Thanks, Steve, for ruining the Beatles' "Rubber Soul" CD for me

LOL- I really do want to thank you.

Since Steve said that he finds the regular stereo remix CD of Rubber Soul unlistenable it's been kinda haunting me. I finally sat down for a serious listen and compared it to the EP Collection. And oh my-

Everything is very clear to me now and I'm hurting for quality Beatles remasters as much as anyone here.



Peace Love and You Won't See Me (defending it anymore)
Marky

 

This bears repeating...

 

What is wrong with RUBBER SOUL?

 

It was unnecessarily remixed for CD, and sounds much better on vinyl.

 

Yeah, Marky should be a bit more precise in the thread, maybe say it's the EMI cd that sucks.

 

I think most of us knew what he meant (it's been discussed to death here over the years), but some of the newer folks probably took it as a knock on the music itself.

 

Just a bit......

 

Yeah. I knew that. I thought it was maybe the music he hated.

 

The original stereo mix is a good listen, but the original mono mix shows this album's true glory.

 

Yeah...(ahem)...sorry, guys. More specifics- he wants specifics!

Yes! The EMI CD, my friends.
The music is unbeatable of course but the EMI (Parlophone Stereo) is so thin and lifeless compared to the EP Collection one. It's absolutely night and day. Where's the petition for this one?

Peace Love and What Goes On?
Marky

 

Well, the CD is fairly close to the LP as far as placement of the stereo image. Yes the CD sucks more, but the stereo LP bites the big one nearly as much. And, BTW, Steve was aiming his disdain to the stereo mix from the LP as much as the CD. MY disdain is clearly aimed at the LP as well.

 

Sorry about that, Steve. I stand corrected.

I still prefer the mono by a long shot, though.

 

I agree. I don't understand the rationale for remixing it at all. The digital echo is what gets me the most. It just gives Nowhere Man such a weird sound. But Girl is the worst of all, IMO.

A better mix indeed, though. It's the only one of the Beatles records that I prefer in mono.

 

What do we think of the EMI Help! CD? (oh never mind.....)

 

And for some reason, Martin panned the lead vocal just center of right on several of the songs on the CD. On the LP everything is hard left or hard right. Why not just pan that track all the way to the center George?

(I realize this wouldn't fix all the other problems with this mix -- like all that reverb -- but at least it would be something.)

Jason

 

Maybe we could organize a march and storm Capitol Records en masse, demanding Beatles remasters from the original mixes. While we divert the security guards' attention, Steve can sneak into the vault and get the tapes ready for mastering.

 

I have a similar vitriol for those two titles; I don't even play them anymore.
I believe George Martin, if I recall correctly, felt that there was too much stereo separation on Help! and RS. My copy of Help! has a digital-sounding hit during Yesterday, which is a crime against humanity.



Dan

 

Listen to You've Got To Hide Your Love Away. It sounds like Martin tried to match the extremely wet sound of the US LP rather than the completely dry (and much better---sounds like John's in the room with you rather than in a toilet) UK mix. WHY???

 

This statement confused the hell out of me. The words "fold down" made me think of a stereo to mono fold down, but the word stereo after that got me confused. And then you talked about a stereo copy of Rubber Soul...

Then I realized, the Zenith fold-down stereo was one of those old stereo systems where the turntable folded down.

Whew... all this terminology gets confusing sometimes.

 

George Martin's thoughts on this subject are here

http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/kozinn.htm

Chris

 

You may want to storm the EMI Records and Abbey Road studio vaults in the U.K., if you're looking for the original 1st generation master tapes, although the U.S. Rubber Soul might be a novelty for CD.