Well, I almost feel a silly reviewing the Beatles. Simply, if you don't know by now, me telling you won't help. The Beatles are simply the greatest rock band that ever existed, and most likely, they always will be. While pioneers like Jerry Lee Lewis and Fats Domino sadly and undeservedly fade into obscurity, every generation rediscovers the Beatles. Their story has been told, retold, and twisted into legend, and I can't set the record straight on my little web page. I will leave the substantial discussion of the Beatles history and music to others; with literally hundreds of books devoted the subject, the discussion is already more than substantial. But, as a collector, I feel confident declaring that you should own a whole bunch of Beatles CD's, so instead I'll address which ones and why.

In one sense, it's a simple question with an easy answer: buy them all. The Beatles's original albums are essential listening, and even the slightest of them yield great rewards. The ones you should definitely own - the ones that most succinctly encompass their complete, official studio recordings - are listed below in chronological order. My personal favorite - if forced to choose - would be Abbey Road. A masterpiece on every level - songwriting, performance, and production - it's better all by its lonesome than 99% of every "greatest hits" album released by anyone (except the Beatles), anywhere, anytime.

• Please Please Me (1962)
• With The Beatles (1963)
• A Hard Day's Night (1964)
• Beatles For Sale (1964)
• Help (1965)
• Rubber Soul (1965)
• Revolver (1966)
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)
• Magical Mystery Tour (1967)
• The Beatles (a.k.a. the "White Album") (1968)
• Yellow Submarine (1969)
• Abbey Road (1969)
• Let It Be (1970)
• Past Masters Vol. 1 (1988)
• Past Masters Vol. 2 (1988)

A common question among consumers, though, concerns why certain Beatle albums (Beatles '65, Yesterday... And Today, et al.) are not on CD. The answer? Sit back, it's a long one: the Beatles began releasing records on EMI's Parlophone label in England in 1962, but their American debut occurred two years later. When Capitol, the American arm of EMI, began releasing Beatle albums in the U.S., they culled tracks from a variety of sources, creating new albums often only roughly analogous to their British counterparts. The American LP Meet The Beatles, for instance, is similar to the British album With The Beatles, but other American albums (e.g. Hey Jude) were thrown together from leftover tracks and never had a British doppelganger. Years later, when Capitol began reissuing the Beatles' catalog on CD, they released the albums in their original British format - which, as we will see, is a good thing.

English albums of the day commonly had 14 tracks, and, as a courtesy to the consumer, songs already released on singles were rarely included on albums. American LP's, on the other hand, usually had 12 songs, and record labels showed no compunction about selling fans the same song more than once. Thus, until Sgt. Pepper, all the Beatles' British albums had more songs than their American albums, but they did not include singles as marvelous as "I Want To Hold Your Hand," "She Loves You," "Day Tripper," and "Lady Madonna." This, by the way, is where the Past Masters volumes come in; they compile all those non-LP singles plus other odd tracks never on a British album. So - even counting Past Masters - we're better off with British releases on the American CD's: more songs, fewer albums.

But, not to worry. Together, these CD's contain every song the Beatles ever released commercially, and the British versions have some distinct advantages in addition to their lengthier running time. First, albums such as A Hard Day's Night, Help, and Yellow Submarine are real albums, not soundtracks - 14 great Beatles songs sans the schmaltzy movie music found on the U.S. versions. Second - and this cannot be overstated - we get the albums as the Beatles intended. Almost immediately, the Beatles began recording relatively cohesive statements rather than collections of individual songs. Long before the vaunted "concept" of Sgt. Pepper, they created the spare, hard-rocking With The Beatles, the desolate, acoustic Beatles For Sale, and, most impressively, the smart, acerbic Rubber Soul.

If you take my advice, the Box Set is an easy, affordable way to get 'em all at once, and you get the cool little rolltop case. But, let's say you don't heed my words - or you have to watch your pennies. What's a cost-conscious consumer to do? Well, I strongly recommend the two double-CD sets, Beatles 1962-1966 (the "red album") and Beatles 1967-1970 (the "blue album"). Reissued precisely from earlier double-LP sets, they are a bit abbreviated (the red album would have fit on one CD) but are otherwise wonderful. The more recent Beatles One CD, containing 27 (!) number one hits on one disc, is, if possible, even better - magnificence distilled to perfection. The Singles Collection and E.P. Collection, on the other hand, are both pricey souvenirs, recapturing the band's original 7-inch vinyl glory on CD - pretty cool, though....

After that, serious collectors have a lot from which to choose. The Beatles have, of course, been the subject of thousands of bootlegs documenting (often in ridiculously minute detail) concerts, outtakes, rehearsals, the fan club Christmas flexi-discs, and other such ephemera. The CD era finally prompted EMI to begin chipping away at this black market with a series of laudable releases. First came Live At The BBC, a two-disc sampling from the Beatles' many appearances on the English radio network. Then, the three-volume, six-disc Anthology series dipped its toe in the treasure trove of previously unreleased goodies - plus two somewhat dubious "new" tracks assembled by the three then-surviving Beatles from some of John Lennon's leftover demo tapes. Released with enormous fanfare, many consumers assumed Anthology to be the "best" of the Beatles; it is not. But, it provides a fascinating glimpse into the creative processes of the world's most creative band.

Next, the Beatles gave us the "songtrack" version of Yellow Submarine, tossing in all the actual Beatles songs used in the animate film but tossing out producer George Martin's incidental music. Finally, Let It Be... Naked is roughly the Beatles' final album stripped of Phil Spector's glossy post-production - more a companion to the original rather than a replacement.

Back in the 70's, Capitol issued Live At The Hollywood Bowl, a record that featured thousands of screaming teenagers more audibly than the Beatles. However, no legitimate live-in-concert Beatles album (that one included) has ever been released on CD. This is fairly telling: since the Beatles 1970 break-up, the former Fab Four (including Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow) have adopted an extremely conservative strategy towards the Beatles' legacy, something I find both admirable and frustrating. Fans can claim to have been treated fairly - that is, not exploited, as would have been so easy. But, with so much music still unissued and with such a limitless market, one has to wonder - why?

Moreover, hard-core collectors gripe about the Beatles' existing CD catalog. They have some foundation; the first four albums were issued in mono; many of the discs run less than half an hour; and, no bonus tracks were included on the original releases. All true, but don't let that dissuade you from experiencing the Beatles in all their synergistic glory. Rock music rarely mattered so much - before or since.

A Quick Note. In 2004 Capitol Records begun issuing the Beatles' albums in their American format, invalidating much of what I discuss above. I stand by my assertion that the British configurations (originally released on Parlaphone Records) are superior, and I would argue that only truly devoted - and well-heeled - fans need to purchase this music yet again. But, these new versions (released as boxed sets, The Capitol Albums, Vol. 1 and The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2), have been remastered, and stereo versions are included - something that can't be said about some of the original Beatles CD reissues.

The End. In 2009, Capitol finally remastered the Beatles albums, issuing them individually, as well as in both stereo and mono boxed sets. Each of the studio albums incudes a brief QuickTime documentary, and the boxed sets include a DVD containing all of the featurettes. The two Past Masters Vol. 1 sets, by the way, were combined into a single set. Anyway, I bought a stereo box, and it's almost perfection. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!