[Encore Pressing] Help! [Cardboard Sleeve (mini LP)] [SHM-CD] [Limited Release] Customer Reviews

The Beatles album 'Help!' is one I like very much. It is a very enjoyable album, and was a lot more sprightly and upbeat than 'Beatles for Sale' and the second half of 'A Hard Day's Night', and more consistent that 'With the Beatles'.

Fun fact: This encore release was one of the first to become Sold Out on CDJapan, along with Past Masters Volume 1 & 2. I had to get those from Amazon. So, this is NOT an audiophile review. I am reviewing this release from a purely aesthetic point of view. This stereo HELP! mini LP SHM-CD is quite nice. The laminated mini LP cover is excellent. This version is almost identical to the Mono Box version, except of course, the mono vs. stereo identifications in the upper right hand corner of the front cover. What caused me to deduct a star from my review is the one flaw many of the mini LPs in this set unfortunately feature. When looking at the album from the back cover, it is apparent that the folded flipback flaps were not glued as flawlessly as the mono counterpart. A slight misalignment causes gaps in the corners and a spine that just isn't as perfect as the mono version. Not a major drawback, but disappointing nonetheless. On a positive note, this encore release features a resealable outer sleeve with a blue sticker (as opposed to the 1st pressing red sticker), a nice OBI, the 2009 booklet identical to the one released with the digipak version, and an additional booklet with song lyrics in English. Also included is a rice paper sleeve and the reproduced paper sleeve to house the disc itself, as it was with the original UK-released album. The actual disc features a reproduced PARLOPHONE lable. Overall, a good collectable.

Help! I need somebody to punish Universal Music Japan. Let us admit it: many of us buy mini-LPs not for the music that we often already know by heart and love. We pay top dollar for Japan mini-LPs because just looking at the faithfully reproduced replicas of the original LP covers or holding them in our hands is a trip down memory lane. Sure enough we expect Japanese quality from these products and actually rarely get disappointed. Alas, this is not the case at all with seven of these Beatles mini-LPs. I am not reviewing the sound quality here as I fully concur with Mathias Netzker's professional opinion on the RS, SPLHCB, and AR editions: "They used the same bass heavy and compressed digtal 2009 Remasters. The only differences I could find out, is that this SHM-CD is louder than the Standard CD". It is not my intention to review the SHM format, either. If it is the same 2009 remastering, this is what you get. The SHM sound quality improvements are miniscule at best. The real disappointment is the flipback covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine. All of these sleeves are poorly folded and glued, which results in gaps at the corners and misplaced spines. One can actually read the name of the artist and the album title printed on the spine when looking straight at the front of the cover. Both the original and encore releases have this defect that is hidden behind the obi. Just take the mini-lp out of the plastic sleeve and obi and see for yourself what I am talking about. It is hard to believe that these mini-LPs are made in Japan and I wonder if Universal Music outsourced the manufacturing to another country. In contrast, the Japanese-made cardboard sleeves in The Beatles in Mono box set (2009) are flawless. The non-flipback covers for Abbey Road and Let It Be are fine, and so are the gatefold sleeves of The Beatles for Sale, SPLHCB, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles (White Album), and Past Masters. In conclusion, the mini-LP covers for Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Rubber Soul, Revolver, and Yellow Submarine are defective. Sound-wise, all of these CDs are identical with the regular 2009 remasters in digipack that are available from Amazon Marketplace for $4-6 apiece + S&H.

the CD quality is top 5 stars, i believe is the best Remaster and edition (SHM) ever done, if the target is to get the best sound quality using the best remaster, here is the solution. but, for us Mini LPs collectors, this is disappointment edition. the additional book is very good, but for me not really necessary, the outside cardboard cover is a disaster, it is not a Japanease cardboard sleeve quality, even the chinese or russian do better. the cardboard is glued very badly, the process used was innadequate, there is no space inside of the cardboard left for anything outter than the CD itself, the spines are not visible and there is gabs left visible. for the CD itself i would leave the 5 stars for the cover i leave ZERO stars