I already posted my thoughts and opinions in another thread, but this probably should be a discussion on its own.
I'm not suggesting that it's a rip-off when it comes to quality or relevance of the remasters (no complaints there). But 20 euros per CD, 260 for the stereo box set and 300 for the mono box set (those are the prices on the biggest Dutch internet store), that's an awful lot of money if you consider that the majority's not actually paying it for the music (cause they already have it), but for the remaster job and packaging only.
Some more things that kind of bother me:
- The mono discs aren't available seperately. Or will they be, after the most dedicated fans have already spend their money on the expensive box set?
- The mono box sets were originally going to be limited to 10.000 copies, and then "limited" to an unknown number because there were too many pre-orders. So the people that pre-ordered a limited collector's item for a whole lot of money eventually got an item that doesn't really seem to be all that limited.
I think it's rediculous that they're charging full price for these albums again. Haven't they made enough on these albums already in the past 47-39 years? I bet that 90% of all the people that buy these remasters have already bought all these albums at least once, it would've been a nice gesture to the loyal fans if they would've made these things midprice.
Several classic albums from the 60s ("Odessey & Oracle", "Pet Sounds" and the self-titled Love album come to mind) have been re-issued with the stereo and mono mixes on one single disc. That's what they should have done.
On the other hand, PR-wise it certainly has been a great move that people always had to pay full price for the Beatles' music. It kept their music classy and somewhat "exclusive". Being first and foremost a Beach Boys fan I've always been a bit "jealous" of the way the Beatles catalogue has been treated. The Beach Boys' music has been given away for free with newspapers. It's been released on too many crappy budget comps to count. Albums have been out of print for years or even decades. Most of their albums have never even been released on seperate CDs, only on mid-price 2-albums-on-1-CD-releases! I think the Beach Boys discography has devaluated a lot by the way that Capitol and the band has been treating it the last few decades. It's a complete mess. It's a good thing that The Beatles never allowed that to happen to their music.
Your thoughts?