Love - S/T - Mono vs Stereo

I hit the jackpot last week at my two local used CD shops. On Tuesday I picked up Love's 1st album Rhino remaster with both the mono and stereo mixes and on Thursday I got Love - Forever Changes Rhino remaster and The Everly Brothers' - Best DCC Gold sealed.

This was my first experience listening to Love and they are great. I like the first album every bit as much as Forever Changes. I'm looking for some comments from you on which mix you prefer from their first album.

I prefer the Mono mix. I found it interesting to read in the liner notes that producer Jac Holzman prefers the stereo mix. Quote " I always prefered stereo" comments Holzman."By 1966 we knew what we were doing with stereo. I just thought it gave a bigger presentation, but I knew mono was the way most people were going to hear it."

I found that it was typical 60's Bass and drums on the left and guitars and keyboard on the right. The mono has more power. What are your thoughts?

 

The mono sounds like a finished album, the stereo like a work-in-progress. Great to have both!

If I remember correctly, somebody said that the mono portion on the CD does not sound like the original LP...

 

I don't have the reissue cd but I do have the mono lp and I prefer it as well. The instruments have clarity and punch which is just as it should be. The stereo sounds weak by comparison. Go with the mono.

 

It really is great to have both. I enjoy listening to each one. How about Forever Changes mono. I assume that the LP was released in mono.

 

I absolutely love (pun not intended) these re-issues! Even Love "Four Sail" gets a lot of play around here.
As for the mono verses stereo, of the first album. I like both!!!

 

No, you can't go wrong with Love.....

Like many albums recorded in L.A., if you want the nice bass and more even, natural sound, the mono mix is usually the way to go. The stereo mix of this debut effort is slightly harsh, a fair mix but nothing outstanding. The DA CAPO stereo mix was an improvement, and FC is better in stereo than it is in mono.

The M/S CD's of albums like this are so sensible you wish other albums of the period would get the same treatment. Several have, just not nearly enough!

 

Mono for S/T and Da Capo. I have a mono and stereo Forever Changes, but haven't determined whether the mono is a fold down or a dedicated mix. The mono seems to have an edge in crescendo dynamics over the stereo.

 

I really need to get DA CAPO. There is an obvious evolution between the first album and Forever Changes that I am missing. Does the DA CAPO remaster have both the mono and stereo mixes on it?

 

There are no fold-downs of stereo mixes for the first three Love albums.

 

Yes.

 

Fi

Forever Changes is a true mono mix.

 

However I believe that's not really true for the third...
We live and learn ya know!

 

Now you need to get Da Capo you will have three of the best albums to get a buzz on to depending on your poison [legal or not ]

 

The mono FC can be heard here . . . .

 

I have the mono tracks from the first two albums on the Rhino Love Story compilation. Those mono mixes sound really good and punchy.

 

Love what a great album. They do everything right on that. My little Red book, Message To Pretty, Softly To Me, My Flash On You. And a great version of Hey Joe. Loves debut is a Rock Folk masterpiece that can't be denied. I prefer Stereo mind blowing.

 

Well I've been listening to love a bit this week, so I'm glad this thread came up because I was thinking exactly THIS; which I prefer in mono and stereo... As the albums themselves go, I think I probably prefer the s/t to Forever Changes these days (though not massively..) And Da Capo's fantastic of course, though that'd be a close third.

I only got into this band on reputation of Forever Changes alone (heard not a thing, but The Damned doing 'Alone Again Or' beautiful!) and after a handful of listens I was totally hooked. I've played FC and the debut to a few people who'd heard of the band, but that's about it and they were very surprised how excellent the music is and one guy couldn't believed he'd reached his late 50s and not heard this. He also said that it sounded like what a lot of bands are doing NOW (that was about 5-6 years ago he told me this.)

I've decided with Love; for headphone listening it has to be mono but through speakers, stereo. Though that's usually the case with me, I like to swap around on the odd occasion!

But I've actually voted mono- because it really kicks OUT when you crank it up!!!

 

UFO does a awesome cover of " Alone Again Or" all most as good as the original. There debut is hard to beat but " Da Capo and Forever Changes" surpass it in my opinion but all three are great stuff from the mid sixties.....

 

Nice one!! I'll look for that on Youtube then. Thank you.

 

I watched (well, listened to) this before I went to bed last night and thought it was really great! It is incredibly close to Love's recording, I think- the acoustic guitar and the voices are VERY like the original; I was quite surprised actually!!

Fantastic guitar break (instead of trumpet- which I WAS expecting as the other versions have a trumpet solo and strings) and nice with the harmonising leads too; that put me in mind of Brian May or maybe Thin Lizzy...

Actually, there's a UFO track on the LP I have on my avatar (which I put there because I couldn't find my old one of Jimi, sadly; still got the Christmas one of him though.. Vital Vinyl Vol 2 is an LP I bought when I was 10! anyway...) - it has a live version of Doctor Doctor; other than that I don't know any of their other work. I see the album is Lights Out that has Alone Again Or. That seems a pretty good place to start, so I'd like to hear more of them and I'm going to see if I can find that, or at least a 'Best Of' CD theirs later today.

 

UFO are one of England's treasures a superb band and one of my favorites. Lights Out is a outstanding album but all the 70s UFO albums are top tier heavy rock. There first three albums with Mick Bolton on guitar are more spacey but are great to. Also there " Strangers In The Night" is one of the finest live albums ever. I take it you are new to UFO so do your homework on them and find all the great albums they have put out! It should be a fun task. Happy hunting.

 

Well, I'm afraid to say I didn't get any CDs of theirs today; they didn't have Lights Out or anything that had Alone Again Or on it.

However, there were some there that looked interesting and a 2CD Best Of that I think would be a good starting place - it's called Too Hot To Handle, The Very Best Of- and track one is Doctor, Doctor Live! I think I'll go for that then and get familar with some of their work. Then I can read up on them and investigate further.

From the few clips of the early albums I've had a quick look at on Youtube at, at one point I heard something very Hawkwind-ish (I used to listen to them a LOT) and can see that I'll get on with that stuff really well!

You're right- it's going to be a lot of fun. Many thanks!

 

Use the search button there is a UFO album by album thread which is very good and very informative.

 

I would definitely be doing that very soon- and I can see that it'll be fascinating as I've been reading about who's played in the band over the years and it's quite incredible, some very talented and respected musicians in there. No doubt, I'll soon be contributing to that thread too!