Best source for 1966 stereo "Strawberry Fields Forever"?

I have a needle drop of the Capitol Magical Mystery Tour LP, but Steve has said to avoid all incarnations of the stereo MMT LP on vinyl from the US and the UK. So what is the best-sounding source for the 1966 stereo mix of "Strawberry Fields Forever"? The UK blue album?

 

Sorry, I should have clarified that you meant (as I understood it) the 11-track stereo LP as opposed to the EP. Does that make it clearer?

 

The only other place that the mix exists, AFAIK, is the UK Blue Album. My guess is that they used the tape they had lying around at EMI rather than a dub of the US tape, but I'm just guessing.

 

Anyone know which version is on the Japanese Blue Album?

 

It was also on the US blue album. Just wondering if anyone here knows which has the best-sounding version, or which release used the lowest-generation tape.

 

The US Blue Album uses the same tape (or a dub of) the US MMT. Presumably the UK album would use the tape of the mix they had themselves. That's why I mentioned about EMI using the tape they had lying around as opposed to the US tape.

 

I have a Dutch Blue LP; it has the same mix as the Blue CD, believed to be the 1971 mix.

 

I would guess that the German Blue Album has the 1971 mix as well. The Dutch (and the Germans) would have used the tape that they had to assemble the "master" for the Blue Album just like Capitol did.

 

I was thinking that might be the case, but because of the unfortunate history of the Side 2 tracks of the stereo MMT on UK vinyl, I was having doubts.

 

Yes, but that happened a few years later in 1976.

 

Yeah. Guess I just have to look around for a good copy of the UK blue album and hear for myself.

 

I believe that the Blue LP released in 1973 used the original stereo mix that was around at the time i.e the one on the US MMT Stereo LP. When the MMT CD was released in 1987 they used the German (Horzu/Apple) mix and this was also used on the Blue album CD when that was released in the 90's. This mix is now considered the standard.

 

I know bootlegs are frowned on in this forum, however, there is boot CD by Vigotone called It's Not To Bad, that has uses the 1966 stereo mix from a tape source. It sounds great, better than any vinyl versions of this mix.

 

wow steve, that must drive you crazy!!! 1 out of every ten posts on the forum has the line "steve said... [insert apocalyptic theories here]"... after seeing you say the above numerous times I am always leary... Maybe you should make it a rule that if someone "quotes" you they have to put a link to the original post... Otherwise you get posts like...

"steve said in an earlier thread that he likes to eat babies"
or even worse
"steve said that he wishes more records were mastered like the last 2 RHCP records"

As for Its Not Too Bad, I have that one and its pretty good (starts with the original demos he made during the filming of How I Won The War)... There's also "Strawberry Lane" which documents the SFF sessions even more exhaustively and includes demos and early takes/mixes of Penny Lane.

Mike

 

Very well, then ...

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=282215

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=533991

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=707898

I know they're criticisms of the Parlophone and MFSL MMT stereo LPs, but I think I may be forgiven for not taking the latter post as a glowing endorsement of the Capitol release, either.

 

The fact that EMI asked Capitol for a copy of the MMT LP tape in 1976 or whatever just boggles the mind.

 

I've always felt the original mix of Strawberry Fields is the one "true" mix. When I bought the Magical Mystery Tour CD it seemed like "revisionism". More care seemed to have been taken mixing in 1966 -- the way the cello and trumpet are panned across the stereo field after the edit hide the edit better. The remix is more abrupt, and the second half plays too fast. I would like a clean original version on CD. Perhaps The Capitol Albums Vol. 3?

 

I seem to remember the Blue UK Album using the stereo remix of SFF. I could be wrong but I remember hearing the panning and John's "1-2-3-4" towards the end of the song. I'll check the album tonight.

 

Yes, I just came to that conclusion in post #12.

 

Does anyone know which mix of SFF was used on the German blue album? I'm assuming the 1971 remix, but it doesn't hurt to find out for sure.

 

No that is not correct. AFAIK, it uses the 1966 mix.