Beatles mono VINYL box set (Part #15)

You've made a very persuasive case, overlooking just one crucial flaw, which I shall clarify thusly:

Apples and oranges.

Hmm? You didn't think of that, did you? Bet you feel pretty silly.

 

The "dull" sound was apparently on the original LP.
http://www.analogplanet.com/content/help-mono-reissue-mirrors-original

I was also surprised by this, as it was for some reason the first LP of the set that i tried, and i wasn't very impressed, until i got to Ticket to Ride... Side 2 is absolutely fantastic.

 

I like Oranges better than Apples, but its good to have both avail. Sometimes I like pie and an Orange just won't do....

 

A bit late to the party but finally got my mono box today, as my girlfriend's been stashing it until my birthday!

What an incredible package (far bigger than expected). You've heard it all before so I'll spare you the details but I will share my impressions of some of the highlights as I go through chronologically, with the disclaimer that I'm no audiophile so technical jargon such as 'scrim' may be lacking.

Please Please Me
Phew, no warps and beautifully quiet.
After another poster bemoaned the lack of bass I set my expectations fairly low. However, this first lp sounds wonderful to my ears and, actually, it's the bass that impresses me the most - A really thick, rich bass tone. I don't have a fancy system (Rega Planar 3, Rega RS1s and an old Arcam Alpha 2 amp) but it really kicks through the speakers. Slightly trebly in places but that may well be the recording. I don't have an original mono to compare it to unfortunately! I'm embarrassed to admit that Do You Want To Know A Secret actually bought a tear to my eye, it sounded that good (I am a blubber - be warned). It's not even a track I'm that into but it touched a nerve today. In fact side two overall sounded even better than the first but that may be my imagination. I've never cared too much for this debut. I have the mono CD and blue box stereo versions, but hearing the mono LP today bought the recording to life and I suspect I'll spend much more time with this one from now on.

 

I think this "warp" issue has been greatly overhyped in this thread. I don't believe there is a need to worry that your records will be warped, if you buy this box.

 

You bet wrong.

 

I don't have the new mono box but I did buy the vinyl "Revolver" (mono) in the year it was released (as I did most of the Beatle albums) and I have always considered the sound quality (not the songs) to be the worst of all the albums, especially after the mono "Rubber Soul"
Maybe it's all down to Geoff Emerick who became the main recording engineer with this album.

 

The original Rutles LP had a Banana label

 

The mono LP box is a thing of beauty in an age often sullied by tacky, cheap ****. I bought the mono CD box in 2009 and wonder why after listening to these.

When my mono box is rockin', don't bother knockin'.

 

Are the mono LPs being released individually? I'd like to own a mono pepper.

 

Yes. All of the albums up to and including the White Album are available individually.

 

Thanks. I don't want to fork out for the full box set.

 

Oh you know you want to. And you will. Its just a matter of time.....

 

No. Definitely not. Just a mono Pepper.....maybe a mono Rubber Soul, and a Revolver. They're my favs.

 

The Magical Mystery Tour LP has a similar degree of difference as does the Pepper, worth it. I've got the four mentioned and they're all great, sitting on the fence for the rest and happy enough with my Mono CD of the White Album, might get that anyway. I suspect the crown jewel of the lot will be the 3 LP Mono Masters set, with in-your-face 45 mixes of hit singles plus the Yellow Submarine Beatle tracks in dedicated mono mixes from back in the day.

 

I had ordered the Box from Elusive and all the individual albums from Amazon as soon as they were posted. All of the individual albums were shipped together and WTB as missing but I had two perfect copies of Rubber Soul so I was fine with it. WTB is my least favorite and RS is one of the best.

 

A Mono Masters is well worth the price of admission - the latter tracks, from PBW and Rain on, just cook. As stated frequently on here, Revolution must be heard to be believed. It is that good. The 45 doesn't really do it justice.

 

Really? I think the 45 sounds great.

 

Sure, and I don't disagree. I think some of the comments have come across as, "Well, those things were a piece of crap!" when they're really just as good as they ever were, that's all.

 

Seriously? Seeing as how I won't be taking my my mono LPs in the car with me to listen to anytime soon, I'm pretty happy to have a well-done set of the mono albums I can listen to outside of my home, or even in my home, on the occasions I don't feel like flipping the records over after each side.

Aside from that: The mono box is great, but the insinuation that everything else is crap is just blatant exaggeration. I remember posting in one of the earlier parts of this thread about how I had high hopes for this set because of Steve Berkowitz's involvement in the Dylan mono box, the Miles Davis mono reissues, etc., and those are just a handful of great reissues that are out there. The recent Nick Drake reissues come to mind as well, not to mention the much more lavishly packaged Blue Note reissues by Music Matters. Yes, The Beatles In Mono is excellent. No, that doesn't mean everything else suddenly sucks.

 

Well said.

I've got both and to my ears the 2014s are far more preferable to the already very good sounding CDs. These new albums are amazing. The CDs sound excellent but they are not amazing. (to me; YMMV) I'd urge any turntable-less Beatles fan who has the mono CDs to set themselves up with a vinyl front end and be delighted.

To anyone who doesn't have the CDs I'd say get the vinyl first.

 

My experience too. I saw that other post and wondered what equipment the poster was using.

 

Truly one of the top ten most bizarre examples of logic that has ever appeared in these forums.

 

You're imagining this.

If you're not, then prove me wrong and provide links to where, in this thread, the mono CDs are being called "crap."

 

I was just going to post the same thing, I think the stereo cds were full of life but I also like the mono cd box set although some sounded a little smug. I was listening last night to my Rubber Soul mono album and I thought it had a little bit of distortion compared to my mint shape orange capitol album from the mid 70's and also the purple capitol sounds real good. The White Album in mono still sounds smug to me in some spots. Just my two cents.