Did George Martin "disown" the first two Beatles albums in stereo?

He claimed no knowledge of the first two being issued in stereo at all,
it was in Record, Musician or Audio magazines (the three I was reading
back when the interview took place).

I think he blamed the label and unnamed EMI tape ops for the records
coming out in stereo w/o his cooperation. This after the interviewer corrected his memory on the matter.

Of course he swears the only reason for the 2-track vocal-instrumental
"split" is to give him the leverage to make a proper mono mix.
Logical, he used the tools of the day at their maximum flexibility.

 

PPM was released in mono in March, 1963, the stereo LP in April.

 

Stan is correct: there was definately a delay in releasing the stereo version of PPM. However, Steve's observations about the effort that was put into some of the stereo mixes certainly points to a concerted effort with regard to the stereo mixes.

My guess (without checking Lewisohn) is that GM didn't attend any of the stereo mixing sessions and so wasn't aware that they'd taken place and, by extension, that the albums had been issued in stereo.

 

Considering that The Beatles at this stage were not his only clients (or even a "high priority"), there's a good reason why he wasn't aware of their existence. It's not unlike stories of artists who talk about getting items to autograph, and they didn't realize the item existed. It's not as if Peter Grant is going to jump from the tour bus and go "sorry, can't have this signed, unofficial material. Let's head to Cleveland, gents."

 

They were intend for stereo release from the get go. He may not like the results - they are an acquired taste - but certainly there was not a single fake stereo track on With The Beatles which suggests someone at EMI cared to get it right.
It may be more of an attempt by George Martin to explain away why the were issued in mono only in 1987.

 

Martin has a fuzzy, or selective memory of a lot of things from the early days. For example, he tells that story of how "Please Please Me" was rejected because originally it was a slow, "Roy Orbison" type of song, and that after The Beatles recorded "How Do You Do It", they played the arrangement we now know and love, to which Martin says he exclaimed "You've just recorded your first #1!". We now know that a version of the same arrangement of the song was recorded at the "Love Me Do" session, with Andy White on drums, and was rejected for release, totally poking a hole the size of Tokyo in to Martin's story.

So it's not surprising that he might not have any memory of the stereo mixes of the first albums, either by chance or by choice.

 

Memory is a tricky thing. "With the Beatles" was released in stereo and mono on the same day Nov. 22 1963 (unlike Please Please Me where there was nearly a difference of a month for the stereo and mono releases)and there's evidence (according to Mark Lewishon) that Martin was involved in EVERY stereo mix for both the first albums. Is it possible he wasn't there but was listed as producer? Sure but then that means that Norman Smith was there engineering the session since he was listed as engineer and Richard Langham, Geoff Emerick or A.B. Lincoln were there as second engineers so it wasn't like someone from Martin's "team" wasn't there.

Now the stereo mixes always happened AFTER the mono mixes were complete but I can't imagine Martin not approving of them/hearing them/being there. Later, Martin claimed in an interview (I can't recall the source) that he "preferred" the mono to the stereo mixes and that he considered those the definitive sources probably due to the fact that he was corrected on his statement about not being involved in the mixes (along with the fact that he mixed them so they would sound right if played on a mono phonograph). His schedule was pretty full in those days so I'm sure that if he didn't have a hand in everyone of them (but, again, according to the documentation that Lewisohn was able to dig up from the EMI archieves he was supposed to be "there" but he may have just been listed as "producer" on the remix sessions)he heard them before they were finally assembled for the mastertape.

All of this suggests that the stereo mixes were not a distant after thought.

I agree that it was probably Martin's line to the press (and fans) as to why the mono and not the stereo mixes were released on CD.

After all, if many fans here had heard that the stereo was coming as well they might have held off on buying the mono version.

 

Is it possible he actually didn't remember?

Another apparent example of "they didn't just release the twin tracks" is "Hold Me Tight," which is a distinctly different edit of the backing vocal overdubs than the mono. But...I think....an edit nonetheless.

 

Didn't GM actually call the stereo mixes (in 1987) "the bane of his existence?" Or something close to that? I didn't trust him. I was totally suspicious of the things he said in those interviews. After hearing Dizzy Miss Lizzy on CD I knew his ear or memory (or both) just wasn't trust worthy.

 

I recall his words. He called the stereo mixes "the bane of my existence".

 

IIRC, it was the June 1987 issue of Audio. Lewisohn says Martin was present for the stereo mixes, along with engineers Norman Smith and A.B. Lincoln.

Derek

 

I found this:

http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/kozinn.htm

 

No. He first mentioned not knowing about the stereo mixes of the first two in his 1979 book 'All you need is ears'.

 

Someone tell me the difference between Meet The Beatles and With The Beatles. Aren't they the same Lp?

 

Thanks, interesting interview. Not quite sure what to make of George, I guess sometimes when you are so close to things, it is difficult to see the big picture.

 

Meet The Beatles is a compilation from Capitol USA, With The Beatles is the real deal!!

 

GEORGE MARTIN: "I think the CDs do sound, great, I'm just being a little nit-picky."

...interesting.

 

I thought George did NOT intend for at least PPM to be released in stereo.

Even though I prefer it that way, despite the (now)wonky separation. It's neat to be able to hear the Beatles without vocals and vice versa.

Evan

 

It's intriguing to think that Kozinn suggested two-fers to Martin BEFORE the original CDs had all been issued and Martin thought it a good enough suggestion to mention to Menon... There's a parallel world for us all to dream about...