
3. Thank You Girl
4. She Loves You
5. I’ll Get You
6. I Want To Hold Your Hand
7. This Boy
8. Komm Gib Mir Deine Hand
9. Sie Liebt Dich
10. Long Tall Sally
11. I Call Your Name
12. Slow Down
13. Matchbox
14. I Feel Fine
15. She’s A Woman
16. Bad Boy
17. Yes It Is
18. I’m Down

PAST MASTERS (VOLUMES 1 & 2) - DISC 2

1. Day Tripper
2. We Can Work It Out
3. Paperback Writer
4. Rain
5. Lady Madonna
6. The Inner Light
7. Hey Jude
8. Revolution
9. Only A Northern Song
10. All Together Now
11. Hey Bulldog
12. It’s All Too Much
13. Get Back
14. Don’t Let Me Down
15. Across The Universe
16. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)