The Beatles Mono Box Set
- BEATLES THE IN MONO (BOX 13 CD)
FEATURES:
-Dimensions: 5.75″ x 5.38″ x 2.63″
-Description:
·Hard white glossy slip box
·Limited edition
·CDs packaged as mini LP replicas (replica artwork, sleeves and gatefolds)
·Remastered by Paul Hicks, Sean Magee with Guy Massey and Steve Rooke
-Contains:
Original Mono version – 11 albums (12 discs)
+= mono mix CD debut
·Plea
List Price: $ 298.98
Price:
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A Cheapskate’s (Relatively) Guide To The Mono and Stereo Re-Issues,
Introduction: The following is pretty much a full review of both the mono and stereo reissues largely written in real time as a series of e-mails to an old friend who once owned a legendary record store here in Chicago. The story of the reissues really comes down to the technical limitations of two-track, four-track, eight-track, etc. recordings and the relative complexity of the music of the Beatles. Listening occurred on what would be considered an audiophile system with Quad 988′s as the speakers. If following reading this review, you wish to read an expanded essay by me on the box sets, please visit The Beatles Wiki site by Hyperarts.
Please Please Me: The sound on the mono is just amazing. You can hear the echo in the room as John sings Anna. The vocals just soar. Ringo was just so good, even at this early stage and so was Paul. They supported and framed the songs so perfectly. And just think, in twenty-one minutes, or so, Twist And Shout! Stereo can’t hold a candle to this, if for no other reason than the left/right “stereo” found later in With The Beatles, Rubber Soul and Revolver.
With The Beatles: As with Please Please Me, the mono sounds so, so, nice. As the stereo has that annoying left/right “stereo,” no contest: mono hands down.
A Hard Day’s Night: Seems better and more enjoyable in stereo. I think the reason is that they now had four tracks so George Martin could do proper stereo mixes and still have a mostly fresh first generationish sound. Remember, there were only two track available for Please Please Me. However, when they got to Rubber Soul and Revolver, four tracks weren’t enough, which required, in some instances, numerous dubs of the four tracks to another four track tape, merging the four tracks to one track, thereby opening up three new tracks. While this degraded the sound somewhat it also made it difficult to back-track and do the after-thought stereo mixes, which is why we have the atrocious “stereo” of Rubber Soul and Revolver. Consequently, the reason the monos of these albums rule has mostly to do with technical limitations. While the mixes on A Hard Day’s Night are true stereo mixes, they carry George Martin’s idiosyncratic, but really right, decision to put the vocals in the center, the rhythm section to the left and the other instruments to the right. I always have loved how Martin took care to isolate the brilliant work of Ringo and Paul so many times instead of just following the convention of placing the drums in the center. This is why one of Martin’s memoirs is entitled: “All You Need Is Ears.”
The Beatles For Sale: Comments, preference and reasons for preference similar to A Hard Day’s Night.
Help: Well, thank God we have three different versions to compare to make life ever so easy. First, mono is the definitive mix, that’s a plus. As a minus, while it sounds richer, it is also a bit muddy compared to the stereo mixes. As for the stereo mixes, the remaster of George Martin’s ’87 remix does show some limiting in this new incarnation. A bit a hard to dial in the right volume. Sounds fuller, but that’s the limiting. Not sure I care for this version too much. As for the `65 stereo version, that comes on the same disc as the mono version, as this album is somewhat acoustic, the absence of the limiting that was done to the new stereo remix/remaster is a plus. The delicacy is there in I Need You. Overall, the “old” stereo is prettier than the “new” stereo. One can argue over whether the “new” stereo or the “”old” stereo is better, I come down on the side of the “old” stereo, I like pretty. But as you get both the mono and the “old” stereo on the single mono disc, the cheapskate in me screams if you had a pistol to your head and only had to purchase one version of Help, it would be the “mono” disc.
Rubber Soul: Mono over stereo, if for no other reason than the left/rt channel mix that plagued Please, Please Me, With The Beatles and Revlover.
Revolver: There is a section of I Want To Tell You where Ringo is just so muscular and explosive in the mono that is missing in stereo and this is before we get to the issue of the left/right “stereo” of the stereo mix. Plus, there is just this overall richness of sound to the mono that is missing in the stereo. That said, it is a bit cooler to hear Tomorrow Never Knows in stereo. But, overall, mono.
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band: The things you have heard are correct about the mono mix, the clarity and control over the notes, instruments and vocals is all there. Overall, it just sounds better, fuller and richer than the stereo, plus it is what the boys intended. Oddly, the thing that was most breathtaking was She’s Leaving Home; just a full, gorgeous, sound. In stereo, it just sounds relatively wrong; thin compared to the mono. That said, because Day In The Life is such a mind-f the stereo is the definitive…
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|The Beatles Mono Box Set
A superb sounding mono Beatles experience,
Those of us old enough to have experienced the Beatles first hand will never forget the excitement of hearing their latest release being played for the very first time. Each record as the band matured was invariably a step forward in creativity. And each release in those early days of FM and the continuing dominance of the AM format was invariably heard in Mono. Stereo was mixed differently in those days. In order to promote the new Stereo recording method as a distinct sonic experience from Mono, engineers created the widest possible soundstage with music heavily separated into the left and right speakers. If you really want to hear a typical difference in mixes listen to Cream’s I Feel Free in both Mono and Stereo. The Stereo mix seems equally divided into each speaker with almost nothing coming from the center. As a result the music sounds diffuse and oddly unreal in the Stereo version with barely any bass at the bottom. The Mono mixdown, on the other hand, is sonically powerful and beautifully focused with Jack Bruce’s 6-string bass and Clapton’s amazing guitar solo now full-throated and much punchier. The Mono version is preferable even after all of these years of remasterings.
The Beatles recordings were similarly constructed with their earliest Stereo albums attempting to showcase the new recording method by separating the music into the widest possible soundstage. This was meant to be more lifelike than Mono but to my ears it always seemed to dilute the music a bit. On the Stereo albums Paul’s bass lost a bit of its punch and never really reproduced the ‘fat bottom’ that anchored those beautifully recorded Beatle records. The wide dispersion of the vocals had a similar effect. Those glorious John + George or Paul + George harmonies, often originally meant to be sung into a single microphone, never sounded as solid and rich in Stereo as they did in Mono.
On this new Mono box set we can hear for perhaps the very first time (in a non-bootleg recording) the experience one had during those long ago days when these immortal records were first released. Here we can hear Paul’s bass producing the same deep, flowing lines that revolutionized the way bass was presented in popular music. The vocals are now full and rich, with harmonies that flow like sonic honey ON TOP OF THE MUSIC instead of weakly dispersed at its periphery as in the Stereo versions. Ringo’s tom-toms and bass drums are powerfully propulsive, causing my floor to bounce on several occasions. Revolver is a revelation in Mono with tracks like Tomorrow Never Knows and Taxman now having a 3-dimensional depth to them. Eleanor Rigby with its overwhelming power will make you weep. Rubber Soul has a similar depth that is lacking in the Stereo version. Sgt. Pepper sounds so much more unified in Mono: it is acoustically less jittery than the Stereo version which occasionally suffers from excessive brightness and brittleness.
The first few Beatles albums all have that early wide Stereo separation with a center one could drive a truck through. In these excellent new Mono remasterings solidity has finally been returned to the early Beatles albums. Where the Stereo versions were weak these new Mono versions are powerful with a propulsive inevitability to the music that reminds me of what made the Beatles so very special in the first place. More than anything else, these new Mono remasterings recreate the experience of hearing the Beatles with all of their brilliance and freshness intact. And for that I am eternally grateful.
Mike Birman
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|The Beatles Mono Box Set
WATCH OUT FOR COUNTERFEITS!! And a FAST, EASY REVIEW TO HELP YOU DECIDE! AND,
FIRST! Watch out for counterfeits. They are all over the place. The fakes have flexible boxes rather than firm, sturdy boxes. The artwork is fuzzy and not as sharp as originals. The CDs are lighter to hold (just a bit) than the originals This is especially true on many Japanese issues whch were actually made in China. In one incident, some of the CDs were not able to play music on a standard USA CD player. So, be careful!
FAST FOR YOUR CONVENIENCE! What is great about the original non-fake box set?
*Album (CD) covers are Exact replicas of those issued in the UK
*The CDs are replicas of the record labels issued in the UK
* The CD covers are larger than normal size making them very easy to handle and easier to read and enjoy!
* The booklet is large and full of info and photos
* Also, the “Help” and “Rubber Soul” CDs include the additional 1965 original stereo mixes on them so that is very cool.
* And please note that even though this is a USA Box set, ALL the CDs state that they were manufactured in Japan. That’s actually a good thing.
* The four Beatles songs from YELLOW SUBMARINE album which were not previously issued in Mono on CD ARE included on the Mono Past Masters CD in this box set. They are “It’s All Too Much”, “All Together Now”, “Hey Bulldog” and “It’s Only A Northern Song”.
* Wonderful, clear mono sound with special goodies like the Original Single Record version of “Help”, the fast version of “She’s Leaving Home” which is how Paul intended it to sound (By the way, when George Martin made his “Insightful Comments” on the “Making of the Pepper Album”, he never talked about “She’s Leaving Home” as he did not actually produce it in its entirety. Paul was upset with Martin’s availability at the time and had someone else do the initial arrangments of the song. This fact is rarely discussed and it is still iritating to George Martin.
**In overview, these CDs are great with excellent packaging that includes plenty of photos. But be careful Beatle People, it isn’t worth more than $230.00 and people (Blue Meanies) are selling these sets for $400.00 on Ebay. Don’t even fall for that. Stick with Amazon! It is by far your best buy!
Looking Forward to the future CD release of the USA Issue of “A Hard Day’s Night” which has some outstanding instrumental music on it by George Martin and His Orchestra i.e. “Ringo’s Theme (This Boy)” and “And I Love Her”. Those two songs actually charted on the Billboard 100 in 1964. And I actually bought the 45 record when it came out. I just thought it was so good! And being very young at the time ( and very ignorant), I actually thought that The Beatles played some of the instruments on these songs. I remember thinking “Man, are these guys talented”
PS: Even though The White Album is interesting to listen to in Mono, the Stereo Issue is still sooo much better….cuz you can see that Paul really put some quality time in on his bass dubs. GENIUS! BRILLIANT!
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|The Beatles Mono Box Set
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