Best sounding Beatles albums

I also prefer the Parlophone Blue Box. I have a number of the later Beatles on MFSL and initially they sound quite impressive. However I found that "the mix" seemed to differ a fair bit from the Parlophone set. The MFSL dynamics in particular are fairly spectacular and the bass and lower registers are a little too overpowering----great if you want to hear Ringo! Its almost like the engineer was "riding" the gain Also the vocals were noticeably different in not a pleasant way. A colleague of mine brought over original Parlophone (France) stereo LP's and these were unbelievably good. The good news is that the Blue Box Parlophone set was close---tonally very similar just not as resolute.

I would look for a good copy of the Beatles Blue Box.

Since I first posted this question (almost four years ago) I have experimented with a lot of different Beatles titles. IMHO the best sounding are the original (1st pressing if you can) mono Parlophone's from the UK...... They are hard to find (and even harder to find a deal on), but it's kinda fun to track them down. In the end, I really like these better than the MFSL or Japanese pressings I have.

CHris

The MSFL definitely tend to have a sort of "smiley" EQ. The bass (Especially on Abbey Road)" does tend to be over emphasized while lacking in the midrange. This really tends to hurt the vocals. I will say though, that I still think that some of the early recordings sound pretty good on MFSL, up to and including Rubber Soul. I have not got to hear all the Parlphone records (just don't have the money). But I do find that the MFSL sounds better then a lot of the capitol releases. Just my 2 cents.

I'm having a good laugh about all this. Everything and nothing is the best or not. Does anyone want to hear the original master tapes as they were originally done (mostly mono) without any crap added or subtracted, as the BEATLES intended, (warts and all as John said)??? Listen to the Stones sacd's. Can't we have the BEATLES like that ?? I'm 53 and counting. others are older than I !!!

I picked up a Parlophone special edition pressing on Sargent Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and love the depth and clarity. The bonus studio out-takes are mildly amusing, but the main course is to die for.