“What’s Left Of Spider John” by Spider John Koerner on Hornbeam. According to the label's website: "The album was recorded old-style in London in the summer of 2012, mono through valve microphones mixed live to tape using vintage Ampex equipment."
I'm a big Mono fan for Pop / Rock up to 1969 or so (especially 45 singles). But once they figured out how to do good Stereo mixes, I don't really see the point. As long as the engineers place the bass, drums and vocal in the center, I prefer Stereo due to the wider sound-stage and increased detail. However, if it's something like just one guy and a guitar (like Muddy Waters' "Folk Singer") then Mono would be preferred. .
Totally agree with this. The mono 45 of "I Melt With You" kills the stereo version. Was the stereo even recorded at the same time?
They Might Be Giants recorded four songs direct to wax cylinder in 1996: Wax Cylinder Recordings - TMBW: The They Might Be Giants Knowledge Base I don't have the recordings at hand to check, but I'd certainly assume they're mono.
The Frightnrs - Nothing more to say (On the Daptone Label) Great album! IMHO. Also the "version" of the same album
Plate Spinner, the second album by Myracle Brah, was only released in mono. But the massive CD reissue box set of Adore included the mono mix.
OMG THE STAIRS!!! Love that album, saw them play in a tiny bar/restaurant in Lakewood, OH on the tour. They were awesome. Funny factoid: they were Ian McCulloch's backing band during his early solo years, so I saw them live with him too but didn't even know it.
Danish band Beatophonics (a kind of retro Merseysound band) released an album in mono a couple of years ago.
Lots of "newer" bands that were heavily influenced by 60s sounds released material with dedicated mono mixes. Examples of these types of bands have been posted in this thread.
The Stray Cats - "Rock This Town" sounds to me like it was mixed to mono on a stereo board with a stereo tape deck. Everything is in the center except for a few stray clicks here and there when things are punched in and out of the mix.
There is an entire album of swedish Doom Metal band COUNT RAVEN which is true mono...I think it was released in the 90s...not sure which one and if that happened by accident or if it was intended...but it is interesting !!!
Though it doesn’t meet the criteria of my original thread, I’ve only found out recently that Big Star’s ‘Oh My Soul’ has only ever been released in mono (1973?) and that came as about of a surprise given the fidelity of the bulk of their recordings.
Loads of 60’s oriented bands all obese the world are still doing mono... for example many of the Medway bands (as already mentioned), a recent example: And another example from Italy (guess who was in the band) Fenomeni: Mai Più/C'è Fango (new 2015 single sampler)
