I have had it up to here waiting for the Beatles catalogue to be remastered

yeah that takes it the creepy extreme but "no reply" has that sorta stalkerish vibe too

Speaking of For Sale, I think I prefer the stereo on this one (listening on headphones to decent bitrate mp3s).

Was going to start listening to more Beatles, but I'm still waiting for the hype to die down.

Hahaha. Yeah, you wouldn't want to find yourself sharing the Beatles with anyone else!

Agreed about how awesome the stereo version of "Beatles for Sale" sounds.

McCartney's vocals really jump out on "Baby's in Black". Also love the cymbal crashes on "No Reply", the acoustic guitar on "Honey Don't", and harmonies on "Eight Days a Week". Plus, the refined bass tone really rocks on "Rock and Roll Mucic" and "Kansas City".

All in all, this is my favorite remastering job of the first 5 albums.

Yeah the harmonies on "Baby's In Black" become more affecting in stereo somehow.

I really haven't a/b'ed these much yet, mostly going through the lot sequentially in mono first, but after listening to the mono For Sale I had to go compare the stereo.

ffs my Sgt Pepper CD skips in two different places - it's enough to put you off buying music.

I've been rewatching the Anthology on youtube and they talk about mono v. stereo recording/mixing here:

you lie!

could someone direct me to the definitive beatles album poll pls?

Not a poll but this 'Only Pick 10' thread threw up some interesting choices:
The Beatles OP10 (or, that would be, only pick ten)

Yeah - I watched that Anthology clip and sat through the Ballad of John and Yoko - easily my least favourite single of theirs. Is this the new rickrolling...

Ha, I must have posted the rong youtube, I'm sorry! I'll find it later, after I've had some caffiene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2J9zIuredY

About 4 and a half minutes in.

argh, embedding disabled on request. screw it, watch it for yourself. :)

As for chart positions, the Norwegian chart has listed the stereo box as an item of its own, which places it at #3. The stereo box is now sold out though, so I would expect the single albums to climb considerably next week. So far, "Abbey Road", "Sgt. Pepper", "Revolver" and "The Beatles" are in the list, but only between 20 and 40.

So are there loads of Mono ones over there?

It's funny, I looked at the Mono box, and the back was all "ooh, you are obviously a discerning Beatles fan! Not for you the easy digipack of the Stereo box, with it's admittedly more CDs in it. This box has lovely facsimile replications of the sleeves and inners and extra inserts where applicable. And a book telling you about the importance of the mono mixes in the legend of the Beatles. But of course you know all that already, right?"

Both boxes are sold out, but apparently both are supposed to back in, at least judging from what Platekompaniet (the biggest chain here) are telling their customers, who can apply for ordering new boxes, both stereo and mono alike.

I already have my stereo box and have no intention of buying anything else at all.

I dug up my mono LPs, everything pretty much up to the White album.

Except for "Beatles for Sale", my nice German original Odeon one. ahhh....

Also, there's something about that green label on the "Hard days night" one as well.

(both of those are stereo)

Will be buying another remaster within the next week or two, and I'm completely torn.

White album? or Revolver?

And I have a dumb-ish question...Geir, you're exempt from this one, lol...is it worthwhile picking up the stereo remasters of any/all of the first 5, pre-Rubber Soul? I want the Mono Box so bad, but who knows when that'll ever happen...are any of the first 5 albums better now than before with the stereo remaster? I have 87's of Hard Day's Night and Help...
And I know this is basically what you've all been talking about since 9/9, but I think I've been reading so much that I've stunted my decision making completely. HALP :)

Every one of these remasters sounds better than what we've heard before. Unless you have a mono box pre-ordered, I don't think you'll regret picking up any of these in stereo.

I've got a late in the game Amazon order on the Mono box, but I'm pretty sure it's a pipe dream at this stage of the game.

thanks Nate!!

Well, if you're serious enough to order the Mono Box, you might wanna just wait? :)

Overall though, they took 4 years to remaster these from the original master tapes. They sound awesome and the packaging is really nice.

I just dug out all my old mono vinyl. Never really gave them much notice til all this hoopla. I'm still dying to hear mono Pepper.

Well...when I say "order"...it's in the hopes that my husband will take pity on my desperation and buy it for me for Christmas. But he thinks I'm 100% nuts.

The mono Pepper is what I'm going nuts to hear. In my mind it's been built up to be like the unicorn of recorded music. And I don't want any leaked mp3 guff...must have the real thing.

Seriously, these remasters have given me some kind of crazyperson disease.

wouldn't the real thing be vinyl?

turntable broken & I am lazy. 'real' thing = cd, in my world right now.

I'd say between Revolver and the White Album, I'd go with the latter. A few songs on Revolver sound vastly improved (Dr. Roberts, Got to Get You Into My Life), but the White Album.... oh man... I hear all kinds of stuff on every track I've never heard before.

My most listened is probably the 2nd disc of Past Masters.

Seriously, these remasters have given me some kind of crazyperson disease.

I feel ya. If Mono Sgt Pepper isn't the culmination of all music pre 1967, the internet will have lied.

that said, if you go to youtube there's pretty much everything you could need there.

It helped me realise the stereo separation is more intrusive than the lack of it.

I dont like the mono. It's presumably years of being weaned on stereo, but mono just sounds very small and flat to me. I just back-to-backed Pepper and preferred the stereo (admittedly this was on headphones and I'll try on speakers later).

Veg Grrrl, I think the remastered stereo Beatles For Sale sounds awesome and I prefer it to the mono in my trials so far. Same with Hard Day's Night. Help! I'm still on the fence about, stereo-v-mono-wise.

The only mono one I might prefer is Rubber Soul.

I just clued in on one thing:

The Yellow Sub mono: Most of the tracks are available on other albums, the "Mono Masters" has the leftover/new tracks on it.

So, I guess you could make your own.

It's all clear as mud, really, isn't it. Haha.

I think White Album will definitely be my next purchase. I was listening to the 87 cd in the car this morning and just imagining how much better it's going to sound with the remaster, given how great Abbey sounds.

Husband is oddly trying to dissuade me from buying the earlier albums in stereo, so maybe he's gonna front for that Mono box after all. Stay tuned at Christmastime! Lol.

So at this point we could call this whole board "I Love Beatles"

All Beatles All The Time

(a Mono box) is All You Need.

You Never Give Me Your (Mono Boxes)

Has Rubber Soul always been such a bitter fucking record? I love it.

That's what all the would-be Beatle imitators and power poppers miss and get totally wrong. The Beatles were always more than cheery 'Love Me Do's' and mop topped "Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs." There is a lot of paranoia, bitterness, and dark shadows to the music. I've been listening a lot to Magical Mystery Tour; especially 'I Am the Walrus'. The ending sounds like Cabaret Voltaire in acid freak-out, meltdown mode, or take 'She Said, She Said,' with its schizoid lyrics and swirling, disoriented nearly post-punk sounding guitar twists and turns. Late Beatles could be a downright scary. Maybe it was the mop topped myths of the sixties that kept people from seeing it, but when I listen to them now I'm continually struck by how dark the music and lyrics could be.

I shouldn't have said all the Beatles imitators, Big Star got it.

especially 'I Am the Walrus'. The ending sounds like Cabaret Voltaire in acid freak-out, meltdown mode, or take 'She Said, She Said,' with its schizoid lyrics and swirling, disoriented nearly post-punk sounding guitar twists and turns.

well, you know. sounds *a lot better* than shitty post-punk records tbqh.

The Beatles were always more than cheery 'Love Me Do's' and mop topped "Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs." There is a lot of paranoia, bitterness, and dark shadows to the music.

Sometimes, yes, but I would say the former is what they do better.

Plus some of their followers have managed to copy the paranoia/melancholy to a full extent too. Crowded House, for instance....

Well, I don't know if copying's the right word. Beatles didn't exactly corner the market on depression. CH had a couple of nervous breakdowns and a manic/depressive drummer in the mix, paranoia & melancholy are bound to rear their heads sooner or later. But they certainly had a lot of Beatley qualities, I'll grant you that much.

One thing that puzzles me when listening to "Beatles For Sale" is how it sounds like the reverb on the "No Reply" vocal is occasionally falling out, and then coming back again. I am pretty sure it wasn't like that on the older copies I have been familiar with. Is this a mistake in the current remasters, or just details that haven't been possible to hear on previous versions?

anyone?

Mano-a-mono, dude.

Well, I am speaking of the stereo version obv ;)

Lengthy BBC Radio piece here with George Martin and all kinds of discussion concerning the remasters and the technology behind them: http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=297

Just checked online, local library has the Lewisohn 'Beatles Recording sessions' book on the shelf. YOINK!

I may need a 12 step program if this keeps up.

Thanks for the BBC George Martin link. Really good show!