The Beatles

[DieselDaisy]

Did he fuck up Hey Jude a la The Olympics?

[RandallFlagg]

I reckon How Do You Sleep? inspired Sorry, has that plodding, brooding cobweb seething with acidic intentions.

[Georgy Zhukov]

George had excellent tone. Something and My Sweet Lord are good examples.

[bacardimayne]

Did he fuck up Hey Jude a la The Olympics?

Seemed like more of a technical issue than a fuck up on his part. The Olympics had fuckin Pavarotti lipsync, so forcing a backing track on Paul is to be expected.

[Coma16]

Bump!

Anyone pick up any of the new mono LPs? I doubt I'll replace SP or White that I picked up last year but I might get HDN in mono as I wanted to get it regardless.

[Georgy Zhukov]

Don't they sell them all in one set? Beach Boys were nice enough to release most of their recordings in Stereo/Mono except for The Smile Secessions which are only in mono. You can get them in stereo, just bootlegged.

[RussTCB]

Bump!

Anyone pick up any of the new mono LPs? I doubt I'll replace SP or White that I picked up last year but I might get HDN in mono as I wanted to get it regardless.

Posted about this in the vinyl thread, but I grabbed Revolver yesterday. I have the stereo box as well, so I wanted to check one out before going all in. I gotta tell ya, based on how good Revolver sounds I'll probably be replacing everything from the stereoo set.

[Coma16]

Bump!

Anyone pick up any of the new mono LPs? I doubt I'll replace SP or White that I picked up last year but I might get HDN in mono as I wanted to get it regardless.

Posted about this in the vinyl thread, but I grabbed Revolver yesterday. I have the stereo box as well, so I wanted to check one out before going all in. I gotta tell ya, based on how good Revolver sounds I'll probably be replacing everything from the stereoo set.

What's the difference between mono and stereo? I always thought mono was just 1 channel so assumed it didn't sound as good.

[RussTCB]

Bump!

Anyone pick up any of the new mono LPs? I doubt I'll replace SP or White that I picked up last year but I might get HDN in mono as I wanted to get it regardless.

Posted about this in the vinyl thread, but I grabbed Revolver yesterday. I have the stereo box as well, so I wanted to check one out before going all in. I gotta tell ya, based on how good Revolver sounds I'll probably be replacing everything from the stereoo set.

What's the difference between mono and stereo? I always thought mono was just 1 channel so assumed it didn't sound as good.

I kinda always thought the same as well, but from what I've read, that's not the story here.

Someone who's a better Beatles historian than I could probably explain it better. From what I've read, these are how the albums were meant to be heard; with everything coming out of both speakers at once. The stereo mixes were an after thought and lack a lot of the power found in the mono mixes.

[Coma16]

Sounds like it's a "purist" type if thing. I don't think I'll replace my collection just yet but might still pick up a few that I don't have (in stereo) in mono.

[Len Cnut]

Couldn't really find a thread that's not comparing something.

I heard a song by The Offspring on the radio and thought it sounded like "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", so I decided to read about the song and found this:

"Lennon left the studio during a recording of the song (after several days and literally dozens of takes of the song, trying different tempos and styles), then returned while under the influence of marijuana, went immediately to the piano and played the opening chords much louder and faster than before. He claimed that was how the song should be played, and that is the version they ended up using."

Thats absolute rubbish, the song is like that because it is meant to be like that because Paul McCartney was writing a ska type song (since SKA was blowing up around that time) and this is what he came up with, it's got nothing to do with smoking weed and playing faster. First of all when did weed make anyone do anything faster? It's like a Get Up Edina type track, like so:

He's trying to get that Ska rhythm, it was played that way cuz they were writing a Ska song and thats how Ska sounds. Even the lyrics are like a little pastiche of the sorts of stuff you heard in Ska songs, right down to the Carribean sounding names like Desmond and Molly etc

[luciusfunk]

Cool

I was just quoting the author of The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.

Edited September 14, 2014 by luciusfunk

[DieselDaisy]

Essentially, you have to do a separate mix for mono and stereo formats. Up to, and including, 1967, the mono format was the priority hence, the Beatles would personally supervise the mix. That was the definitive version, whereas, stereo was merely for a few audio geeks; the Beatles usually left the stereo mix to George Martin - it was a last minute thought. This changed with the White Album, when the stereo format became more prioritised, the mono format becoming, an anachronism. The definitive version of every Beatles release up to, and including, Magical Mystery Tour, is mono; thereafter, it is stereo.

[RussTCB]

Essentially, you have to do a separate mix for mono and stereo formats. Up to, and including, 1967, the mono format was the priority hence, the Beatles would personally supervise the mix. That was the definitive version, whereas, stereo was merely for a few audio geeks; the Beatles usually left the stereo mix to George Martin - it was a last minute thought. This changed with the White Album, when the stereo format became more prioritised, the mono format becoming, an anachronism. The definitive version of every Beatles release up to, and including, Magical Mystery Tour, is mono; thereafter, it is stereo.

Ok cool, thank you for the clarification. Based on what I heard with Revolver, I was already leaning toward making the switch anyway, but now I'm almost positive I will.

[Zint]

The mono collection is fantastic..it's my go to set.

[Len Cnut]

To be fair i could listen to The Beatles through a wall with a used toilet roll and they'd still sound amazing.

This is my current list of Beatles songs I'm listening to, they have a kinda natural rotation where when i tire with the ones I'm into the old ones seems fresh again

Ask Me Why

Baby It's You

A Taste of Honey

There's A Place

All I've Gotta Do

Please Mr Postman

You Really Gotta Hold On Me

Tell Me Why

Anytime At All

I'll Cry Instead

I'll Be Back

It's Only Love

You Like Me Too Much

Tell Me What You See

I've Just Seen a Face

Rain

[Zint]

Good list len.

sha-la-la-la-la-la-laaaaaa

[Coma16]

So does the mono Sgt Pepper sound better to the stereo version that was released last year? I realize this is subjective but are there any key differences that would make the mono version more enjoyable?

[AxlsMainMan]

Are these new remasters radically different from the remaster box sets they released back in 2009?

[luciusfunk]

I believe the new set is the US albums whereas 2009 was the UK albums.

[DieselDaisy]

So does the mono Sgt Pepper sound better to the stereo version that was released last year? I realize this is subjective but are there any key differences that would make the mono version more enjoyable?

Subjective but it can certainly be said that the mono version is more, The Beatles' vision. The mono mix was supervised by the Beatles in person whereas the stereo was done as a last minute thing, by Martin. Understand that, when discussing an album such as Pepper (or Revolver) that the mix increasingly plays an important role in rock music- it is no longer merely a case of, getting the levels right.

In a way, it is not so much mono v stereo (in a technical sense) but the simple fact that the Beatles just happened to have been involved in the mono mixes up until 1967.

[Coma16]

So does the mono Sgt Pepper sound better to the stereo version that was released last year? I realize this is subjective but are there any key differences that would make the mono version more enjoyable?

Subjective but it can certainly be said that the mono version is more, The Beatles' vision. The mono mix was supervised by the Beatles in person whereas the stereo was done as a last minute thing, by Martin. Understand that, when discussing an album such as Pepper (or Revolver) that the mix increasingly plays an important role in rock music- it is no longer merely a case of, getting the levels right.

In a way, it is not so much mono v stereo (in a technical sense) but the simple fact that the Beatles just happened to have been involved in the mono mixes up until 1967.

So do most people prefer the mono for the purity of it or because it sounds better?

[bacardimayne]

I'm wishy washy on it. Some songs just undoubtedly sound better in stereo to me, no matter how much I try to appreciate the mono versions. Others, like the entirety of Revolver, are absolute garbage in stereo.

I also find that it's much easier to hear subtle things in the songs in the stereo mix.

Edited September 16, 2014 by bacardimayne

[Coma16]

I just watched the 2 videos below and it is more clear. I might replace my Sgt Pepper but will keep my White album in Stereo.

[RussTCB]

Picked up the mono set earlier today. Just finished listening to The White Album as it's my favorite. LOVED what I heard and can't wait to dig into the rest of this.