Is cutting at 45 RPM really going to help the sound here? I would think there's plenty of room to get the best possible fidelity at 33 1/3 RPM. I'm not a "vinyl guy" but from what I read on here there gets to be a point when pressing at 45RPM is superfluous. Do you also think that anything would make the I Feel Fine / She's a Woman "stereo" mixes from Beatles '65 sound any better? A turd is a turd no matter what speed you're listening to it at. Same goes for the stereo Beatles 2nd Album As far as the Capitol boxes, I own two copies of each. They have no bearing on what your suggesting unless you think they should use those digital masters.
Those boxes show the potential of what can be done. Other than that, you're cherry-picking the two worst-sounding examples? Not sure what point that makes other than to argue tediously which is a waste of everyone's time.
In that point of view I'm all for capitalism. If Universal and Apple think they can make money releasing them, go for it. At whatever speed they want. One thing the US albums showed us was how many songs were unchanged from the original British versions
As far as digital goes, I'll take the Capitol boxes for just about every track from 1963 when it comes to stereo mixes.
There definitely more in your face, but that was by design. I did a few comparison just for the sake of giving your point a fair shake. Stereo was an afterthought in 1963 and TBH it's an afterthought with me too. I listen to the monos more often than not. That goes for the American albums as well. If your comfortable with Dexter's machinations more power to you. In my listening habits I choose to ignore them, more often than not.
Yes, all of your points are valid... if we are having a nostalgic discussion or sitting around at a BeatleFest or some such shooting the breeze. It's a bit ancillary to the point I was making specific to the Steve Hoffman Forums. Here on the Hoffman forums, it just doesn't hold up as some sort of defense or justification in discussions about actual sound quality and specific numerous releases. As I stated previously, there are endless threads here analyzing various countless reissues of popular albums. For some of the more popular artists, you could have 40 issues at this point of a single LP since, say, 1968. To get on one of those threads and say, "The SACD reissue sounds the best because the low-end is finally smooth and there is a three-dimensional quality to the backing vocals" actually puts forth some valid reasons. To say, "The xxxxx issue of that album sounds the best because that's the version I received for my 12th birthday" doesn't really make any points or add to the analytical discussion on many of these threads.
Understood, but this is not an audiophile-only forum. Yes, it began as one. Yes, it leans heavily toward audio concerns. But it is not EXCLUSIVELY an audiophile forum. Discussion of music separately from audio issues is also allowed here. One not NEED be an audiophile to participate. And this is not one of those discussions. Agreed, but context is everything. In THIS thread, such posts are absolutely OK. Witness the final line from the original post:
As a first generation fan and not knowing the US Revolver was not the 'official' version, Love You To coming after Eleanor Rigby sounded perfectly fine to my ears. After growing up with Yesterday and Today, Doctor Robert does not sound quite right coming after For No One. I'm not saying the US is better than the UK, just that it worked for me all those years ago and I can still listen to it now without a problem. I think Capitol did a good job putting together the US albums and I still enjoy listening to them.
Same here!! I hear Drive My Car and always expect to hear I'm Only Sleeping follow it (as it does on Y&T) I'm 71 and grew up w/ Capitol, VeeJay, Swan, Tollie; etc. I still prefer the US LP's and 45's; for that matter.
I know... they could have at least given us THAT album to go along with the 2 boxes...we'd have a better collection and near complete...and satisfied!
They could release a 55th anniversary edition using the TJ mastering. I'd stop bitching if they did that.
Scored a copy of Capitol albums vol 1 for £12 and just listening to Second Album in stereo for the first time. Boy did they use some reverb on this thing! Good fun listen though...
Yeh, the Second Album stereo was drowned in reverb! It must be a shock for someone in the UK hearing for the first time. I'd point you towards the Second Album mono mix, which used far less reverb. I think, as a collection, there isn't a more exciting 25 minutes of Beatle music!
