As previously announced, on the 9th of September the entire catalogue of the Beatles has been re-issued, remastered from the original tapes (as part of a general push of the brand with the Beatles game and other creepy things being done around it).
Personally I have no hesitation in saying that the extra low frequencies and loudness make the overall balance worse than the first CD release. You might disagree but at least think about it before you go and splash a lot of money on something that possibly you already own, simply assuming that the new version "must be at least just as good as the old one".
I have just spent some time comparing the two versions (which reminds me of a fantastic episode of the IT Crowd where Moss orders Harry Potter in both original and adult edition to check word-by-word if it is really true that the text is the same) and it is immediately clear that what you get is a different record, one where instruments that used to be loud become just part of the mix, and certain choices made during the mixing stage would have to be reconsidered.
One example for all...
The song Taxman features a mix with the entire rhythm section on the left channel; odd choice by today's standards, but absolutely fine for a record that didn't have the bass frequencies we are used to now. However, when the new mastering brings up all the bass that can be extracted from the original recording, this choice doesn't make sense anymore, and particularly when listening to the song in headphones you have to say that the effect is only detrimental to the song.
I am looking forward to demonstrate this and many other points during my lectures, where we can analyse the original CDs in the best possible way without incurring in copyright infringments. If I find the time I might be able to post some short examples here or somewhere else in the future.
UPDATE: Things are more complicated than it seems.
Check this post for more about the remastered Beatles stereo boxset and mono boxset
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