Does anyone have a scan of the rear tray card they can post so we know what to look for in the used bins? Here in the Pacific Northwest I find Canadian pressing CD's all the time... never bothered looking for any Beatles titles. Thanks, (and sorry if a scan is already here... please direct me). EDIT... Found it on page 5. Thanks!
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe the tray card is not a definitive way to identify a copy... you have to examine the actual CD.
That is correct. But looking at the back tray card will tell you if it's a Canadian pressing, so that will narrow it down considerably.
The 1987 CD's with the original stereo mixes sound better than the original stereo mixes on the mono box IMO.
Do they? I haven’t played them back to back actually but the 2009 CD’s sounded ok to me last time I played them.
The 1987 CD's of Rubber Soul and Help! are not the original mixes, where as the mono box contained the original stereo mixes of both. They are digital remixes done by George Martin specifically for the CD re-release. They are a bit clearer in spots due to the use of the multitracks, but the addition of digital reverb has not made them fan favorites. Derek
Early batch of Canadian Help! and Rubber Soul 1987 CD's did have the original 1965 stereo mixes. And the Rubber Soul is being discussed in this thread. Ondra
I personally only listen to Rubber Soul in mono because whether it's the original stereo mix from 1965 or the remix from 1985, the off-center vocals are irritating as hell. I just listened to the coveted CINRAM, and beyond nostalgia, all it reminded me of was the experimental-esque stereo mix of With The Beatles. It dumbfounds me that George Martin approved that mix in 1965 when better stereo mixes were already present in earlier Beatles albums.
I agree but I believe I read that the issue was that he was concerned about how the album would fold to mono when stereo copies were played in mono. Why that was such a big concern all the sudden, especially when a dedicated mono mix was also done, I'm not sure. What I really find dumbfounding was for him to decide the original stereo mix wasn't good enough to re-issue for CD and thus needed redone- and then redid it the same way.
All of which are valid points as to why I sincerely hope that Rubber Soul will get the "4 CD/5.1 Blu-ray" Super Deluxe Edition-esque treatment it so desperately needs.
Well, who knew back in 2006 that Apple was going to eventually going to get with the program and actually remaster the entire catalogue. I don’t know why anyone would want to track down these CDs now.
I am happy with the 2009 CDs too but the Canadian '87s have less processing. For example, the microphone thump in Run For Your Life was excised in the 2009 CD. As well, the left channel of Nowhere Man is louder on the 2009 CD which arguably makes for a better vocal/instrumental balance but is less true to the original record. This was one of the most exciting threads for me and it was fun to track down the CDs. Luckily, living in the largest city in Canada, it wasn't too difficult to find copies, although not that easy, especially for Help!
My Canadian Rubber Soul also has that pop on 'Run for your Life.' Mine came in that black wooden box set. I won mine from Muchmusic in late '88 or early '89.
14+ years later (!) and we have an answer. The University of Calgary has a collection from EMI Music Canada. Within that collection is the U-matic/1630 digital master tape for the Canadian CD: Box cover (Those photos are a bit small, but if you go to the link you can zoom in for full-sized versions). The times match those of the Canadian CD with the original mix and are different from those of the remix (note the frames listed in the times are SMPTE frames, rather than CDDA frames, so a conversion is necessary when comparing a rip from something like EAC), and the remarks at the end specifically note the thump in the right channel of Run For Your Life (not on the remix). The tape was prepared April 6, 1990, by O. Murphy: Odea Murphy, who was a mastering engineer at Capitol Studios in Hollywood. Mastering by "Jarrait", which is surely a typo for (Mike) Jarrett, the EMI engineer who mastered the original CDs. Thus, it seems that: 1) EMI must have sent Capitol Mike Jarrett's digital master of the original mix in 1987, apparently before the decision to remix the album. 2) After the remix was made, EMI sent Capitol the digital master of the remix in 1987, meant to replace #1. 3) CDs were manufactured using #2. 4) In 1990, Capitol of Canada requested a digital master so they could manufacture their own CDs (specifically, have them manufactured by DA and Cinram), and instead of making a copy of #2, Capitol mistakenly made a copy of #1 and sent it to Capitol of Canada. There's no tape for Help! in the collection, but presumably the same thing happened.
