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

That's simply too many tracks per album.

 

What is the medium on which the DSD is stored to use for mastering the vinyl?

 

Will look forward to your reviews!

 

I don't remember any more where the posts were, but I played the mono of "you can't always get what you want" off Slow Rollers over the weekend.
You know, I'm not sure this is a dedicated mono mix. To me it sounds like an edited fold down of the stereo. Basically, it's the stereo version, with the London boys choir intro edited out, some extra horn in and folded to mono. But why?
Does anybody know for sure if this is a dedicated mono mix?

I also played the mono and stereo Between the Buttons. I think the mono is better than the stereo. Vocals and instruments more present, the stereo sounds recessed in many places.
So I would think worth getting the mono of this one.

 

Hard drives. It's digital audio, like PCM.

 

Something like this - I think I've included everything that was released (during the 60's at least), but I may have overlooked something. CDs 1-3 are mono:

CD1: 1963-FIRST LP
01. Come On
02. I Want To Be Loved
03. Fortune Teller
04. Bye Bye Johnny
05. You Better Move On
06. Money
07. Poison Ivy
08. I Wanna Be Your Man
09. Stoned
10. Carol
11. Mona
12. Route 66
13. Walking The Dog
14. You Can Make It If You Try
15. Honest I Do
16. I'm A King Bee
17. Not Fade Away
18. Can I Get A Witness
19. Little By Little
20. Now I've Got A Witness
21. Good Times Bad Times
22. I Just Want To Make Love To You
23. Tell Me
24. Congratulations

CD2: REST OF 1964
01. I Can't Be Satisfied
02. It's All Over Now
03. Around And Around
04. Confessin' The Blues
05. Down The Road Apiece
06. Empty Heart
07. If You Need Me
08. Look What You've Done
09. 2120 South Michigan Avenue
10. Little Red Rooster
11. Off The Hook
12. Under The Boardwalk
13. Grown Up Wrong
14. Surprise Surprise
15. Susie Q
16. You Can't Catch Me
17. Down Home Girl
18. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
19. Heart Of Stone
20. Hitch Hike
21. Oh Baby
22. Pain In My Heart
23. Time Is On My Side
24. What A Shame

CD3: 1965 (+ alternate takes)
01. The Last Time
02. Play With Fire
03. Mercy Mercy
04. That's How Strong My Love Is
05. The Under Assistant West Coast Promotion Man
06. Cry To Me
07. Good Times
08. I've Been Loving You Too Long
09. My Girl
10. One More Try
11. Satisfaction
12. The Spider And The Fly
13. Get Off Of My Cloud
14. She Said Yeah
15. The Singer Not The Song
16. Talkin' Bout You
17. Blue Turns To Grey
18. Gotta Get Away
19. I'm Free
20. As Tears Go By
- alternate takes -
21. Everybody Needs Someone To Love (Now! version)
22. Time Is On My Side (Regent 'organ' version)
23. Poison Ivy (Saturday Club version)

CD4: STEREO MIXES (+ live tracks)
01. I Can't Be Satisfied
02. It's All Over Now
03. Around And Around
04. Confessin' The Blues
05. Down The Road Apiece
06. Empty Heart
07. If You Need Me
08. Look What You've Done
09. 2120 South Michigan Avenue
10. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
11. Heart Of Stone
12. Time Is On My Side
13. What A Shame
14. The Last Time
15. Play With Fire
16. I've Been Loving You Too Long
17. My Girl
18. Satisfaction
19. Get Off Of My Cloud
- Got Live! If You Want It EP (mono) -
20. We Want The Stones
21. Everybody Needs Somebody To Love
22. Pain In My Heart
23. Route 66
24. I'm Moving On
25. I'm Alright
26. Time Is On My Side (Got Live! LP)

 

But a fold of which stereo mix?

It's definitely not a fold of the stereo edit that's on the US single/Collectors Only, and I'm not sure that the 1989 Singles/GRRR! stereo edit even existed back then.

I'll give it another listen later and try and pinpoint some differences on the mono edit.

 

So does anyone have this vinyl box and if so how does it sound. A comparison to an original would be nice. Looking at originals you would be lucky to get a NM mono copy from what I saw and have seen.

 

Ok, I've just done some more comparisons between the mono single edit on the new box, and the stereo 'single edit' on GRRR! (folded down for comparison).

The mono intro has the acoustic guitar more up front and brighter. The vocals are more distant, with a longer reverb on them.

At 1'21 there is an edit (after the first chorus) - this comes on a cymbal crash and is very slightly different on both (FWIW, the Collectors Only version also seems to have the edit done very slightly different to the others, so presumably all versions had the edits applied individually and were not made from an edited 8-track copy).

At around 1'42 there is another edit - on the organ fill between 'Man, did he look pretty ill' and 'I said to him'. The edit comes in on the beat on the mono version, but is very slightly ahead of the beat on the GRRR! version (though the timing stays intact).

After the instrumental build-up in the middle of the song (the part they never bother with live) there is another instrumental chorus, after which the music drops down and there is a piano fill (around 2'39). This is louder on the mono mix, while the fold of the stereo is quieter here.

Lastly, the outro starts fading more quickly on the mono. The stereo fades out more smoothly and there is about another second of music at the end.

So no, I don't think the mono single edit is a folddown of the GRRR! 'stereo single edit' (which I believe is actually a recent creation made from the LIB stereo mix).

And it's also definitely not a fold of the original stereo single edit either (the one on US singles and Collectors Only).

I don't have 'Slow Rollers' anymore, but going from memory, the version on the new box is exactly as I remember it.

 

^^^
For those interested, there is one more edit made to the single version(s) - at 3'34 the double-chorus at the end is condensed by editing from the first one to the second.

 

^^^ Actually, that first edit at 1'21 might be identical on the mono single edit and Collectors Only - it's hard to tell as the sound of the mixes is so different.

But I grabbed the audio of the 'TV version' I posted earlier - that also seems to match up well with the vintage edits, so perhaps an edited copy of the 8-track was made.

In any case, I stand by my main conclusions - the mono single mix is a dedicated mix, and the GRRR! stereo edit is a forgery of the original stereo mix of the edit.

 

For December's Children, is the slow version found on the 80's London CDs used or is it the faster version?

 

Same digital transfers as the SACD.

 

It wasn't a boys' choir. Not being a jerk, I used to think that too.

 

There's a great pic of MJ in the studio with the assembled ladies seated - you can see one handbag on the floor. Great stuff.

 

One of the biggest differences between The Beatles and The Stones was that The Beatles had an actual producer, while Andrew Oldham, IIRC, had never been in a recording studio before the 1st Stones recording session. So perhaps ABKCO used SACD so that the sound of the CDs was more in line with the sound of The Beatles. It's just a thought...

I doesn't matter which way ABKCO issued the tracks on this set, they're still gonna make some segment of the fans unhappy. One universal (pun intended) truth in the business of reissues is "You can't please everyone."

 

The Stones recordings are what they are. SACD didn't change that. It certainly didn't make them sound like The Beatles' recordings.

 

For those that want these - the 7 inch 45s included in the Universal edition are starting to show up separately now. Amazon Japan has Tell Me/Carol and Time Is On My Side/Congratulations, each around $16 plus shipping. To the USA it comes to around $47.00

 

Interesting info on the covers. So do all the early London covers say Stereo Electronically Re-Processsed?

 

Rolling Stones, 'The Rolling Stones in Mono': Album Review » Here is a review from Ultimate Classic Rock magazine.

 

That's not quite what I meant. It's possible that they used SA to "smooth over" some of the more rough edges of the early Stones productions. Don't get me wrong, Stones records, for the most part, sound pretty cool. But hi-fi they ain't. And Beatles records are. I'm also not saying that I'm right about why they used SA - I said it was just a thought.

 

"the fuller and more muscular mixes on The Rolling Stones in Mono are often the better ones. Albums like The Rolling Stones Now! and Out of Our Heads benefit from the uncluttered and more direct approach"

More direct...than the existing mono releases?

SACD doesn't do that.

 

I didn't mean roll-off frequencies, I just couldn't come up with a better phrase for what SA does. Make it sound "better" ?

 

But that's my point: it's basically a non-factor, especially when we're comparing, say, Out of Our Heads to Rubber Soul. The difference SACD brings compared to CD is nothing compared to those different recordings.

I also find it interesting that ABKCO ditched SACD in favor of CD not that long after the initial release.

 

OK, point taken. I find that interesting, too. My guess is that people who were buying the Stones discs couldn't care less about SAs. Do you know if the price dropped for after they switched to redbook CDs? And outside of Sony and the audiophile labels did SA catch on to any great degree?