Beatles' White Album US pressings?

Again.....

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showpost.php?p=1736850&postcount=12

 

That's my point. All he had available was Capitol's master, so what could he do? This has been mentioned in several Beatles books over the years and I always found it absurd.

 

I remember reading somewhere that George just asked them to trash the lacquers they had already cut and cut it again with the tape they had, easing way up on the limiting/compression/eq this time.

 

Wow. Do you know where that story comes from?

 

I believe the George/White Album story was first mentioned in "The Beatles Monthly" sometime around the release of The White Album.

 

Was that the one with all the unreleased tracks like Pink Litmus Paper Shirt and Colliding Circles?

 

Those were first listed in Disc magazine in the early seventies.

 

Yes I think I read it there first.

To give the Beatles Book their due, they were pretty much on the money with info until much later when the magazine was revived, and after Mark Lewisohn left. Towards the end there WAS some unfounded speculation about Beatles matters.

I'll never forget reading about then unreleased Beatles songs with Mal Evans descriptions, and trying to image what the records would sound like. Talk about heaven back in the original era.

 

Guys, it's not hard to find a late 70's, early 80's UK with the Apple logo for not much so just why would you like to get the badly mastered Capitol pressing?

 

Steve, could you comment on what's mentioned in this thread?

http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/showthread.php?t=53114&highlight=beatles+white

The first post states:

Heres some more thoughts about White Album matrix #A28/B29...
The White Album that Capitol records said shouldn't exist.

After some further examination, it appears George DID alter the EQ and compression
on the final master of the White Album. This version I found IS the ORIGINAL CAPITOL
MASTER that isn't supposed to exist (all were thought destroyed). It casts doubts over Mal Evans story though and fits the more likely scenario of Captitol allowing George to make some mastering changes.

It does make for fascinating listening, and as it is THE ONLY ONE KNOWN TO EXIST, I
wonder if someone here can put me in contact with Steve Hoffman...(a moderator
perhaps?) To get his views on the sequence of mastering that may have happened and
possibly have him compare it to the officially released White Album.

Bruce Spizer is writing an article about the record shortly and his insights will be available
for anyone interested in knowing more.

 

lol Not from your end obviously.

On the US side though it's another matter. I've never seen one in person in the US.

 

All I remember about the U.S. White Album original release (which I bought at Polk Bros. Skokie on the day of release for $6.84) was that on EVERY copy that I or my friends had, "Birthday" always had a skip in it.

Luckily, Laurie's Records in Evanston had import White Albums a couple of weeks later and my parents bought me that one (after much whining and temper tantrums from me) for Christmas (Laurie's was THE import/bootleg record store in the 60's and '70's). Still have that mono record and really enjoy it (even though the inner grooves ain't in the greatest shape nowadays!). Loved the black inner-sleeves at the time!

 

I have a UK mono pressing with a fairly low number and that's the one I go to. I keep the records in MFSL sleeves but kept the original black sleeves because I like them too.

 

Second thoughts

I do have Parlophone Export Second Albums (1st and 2nd presses) but not US.
How do they differ from Capitol?

 

That is amazing because I had the exact same experience buying from Korvettes on Staten Island. I eventually gave up after returning 3 copies. I still remember storming the record department the day of release, there was a huge line and stacks of hundreds of White Albums in a display. If I only had a time machine!

 

Go straight for a UK BC-13 blue box as others have already mentioned. It's the best bang for your buck.