The Beatles: Abbey Road
Toshiba Pro Use CD (Japanese Import)
This was the first ever authorized Beatles CD, released in Japan in 1983 by Toshiba-EMI (CP35-3016). The limited pressing disc was licensed only for domestic sale in Japan, but quickly made its way to the U.S. and was available nationally for a short time in several stores, including the Tower Records chain.Upon learning it was being sold outside of Japan EMI cancelled their contract with Toshiba causing the CD to be withdrawn from the market.
I bought my copy at tower the first time I laid eyes on it and it is a good thing I did, because by the time I returned two weeks later they had been all pulled from the shelves. For the next four years the few copies that did get pressed were the only Beatle CDs on the planet. (Remember at this time CD burners did not exist, heck PCs did not even exist yet, and CD production capacity was still very small and pretty much all taken up by the major labels, so bootleg CDs had not yet hit the scene.)
Even though this was a very early CD it still had excellent SQ and IMO was significantly better than the Capital version released in 1987. Even today with all of the advances made in digital audio I feel that the 2009 stereo remaster release is only slightly better than the 1983 Toshiba.
