The Beatles mono recordings

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by sunking101, Apr 13, 2019.

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  1. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    I used to get a LOT of hostility on a certain music/audio forum for even mentioning the word "mono".
     
  2. jtiner

    jtiner Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maine
    Agreed. I think the mono mix has more technical mistakes than the stereo mix. I'm not saying either is better/worse as it's subjective, but the stereo shouldn't be unfairly dismissed as an afterthought/rush job.
     
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  3. cwitt1980

    cwitt1980 Senior Member

    Location:
    Carbondale, IL USA
    Personally, I think the casual buyer would have no idea, nor care, if they were buying the mono or stereo mix of any early Beatles album. People buy Help! and Rubber Soul without knowing it's the '87 remix. A lot of casual buyers just buy albums, maybe they listen to them, and think about how the song is. Not everyone is into mixes, how things sound compared to other versions, etc. They just like the songs while they dream about spaghetti.
     
  4. David Austin

    David Austin Eclectically Coastal

    Location:
    West Sussex
    I grew up in the '60s and '70s. This was a time when we were so keen on the latest developments in science and technology that we were very quick to throw out the old stuff. When my parents first got a stereogram (console) in the late '60s, they gave away most of their mono records (only keeping a few special favourites). By the beginning of the '70s (and on into the '80s) The Beatles in stereo was the norm - mono was forgotten, and some people objected when, in 1987, the first four Beatles albums were released on CD in mono. The assumption remained 'stereo today, mono yesterday'.

    But time has moved on. For anyone under about 50, The Beatles are old regardless of whether they're in mono or stereo. But we don't automatically chuck out the old anymore. If we recognise something to be of value, we keep it (and in its original preferred state). My hypothesis, therefore, is that the present-day music buying public would buy The Beatles in mono if it were readily available to them. The idea that casual buyers only want stereo is, I suspect, an assumption left over from the '70s (and possibly the '80s).

    For what it's worth, my teenage daughters much prefer the mono version of, say, the Please Please Me album to the stereo version (and they are neither audiophiles nor Beatles obsessives). If mono was promoted as the intended and more carefully crafted form of The Beatles' catalogue (where most applicable), then I'm sure that's what people would go for (the occasional modern remix being a possible exception).
     
  5. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    Interesting thought, but to the OP point, why then have they been OOP since roughly 1970? Long before the internet and streaming, Apple seemed fine with only making stereo readily available for the next gen of fans
     
  6. Joey_Corleone

    Joey_Corleone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rockford, MI
    You will drive yourself mad. If you are here, just accept the fact that you are strange, and we are the minority that care lol. Seriously, almost nobody in the real world cares. It’s sad, but most people just buy a Beatle CD or stream it. They are blissfully unaware a mono mix exists or even know what it is.
     
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  7. MitchLT

    MitchLT Two for the show

    It’s a pity that they didn’t just issue Rubber Soul and Help in Mono the first time around, then the infamous ‘87 remixes wouldn’t have muddied the picture so much further-

    They are probably the worst offenders stereo-wise when it comes to the unnecessary hard panning, so it overshadows the later mixes which have more going on.

    Pepper, with it’s psychedelia and many bounced mixes, doesn’t bother me so much as at least there tends to be a lot more going on to spread across two speakers.
     
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  8. aficionaudio

    aficionaudio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Holland, MI
    I just wish they'd reissue the mono CD box, or expand their high-res download selection in general.
     
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  9. RobNeil

    RobNeil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midlands, UK
    LUFC fans....? Sorry, way off topic...
     
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  10. Alex Zabotkin

    Alex Zabotkin Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pepperland
    It's still widely available at MSRP or cheaper.
     
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  11. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    Good grief no, how dare you! :)
     
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  12. Gary7704

    Gary7704 Chasing that sound….

    Location:
    New Jersey
    My guess would be most equipment sold today is geared towards stereo. Most people, if asked, would say mono is a disease and would have no idea how to listen to it. "We" are a minority and maybe the industry feels not financially worthy of offering both.
     
  13. aficionaudio

    aficionaudio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Holland, MI
    Do you remember how much it was when it first came out? I was under a tighter budget at the time so I didn't bother memorizing it.


    It still would be cool to reissue the 2009 albums individually, especially Mono Masters. Anyone have a guess as to what year Apple will streamline their catalog (especially mono) into the high-res world? 2040 maybe? :laugh:
     
  14. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    That album was the biggest eye opener (ear opener, perhaps) for me as well.
     
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  15. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    I find the opposite is true, at least for low and mid-fi audio. These days, many people listen through a mono Bluetooth speaker, through laptop speakers on YouTube where the audio is often mono too, or other devices where the speakers are so close that it really doesn't matter if it's stereo or mono as the channel seperation is barely noticeable.

    Maybe earbuds would be the one instance for casual listeners where stereo might be important, but even with those, a lot of people listen with only one earbud in their ear!
     
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  16. MitchLT

    MitchLT Two for the show

    Forgot to also mention- most of Past Masters in Mono would make sense too. Lennon had a few quotes about the stereo mixes being ‘wrong’ I think for the Blue album and particularly on Revolution.

    Strange that Yoko wouldn’t pipe up more about John’s wishes here.
     
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  17. PRW94

    PRW94 Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Southeast
    There are so many little quirks and things ... tons of them in "Lucy in the Sky," for instance ... that simply are not there in stereo. Because the pains were taken to embed them in the mono.

    I let a friend of mine, another stone Beatlemaniac, listen to Pepper in mono and he cited how much more "ominous" Paul's bass sounded on "A Day in the Life" in mono.

    I know they didn't just "slapdash" the stereo mixes in the '60s but the pains were taken with mono because even as late as 1967 that is how most people were consuming this music.

    The reality is that no one is ever going to go in and remix the stereo to include all those little quirks and things.
     
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  18. RobNeil

    RobNeil Forum Resident

    Location:
    Midlands, UK
    ....i am I'm afraid!
     
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  19. OobuJoobu

    OobuJoobu Forum Resident

    Location:
    Yorkshire, UK
    Well at least you make up for it with your awesome profile pic (Stay away from the shell fish Alan!)
     
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  20. gregorya

    gregorya I approve of this message

    Funny that this subject has never come up before after all these years... ;)
     
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  21. Bingo Bongo

    Bingo Bongo Music gives me Eargasms

    Location:
    Ottawa, Canada
    Lots of crappie mono Capitol records out there.... :hide:
     
  22. M.R.Collins

    M.R.Collins Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, TX
    Mono Masters is available at Amazon for $59.99 and Acoustic Sounds and Music Direct for $69.99, Music Direct also has Rubber Soul for $22.99 and Amazon has Mono CD Box Set for $230.68.
     
    Drifter likes this.
  23. kirkhawley@q.com

    [email protected] Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    That certainly was not the case in the late 60's when I was buying these records for the first time.
     
  24. gonz

    gonz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michiana
    Seems to me kids would dig mono since they only use one ear bud to listen to music.
     
  25. Easy-E

    Easy-E Forum Resident

    Revolver in mono - https://www.amazon.com.au/Revolver-...revolver+mono&qid=1555382239&s=gateway&sr=8-1

    $30 aust - thats 15 quid

    WA in mono - https://www.amazon.com.au/WHITE-ALB...mono&qid=1555382297&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

    40 quid

    Mono Masters - https://www.amazon.com.au/MONO-MAST...rs+mono&qid=1555382567&s=gateway&sr=8-1-fkmr0

    41 quid for a triple album

    WTB - https://www.amazon.com.au/BEATLES-M...=beatles+mono&qid=1555382699&s=gateway&sr=8-3

    16 quid

    BFS - https://www.amazon.com.au/BEATLES-S...=beatles+mono&qid=1555382699&s=gateway&sr=8-9

    25 quid - its the only one of of this lot thats more expensive than when they came out

    All up - and if you join Amazon prime as trial you'll get free shipping - just rememeber to cancel - get all of these for about 140 pounds
     
    maui jim likes this.
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