I've got the wacky Canadian pressing of Help!, but only posted a bit of John's "Dizzy Miss Lizzie" vocal because that was singled out as the tell-tale difference. Would there be others?
It is hard to figure. Capitol of Canada would have been getting either tapes or stampers from the States for Help!, Beatles VI, Rubber Soul and Y&T. So it's not as though (switch on the reverb) original 1965 masters-asters-asters-asters of the UK versions would have been stored in Mississauga. Now, if only I could remember where I left my Rubber Soul CD. (Won't matter after Tuesday, I guess.)
My son and I spent the afternoon in the car, we had his copy of the '86 cd and my recent needledrop of the UK vinyl. We compared them . . . . The ending of "Act Natually" has percussion on the left and a guitar on the right (both mixes) the percussion is the same volume as the guitar (original mix only) the vocal mic is left open (center) and the instrumental bleeds into it making a thick sounding delay (original mix only) The remix on the fade is therefore thinner and cleaner sounding. "I've Just Seen a Face" the vocal is very dry, almost muffled, sounds like it was sung in a closet (original) whole mix is brighter, with digital echo added to the voice (remix) There is a lot more detail and thickness in the mids on the original mixes. After hearing button's sample, I wondered if the intro to "Drive My Car" is what convinced Geo. Martin to remix those two albums, as there is so much "dirt" on the right while the guitar plays on the left. I always thought that noise was vinyl, it never occured to me it might actually be on the tape!
Well before or after Tuesday I'll gladly buy your Canadian Rubber Soul original mix cd for any fair price you offer it at. PM me, I want one, and a Help cd.
Not to mention releasing "Roll Over Beethoven" on two LPs. And the true stereo "This Boy" that came out (in Australia, too) a year before Parlophone used rechannelled mono for Love Songs.
I am a little perturbed that most of our resident Beatleologists have declined to comment on or otherwise participate in this thread, leaving us all in the dark. I think the "usual suspects" in these Beatles threads are mysteriously quiet because they are so flabbergasted by this discovery that they don't know what to say--or maybe are simply in disbelief. I wish Steve would chime in, though, as he has contributed in the past to threads concerning the RS and Help remixes. Anyway, has it been established where we can get copies of these suckers? I guess what I mean is whether we know how to differentiate discs made from this pressing vs. those imported from the uS into Canada?
I'm not perturbed at all. I think it's funny. Because we have some Beatles experts here who not only know the recorded and personal legacy like the back of their hands, but can write rather well too. But nobody knows it all, and they should come out and say so!
Where to get 'em -- on the used market. How to spot 'em -- the most reliable indicator seems to be that they were manufactured by Americ Disque of Drummondville, Quebec. That credit appears on the inner ring.
I've done a bit of Googling, and it occurs to me I'm using the wrong nomenclature. From what I can gather, "inner ring" refers to the clear plastic ring at the very centre of the disc, whereas I've been using it to refer to that reflective band immediately adjacent, where manufacturing information, bar codes and master numbers appear -- the digital equivalent of the "dead wax," perhaps? Anyway, "Americ Disque" appears on that shiny portion, not the transparent ring. I beefed up the contrast on the scan so that it would show a little more clearly.
I am sitting here comparing the Disque Americ Rubber Soul with the Martin remix and I must say, there are a ton of differences. George did a lot of clean up. Nowhere Man is a bit of a revelation (i.e. Martin cleaned up the vocal glitch at the end of the solo where Lennon's voice sounds like it has a tremola effect on it for a split second in the left channel), I'm Looking Through You, In My Life, etc.. I guess since I went from my Capitol U.S. vinyl to this Disc Americ version (same with HELP) I never knew what I had and I never really paid attention to people who hated the Martin remixes on "Help" and "Rubber Soul" because I didn't hear what they were talking about. How could I? Now after all these years I'm hearing the Martin remixes through borrowed copies...and I hate them too. Fascinating.
P.S. I would venture a guess that when George Martin prepared the remix for "In My Life" he elected at the beginning of the song, to cut the hiss that is clearly heard before Lennon's vocal entrance on the original mix. In doing so, he sadly mixed out Lennon's lovely inhale that is quite clear on my Disque Americ! Sadly, the mix of "In My Life" on the "Imagine" soundtrack is also Martin's remix.
So is it safe to say that those are the two discs are going to offer the biggest difference because they were remixed by G.M.?? Is it worth seeking out the rest of the catalog from this certain pressing??
Yes, these two discs are "the" ones I'd want first on CD from the UK originals. And yes it is worth looking into the remainder of the catalog from this pressing run. Might find the first four in stereo!!! Ha! But this is perhaps not an error. This strikes me as someone who knew what they were doing, perhaps was leaving their job soon and wanted to do something good, leave a lasting mark at their place of employment and in the industry, and did a silent upgrade. Perhaps they were being rightsized out of a job all together. Or maybe I'm too cynical seeing too much in my short years, and it was just a simple mistake and an analog reel master was mistaken for a pcm master on a beta? Anyway, if the discs sound great, or at least very very good, then this upgrade is a good thing. And it let's Apple know that they'd better get on the stick, cause it ain't just needle drops anymore.
I've been reading this thread in stunned disbelief -- this is the kind of thing that usually gets discovered IMMEDIATELY, not 15 years later! Really amazing. So is it confirmed that only the early 1990s CDs from Americ Disque have the 1965 mixes, while the currently available Canadian manufactured "Help" and "Rubber Soul" CDs have the 1987 mixes?
At the moment, no one has the definitive answer. Some of our Canadian friends will be checking the current releases today, so we'll gradually piece this together! I would be intrigued to know just how many were pressed at Disque Americ though.
In the other long thread (thankfully now closed), I mentioned that someday, someone would find a NEW PRESSING, a NEW VERSION, in someplace like Mongolia. Well, glory be, we didn't have to go that far -- the miracle has emerged in neighborly Canada. Let the quest continue! But what are the IMPLICATIONS of this new discovery? Where does it fit in the CANON? Have fun, everyone.
Well, I knew about the inner ring matrix credit. I guess what I meant was whether there is a way to tell from the outer packaging--i.e., if that funky C2 label number would be the giveaway. Also, I figured we could get them on the used market. I was really asking if there was somwhere we could get them new and be assured it was the Americ Disque pressing--i.e., maybe if that pressing was distributed to certain parts of Canada but not others, etc.