Mono, but my brain wants to fill in the stereo parts of "Blue Jay Way" when I listen to the mono version. I prefer the U.S. stereo LP version of "Strawberry Fields Forever", but, at this rate, it will never get released on CD. I hate the stereo version of "Flying" with the passion of a thousand white hot suns.
I played Blue Jay Way again a moment ago. Tell me if you hear this as well. The backwards loops seem to be heard at around the 2:30 or 2:40 mark and can be more easily detected at around 3:00 during the repetitive refrain: Please don't be long... What I do like about it is the cello seems to be more prominent in the mono mix....
The stereo mix of Blue Jay Way contains the mono mix of the song being played in reverse throughout the whole song. It starts from the beginning, although not faded up yet. It fades in and out at various points in the song, mostly between lines in the verses, and before the choruses.
Mono is the only way to hear the song "Magical Mystery Tour" IMO. It really brings out the drums, which propels the song.
Mono for me. The number 1 reason being Baby You're A Rich Man, and the number 2 reason being everything else.
The mono LP from the 2014 all analogue transfers just blows away every version I own. So much so I am now going to sell off all of my other copies!
Strawberry Fields Forever is so much more magical and balanced in mono. BYARM is much more "solid" in mono. It grooves in a way the stereo doesn't. Hello Goodbye?...got to prefer the mono. It was a single, aftr all. I used to think that I preferred the stereo overall but the mono is now my go to version. Maybe a German Horzu could change my mind but the prices are just a little silly. Fake stereo versions really suck.....interesting to hear but disposable.
I love both mixes on the whole, but the mono mixes of "Flying," "Blue Jay Way," and "Baby, You're a Rich Man" are far superior to the stereo mixes to my ears. I don't mind the fake stereo second half of "I Am the Walrus"; it is, after all, an integral part of the stereo mix, even if it was dictated by circumstances at the time. To be honest, I'm not sure I realized just how great "Flying" and "Blue Jay Way" were until I heard them in mono. As for "Baby, You're a Rich Man," I had never heard it in stereo until I got the CD for Christmas as a kid in 1987, and I wondered why it sounded so much weaker than on the Magical Mystery Tour album. It was clearer and in true stereo, but didn't have that magnificent psychedelic oompah feel that I'd always loved. Then I heard the real-deal mono mix a couple of years later and went, "Ohhhhhh..."
Mono - double 7" EP version. I have a NZ pressing of this which sounds bloody awesome. Usually NZ EMI singles are terrible sounding, they must have made an exception here in that golden year of 1967.
The only track where the stereo is superior! The phasing is overdone. It fits the fog of Blue Jay Way but not here.
You need both, as there are some true Stereo tracks depending on version. The German HorZu/Apple has the most true Stereo content, the King Lear section of "I Am The Walrus" is rechanneled from "Sitting In An English Garden.... to the end. The mono version is definitive.
