Rolling Stones in Mono - 2016 - Content Discussion Only (Mixes, Tracks, etc.)*

Could you confirm if any of the sleeves are surface coated/glossy please and are the sleeves good quality ? I'm still debating this set or the SHM set. The normal mono set would work out a lot cheaper for me.

Thanks for any info

 

It's gotta be more than that. I counted 99 on my first pass, but I realized I included Rubber Soul and Mono Masters in full. Still, much of Mono Masters was debut, and a few tracks from Rubber Soul (and a few from Help! that I didn't included) still debuted in mono digitally.

I won't go looking for it since I got it on pre-order, but I'm curious to know what store. Also, next time you are gonna pare down your collection, let me know. Maybe there's a few items I'm on the lookout for, and I bet I could do you a bit better than a store looking to resell could.

 

Ok, it might be 66

No really, between the 1987 CDs of the first 4 albums, the Singles CD box, the EP CD box, and the Capitol Albums boxes, most were already released by 2009.

New to digital were:
Help! - 5
Rubber Soul - 2
Revolver - 12
Sgt Pepper - 13
White Album - 28 (the other 2 tracks were folds on the mono album)
Mono Masters - 5 (the YS mono EP tracks - I haven't worried too much about the German songs)

 

Is the London 12X5 CD all true mono? I'm assuming that the 5X5 EP tracks (plus '...Over Now'), which are stereo on the 2002 Hybrid 12X5, have dedicated mono mixes. Looking back several pages in this thread, it seems that folds are what we get in the 2016 box.

 

Stray Cats looks nice. Not impressed in general with the quality of the sleeves. The cover photo on No.2 is too dark. Haven't looked at all of them though...

 

There are no dedicated mixes of the 1964 Chess tracks.

 

They have always been folds.

 

Given that the Stones' recordings at Chess in '64 were specifically mixed for stereo, just wondering if this was general practice at Chess by that time - meaning that contemporaneous recordings by Muddy, Wolf, Chuck Berry, and Bo Diddley, etc., followed suit - and thus all mono releases by these artists from that era also were folds?

 

Ah $#%@ I forgot about the singles and EP boxes. My apologies! I didn't really bother much with mixes until 2011, so by the time that I cared, I had everything at my fingertips (I actually bought the stereo + mono remasters, plus the two Capitol boxes, in one expensive fell swoop, and then spent the next week sorting it out. I expect a similar project this time around, although maybe it won't quite take a week this time!)

 

Good question...

 

Were there inner sleeves also? If so, is there any printing on them?

Thanks also from this part of the country.

 

I don't know for certain that Street Fighting Man is a needledrop, but it's still quite rough sounding, and if you turn up the volume on the fade it does seem to sound like vinyl noise.

For Jumpin' Jack Flash, I previously assumed it was a harmonica, but whatever it is, it comes in fairly abruptly on the stereo mix as well. It comes in slightly earlier in stereo, but there doesn't seem to be an edit on either mix.

I don't really know. I've read the blurbs from Ron Malo included with the MFSL box, and apparently he did some other interviews over the years that touched on the subject, but I'm not sure if it's prudent to take any of that at 100% face value. Even in the MFSL box there seem to be some contradictions from one question to the next.

 

No inner sleeves. I do like the design of the box. The problem is when you open the box, the spines of the CD jackets are facing upwards, therefore you have to be careful that the CDs do not fall out of the jackets. This could have been rectified with inner sleeves. The attention to detail could have been better.

No surprise though. Universal is cheap.

 

That's not good. Reminds me of the 2004 Capitol Records Volume 1 box for which everything falls on the floor if you are not careful. That is the worst design I've ever seen (but obviously I have not seen everything).

 

Why can't you simply lay the box on it's side and pull the CD's out rather than up...??

 

I guess you could do that -- but I think Tommyboy has a valid point.

There are times I go years (plural) without opening certain things, and that will probably happen with this box as well, once I get past the initial listening experience (and comparison with my LPs). I will forget details like that if I don't open the box for years at a time.

I suppose one could buy inner sleeves. But we're paying enough for this already. I'll echo Tommyboy "Universal is cheap".

 

It might be an accordion sound on MKII Mellotron, harmonica or a harmonium. I lean towards it being a harmonium.

 

sounds like more reasons to get Japanese version

 

You can. Just my opinion of the design/layout of the box. Take it for what it's worth. Whatever that is

 

The packaging is much better than those Capitol boxes. However, you do have to be careful when you remove the mini album from the box to ensure the CD doesn't fall out of the sleeve. Universal should have gone the extra mile with the packaging like EMI did with the Beatles mono CD box. Hell, this is the Rolling Stones!

 

Presumably it's all what ABKCO decides, no?

 

You would know more than me on this.

 

Luke, I have another question.

What's your opinion of the overall sound quality of the tracks that utilize the 2002 transfers (sans the fold downs) compared to the ABKCO SACDs? Do you think in general the EQ is somewhat more pleasing?

I noticed that Everybody Needs Someone To Love on No. 2 is duller sounding than its counterpart on the More Hot Rocks CD. More of the top end was rolled off.

I've listened to the first 2 albums and Stray Cats thus far, all in the car. Again not the greatest place to make any sort of objective judgement. I am pleased with what I hear.

 

For most of what I heard, I thought the differences were too subtle to matter much. For example, I thought the tonality difference between @prof. stoned's needledrops and the new versions was usually greater than between the 2002 and 2016 releases. In at least one case (Everybody Needs Somebody To Love), I noticed a bit more of a difference, but I preferred how the 2002 sounded.

It's possible that there are tracks that use the 2002 transfers that I would feel have subjectively better EQ, but I don't think I've come across any yet. Maybe someone would prefer the sound of the 2016 CDs, but based on what I've compared (excepting some of the tracks that are definitely different transfers), I would strongly disagree with anyone that used terms like "night and day difference".

 

Congratulations @Tommyboy !