The Beatles The Best Of

This 5-DVD Collector's set features all 26 uncut, original broacast episodes from the second season of the Monkees. DVD speial features incude 5.1 Audio, commentary tracks with all four Monkees, an exclusive interview and vintage TV commercials. Includes episodes 33-58 and the bonus "33 1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee".

20th Century Masters offers up a straightforward run through Siouxsie & the Banshees' greatest hits, effectively boiling the Once/Twice Upon a Time singles collections down to one disc. It's a well-executed job, as well – without a keen memory for every U.K. single the band released, it's difficult to pinpoint where the omissions fall. From "Hong Kong Garden" to "Face to Face," the entire spellbinding scope of Bansheedom is laid bare and, if the later years (from "Peek A Boo" onwards) receive short shrift, then that is only as it should be. The innovation that shone through the band's earliest singles was a rare gift indeed; 20th Century Masters allows everyone to share in it, and at a budget price, as well!

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. With a line-up comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, they are commonly regarded as the most influential band of all time. The group were integral to the development of 1960s counterculture and popular music's recognition as an art form. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, their sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band later explored music styles ranging from ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. As pioneers in recording, songwriting and artistic presentation, the group revolutionised many aspects of the music industry and were often publicised as leaders of the era's youth and sociocultural movements…

Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. It’s hard not to interpret “And in the end / the love you take / is equal to the love you make” as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the group’s entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is.

One strongly suspects that the existence of this five-CD box, in tandem with a handful of other packages of this type, was largely responsible for getting Paul McCartney (and others) to take a serious look at what was in EMI's vaults, resulting in the release of the Beatles' Anthology series. In 1993, however, this was the only game in town: 124 choice outtakes, live concert tracks, demos, overdub sessions, and rehearsals covering the group's known recordings from 1958 through 1970 – it's essentially a best-of the Beatles' unauthorized output, from what were then the best-known sources of every track represented…

Conventional wisdom holds that the Beatles intended Abbey Road as a grand farewell, a suspicion seemingly confirmed by the elegiac note Paul McCartney strikes at the conclusion of its closing suite. It’s hard not to interpret “And in the end / the love you take / is equal to the love you make” as a summation not only of Abbey Road but perhaps of the group’s entire career, a lovely final sentiment. The truth is perhaps a bit messier than this. The Beatles had tentative plans to move forward after the September 1969 release of Abbey Road, plans that quickly fell apart at the dawn of the new decade, and while the existence of that goal calls into question the intentionality of the album as a finale, it changes not a thing about what a remarkable goodbye the record is.

Hours Of Darkness is a 14 disc box set bootleg. It was released under Maxwell Edison Records in 2019 and has become one of The Beatles' fan favorite compilations.

Hours Of Darkness is a 14 disc box set bootleg. It was released under Maxwell Edison Records in 2019 and has become one of The Beatles' fan favorite compilations.