Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band [4 CD/DVD/Blu-ray Combo][Super Deluxe Ed] Preorder (1 Viewer)

[Peter Apruzzese]

I've read that the songwriting credits have been changed on this new edition to please Sir Paul. Any truth to that?

Sounds like an unfounded rumor:

 

[Mike Frezon]

That's my problem exactly. If I bring home another massive box-o-goodies set [this isn't like one of Warner's box-o-junk editions wih toys and the like], my wife would roll her eyes in that way only she can.

But we both know that we deserve those eye rolls!

If she gives 'em to me, I just give them right back to her when she makes purchases on her interests!

 

[bigshot]

I'm not too fond of the (over) packaging. The lenticular cover is on a flimsy slip, not the box. Mine was attached off center. The fake album cover inside can't contain the button insert or poster, and the way the CDs are tucked in ends up with them slipping out. I would have preferred just a nice book with everything in it like the Rolling Stones Totally Stripped set. This still doesn't match the unabashed over indulgence of the H G Lewis box set though. I think that one will never be topped.

 

[Patrick McCart]

Got my copy today. I think it's actually a little bigger than the Lawrence of Arabia gift set. Certainly a lot heavier.

I'm really impressed with both the high-res stereo and 5.1 mixes. Fidelity is otherworldly and the mixing doesn't seem gimmicky. It seems to have sort of a "live" feel to it, which fits the album well.

 

[Paul D G]

Just got notification that my box was lost or damaged. Amazon is reshipping for tomorrow. ARGH! I've been waiting all week to hear this! I came home early from work, too!

 

[Todd Mattraw]

Refrigerator stocked with snacks and delicious wheat beers in anticipation of a memorable Memorial Day Weekend listening to "Sgt Pepper" in all "his" glory, out of work a little early and...our local Best Buy's aren't carrying the deluxe box? Huh?!!! I have Amazon Prime, but I held off ordering (damned collector's OCD) because I wanted to pick out a pristine box, no dinged corners, locally, at BB, even willing to take the chance that it would cost me an extra $12 beans, figuring it was worth it. Back up option #1 -- the local indie store...sold out. B&N...charging full price for it...goddamn you little microphone, as a wise man once said.

So I ordered from Amazon anyway now, and the box is supposed to arrive Sunday, kudos to Big River and Brown, and with a 3 day weekend, I'll still get to immerse myself in it, All Summer of Love in a Day, as it were, but boy, was I dismayed around 3.30 today, seeing my plans go up in brick & mortar smoke. Maybe BB didn't want to have to price match Amazon and so are holding back on the boxes?

God, I hope I don't get a dinged corner on my box...

 

[Douglas_H]

Refrigerator stocked with snacks and delicious wheat beers in anticipation of a memorable Memorial Day Weekend listening to "Sgt Pepper" in all "his" glory, out of work a little early and...our local Best Buy's aren't carrying the deluxe box? Huh?!!! I have Amazon Prime, but I held off ordering (damned collector's OCD) because I wanted to pick out a pristine box, no dinged corners, locally, at BB, even willing to take the chance that it would cost me an extra $12 beans, figuring it was worth it. Back up option #1 -- the local indie store...sold out. B&N...charging full price for it...goddamn you little microphone, as a wise man once said.

So I ordered from Amazon anyway now, and the box is supposed to arrive Sunday, kudos to Big River and Brown, and with a 3 day weekend, I'll still get to immerse myself in it, All Summer of Love in a Day, as it were, but boy, was I dismayed around 3.30 today, seeing my plans go up in brick & mortar smoke. Maybe BB didn't want to have to price match Amazon and so are holding back on the boxes?

God, I hope I don't get a dinged corner on my box...

If you were so worried about dings why didn't you put a deposit on it at your local indie store???
Actually well-known that BB hasn't stocked sets like this in years.

 

[bigshot]

It comes wrapped in a corrugated box inside the Amazon box, so there isn't much chance of damage.

 

[TravisR]

It comes wrapped in a corrugated box inside the Amazon box, so there isn't much chance of damage.

I've gotten a couple items like that over the years so Todd will be good.

 

[Tino]

Guess what the wife just ordered for my birthday this Sunday?

 

[Carlo_M]

I've unpacked my Mega Box and am enjoying the book...but I have chosen to listen to the separately purchased vinyl reissue first.

Simply Amazing.

They really did go back to the original 4-track tapes, pre-bounce (for those who know recording lingo) which means it's essentially the original tapes made direct from recording their instruments/vocals. There's a clarity I've never heard before. Voices. Instruments. Everything. It sounds like it was recorded yesterday and released today.

It's still The Beatles. But now it's The Beatles. I know that doesn't make sense now. It will when you listen to it.

 

[DavidJ]

Refrigerator stocked with snacks and delicious wheat beers in anticipation of a memorable Memorial Day Weekend listening to "Sgt Pepper" in all "his" glory, out of work a little early and...our local Best Buy's aren't carrying the deluxe box? Huh?!!! I have Amazon Prime, but I held off ordering (damned collector's OCD) because I wanted to pick out a pristine box, no dinged corners, locally, at BB, even willing to take the chance that it would cost me an extra $12 beans, figuring it was worth it. Back up option #1 -- the local indie store...sold out. B&N...charging full price for it...goddamn you little microphone, as a wise man once said.

So I ordered from Amazon anyway now, and the box is supposed to arrive Sunday, kudos to Big River and Brown, and with a 3 day weekend, I'll still get to immerse myself in it, All Summer of Love in a Day, as it were, but boy, was I dismayed around 3.30 today, seeing my plans go up in brick & mortar smoke. Maybe BB didn't want to have to price match Amazon and so are holding back on the boxes?

God, I hope I don't get a dinged corner on my box...

I was also looking for it locally. It's the kind of thing I wanted to see in person.

 

[Dee Zee]

Wow. The deluxe package is fantastic. I may have to frame the lenticular cover. Very nicely done, the whole package. I did give the stereo remix a spin on the big room stereo and at first it is a bit disconcerting, its different, yet it's not. But it is different, version 3. My aHa moment was Within You and Without You., another big wow. When I'm 64 sounds like it was finally lifted from the mud. So much more to digest... I can't wait to listen to the 5.1, probably not until Sunday.

The book is absolutely stunning. Each song covered in detail with photos of the original handwritten lyrics. Much much more. Sweet.

 

[Mike Frezon]

God, I hope I don't get a dinged corner on my box...

Todd:

Personally, I think the packaging sucks. Way too big, way too heavy, way too much stuff. Why 12" by 12"? Oh well.

But I'm just writing to tell you that you likely will have nothing to fear. The item itself is well-packaged in a custom-made corrugated cardboard box which is then packaged inside a standard Amazon cardboard box. The actual product will, in all likelihood, be completely safe.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I listened to the 5.1 mixes on the Blu tonight.

I can't say it much better than Carlo above:

There's a clarity I've never heard before. Voices. Instruments. Everything. It sounds like it was recorded yesterday and released today.

Wow. I LOVE the 5.1 mix. I would go so far as it call it aggressive, actually. It is respectful...but there's so much going on in these tracks that the 5.1 gives the music more space. And spreads it out across the room. Really fun. I'll say more when I get more time. But the surround mix is really terrific.

 

[Todd Mattraw]

Todd:

Personally, I think the packaging sucks. Way too big, way too heavy, way too much stuff. Why 12" by 12"? Oh well.

But I'm just writing to tell you that you likely will have nothing to fear. The item itself is well-packaged in a custom-made corrugated cardboard box which is then packaged inside a standard Amazon cardboard box. The actual product will, in all likelihood, be completely safe.

Mike

It's comforting to hear that the box is well packed. Really, in my experience, Amazon does remarkably well getting the goods to me in Mint condition, even in some cases where the packing job leaves a lot to be desired. But I'm the type that can spend 15 minutes in a store picking out the copy of a DVD with the just-so absolutely perfect slip case, out of the half dozen near perfect copies...sigh...years of working in record stores, putting bags on my LP's and (yes) CD's, keeping even plastic jewel boxes in the most pristine possible condition, have left their toll. I'm sure the box will be fine.

 

[Paul D G]

Well, 12x12 makes sense as it's the dimensions of the original record. They could have packed it in a small cd-sized box, sure, but there are several albums which require this type of treatment and this is definitely one of them. Nothing else would have done the cover justice. This is perfect.

The only thing is I'm going to have to find space in my record crates for this and they're packed enough as it is!

May I go slightly off topic to post this? One of my prized possessions. I just scanned it last week and had it printed 12x12 to hang in my office.

 

[Craig S]

Got my set today as well. Got it from Amazon; it arrived in perfect condition. Other than I would have preferred the lenticular being mounted on the box rather than the sleeve, I give the packaging a big . I love that it's big & heavy. It's a substantial package for a substantial work of art.

I have listened to the surround mix and can only echo what Mike said - all the musical components now have space to breathe. I would really love to see all of the later albums get this treatment.

I also watched the resurrected 25th anniversary documentary. It is fantastic. Seeing Sir George Martin at the mixing console, talking about the construction of these songs while letting us hear the individual tracks to illustrate his points is a dream come true for this fan.

 

[bigshot]

I listened to the 5.1 mix of Sgt Pepper last night, and I'm a little disappointed. The sound quality is fantastic- it totally shows how much of a hit the sound quality took with all the bounce downs. But it is VERY conservative in how it lays out the multichannel spread. I can understand following the mono mix for the stereo remix, but following it that closely for the multichannel mix doesn't take advantage of what multichannel can do. 90% of the mix was front and center, very little rear channel action. There wasn't the technicolor contrasts in ambience like in the Love album. Everything played out with basically the same imaging of the band. I think an opportunity was missed here. In the making of documentary, someone points out that the original mono mix had more of a psychedelic feel than the original stereo one did. That should have been the other way around. And the 5.1 mix should have been even more psychedelic with immersive sound fields and rear channel placement. That didn't happen. I think perhaps Giles Martin was bolder when he had his father to work with. On Love they really explored new ways of mixing. In this one, it seems he was looking backwards to try to slavishly recreate old ways. I haven't listened to the CD mix yet. I'm betting I'll like that one better. The 5.1 mix felt like a stereo mix through big chunks of it.

 

[bigshot]

One thing that struck me as I was listening to Sgt Pepper again with fresh ears is how much of an influence Frank Zappa's Freak Out must have been on them. The album is constructed exactly like Freak Out, with the exception of being a single disk not a 2 disk set. In the documentary, Paul describes his idea for the album as coming up with characters and playing *their* songs, instead of writing "Beatles songs". They experimented with new ways of mixing and recording, and incorporated odd unconventional instruments. And they finished up the album with a huge montage of a song recorded at a wild party. Zappa did all of these things first. The difference is that the Beatles were nostalgic and elite. They came up with cute songs like Penny Lane and Lovely Rita, while Zappa created Hungry Freaks Daddy and The Brain Police. The party that the Beatles threw to record A Day In The Life was a star studded affair with the Rolling Stones and Michael Nesmeth in attendance. Zappa went out to the Sunset Strip and hired creative people off the street. The Beatles were creating a n upper class sugar coated recherché version of psychedelia. Zappa went out in the street where it lived and found the real thing. I can totally see why Zappa chose to skewer the Beatles with We're Only In It For The Money. The Beatles used the techniques of Freak Out without for a second understanding the culture Freak Out represented.