The book
The book is not thick. As a reasonable fan, dipping into the text told us nothing new.
There is an introduction by John Lennon, culled from somewhere.
There is an introduction by Paul McCartney.
There is an introduction by George Harrison… oh no, there isn’t, they could be bothered to find anything that he had ever said that would fit.
There is an introduction by Ringo Starr. After all, he is still alive. No, definitely is not. We’re guessing it’s McCartney sidelining the other two. Do tell us if we are wrong.
Who is it aimed at?
A good question.
Not new Beatles fans for sure.
Long term fans will have most of this. They will have seen the pictures before and know the stories behind the record.
What’s new is all the sessions stuff, which may be interesting but not something you would want to listen to many times, and a handful of tracks newly remixed. Giles Martin’s bass heavy remixes are not to everyone’s taste but it’s great that you can hear more detail and balance in places.
Collectors will buy it because they are collectors, they bought the others, they feel they have to.
Is it good value?
No.
Thank goodness there are no fake ticket stubs, badges, stickers or other crap.
But if you are a Beatles’ fan, you will have most of this and the rest is probably not worth having.
We know people have bought all the different versions, and you can too, that’s your choice, just be aware of what you are getting and why. We also know people who are not buying it, even though they have the other sets.
It’s a thin release. There’s very little interesting and the prices are so high for what it is.
Interesting to hear what Andrew Milton of Parlogram Auctions, a life-long dedicated fan, thinks.
Will it be valuable in the future?
It is not an investment. Beatles’ stuff does not sell for a lot of money unless it is something super rare. Most ordinary copies, even our pristine mono Revolver, are not worth much because there were so many sold.