Beatles in Mono. - Page 12

 I'm just ripping them to my hard drive with EAC and streaming from there. :) I may grab that Box of Vision, though. Looks cool.

Are you sure? I know it's the exact same mix as the '87 discs, but I'm pretty sure they went back to the analog tapes for the new CD.

Hint..the White Album did not come out in 1979. 

(I know, there was some better way to put this, I'm totally bereft of "better ways". It's like some sort of handicap).

 

To clear up possible confusion, there was a 30th anniversary limited edition release of the white album put out in 1998. It was numbered and limited, and in a digipak case IIRC (Never owned one, just saw it on the shelves, and it wasn't in a standard jewel case).

This is what they're talking about for the 30th anniversary white album, not the new '09 remasters.

 The "white album" CDs that came out in '87 (in the jewel cases) were numbered, too (at least the first batch was). What was the difference aside from the packaging compared to the '98 set?

BTW- weren't the Mono sets supposed to be numbered, or was that just speculation?

I don't believe the mono sets were supposed to be numbered. It was announced the U.S. allotment would be ten thousand (since revised upwards to meet demand), but I don't recall that the ten thousand would be individually numbered.

Another Beatles question (though not related to mono only):

Does anyone else prefer the originally envisioned first side track order for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band? I personally find it flows better that way and have re-numbered the songs on iTunes and subsequently my iPod to hear it in the original order of:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
With a Little Help From My Friends
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Fixing a Hole
Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds
Getting Better
She's Leaving Home

The first press release said that the mono sets would be numbered and limited.

I like the playing order on Sgt. Pepper's as-is.  That's how I have been listening to it for over 30 years.

- Steve

Got my Mono box today (Stereo should arrive tomorrow). Very impressive package (although my outer box has a crease in it from mailing -- really, Amazon, couldn't you spring for a box instead of mailing it in a puffy envelope?), and the detail to the original LPs is striking. I especially liked the Magical Mystery Tour booklet; haven't seen most of those pictures since I last looked at my vinyl copy.

Here is something no one seems to be mentioning: We keep hearing that this is the first time the mono mixes have been on CD and that's what makes this special, etc., etc. (and presumably why they created a separate, higher priced box set for the monos). But what about the two Capital Album box sets from a few years ago that put together the first 8 US albums, and gave us mono and stereo mixes for each? I realize that this is the first time these (UK) albums have been in mono on CD, but not the first time many of these songs have.

But I guess if they reminded people about those US LPs on CD, they'd have to explain why we got mono and stereo in one package then, but not now. I like the new reissues, I really do, but the cost could have been kept down considerably but putting mono and stereo mixes on one CD. These releases are now the third and fourth times I bought these albums. Sigh, Blu-Ray 5.1 mixes, here we come.

Now that these CDs are out I would like to see Apple turn their attention to Let It Be on DVD/BD, and a CD of the great Live at the Hollywood Bowl LP. Maybe that can be part of Capital Records Vol. 3: Hey Jude, Hollywood Bowl, Yesterday and Today, and Love Songs (or Rarities).

Some of the monos on the Beatles US albums are unique mixes - listen to "And I Love Her" - no doubled vocals on the verses - sounds MUCH nicer IMO. 

Scott, when you do get around to listening to it in this order, be sure to keep in mind the "Side 1" nature of the LP, as I feel this track list flows better as a Side 1 of an LP. That's one of the things I miss about LPs, the side change. Track ordering is definitely a different [and mostly lost] art for CDs.

According to the liner notes, only side 1 was impacted, not side 2, so the remainder of the songs on Sgt. Peppers is in the order that the Beatles originally intended.

Agreed. The current (? 10 yrs old!) DVD isn't the best. But Let It Be needs to be the first DVD priority. Why it wasn't done when Let It Be Naked came out, I will never understand.

Question about the new MMT mono CD: I notice the front cover of the gatefold is very heavy cardboard; was the original LP this way? It almost feels like a storybook with the pages inside. I only have a later pressing of the LP (from the mid 70s) and the front cover isn't quite as heavy as the CD replica.

Scott - honestly I prefer the original (as the Beatles intended) version. Like so many of you, I grew up listening to the record so it was at first a little disconcerting. I am not as musically in-tune as you are so I can't do a key-relationship analysis, but I will say this:

I like how Benefit follows Sgt Peppers/With a little help. It keeps the "circus act" motif that Sgt Pep/WALHFMF establishes. Then you flow into Fixing a Hole which to me hints at the slight lunacy/edge of sanity of the whole act. Then we go to LitSWD which is the ultimate psychedelic manifestation of the "we're not in Kansas anymore" idea. Then we start the road back to sanity with Getting Better. And in my opinion She's Leaving Home is a song tailor-made to end Side A, both in theme and in sound.

For the early albums this is the first time that the stereo mixes have been on CD.  When the Beatles first came out on CD they were the  mono versions for the first N albums (I think Sgt. Pepper was the first of the stereo CD releases, but I'm not sure).  This time around they were all remastered, etc.  I can't think of any good reason for the mono versions to come out in a higher priced box set except they thought that mono would sell to a smaller audience.

In 1987, EMI released the first four albums in mono.  At the time, George Martin said that was a mistake, because A Hard's Day Night and Beatles For Sale were four-track recordings that had been mixed for stereo back in the '60s, while Please Please Me and With The Beatles were two-track recordings best suited for mixing down to mono.  

IIRC, the test pressings for the stereo AHDN and BFS were rejected in 1987 because they didn't sounds as loud as the mono versions, but that was a mistake in the mastering process. 

So 22 years later, we finally get that mistake corrected. 

I'm glad you're digging it. Like I said, it took me a little while to "unlearn what I had learned" [/Yoda voice] with regards to the song order, and when I did, I found the new order preferable. Again, YMMV for each listener, but I can certainly understand what The Beatles were thinking when they originally suggested this order.

Is it just me or does "Your Mother Should Know" on the mono Magical Mystery Tour sound really bad? Especially once it gets to around 1:45.

I finally got my MONO set and the first disc I played was MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR. I'd agree that "Your Mother Should Know" sounds bad, and I'd definitely be sticking with the STEREO release of this particular album on a whole. The one track which came to life for me was ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE. I was most amazed at  the background singing with this - even during the guitar break you can really hear the "LO--O---OVE" chant loud and clear (and for 42 years I always thought they were singing "Love, Love, Love" throughout).

I do agree that not all mono stuff sounds better than the stereo. And there are some rare exceptions where you do wonder what went wrong. All I can say is that the mono remasters were taken from the best sources and very little limiting and remastering could be done due to the nature of mono recordings, according to articles I've read, which may explain the unevenness of some of the mono recordings.

 

That said, I would estimate that 90%+ of the mono songs I've heard (haven't had a chance to go through every song carefully in mono) sound very good, or better than their stereo counterparts, particularly the earlier (pre-MMT) albums.

The thing is, there are certain songs I like better in Mono, and others in Stereo. I just played REVOLVER in Mono -- again, I'll stick with the Stereo for that one; I think She Said, She Said and Tomorrow Never Knows sound so much more trippy in Stereo
and those songs are so much better suited for that sound. It's nice when we get the vocal for Eleanor Rigby centered instead of it moving left and right, but even there I prefer the version on the 1999 YELLOW SUBMARINE album.

I did like Rain in Mono (from MONO MASTERS)-- John's voice sounds so much more pronounced.