Beatles: Pre-Rubber Soul (1 Viewer)

[Patrick Larkin]

So if you're a real completist you need the red album anyway!

doh!

 

[Jagan Seshadri]

The stereo on Please Please Me and Meet the Beatles is not great (instruments to one side, vocals to the other) but A Hard Day's Night and Beatles for Sale have good stereo mixes.

As for George Martin "knowing what he was doing" for those first 4 albums on CD, I recall that it was more a matter of him not having the time in 1987 to do the stereo job right, so he just issued the mono.

A Google search for "Bengt Stereo Beatles" turns up an interesting site regarding all this.

-JNS

 

[Alex Shk]

In reference to "Rarities"

This hasn't been released on an official CD. As I recall, this consisted mostly of the "B" sides of singles. These can be found on the Past Masters CDs.

Well, not quite. It was an attempt to consolidate some variations of Beatle tracks that were not available in the US at the time. It included:

2 tracks that are now on Please Please Me

2 tracks from PM 1

3 tracks from PM 2

Plus:

Penny Lane with an extra horn trill during the feedback at the end (this is how it was mixed for the promo single).

I Am the Walrus with 6 beats at the beginning (this is now the standard version on the Magical Mystery Tour CD) AND an extra measure of music before the line "yellow matter custard" (this was the US single version, it's still pretty rare).

The UK stereo version of I'm Only Sleeping (again - this is now the standard version. Oddly enough, the differing US stereo and mono lp versions are now the "rarities")

Mono mix of "Don't Pass Me By" (different fiddle, faster in pitch)

Mono mix of "Helter Skelter" (dramatically different mix, louder guitars and background vocals, louder drums at the end, does NOT fade back in and omits the "blisters on my fingers" line)

"And I Love Her" - version released in Germany, extra beats at the end, different double tracking on vocals.

"Help" - mono mix, different lead vocal - no tambourine in chorus.

And the "Sgt Peppers Inner Groove" - 2 seconds of gibberish at the tail end of the Pepper album, it is on the CD, but was never on the US vinyl.

Added edit - actually, you are right. Much of this was on PM 1 and 2.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Have you ever sat down and listened to the stereo 'Beatles for Sale' (UK version), and compared it to the mono CD? Even if you fold it down to mono, you would hear that the real mono version is much less dynamic.

Yep - and I still prefer the mono version. Once we get past issues of dynamics, there's a simple truth - the early stereo mixes were *never* intended to be released in that form. They are unbelievably crude, and consist of the separate instrument and vocal tracks that were mixed down into the mono versions. It was only the American market clamouring for stereo at all costs that forced George Martin's hand and made him release the 'stereo' versions.

I agree about the dynamics of the CDs being indifferent. Anyone who has heard bootlegs of the band's studio outtakes will know just how good the Beatles sound without dynamic compression. I'd love to think that one day we will get a Beatles release that doesn't pander to Joe Six Pack's crappy stereo and actually has some dynamic range (why not do what The Police did with their early albums and relsease audiophile and standard versions simultaneously?). However, that is about as likely as a new edition of Anthology having The Pakistani Song.

 

[Nick_G]

lennon actually HATED all of those early "stereo" mixes and very much preferred the "mono" mixes. i mean when you think about it, it was just pretty much vocals on one side and music on the other. not really much of a "stereo" mix now, is it?

 

[Rachael B]

I kind'a like LIVE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL. It's an intresting album as a bit of trivia. The audience drowns out the band instead of the other way around. Those 64 & 65 concerts are unmatchable for hysteria, atleast that's how the album makes it sound, literally.

 

[RickGr]

There is a second Rarities album. My wife ordered it as an import many years ago (vinyl) I got it here but will have to go thru the 2000 or so vinyl albums on shelves in the back room.
I am not sure if it was only a European release or a bootleg but it was the same qality as Rarities one

 

[andrew markworthy]

Any Beatles album with 'rarities' in the title is a bootleg.

About ten years before the Anthology series, a single album of studio out-takes and demos was planned, and some sleeves printed up (I think the title was 'Sessions'). Some of these reached the stores, but if you find a copy, the huge chances are that it's a counterfeit.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Any Beatles album with 'rarities' in the title is a bootleg.

Uh, no. The official album "Rarities" came out in 1979 (UK)/1980 (US). As legit as it gets - not a boot. Take a look at it here.

 

[Jack Gilvey]

...the early stereo mixes were *never* intended to be released in that form. They are unbelievably crude, and consist of the separate instrument and vocal tracks that were mixed down into the mono versions. It was only the American market clamouring for stereo at all costs that forced George Martin's hand and made him release the 'stereo' versions.

And that type of crude "stereo for the sake of stereo" has become known as "Beatles stereo"...as you know.
Avoid the cd's at all cost, find some vinyl. That was, after all, the artist's "original intent" (in his worst nightmares, John likely never envisioned cd).

 

[Alex Shk]

There were 2 legitimate Beatle albums called Rarities -

A UK version (Parlophone) with a blue cover that compiled songs that were not on the UK albums.

A Capitol US Rarities, which was different animal. The UK version made little sense to release in the US as most of the singles, B sides and EP tracks WERE on US albums. So Capitol put out their own version with alternate mixes not available in the US.

Neither collection is available on CD.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Oops! Stand corrected! :b

 

[Ron Etaylor]

So are you all squared away now Patrick