It’s a little bit embarrassing, frankly. To be faced with the task of describing the music of the most relentlessly original band of all time, and to realise that what you really want to say is the lamest of clichés. Oh well, here goes anyway. Listening to the newly remastered Beatles albums is like hearing the songs for the very first time all over again.

As well-trod as that line might be, I mean it. Time and again, on album after album, I felt as if I were listening to music I’d never heard before. I expected these remasters, out on Wednesday, to be a serious improvement on the 1987 CDs, which were flat and lifeless, and a travesty of the original albums; I expected to be thinking things like: “Well, they’ve really brought some crispness to the hi-hat on this one.” What I didn’t expect was to be blown away by the music all over again.

What makes the new versions so much better? Crucially, the technology that transfers analogue sound into the digital domain is significantly better than it was 20 years ago, so before the remastering engineers started tweaking anything, they had already got the sound back closer to the original masters than before. Then they used denoising technology and overall limiting. Importantly, the engineers avoided today’s trend to limit the music heavily (limiting squashes the dynamics of music, making the quieter bits seem louder, creating a more even sound, which has more impact on the radio) in favour of a subtle treatment that adds oomph but retains the original dynamics.

I resisted the invitation to go and listen to the new versions in Abbey Road studios, because what wouldn’t sound good pumping out of those huge monitors? I listened to the albums on a system that was neither new nor expensive. And yet the experience was amazing. Hearing the new versions turned these tracks back from cultural landmarks into songs, and turned the band back from icons into four musicians bashing away at instruments.

You can hear the three separate voices coming together to form those early harmonies; you can distinguish the building blocks of Strawberry Fields Forever; the noise in A Day in the Life isn’t a noise anymore, it’s an orchestra of individual instruments all making their own way to the climax. Oh, that’s how they did it. And when John Lennon sings I Am the Walrus, he has never been so clearly, thrillingly right there in the room with you. Those few minutes alone make it clear this remastering project is not about the technology in the studio; it’s about the humanity of the band. So even if you know the Beatles’ music inside out, yes, you should seriously consider investing in as many of these remastered albums as you can afford.

If you don’t know the Beatles’ music inside out, this is the perfect moment to find out what all the fuss is about. And if you’re one of the many millions who own the 1 compilation, don’t go thinking, “Oh, I must have all the best tracks already”, because the Beatles albums don’t adhere to today’s two-singles-plus-filler formula; indeed, many of them didn’t contain any singles at all; so even if you own 1 and have played the hits to death, there’s still a whole other world to explore.

The box set of The Beatles costs £169.99. Albums can be bought separately for £10.99 each

Please Please Me (Mar 1963)

The Beatles’ debut reveals a band that − thanks to countless hours on stage in Liverpool and Hamburg — are already light years ahead of the pack. The visceral energy of opening track I Saw Her Standing There and album closer Twist and Shout haven’t dimmed — and explain exactly why this album acted as a wake-up call to the nation’s youth.

With the Beatles (Nov 1963)

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