Statement from Capitol Records on THE BEATLES "The Capitol Albums Vol. 2" set

Are you old enough to have C.R.S. disease yet? (Can't Remember S---tuff) I can't remember that somebody already said it by the bottom of the page in these complex, wild, free-for-all threads. I know I just tromped on somebody's exact same comment a post ago, but dang it! Now I forgot who again! Oh well, sorry, and let's hope everyone here is forgiving on threads like these Capitol ones.

Cheers,
Doug Piero Carey

 

I waited to see what people would have to say....some of you still don't get it. The mistake was by a third party mastering company (that would be Sterling Sound) no, Ted Jensen didn't mess it up, the wrong tapes or files were sent to the manufacturing plant by an employee at SS, not Ted himself. Capitol didn't screw this up!!! The first mistake was sending
the wrong tapes, the second was quality control at the manufacturing plant. The mistake was caught early, PERHAPS before Wollensack discovered it on his set. ALL US SETS WILL BE DEFECT FREE (Humble apologies to our foreign friends) As I've said from day one, the sets being released April 11 will not have the mixing errors on Rubber Soul and Beatles VI.

It is unknown whether Early Beatles and Help will have new mono fold-downs or not on the US sets. I understand Phil tested HIS box, which is known to be defective....IF the Capitol Years has new fold-downs on those CDS I agree it's not historically accurate and it should not have happened. BUT, those mixes were never authentic to begin with. It's quite possible these new fold-downs will sound better than the original...but I agree it should not have been done...if these end up on the defect-free sets.

Capitol's point about the SOUND QUALITY issues is just layman talk. They meant that neither the new fold-downs, nor the original '65 mono mixes will sound different from one another, not that the mixing anomolies are not significant. Capitol would never have released an Official Statement if the US run was still affected....the return policy was for those receiving the set overseas, though it's possible a very limited amount of US sets were pressed before the the mistake was found. Wollensack apparently has a US manufactured set, but I don't think one other person has come forward and said their set was pressed in the US. It would be nice to know which manufacturing facility(ies) pressed the mistake version. Ron

 

You must have some good insider information, Ron, in order to be so sure about this. Capitol's own statement seems to imply that the entire first production run was defective, but that since "sound quality" is identical, only true fanatics need to worry about it and request replacement discs.

My opinion remains, that Capitol seems to think that "first time on cd for the orig stereo mixes" is the big selling point here and the mono is just a bonus, such that only a zealot would be concerned about the "error".

 

For the sake of closure on my end, I wanted to let you know that I received the correct Beatles VI and Rubber Soul discs this morning and they sound fabulous!! I've never been happier to NOT hear the false start on the mono "I'm Looking Through You" in my life!

My job is now done here, and I shall return to happily lurking and occasionally posting on this wonderful, if spirited, forum!

Best,
Wollensack

 

Wouldn't Capitol get a test pressing from the plant to listen to and check for errors before giving the OK to press up thousands of discs?.....

Can you verify that you have that on good authority?

 

Thanks again, Wollensack. Good to know those corrected versions are out there.

 

That's an entirely different point than the fold downs for TEB and Help!. Meet for example was not entirely a fold down, some tracks were mono mixes. A tape must have existed and therefore was in all likelihood used.

 

We'll have to wait and see what that 'third company' says about this whole mess then. How come a third company gets a hold of incorect mono mixes that were not made in the 60's? Do they have a key to Ted Jensens office? I dont get that, Im sorry.

This has been another big entry in the Beatles CD Hall of Shame. Capitol creates new mono fold downs in 2006. Copies are pressed using the wrong versions. Capitol found out about the error. Capitol does not recall the faulty boxes. Capitol issues a 'statement', buried somewhere in the internet that you can get a replacement with your proof of purchase.

And people here are praising Capitol????

I'll be waiting on reports on April 11 to know if I'll be getting my set that day or not. I dont have time to go into the whole 'please, please, send me a replacement Mr Record Company executive' excercise. :thumbsdn:

 

It's possible a small quantity of US-pressed Sets will be delivered defective. Most should be problem-free...

 

Did you get to keep the "bad" disc? Want to sell it?

 

WAIT!!

We still haven't sorted out the issue of the first 2 discs - namely that original 1965 masters weren't used for the mono cuts.

Firstly, can anyone verify that all tracks on the original mono The Early Beatles LP - even "Love Me Do" and "PS I Love You" - were fold-downs? Bruce Spizer claims that those two tracks are true mono mixes on the LP. Of course, he also says that "Ticket To Ride" was not a fold-down on the mono US Help! LP but that has been proven incorrect so I don't necessarily believe he is right about the two tracks on The Early Beatles. However a definitive statment from someone with the mono The Early Beatles LP would help settle this issue.

Supposing that the original US mono LP issues of The Early Beatles and Help! were fold-downs in their entirety then the question is why weren't the original 1965 fold-downs used on this set? Did tapes not exist (as another side has suggested) or was it felt that, while original 1965 fold-downs for these two albums did exist, sonic improvements could be had if new fold-downs were made? If the latter is the case I would be disappointed - especially since "historical accuracy" has been cited as a key element in the "Capitol Albums" re-issue series......

 

I will apologize in advance if this has already been covered in these threads, but somewhere in those 40+ pages, my eyes began to glaze over...

My question has to do with the "how" of the Capitol pressing error and, while any of us can speculate, I'm hoping Mr. Hoffman or someone with actual experience will jump in.

The Capitol release states, "The third party mastering facility incorrectly sent step down masters instead of the mono masters ordered by the label to the manufacturing plant." Bruce Spizer's statement is slightly different and perhaps more helpful: "In particular, the third party mastering facility incorrectly sent stereo-to-mono mixdowns of Beatles VI and Rubber Soul to the manufacturing plants."

So, Steve (or whomever can help): The terms "step down masters" and "stereo-to-mono mixdowns" seem to be used interchangeably in these two releases. Aren't they different things?

And also: In your experience, is it standard procedure to make a "stereo-to-mono mixdown" copy at a mastering facility when working with stereo material? Although I'd bet that it was rare that such a copy was actually made, it would seem to me that there was a great need for something like this in the old analog days when there were so many people listening in mono, through AM radio, cheap phonographs, etc., so that phase errors in the L+R sum could be discovered. But today, when there is literally no mono pressing and so little listening to music in mono going on, is the making of an actual fold-down copy usually done?

I ask because that little step seems to be the genesis of the whole brouhaha, and it seems so odd that I wonder if what we have received is actually a factual report of the situation.

Dave in Nashville

 

It'll be interesting to see. I'm still planning to get this on the release date (I'm primarily interested in the stereo content), so I guess I'll be one of the guinea pigs.

 

Hooray! Thanks again for everything Wollensack. This is great news. Good going on Capitol's part.

What an exciting bunch of threads, I hope to see you start something like this regularly in the future

Cheers,
Doug Piero Carey

 

I agree.

 

Bro stop...please. The tapes were remastered at Sterling Sound in NY. THEY are the third party unamed by Capitol. Ted Jensen created the fold-down reference tapes (for his listening use) AND the new remasters from the original Capitol tapes AT STERLING. An employee sent the wrong tapes or files to the manufacturing plant(s). Should a Capitol rep have ok'd them YES....And you know what, a Capitol rep may have given them the ok.

Fact, the error was caught, the error HAS BEEN corrected, most of the US sets will be correct. Personally, the defective sets should have been/should be, recalled, absolutely. It's possible that the plant itself stored the corrected CDs with the defective sets and had no way to tell them apart when packaging them...although that's strictly conjecture on my part, but surely possible. Where should Capitol have posted their statement, on National TV? If it's true only a few thousand sets are defective (out of 250,000), it's a relatively small problem that Capitol will remedy. I pray you aren't one of the unfortunate individuals who gets a defective set....Ron

 

The TEB and Help! monos are entirely fold downs including the fake stereo Love Me Do and PS I Love You.

 

You beat me to it...I made a needledrop of both LPs last night...definitelty fold-downs.

 

I'll stop. Heck, I might wait in line on April 11 at 8:00 am at my local Target. After all, Im a Beatle fan too. But when I think of all the Beatles fans around the world, not people like you and me, who have books and connections and know all the internet sites and have the latest info all the time. Just hard working people, dads, grandmas, average Joe's if you will, who may not even have a computer at home, no time to track down the latest news, but LOVE the Beatles. They will spend their very hard earned cash on this. This might be their only musical purchase in months. They never spend that amount of money in music, ever. But they make an exception because its the fab four. And the thought of them going home with a bad product and never finding out about it breaks my heart. I know many fans like that.

 

What a Crapital mess. It's always something w/ Beatles products.
I'm just venting. I have to quick reading this forum.

 

I can appreciate your concern...but seriously what would you suggest Capitol do? I mean pressing mishaps DO happen once in awhile. They have corrected the mistake....and they plan on issuing corrected copies to those who request them. I can't think of a better alternative...can you? Ron

 

Here's a thougth, can we get it right the first time, it's the bloody Beatles.

 

A press officer from EMI UK has got onto me about the situation for European consumers with the boxset with the wrong mixes. Their response also raises some issues with American pressings too. Anyone who offers it to rival Irish newspapers will have their arms chopped off .

"Some of the mono tracks from the initial manufacturing run of "The Capitol Albums Vol. 2" were not the original mono masters that were intended to be included. A third party mastering facility incorrectly sent the wrong masters instead of the mono masters ordered by the label. As soon as Capitol was aware of this, the correct masters were sent down for the next run. An announcement is imminent from Capitol with information about returns for any consumer with a boxset from the inital run will be issued shortly."

She said that that the return would include consumers in Ireland (so presumably the rest of Europe will be covered to). Obviously, she said, consumers would need proof of purchase.

The EMI press officer went on to say that EMI had done no manufacturing of the boxset in Europe (possibly an error on their part as my copy was made in Holland) and that the faulty CDs were imported from LA.

She said that any retailers who had got copies of the inital run would be advised on what to do to get a replacement batch.

She said she was unaware of any withdrawal of copies of the boxset from shops in Europe but she said "it is quite normal in these circumstances that we would try to get it back."

She said that some faulty copies therefore may remain in shops in Europe.

There we go. That's the full thing. I have a name and number to ring next week about the specifics of the returns policy. The announcement is unlikely to happen in the next few days though -- my deadline is Friday and she said it was unlikely there would be any more progress before then.

 

The fact that the stereo and mono mixes of the title track are totally different would attest to that.

 

The best price I found for me, locally, was at Costco. I wonder if they will be getting the "corrected" sets?

Greg