Stereo vs Mono: The "White" Album

I find the superior mono mix of, Happiness Is A Warm Gun to be creepy. But it is hard to be explain the "Twilight Zone" feeling that the White Album has got. Maybe it's the wierd lyric content of most of the album.

 

I'd say that if you want to have a good "basic" Beatles collection but you are not into the whole mono set, The White Album is one of a few albums from the later years that you'd want to have both the mono and stereo of. Both versions are different enough and good-sounding enough for the average listener that having both versions makes you appreciate how amazing the album is.

 

The Wizard's interpretation was profoundly warped, crawling in the dirt.

 

Many of the songs I prefer the mono mix and many I prefer the stereo. Then there's many that I like both the stereo and the mono evenly... so there's one more opinion!

 

Oh and one song that I don't hear mentioned a lot, that I think makes a big difference is... "I Will", the bass vocal doesn't come in until the 2nd verse on the mono mix and I love that. It just builds the song up perfectly for me, although the stereo mix itself sounds quite lovely, I just wished they'd followed that same idea with the stereo mix.

 

If the Mono LP ( UK/top loader )was higher in the shop /store shelve, I'd make the extra effort to grab it.

 

Nice, a very similar opinion to my 33 1/3 preference. 1/3 mono, 1/3 stereo, 1/3 equally good.

 

CD ?
Stereo ( no brainer).
Headphones digueur.

 

You may be right about finding Beatles mono albums in Toronto in 1967. I bought Magical Mystery Tour then and only saw the stereo in the store (not that I was looking for the mono).
The White Album was not released in mono as a fold down, AFAIK, only stereo in Canada and the U.S.

 

Curious...When did the vinyl import stores start showing up like, "Cheapies?" The best record store in Toronto that was located around Yonge & College St. It was there in 1986...For a while anyway. They had everything: English, Australian, Japanese, German and South African vinyl imports. Full stock of M.F.S.L. records. Vinyl box sets, direct to disk, test pressings, mono releases - everything. And at good prices to. I miss those days. I do prefer CD but there is something magical (forgive me fellow members) about a record store. Back in 1984 I was 15 and a lot of the music surrounding me on vinyl I had not heard before. A part of me wondered what beautiful music was buried inside those grooves. Big record covers with incredible art work. The wonder I had felt in Eaton's toy department at age 7, I now felt standing in Cheapies record store at age 14. Silly I know.

Back in the summer of 1980 (I was eleven.) and I remember going to the local record store to spend my entire weekly allowance on this one Beatle record. $5.49 (on sale.) To buy "With The Beatles - Beatlemania With The Beatles. This was the Canadian version of the "With The Beatles."
Same cover, same songs, same song order. All real stereo. No fakes. Got that album home, put the needle on the table, turned the volume up and I was hearing this wonderful music that I had never heard before.

Never saw mono records until I went to Cheapies back in 1983.

 

About to listen to it in Mono. Ive only heard stereo this whole time. I prefer pepper in mono, and i have no idea how to decide on revolver. I listen to both for different experiences. I can never really choose which mono or stereo mixes i like best of their 1965-1968 material. Maybe the mono white album will do something for me, even though ive had really no problems with the stereo mix besides some bad panning here and there. will come back and share my thoughts when its over.

 

oh man glass onion kicks ass in mono

 

though im not a fan of the song, ob la di ob la da sounds good in mono.

 

Not a fan of the ADT vocals on the (semi) stereo mix.

 

Stereo

 

Nice. Wow you've really done a serious A-B on this.

 

Wow I really disagree. I dig the mono mix but it often sounds like a rough mix to me. The stereo is in general more fully rendered.

 

There was no mono foldown issued in the States. Unless you're simply talking about playing the stereo copy on a mono player?

 

The name Cheapies sounds familiar. I remember a store, I think it was on Carlton St., which sold imports in the 80s. I'm pretty sure I saw all of the 8Os Beatles mono reissues there. Was that Cheapies?
I can validate your feelings and impressions of record stores back in the day.

 

Until recently I would have said I prefer the stereo White Album (for the most part). But now I find it hard to choose (even though I've had a mono copy, in addition to the stereo, since the early '80s).

I definitely find the mono 'Revolution 9' preferable to the stereo, even though it's a fold down, not a unique mono mix. The fold down avoids the excessive panning and, in some cases, makes some of the more abrupt edits less obvious. Among the mono mixes - I thinking of 'I'm So Tired' in particular - there sometimes seems to be an effective meshing of the bass line with the vocals that just isn't there in stereo. And - of course! - the lead guitar on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' has a harder edge in mono. But... there's always 'Helter Skelter' - that just has to be stereo.

Ah well, it's a bit of a lucky dip when it comes to the White Album.

 

I certainly remember that here in Montreal, l'Alternatif on St-Denis St. was THE import place, with a heavy emphasis on prog rock, at least as of early 1973. I wasn't aware of that scene before that. And Phantasmagoria too, on Bleury St. These shops - well the first one anyway I'm sure - carried imports both to meet the demand and to build it. If you were a fan of UK and Euro stuff it was amazingly exciting!

 

Yea, same store. My brother told me about it. The first time I walked in I almost had a stroke.

 

To each his own. If you like the fold down of Revolution #9, well, no one can argue with that. But, excessive panning? This track was mixed by John Lennon and the panning was to highlight the various loops. This track was never intended to be heard in mono. Not the way the Beatles intended. In fact folding the stereo down to mono was JUST AN AFTER THOUGHT.

 

P

Agree. All the mono mixes of Beatle albums seemed a finished product but the mono mix of the White Album just sounds like an AFTER THOUGHT. As if the Beatles were half alseep when it was mixed. It doesn't have the tightness of Pepper or the crisp mono mix of Rubber Soul. And the mono mix of The White Album sounds like it has all the frequencies above 10Khz filtered out.

Just my nickel... (The Canadian mint dropped the penny years ago...Can't give you my two cents.)

 

But in South America they released it as a fold down. A while back some record vendors were selling "at high price" the mono mix of Abbey Road. No such release exists but some were fooled. Actually, I don't think the vendor knew either. It was pressed in Mexico and a fold down.

If a stereo record could play on a mono record player back in 1968 why was there a Yellow Submarine mono Fold Down or fold downs in Mexico and other counties?