Does EMI/George Martin bear some of the blame for the sound of the Beatles US LPs?

I was talking with some friends about the US Capitol LPs of The Beatles and how Dave Dexter added echo/reverb etc. But something had been bothering me about this as I got older. At least for the duophonic mixes, doesn't EMI and George Martin (and Brian Epstein) bear some of the blame? Hear me out.

After the first 2 Capitol LPs were released in the US, The Beatles come over and there must have been an awareness on GM and BE's part that Capitol was going to put singles on LP's over in the states. Now they didn't do that in Britain and elsewhere, but the US did, and it was their biggest market. So when a track was sent over as a single, shouldn't GM have gone ahead and made a stereo mix and sent it along as well? He did for the tracks from the LTS EP, and the Bad Boy / Dizzy Miss Lizzy track. Capitol could have requested stereo tracks, but the word PROACTIVE comes to mind. Just wondering what others feel.

 

Not if Capitol didn't ask for stereo mixes. It didn't need them. Look at the sales figures.

 

It's Yoko's fault.

 

Be grateful--they coulda turned out like all The Kinks early recordings.

 

No. In the early 1960's mono was the main format, stereo was an afterthought until the late 1960's when it then became the more popular format. Besides, stereo mixes were often done days, or longer, after the mono mixes were made.

 

Things weren't rosy between Capitol and EMI at the time. Capitol felt they knew better than EMI what the US market wanted to hear. If Capitol had wanted stereo mixes they would have asked for them.

 

Sure, there is enough to go around.

 

As I understand it, for "I Feel Fine" and "She's A Woman", George Martin's team actually added quite a bit of echo to the tape that they sent Capitol. I believe that Capitol added even more echo on top of the already-echoey master that they got from EMI.

 

No