1980 | Rock, pop, psychedelia
MP3 320 Kbps | 784 mb
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 albums 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.
And Simon Sinclair who compiled these albums seems to have known what he was doing, because he has sprinkled the albums with some interesting variations from the regular versions of the songs.
Main track differences from the regular Beatles albums in the UK:
Across The Universe - (Version 2) produced by Phil Spector.
All My Loving - begins with five taps on Ringo's "hi-hat" cymbal.
All You Need Is Love - the mono version.
And I Love Her - contains six bars of acoustic guitar in the fadeout instead of the usual four.
Baby You're A Rich Man - the true stereo version, previously found just on the German Magical Mystery Tour LP.
The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill - appears as it does on The Beatles ("white album"), minus the opening guitar obbligato.
The End/Her Majesty - the pause between the two songs lasts for only five seconds. On Abbey Road, the time between tracks is fifteen seconds.
Get Back - the album version, produced by Phil Spector.
I'm Only Sleeping - the extremely rare version with the slightly delayed guitar solo, previously found just on the U.S. stereo eight-track tape edition of "Yesterday" And Today.
I Am The Walrus - the composite version put together by Capitol Records engineers John Palladino and George Irwin for the U.S. commercial Rarities.
I Feel Fine - the true stereo version that begins with tapping drum sticks, whispering, coughing and Ringo closing his "hi-hat" cymbal.
Let It Be (Version 2) "reproduced for disc" by Phil Spector.
Love Me Do - (Version 1) the rare one with Ringo on drums.
Penny Lane - the composite version from the U.S. commercial Rarities.
She's A Woman - the true stereo version previously available just in Australia and in Singapore/Malaysia/Hong Kong.
Strawberry Fields Forever - the true stereo version.
Thank You Girl - the original mono version without John's extra harmonica fills.
This Boy - the mono version.
The box was available in several countries. In Japan, a poster (depicted above) was included in the box.
The album box set was deleted in the UK in 1982, only to reappear in July 1987 as an eight cassette box, called "The Last Chance Edition".
Due to good sales, the boxed set is fairly common, and shouldn't command too high a price, although some people will always have the nerve, or the excuse of ignorance.
Tracklist:
