Beatles in Mono.

First - I ordered the MONO set from Amazon this morning.

But after work I went to Best Buy and I couldn't resist buying all of the STEREO releases individually (all except for Yellow Submarine... I am very pleased with the redone 1999 CD for YS and that's what I'll stick with). I've been playing the STEREO versions and they sound just terrific! Almost makes me feel I didn't need the MONO's, but I'm glad I got them coming too.

I must say it was a wonderful Beatlemania atmosphere at Best Buy! Everyone converging around the displays and picking up the albums they wanted ... it's like 1964 all over again! The store was playing all-Beatles music; I think it was actually a local radio station that was having an all-day Beatles day! THE BEATLES STILL RULE!!

Oh - one thing I just spotted while playing PAST MASTERS was that the version of Thank You Girl  is actually the one that has the added harmonica at the end of the song, as well as accompanying the line "way that you do"..and then echoing "too good to be true"....  in other words, the version included on the great BEATLES' SECOND ALBUM! This was great news to me, as I never liked this song as much when the harmonica was missing in these sections.

Carlo,

I just checked -- I own six Sgt. Pepper LPs (three mono and two stereo copies, and one I am unsure of at the moment).  Some are from the U.K. and North America, and two have the titles of the songs in Spanish on the reverse side.  Not all of them have the original cut-outs, but the majority of my copies do.  Which brings me to my main point.

I am a member of four or five Beatles sites.  One of these in particular allows for the trading of albums (most often LPs).  If you joined, and if you still had some LPs to trade (selling is not allowed on most of these sites), you might be able to find one of those albums with the cut-outs.  Just a thought. :)

Edit: One of the Spanish-titled albums is distributed in Uruguay.  I don't know if that copy is mono or stereo, and I can't find any indication on the LP.  I will have to listen to it to know for certain.

Edited by Ockeghem - 9/9/09 at 5:01pm

Joe,

Thanks for the info.  I wish the Fabs had continued with the harmonica in later albums.  Beatles For Sale has a generous portion on it, but it's relatively scarce after that (The Beatles Again being an exception).

I'm really pleased that there are some fans of The Beatles Second Album.  It is probably my favorite North American offering, excluding albums that are not legitimately-released.

If pressed, I'd have to pick THE BEATLES' SECOND ALBUM as my favorite album of all time. And I'm a huge fan of WITH THE BEATLES (UK), which doesn't seem to get much love these days. 

Besides BEATLES' SECOND ALBUM, I think the only place I ever heard that "Thank You Girl" harmonica in the middle and end of the song was on the import LP, THE BEATLES BEAT (from Germany). I think that was  it. Until now it hasn't shown up elsewhere, not even on the old '80s CD of PAST MASTERS 1 .  

Joe,

Have you checked out the book I mentioned above by David Marsh?  It's devoted to The Beatles Second Album.  It's a fun and informative read. :)

The version of Thank You Girl you speak of does show up elsewhere, but one has to go outside of the easily obtainable albums to find it.  Incidentally, The Beatles Beat is another album I mentioned recently, but it may have been in the "Oldie of the Day" thread.  I love the look of those numbered import albums, and the work that went into the cover art.  I remember being very, very impressed with those Japanese and German imports when they were first released.

BTW, I guess it's a bit redundant of me to say I am a huge fan of With the Beatles as well (I'm a fan of every Beatles album); however, I have to add that All I've Got To Do, Don't Bother Me, and Not A Second Time are IMO ambitious songs for their time musically: the first track for reasons of cleverly-syncopated rhythm (thank you Ringo!) and usage of parallel fourths -- with impeccable intonation -- in the vocal harmony; the second track for its modal construct and lowered (albeit subtle) melodic second degree (often referred to in the conventional sense as the Neopolitan) in the descending guitar line which lends the song a lot of bite; and the third track for reasons of melodic contour and such an awesome piano fill.  I do wish that the Beatles had thought of double-tracking (harmonically) Lennon throughout on Not A Second Time.  We only get a snippet of it at the very end.

Edited by Ockeghem - 9/9/09 at 7:46pm

The bargains forum clued me in that Target was selling the induvidual stereo releases for $11.99 for the single disc albums and $16.99 for the two disc albums, with a free $5 Target card if you buy at least two. Since I couldn't get over there until after work (and the local Target never seems to stock more than four of anything...) I wasn't optimistic. But to my surprise, they had a whole rack dedicated to the rerelease. Both box sets were sold out, along with half the induvidual releases. Fortunately, the three albums I was looking for were still in stock: there were several copies of Abbey Road and the White Album, and I got the last copy of Revolver.

Having listened to Revolver and Abbey Road all the way through, three things leapt out at me:

1. They sound warmer than the original discs. The sound isn't as harsh or cold, for lack of better wording. I think this relates to the fact that:
2. The high end sounds less shrill (particularly noticable with the horns) and the low end sounds more robust.
3. Its easier to seperate out the different instruments. They don't muddy each other up when things get dense. I know they would mix different groups of instruments together and then flatten them down to fit everything into the four track (and later eight track) equipment. Were the stems from the original recordings kept? Did they go back and restore them induvidually and recreate the mix with modern 128-track equipment? I don't know. I just know I can pick out instruments that got lost in the shuffle for me before.

I've got an early morning tomorrow, so I'm going to save the White Album until I get home.

Where is The Ballad Of John & Yoko? Am I missing something?

It was never released on an album in Britain. It's included on the second disc of the remastered Past Masters stereo remaster. Because it was a stereo single, it's not included on the Mono Masters CDs.

I am NOT musically efficient; meaning I know nothing "technically" about music, and yet these three songs you've named are my favorites off WITH THE BEATLES... so I must be listening to something right. And don't forget those "aoleian cadences"  

I have a question, please (I am not a Beatles expert so please forgive my lack of knowledge on this):

Does the Stereo box have every known Beatles recording?  If not, what is missing?  I understand that the Mono box does not include albums/tracks recorded only in Stereo.

I believe it does - except, of course, for the tracks on Anthology, Live at the BBC, Free As A Bird and Real Love, the Christmas singles, Let It Be... Naked, and Love. But the stereo box should contain everything that the Beatles issued commercially in their career from 1963-1970.

Still waiting for the mono - expected on Saturday according to Amazon.  I'm considering a few of the individual stereo CDs, or hell maybe the whole damn box.  I've never been very dissapointed with the originals, but there are a few I don't have (original "Yellow Submarine", "Magical Mystery Tour" which I have on US vinyl with bad fake stereo on side 2).  Is it on sale anywhere? 

Joe,

And when you think of the tunes that aren't necessarily your (or my) favorites from the album, one begins to see just how amazingly talented and consistent the group was, even in 1963.  (BTW, I refrained from writing about the aeolian cadence, but I did think about it. ;))

Philip,

Are you asking where one can find the Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine remastered albums individually?  If you are, then check here:

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/results.asp?qsrch=A&WRD=beatles+remastered&box=beatles%20remastered&pos=-1

The entry for Yellow Submarine is on the second page.

I think, Scott, Philip is asking if there are any good deals currently available anywhere on the stereo box. 

Philip;

All stereo remastered albums are available individually, including the 2-disc Past Masters.

Mike,

I see.  Thanks.

Is anyone curious why the Yellow Submarine mono album (PMC 7070 for the Millenium U.K. Collection and EAS 70138 for the Millenium Red Collection) is not being included in the mono set?  I'm guessing it is probably because these are not legitimate mono mixes.

The first album is the mono version sourced from the early 1980's U.K. mono LP box set, which some believe is superior to the Japanese red vinyl version.  The second album is from the Millennium Remasters Collection of audiophile archival recordings (part of the Millennium Remasters "Japan Red Collection").

Edit: Okay, I have my answer (Disc 13).  I should have dug a bit more deeply. :)

Edited by Ockeghem - 9/10/09 at 9:45am

Except that someone has probably sequestered a bunch of copies for sale on ebay for twice the list price.  If there were plenty available then there wouldn't be any secondary market.

Except EMI doesn't make a cent from the secondary market, so it still doesn't make any sense to them.

I got to Best Buy yesterday a few minutes before it opened, with about five or six others hanging around. They had three stereo sets and two mono sets; I managed to get around to the stereo ones before anyone else and had about 30 seconds to inspect them and look at the corners for any dents and whatnot to get "the right copy." Had I known they would have the mono set (and that I would wake up early enough on a non-class day to go get them), I never would've pre-ordered it, and I really wish I hadn't since Best Buy still hasn't even sent me a shipping notice for it yet.

Anyway, oddly enough the stereo sets were snatched up instantly but even as I was leaving the store one of the mono boxes remained on the display...taunting me.

I never grew up listening to the mono mixes myself....was way too young - though I did have an opportunity to purchase the mono version of the Sgt. Pepper LP that was sitting in the racks back in the early 80's....of course I didn't buy it and opted for the stereo version since I didn't know any better then.

Seeing as how there is such a demand for the mono set, I have decided to purchase this version.....good thing that Amazon.ca has come across more copies of it...I snatched one and will wait patiently for the 2 to 5 weeks before I finally get it.  I never could resist a limited edition set....

I'll probably get the remaining ones individually but may wait til Boxing day in December for any sales on the stereo box set as I wouldn't mind having that as well.

D'oh! I guess I'll need to pick it up now! Thanks!

"Taunting me."  LOL.  You need to go back and get it! :)

It's gotta be gone by now, but I do plan on calling the store tomorrow and see if they have one in back or plan on getting one next week, since I was just informed that my mono set is on backorder. I thought the whole point of a pre-order was to make sure something like that didn't happen. First and last time I pre-order anything from BB.com.

According to http://www.jazzloft.com/p-50497-the-beatles-mono-box-set.aspx there will be more copies in October.

^ I saw an auction on the mono set end at $580 on Tuesday afternoon. I wonder if that was someone who had to have it now or had to have a first pressing or if just he didn't know more sets were being made.

Well, don't know what to call them, but I was ready to buy both sets earlier this week.  Having not been able to find copies of either, I started more rational thinking and now I realize I don't need to buy this music for the 3rd time (and 4th if you count the mono box I would have bought too).  I might pick up the single White Album as well as the single Abbey Road (because I've lost my original CD copy somewhere). 

  The last thing I can spend money on now, David, is more Beatles music.  I might pick up a single CD or two to do a side-by-side to the '87 discs (I remember that tantalizing roll-out all so well!  What an exciting new format!)

But I will admit to being envious of those in this thread who were in-the-chase for these tantalizing discs in such a hard-to-get situation.  The twists, the turns. 

FWIW: I noticed something the other day on a mono vinyl copy of Magical Myster Tour.  On I Am the Walrus, the drums drop out a minute or two for two measures.  I had never noticed that before.  I hope I wasn't hearing things--it was very interesting.  I'm really looking forward to listening more intently to the monos from this new set to compare.

Last night, I played eight cuts from The White Album for our oldest children.  I played Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da, I Will, Julia, Sexie Sadie, Helter Skelter, Honey Pie, Mother Nature's Son, and Revolution 9.  They mentioned, independently of my thoughts on the matter, that the styles of music were to their ears very different.  I told them that the last cut was in some respects an avant-garde work, and athough somewhat unique to the Beatles, experiments like this were being carried out musically with other 'classical' composers from the decade and earlier.  Then I played a couple of cuts from Sgt. Pepper, and wrapped up the session with four or five cuts from With the Beatles.  Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite is a fine example for teaching (to a degree) aleatoric music, and the orchestral build-up and relative chaos created prior to the resounding E-Major chord (before "Woke Up ... " and again at the conclusion of the piece) in A Day In the Life piqued their curiosity quite a bit.

Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da was perfect for teaching polyphonic writing in pop music.  The three contrapuntal lines (McCartney's bass, the text on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," and the brass lines) all work interdependently and very effectively in combination.  I like how we first hear McCartney's triadic bass early on, then a variation of this bass line (how about that sixteenth note flourish!) together with the text of the tune later, and finally the brass even later.  It helps one's ears to assimilate (and in some cases, memorize) the individual lines before the cumulative effect of all three elements is experienced and appreciated.  Another fine example of this type of writing may be heard in McCartney's gem, Silly Love Songs, although the three differing lines in that tune are far more protracted.  (Interestingly, there is also a fourth melodic line that is introduced, but is not used in combination with the other three.  When I listen to that work, I have attempted to determine if all four lines would have worked together in conjunction with one another.  I have concluded that the four lines would not have worked nearly as well, as the level of dissonance would have been too great.)  In any event, a splendid time was guaranteed by all. :)

Edited by Ockeghem - 9/11/09 at 9:46am

Well, my weekend is now planned...the Amazon.ca/Canada Post Super Saver shipping method actually let me see the sets today, as opposed to the estimated 15th.  2 days after street w/free shipping?  How cool is that?!?

Of course, much of the time will also be spent "backing these up"...

To the toppermost of the poppermost!