The one thing it COULD reveal is whether some pressings have wider stereo than others. SO, it would be worth comparing if you had multiple copies of the album.
Where I didn't expect it...in a small "variety" store in Toronto. They had a few used cds for sale and this was one of them. No other Beatles, but they did have a West German copy of Neil Young's Landing On Water so I grabbed that as well.
Yeah, Toronto. I figured all the local SH members would have picked the used shops dry by now, but there you go.
Hmmm, I take back what I said about these discs being worth as much as the CP35 Abbey Road. Sure, they sound as good if not better than the CP35 but they simply aren't as rare. How often have those who have found these DA and Cinram discs in the couple of weeks they've been looking ever stumbled upon a CP35 Abbey Road? Probably never have and never will. Once the hysteria dies down the prices for these should be much more reasonable given the quantities that must be out there.
I agree, Mal. They are definitely out there (especially as we now know the early Cinram pressings have the variation, not just the Disque Americ ones).
I'm sure it's rare though...the population of Canada is 10% roughly, of the US. Only 10% of the pressings done at the same time in the US, were being done in Canada. It was also before cds were being produced like they were in the 90's and now..population was smaller, not everyone had a cd player. They may not be Abbey Road rare, or Boston remaster rare, but they are certainly rare.
Probably lots of discs out there (people didn't buy them and throw them in the garbage; they exist). Most fans who bought these original discs (young to old - my mother, an original fan, has Beatles discs, but she isn't on the internet) probably haven't heard anything about the U.K. mix(up) and have the discs sitting at home on the shelf. I wonder what the original runs were for these companies?
Canadian Vinyl YES I think it was! I have a Canadian pressed vinyl copy of Beatles For Sale CLJ-46438. I purchased it new in the late eighties. I remember there were several UK version releases available at the time, but what versions of Help! and Rubber Soul I don't remember. The store charged over $20 for each record, as a poor teenager I only purchased the one! If it was the original stereo mixes of Help! & Rubber Soul that were used for these vinyl copies than perhaps they were used for the CD versions as well? p.s. I've just discovered I'm the proud owner of the DA CD's. Thanks for this very interesting thread! from http://www.995themountain.com/guides/aahtml/fab33.html Beatles For Sale Parlophone PMC 1240; PCS 3062 — December 4, 1964 Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-104 — February 1987 [CD] Parlophone CDP 7 46438 2 — February 26, 1987 Capitol CLJ 46438 — July 21, 1987 Help! Parlophone PMC 1255; PCS 3071 — August 6, 1965 Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-105 — January 1986 [CD] Parlophone CDP 7 46439 2 — April 30, 1987 Capitol CLJ 46439 — July 21, 1987 Rubber Soul Parlophone PMC 1267; PCS 3075 — December 3, 1965 Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-106 — June 1984 [CD] Parlophone CDP 7 46440 2 — April 30, 1987 Capitol CLJ 46440 — July 21, 1987
What newspaper would care? I'd even be surprised if ICE mentioned this, if they are/were still around.
Well, as an 80's headphone user the separation was sufficient until the track got quiet on the left side, and then you could hear the right side leaking into it (or vice-versa). I noticed a difference in separation when I changed cartridges. . .more than once i opened and read the tiny owner's manuals to verify that the greater or lesser separation I was hearing was in the cart's specs, and it usually was. Oh - and on loudspeakers it really WAS a non-issue, as you say. I remember thinking "well, d*mn, why can't these pre-recorded tapes have any top end??" when the separation and sometimes the noise floor was lower than the vinyl issue of the same title. I thought that cd's were rather cassette-like on playback when they first showed up . . . muffled low passages, boxed in soundstage, extreme separation. The first cd player I heard that could create a soundstage was the old Kyocera in the Denon chassis.
Wow, 34 pages! Without reading the entire thread, let me say that I once owned a copy of this Canadian Rubber Soul CD with the original UK stereo mixes. It was hissy but not bad. 6 years ago, I wanted a sighted Beatles fan to have a look and a listen. I was naive enough to mail it to someone on a Beatles forum to confirm it for me as well as scan the art work and CD label etc. The disc was never returned to me. I never did such a thing again. I bought a new copy and got the 1987 stereo mixes. Bob.
Hm...possibly Cinram was pressing them before that? I can't imagine all the Canadian Beatles discs before that were imports...it could explain the connection between the two having the same pressing? Or possibly the 1989 date is erroneous? There should be lots out there, but lots for Canadians ain't lots for the world at large....or even just Americans. The numbers are low, they weren't being mass-produced for the world...
As many here know, I do most of my critical listening with headphones, so I'm certainly aware of the issue. But I've certainly heard vinyl that has some pretty extreme separation. As for pre-recorded tapes, some are surprisingly good. I've got a tape of Days of Future Passed that contains the original mix. It looks and feels like garbage, but when played back on a Nakamichi deck, it actually seemed to have better high end response than either of my two LPs. Slightly lacking in bass, but not terrible. I think it's just a matter of being persistent. No, they don't sit in the bins for a long time like many CDs, but they aren't totally rare, either. You just have to keep looking... Keep in mind back then pressing plants were nowhere near as common as they are today. It certainly is conceivable that EMI didn't have a pressing plant there until 1989. Heck, MCA/Universal was still using Cinram for their Canadian discs a few years ago, and may still be.
1989 could indeed be erroneous, ergo my use of the c. for circa. (I posted the following before, but that was about thirty pages ago, so you might have missed it or forgotten. ) I purchased all the Beatles CDs immediately upon their original release. At first, all of these CDs were imports - USA, UK, Germany. Sometime after that, perhaps a year or a year and a half later (I cannot remember when exactly), the Beatles CDs were "relaunched" (my term, not Capitol/ EMI Canada's) in the retail stores. I remember this distinctly because this time the CDs had the Apple logo on the back covers and I repurchased several titles specifically to have the CDs with the Apple. (I know it sounds kind of sad and a waste of money.) These CDs turned out to be pressed by Disques Americ. Again (sorry), I do not remember the exact year - perhaps 1988 or 1989. All the Beatles CDs released before that were imports. These were the first Beatles CDs (to be sold in this part of the country, at least) that were domestically pressed. I am positive about the 1994 end date. 'Live! At The BBC' (released in 1994) is DA. 'Anthology Volume 1' (released in 1995) is EMI pressed as is all subsequent Beatles CDs in Canada. I have to admit, I do not know when Cinram was pressing Beatles CDs in Canada.
My RUBBER SOUL is a DA with the UK mix and it does not have any mention of Apple nor the logo. My HELP is a DA with the UK mix and does have the Apple logo. So the UK mix was being pressed by DA before this "Apple relaunch" as you refer to it. Matt
Could it be that they were using up old covers? Er, wait, if the earlier ones were imports I suppose they'd have been assembled overseas and there wouldn't have been covers to be...left over? ah my brain hurts.
