There have been a number of box sets released containing a variety of L.P.'s, each one is listed below.
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| The Beatles Collection - Box Set (1978) | |
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| The Beatles Collection - Box Set (1978) - Opened | The Beatles Collection - Box Set (1978) - Free Poster |
"The Beatles Collection" - Catalogue no. BC 13
All the twelve original studio albums (all stereo versions), plus one "free" album of "Rarities" were presented in a blue box with embossed gold lettering. The "Rarities" album was mostly a compilation of B-sides, EP tracks and German releases, and was supposed to be unique to this box set ... I, for one, was not too impressed to see it released separately the following year !
The box also contains a free poster.
See Rarities to see detail of the extra album.The full contents were :
Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles For Sale
Help!
Rubber Soul
Revolver
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles (a.k.a. "The White Album")
Yellow Submarine
Abbey Road
Let It Be
Rarities
Poster (showing enlargements of the four pictures from The White Album as seen above)Beatle fans were not really getting anything new here. Of the 200 tracks (yes, exactly !), only one was duplicated, which was "Yellow Submarine", as this can be found on "Revolver" and the "Yellow Submarine" album. Therefore 199 different tracks were collected together within the box.
The Collection had a recommended retail price tag of £51:39.
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| The Beatles Box (1980) - Front of Box | The Beatles Box (1980) - Rear of Box |
"The Beatles Box" - Catalogue no. SM 701/8
An 8 album (L.P. or cassette) boxed set issued by E.M.I. through it's "World Records" subsiduary.
Unlike the Beatles Collection above released two years earlier, this set is actually new albums in new sleeves. The set was advertised vigourously in the national press from 5th November 1980 through into 1981. This means it was at the forefront right across the period of John's murder, and therefore sales must have been quite good, but as this box set was sold only by mail order the figures did not qualify for chart entry, and consequently are not publicly known.
All the songs throughout the eight L.P.'s which were selected by Simon Sinclair, are arranged chronologically, and the covers reflect this, in that each has a picture from the appropriate period on the front, and a well-written biography of the period by Hugh Marshall on the rear.
The Box itself is well designed looking like a wooden crate (see detail above), with plenty of information and sold for £29:75.
Incredibly, World Records were given some different mixes of some of the tracks, that were unavailable anywhere else at the time, and therefore made this box an essential purchase ... and anyway, it's a nice looking, excellent set !
Click on each of the thumbnails below to see the full detail of each L.P.
The album box set was deleted in 1982.
In July 1987 the box set re-appeared in eight CASSETTE format, which I also have ... see below.
October 1982
"The Beatles Mono Collection" - Catalogue number BMC 10
In 1982 E.M.I. had re-pressed and re-promoted all of the original mono albums. These releases were in-demand abroad, and so
this boxed set was created and intended for export issue. Whereas the earlier box set had been in a blue box, these albums
were housed in a red box. BUT, the only one I`ve seen was in a dark blue/black box.
It contained 10 mono L.P.'s from "Please Please Me" through to "Yellow Submarine" (omitting "Collection of Oldies") and
was available in a limited edition of 1000.
The Beatles Collection - Mono Box Set (1982)
1982 - NOT a U.K. release per se, the box below was a Worldwide release
"The Beatles - The Collection" Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab - Original Master Recordings
Issued by Mobile Fidelity Sound Labs in 1982, this Vinyl Box Set was produced in a Worldwide Limited edition of 25,000.
Extremely collectable and the absolute ULTIMATE in Sound Quality (needs to be heard to be believed) the Box contains 14 re-mastered, audiophile, Virgin Vinyl Beatles LPs, and comes complete with an official Booklet incorporating a numbered certificate of authenticity. Each page of the booklet features the original UK artwork to each of the album sleeves from 'Please Please Me' to 'Let It Be' and its Original MFSL Alignment 'Geo Disc'. The Albums in this Collection are 'Please Please Me', 'With The Beatles', 'A Hard Day's Night', 'Beatles For Sale', 'Help!', 'Rubber Soul', 'Revolver', 'Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band', 'The Beatles' (The White album - this is a 2 LP set), 'Yellow Submarine', 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'Abbey Road, and 'Let It Be'.
Each of the Virgin Vinyl Discs are protected in a Rice Paper Protective Inner Sleeve and a Gatefold Card Inner Wrap Sleeve.
Each album is also protected into a Card MFSL Custom Picture outer sleeve displaying the Master Tape of the A and B Sides for each particular recording, plus dates on which the recordings took place.
All the Virgin Vinyl Discs are on the custom White MFSL Printed Record Label (example below).
The Albums, booklet and Geo Disc are protected in a De-Luxe, heavy construction, Hinged Black Box (also shown below).
The Beatles Collection - Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (1982) MFSL Beatles Collection - The Box End-on Showing Catch MFSL Beatles Collection - The Box End-on Opened
MFSL Beatles Collection - Example Label MFSL Beatles Collection - Official Booklet and Geo-Disc
30th April 1987
"The Beatles On Compact Disc" - Help - Rubber Soul - Revolver
This was an official Limited Edition box set issued by H.M.V. in the U.K.
This Box Set contained three Official UK CDs, ‘Help!’, ‘Rubber Soul’ and ‘Revolver’ with the correct first issue ‘Made in UK’ label reference (watch out for later issue CDs often found in these Box Sets!)
Also included in the Red Box is a Reproduction of The Beatles Monthly Book 12, which was originally released in July 1964, and Sleeve Notes.
The Boxes were numbered, each having a number printed on the inside of the lid of the box.
The Beatles On Compact Disc - Front Of Box The Beatles On Compact Disc - Contents Revealed
July 1987
"The Beatles Box" - Catalogue no. CSM 701/8
With the eight L.P. box set from World Records having been deleted in 1982, E.M.I. carried out a re-promotion in 1987 of
the same collection of songs spread over eight cassettes in what they called "The Last Chance Edition" set. The box itself
is identical, except for an extra numbered sticker on the front (mine is numbered 0207).
The cost of this set was £37:45 and was shipped on 15th July 1987.
Inside my copy are two letters from E.M.I. with two questionaires and two envelopes to send the questionaires back. It only
contained seven rather banal questions, so I did not bother to reply ... and now am glad of course, as it means the boxset
is intact.
The Beatles Box - Example Cassette Inlay
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| The Beatles Box C.D. Set(1988) - Open View | The Beatles Box L.P. Set(1988) - Open View |
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| The Beatles Box C.D. Set(1988) - Detail of Box | The Beatles Box C.D. Set(1988) - Book Cover |
31st October 1988
"The Beatles Ultimate Collection" - Catalogue number BBX 1 (L.P. set)
TC-BBX 1 (Cassette set)
CDS 7 91302 2 (C.D. Set).
Whichever format you chose the set included the original 12 studio albums, plus, "Magical Mystery Tour", and the "Past Masters" releases. Therefore for the albums and cassette issues, you would get 14 albums (as "Past Masters" is one double album), and for the C.D. set you would get 15 C.D.'s as "Past Masters" is two separate C.D.'s.
The set was issued in a wooden box with a 64 page glossy book.
Each set included all the albums in new digitally remastered CD versions, with the first four albums in glorious mono.
The distinctive black wooden boxes have been designed for style, durability and easy access with the original front opening roller shutter (like a bureau desk) made from hard-wearing wood composite.
A real bonus to people who already had complete sets, was that empty wooden boxes were available to be ordered separately with just the accompanying booklet (Catalogue numbers, BOX 1, TC-BOX 1, and CD-BOX 1)
Unfortunately, once again no new tracks, and nothing that made the asking price an essential purchase, except so nice to have everything housed so handsomely and of course, as the Past Masters were included ... you have The Beatles entire output within on box.At the same time there was also another HMV special boxset with catalogue number BEA CDBOX1.
This was a special limited edition box, limited to just 10,000, which was ostensibly the same as above, with 15 c.d.'s, but was housed in a lavish hologram box with added extras.
The CDs are protected in a deluxe black box, featuring an inset hologram image of The Beatles Ludwig drum set-up.
There is a drawer compartment within the box containing a 60 page colour booklet, a poster displaying the Ludwig drum kit and an instruction sheet describing how to view the Hologram image to its full potential.
The Beatles Box - HMV Hologram Box The Beatles Box - HMV Hologram Box (open)
