Old US Pressing of ‘Beggar's Banquet’ at Correct Speed

On my MFSL Box I got 6:24 for Sympathy For The Devil.

 

Thank you. Strange that there's no dash between ‘XZAL’ and ‘8477’ on your record.

It appears that you have labels like floweringtoilet's. Does the back of the outer sleeve say ‘Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richard’?

 

Yes.

 

jpbarn says his copy has something else in the dead wax, looking like Bell Sound. However it is likely: Bestway. I just looked at a copy yesterday that is very likely the same as his, with Bestway. Has the Jaggers - Richards credits for all tracks. With the sharp pressed ring through the label, matte paper. That copy runs the 'standard' (slower) speed.

Monarchs are completely different pressings: darker blue color to the labels, on finished or (gloss) 'coated' stock, the vinyl with an MR in a circle + the delta ##### scribings in the dead wax.

I take it yours has ONLY the matrix information you posted. Nothing else at all.

 

Mine has "Rev Wilkins" credit for Prodigal Son.

It's too small to read what that other part is, but I know I've been able to decipher Bell Sound in the past on other LPs.

 

Hmm…it appears that old pressings of BB at the correct speed have the Jagger/Richards credit for ‘Prodigal Son’ on the label, have labels like mine, and have the matrix #s I posted earlier. OldSoul, can you post pictures of each of your matrix #s and labels so that we can confirm this?

 

Something was shipped to Decca...eventually. But it isn't clear if the master was sent there or not, or whether a cut was made before anything was sent to Decca. The fact that this cut runs at the correct speed *and* sounds good suggests at least one cut was made from the master, likely *not* at Bell Sound, since there's no indication of such in the dead wax.

 

Interesting that both are definitely different from the OP's, yet have a similar style.

 

Here's a little about the original BB labels and the corrected versions:

http://www.beatzenith.com/the_rolling_stones/rslplabels.htm#bb

Sadly, not as detailed as The Stones Vikings coverage on Decca labels:

http://www.stonesondecca.com/index.html

There are UK-made Londons with incorrect labels too:

http://www.stonesondecca.com/4C7_Beggars_Banquet.html

This is like the Canadian Help! and Rubber Soul all over again!

 

Listening now, I'd tend to agree. It's also worth pointing out just how slow the London CD is in comparison. Again, the LP just about perfectly matches the SACD, while the London CD is super slow in comparison.

I made that exact comment (privately) the other day.

 

According to W.B. on the thread found here, ‘London used several different pressing plants for their product at the time, including Columbia, Bestway Products, Allentown Record Co., Inc., and Decca/MCA. (To say nothing of RCA for their record club's offerings.) So there would indeed be no "one pressing." But London never had their own manufacturing or disc mastering facilities.’

If that's true, I'm guessing that the master was used at one plant and that dupes with matrix numbers similar to those found on the master were used at the others.

 

I went looking for BB today and found one of the originals with the Jagger/Richard credit for all songs. Different matrix numbers though so I passed. I promised myself I'd never buy this album again but now I'm on the hunt....

 

Good thing I don't care about vinyl enough to worry about any of this. I'm happy with the SACD hybrids.

 

This is fun stuff. Most of us had no idea that a correct-speed version was ever pressed. And only in the US (it seems)

Then again, I didn't know the version I had listened to for 20 years was incorrect until the 2002 CD. I remember wondering why the timings were all off on the label.

 

Normally I would agree, although as Mike indicated this is kind of cool. Plus, a Stray Cat Blues without all of the dropouts would be nice.

 

Is it possible to repair the dropouts with audio from the london CD? I've been meaning to try but haven't gotten around to it.

 

I've never tried it. Initially I thought that would be a good idea, but I'm a bit more skeptical now. The reason being it isn't really a matter of "dropouts" (I shouldn't have used that term), but rather sustained damage that affects the high end. It isn't as if brief snippets can be edited in relatively seamlessly.

Perhaps somebody could do a great job matching the London CD to the SACD and using it for a small section, but I tend to think it would be pretty noticeable.

That said...I haven't tried it.

 

I tried. It doesn't work at *all*. The difference in fidelity is very, very noticeable, although I suppose someone with a defter hand at EQ could make a go of it.

 

David previously had asked me if there were any "tells" on Beggars Banquet regarding a poor source tape, similar to Let It Bleed. For example, on Love In Vain, one channel is nearly silent in the intro on the SACD, while on the London CD there is quite a bit of bleed from the other channel. At the time I indicated I wasn't sure, but listening now, that is definitely the case for Stray Cat Blues. In the intro the left channel is mostly silent on the SACD, excepting a bit of studio bleed. On the London CD there's a ton of bleed of the low end from the right channel.

Ok...I tried. I actually got it to be reasonably seamless (and probably could get it even better with further tweaking and spectrum analysis), but there's basically one whole section of a few seconds where the left channel is chewed up, so one would have to switch to the London CD for that whole section. In fact, the left channel in general seems a bit spotty, although not nearly as bad as the one spot.

Esszet and/or OldSoul, could you provide some clips from Stray Cat Blues? Perhaps both the intro and the section right after "bring her upstairs" around 2:20? That would be most helpful.

 

Agree, the originals sound kind of muddy.
The DSD remaster is a great sounding record - in my opinion. Played it the other evening and loved it!
The mono Beggars has "Sympathy" at the right speed and it blows you away.

I would love to hear the Stones catalogue including this one all-analogue remastered and pressed on 45rpm vinyl, like the Dylan, Elvis, Ella and Louis recent reissues and many others.

any way of getting the Stones to pass over the tapes? Make Keith jealous of the attention the Dylan '60's stuff is getting?

 

Except the pressing in question here.

That would be up to ABKCO, not the Stones.

 

Here you go. What do you think of my theory as to why there are so many different pressings with similar matrix #s?