Steve, can you tell us which is the preferred mix for each Beatles album?

Mono was basically done for in 1969, at least for albums. Quad was just coming. So at that particular time, if you were mixing an LP, it was for stereo only! Since there's never been a remix released, there's only one mix of ABBEY ROAD available. Any mono version released in other countries is just a collapse of the stereo mix. There was a stereo remix of LET IT BE, but that was more than a remix - it was a revised release.

 

Mine:
Mono for Please, WTB, HDN,
Stereo for Beatles for sale
Stereo for Help
Mono for Rubber Soul
Stereo for Revolver
Stereo for Sgt Pepper
For MGT, some tracks are better in mono than in Stereo (Title track is better in Mono...All you need is Love is better in Stereo)
Stereo -White Album, Let it Be, Abbey Road

I've never heard White album in mono, but I like it in stereo enough not to care.

 

Thanks jacden and Martin for the info...

I assume the OP's questions have been answered so I'd like to ask the following:

Would you recommend checking out Let It Be ... Naked or just stick to the original CD instead?

Which release of Pet Sounds on CD has been your fave? I understand the 2001 HDCD is quite good, no?

 

The mono PEPPER is a must- practically everyone involved in its creation have avowed that the mono mix is the real version of the album. It's a shame that listeners have had to make do with needledrops to have a version on CD.

 

Mine:

PPM-Stereo -2 German
WTB-Stereo
AHDN-Stereo and sometimes MFSL
BFS-Stereo and MFSL
Help!-Both
RS-Both
Revolver-Mono, then Stereo
Pepper-Mono, then Stereo
MMT-German A3/B3 Grail Stereo, and associated Mono singles, and RS 3 SFF from the MFSL LP.
The Beatles(White)-Mono, then Stereo.

 

Perhaps this is another reason for my quirkiness. I am relatively "new" to The Beatles (this is my second year of fanboy-ness); as a teenager (still am) I of course used to love Eminem, Britney Spears, et al.

But of course I was weened on the 1987 CD mixes, so the mono Pepper was indeed a surprise. Still, the "only one mix" thing holds true...

 

Pour moi (red = mono, black = both/can't decide, blue = stereo):

Please Please Me
With The Beatles
A Hard Day's Night*
Beatles For Sale
Rubber Soul
Revolver**
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
The Beatles

*Most of the tracks are better in stereo but I prefer the monos for a few.
*Some tracks sound better in stereo with the ADTed vocals, others sound much better in mono, like Taxman.

 

I mentioned this on another thread. I have to agree. I don't care for the mono mix. Many of the songs like Every Little Thing and Kansas City have longer fades in stereo. I do not like Kansas City in mono. The "hey hey heys" in one channel and the Macca vocal in another (IIRC)...love it!

For me (mono is chosen as well as stereo on the lps below for the different mixes):

Please Please Me (mono, stereo)
With the Beatles (mono, stereo)
A Hard Days Night (mono, stereo)
Beatles for Sale (stereo only)
Help! (Have never heard the mono sad to say. Like the stereo. Hate the remix cd!)
Rubber Soul (mono, stereo)
Revolver (mono, stereo)
Sgt Pepper (mono, stereo)
The Beatles (mono=love Hapiness Is a Warm Gun in mono especially, stereo)

My list is pretty much similar to others!

 

Quite the opposite here - I heard all of those albums in mono first. The first album I heard in stereo was Pepper (back in '67 - at a friends house, I was STILL not set up for stereo). I loved the "separation", but didn't care for the mix. I still think the segway between Good Morning and the Reprise sounds better in mono. Having comitted that "tape wind up" sound to memory made me think of the stereo version as a bad, hard edit.

I first heard the US stereo Rubber Soul in '77, and told the owner that the false start on I'm Looking Through You must be a rarity! I had only heard the US mono and euro stereo album at that point.

I like the mono white album most for Helter Skelter. I just like the way the backing vocals are brought up higher in the mix.

 

Well to answer your question (sorry Steve, just being nice):

Only get LIBN if you want to hear No-Noised crap. Seek out a bootleg. Honestly, it's probably the most bootlegged album of all-time so it should be easy to find a good set.

As for Pet Sounds, the DCC is the way to go for the mono mix. For the stereo mix, I'd say the DVD-A disc and the 40th anniversary edition are pretty decent.

And now back to our topic...

 

There is one part of Sgt Pepper where the stereo mix is better, when the crowd comes in just before the reprise. On the mono, there's a "wow" when the tapes starts with the faders up.

 

I prefer the "clucking" into the reprise more on the stereo than the mono. It's just mixed more to my liking.

That doesn't mean I like the stereo mix more than the mono. I love Mr. Kite in mono but the sound effects sound awesome in stereo.

 

I think both are sloppy, but I agree the effect on the mono mix is jarring.

 

For me, in order of preference:

A Hard Day's Night - stereo
Beatles For Sale - stereo (listening to this right now in fact!)
With The Beatles - stereo*
Please Please Me - stereo*
SPLHCB - mono
Revolver - mono
White Album - mono
Rubber Soul - mono
Help! - mono

*An little anecdote - I bought both PPM and WTB on vinyl in 1988 after having them on tape for a number of years. They came in stereo covers, and thus still being naive I just assumed they were in stereo (albeit *very* narrow). Around 1990ish, I acquired a Russian copy of "A Taste Of Honey", and to this day I remember being totally blown away when it started playing. It had a sound I'd never heard before. Clear. Crisp. Sweet.

I eventually learnt that I had bought the standard (mono) digital remasters, which in Australia misleadingly carried the stereo PCSO catalogue number. Suffice to say they didn't last long before being replaced with earlier stereo editions. I remember listening to entire sides with the right channel muted just so I could hear the instruments.

 

You know me: All MONO! Well, up until there was no more mono!

 

Any chance of getting you into surround?

 

Steve,

I have one of these 1970's Parlophone stereo silver and black label Beatles For Sale which sounds amazing. Upon inspection, I have found YEX 142-1 and YEX 143-1 matrix numbers.

Do I have a later pressing made from earlier tube-cut mothers?

Perhaps RaunchnRoll would like to chime in here as well.

Thanks, Edward

 

That's it. It's an originally cutting/later pressing.

 

One Beatles CD I auditioned and never bought. Got it on vinyl tho...

 

Agreed. Side 2 Stereo makes some of the songs sound unfinished vs. the mono---esp on "You Like Me Too Much" and "Tell Me What You See"---not their best songs but much better, fuller in mono.

 

Mono Pepper is my choice. I think it's a totally rocking album in mono. In stereo it's very polite.

 

Thanks Steve, for your opinions. You've mentioned here your preference for stereo "For Sale" and "With" and I recently got a needledrop of the UK stereo from a friend. Even on my junk, For Sale sounds warmer, more "alive" than the harsh, painful CD.
I love With the Beatles but that CD...ouch. I'm not fond of that compression in the stereo where the backing music drops out in the right channel when the vocals come in, but I'll take it over the CD.
Is it just me, or is "Mr. Postman" reallllly compressed or something?

I really like the Disc Amerique "Help!" and "Rubber Soul". I prefer the mono mixes of Rubber soul on the EP CD set, but the bass seems artificially boomy. Is it just me?
Somebody said "polite" about stereo Pepper - stereo Rubber Soul is too polite - the mono mixes rock more.

I really dig Please Please Me in mono and have constructed it using the Capitol sets.
Is it true that the very first UK pressing of Please Please Me used the "dry" mixes? The Yellow and Black label?