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

I need this for all the Beatles albums. "Love" was a tease, more mashup require-o!

Gosh that Lewisohn book, easily the best Beatles book

Did they turn up the volume of the bass on these remasters? Sometimes it seems too loud.

Yeah the bass may be a small tad loud, but it was really loud the first time I heard it on my laptop and once I switched off 'sound enhancer' or whatever it fixed the problem. Try that!

A friend of my mom's recently let me pick out any of her records I wanted. It was mostly classic rock that you find it most record stores, but she was an avid beatles fan. Mostly I took the beatles and solo beatles records. I found all of John and Yoko's records, and an George Harrison album I've never seen before. It's Called Wonderwall Music. It's mostly "eastern influenced. I can't tell yet if I like it or not. I never see any mention of it any where either. I'm not even sure if the beatles were broken up when he recorded it. Also she had Paul McCartney's first two solo albums, which I'm really loving. The second one has odd electronics on it, really unexpected electronics. Maybe with this current thread in reissuing beatles music, these will be reissued as well. I found a lot of mono beatles records too. Do these still fetch outlandish prices on ebay?

Jacob, it really depends on the condition of the records. Have a look here: http://www.musicpriceguide.com/index.php?ft=1&artist=beatles+mono&ordby=datacheck&ordby=price&ordad=DESC

Jacob, that Wonderwall music album has a lot of Moog on it. Pretty weird and primitive.

Did you end up with a copy of Fly or Feeling the Space by Plastic Ono Band? I'll buy those off you.

Separate question for the ultra-nerds: I've got a copy of Yesterday that needs to be peeled. How do I do it?

Don't - assuming you are talking about the butcher cover, it's worth more unpeeled (as long as you can verify the butcher cover is underneath).

If you are adamant you want to peel it have a look here:

http://www.recmusicbeatles.com/public/files/others/butcher.html

Jacob, that Wonderwall music album has a lot of Moog on it. Pretty weird and primitive.

hey nate i think you are thinking of Electronic Sound by harrison.

http://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Sound-George-Harrison/dp/B0000070RC

wonderwall might have a little synth on it but it's mostly split between traditional indian music and sort of quirky, odd instrumental sketches that sound sort of like movie soundtrack stuff, a little in the same vibe of mark mothersbaugh's stuff in rushmore or something like that

wonderwall is a great record though

Holy crap, that 'peeling a butcher cover' link is pretty O_o

saliva?

Maybe I am not yet ready for the world of uber nerd-dom.

SALIVA?

lol yeah. jesus christ. i think that guy forgot the final step: "Cry Self To Sleep."

Between the saliva instructions, the intermittent SHOUTING, and signing off 'with love from me to you'...I think I have a pretty clear picture of this dude. And I would like to immediately erase it with a strong solvent.

I'm going to stay in the remaster kiddie pool. I don't think I'm ready for THAT.

The "Wonderwall" soundtrack is WONDERFUL. I absolutely love it. Recorded by George after MMT, I believe it was the first ever solo Beatles release.

Even better is "In the First Place", a track recorded for it by Liverpool friends The Remo Four and produced by George Harrison (and sung?) but unreleased until 2005 or whenever they issued the movie on DVD. Check out this song, it sounds just like Circulatory System:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyRIG-ZXt2U

Apologies if I have already posted this video on this thread (I may have). I just really really like this song.

Just listening to a New York Times podcast about the White Album remaster with Nik Cohn and Ben Ratliff, the latter who claims that there is a "consensus" that the White Album remaster is the "one to get" because it yields the most new sounds to hear, etc...is this how you all feel? i was actually the most "meh" about the white album (stereo) remaster, thought it didn't sound so different. anyone think the same, or agree?

i meant or agree that it is the most revelatory of the remasters, etc...(thks)

Am picking up the White Album remaster tomorrow (new month, new remaster, yay)...we shall see. Been listening a lot to the 87 cd, so I'm hoping for some wow moments.

anthologies are great but yeah, you will eventually wind up downloading the unsurpassed masters or comparable boots. when I finally got ahold of all of those, I sat up all night listening to them, it was like a whole universe had been opened up. it's still pretty weird that those are out there.

the best thing though is that revolution mix that leaked this year.

I think a lot of people have been the least thrilled with the white album remaster, from my experience. unless they mean the mono version.

No matter what instrument he's playing, or who wrote the song he's playing it on, McCartney's got to try and show off his chops hasn't he? Taxman, Dear Prudence, Good Morning Good Morning, every bassline after 1964. He's a fucking enormous show-off. If he wasn't, The Beatles would have been shite.

I really liked him a hel of a lot more after reading the authorised biog "Many Years from Now', which is practically 90% Paul speaking verbatim. It brings out how he approached songs as an interesting challenge/experiment to make it more interesting for himself. I think he'd be much more liked if more people read that book.

Is there going to be a poll on which is the best remaster? (Or have I missed it?)

I think the stereo white album is awesome.

I think because of the 'facsimile' version from a few years ago, people are probably "white out".

(Was that a remaster?)

I'll have to give that one a listen...

Yeah, stereo White Album
is up there with Abbey Road as one of the best.

I think the biggest improvement for me is MMT.

yeah, "white album" and "abbey road" sound great. I also got "revolver", which is also quite improved, and "rubber soul". Somehow, for that one, I end up liking it less than I remembered. Nothing to do with the sound, which doesn't blast me as much as the others still, but I just realized I like less songs than I thought.

Now I'm hesitating between "pepper", "MMT" and "past masters" : is "pepper" improved much ? I have listened to the mono remaster version and frankly, I don't see the point compared to the stereo, soundwise...

oups, ok, I might get "MMT", then !

and I mean, I don't see the point in mono remaster versions comparend to stereo version, in general, not just on "pepper" which stereo remaster I haven't heard yet... I'm confused this morning !

Past masters is MASSIVELY IMPROVED and disc 2 is my most listened f all of these remasters.

hum... so I'm hesitating again... "pepper" is not THAT improved then ?

I'm beginning to suspect these remasters were done by Paul's mum.

They're all improved, is the simple answer; buy whichever ones have your favourite songs on.

damn. that's all of them.

xpost

yeah, I suppose that's the best answer...
I will go to the store during lunch break and let the feeling guide me.

Blimey, The Feeling! I'd forgotten all about them!

They must've got that job in HMV of asking you if you've found everything you were looking for. Good on them.

xpost - hey nate i think you are thinking of Electronic Sound by harrison.

Doh! You're right, thanks.

xxpost - Thanks for the peeling info Guilty. It's a very clean copy that I'm 99% certain has a butcher cover underneath. But if it's really worth more unpeeled... that could save me some saliva.

i'm confused, what needs peeling from these albums?

the White Album (stereo) sounds awesome and, excepting the mono Pepper's, is my fave of all these remasters--heck, the bird sounds on "Blackbird" alone are worth the price of the new edition.

Nick?

xp

Nothing needs peeling from the remasters; the peeling is ONLY on LP copies of the Yesterday & Today US album, where the butchers' dolls cover has been stuck over with the safe cover.

Is there going to be a poll on which is the best remaster? (Or have I missed it?)

Yes, but it didn't get any love. Boo hoo.

so I went with MMT today (hesitated a lot between "MMT" and "pepper" but since I haven't heard MMT for a long time, thought it would be more exciting... of course, I guess I'll get "pepper" next week or something).
about the monos, I think it's been discussed a lot already but I find the sound so tiny and smothered compared to the amazement that are the stereo remasters.
also, about stereo remaster : it's funny how they differ from the tracks on "love". like, even though "USSR" has been improved a lot on the "white album", it's nowhere near the power on the "love" version.

is "pepper" improved much ? I have listened to the mono remaster version and frankly, I don't see the point compared to the stereo, soundwise...

― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, October 2, 2009 9:32 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

For me, the Pepper mono was the most improved--I actually like it now as it sounds less harsh and grating--but I suppose I could have had that experience by tracking down a mono LP...the stereo remaster of the white album seems almost indistinguishable from the 1987 cd, but maybe I wasn't listening closely enough. Abbey Road in remastered stereo on the other hand was mindblowingly different sounding to me

there's one track that I feel doesn't change much with the remasters on the "white album" : "happiness is a warm gun". of course the sound is better but it's not GREAT.
one of the songs I like much more since I have the remaster is "birthday". I'd always thought it was useless but now it makes sense in a raw-powerful-fun way.
"pepper" in mono : I was very interested after reading here that it was the version they had originally worked the most on but I wasn't impressed. I guess, as someone said elsewhere, I'm too used to stereo to enjoy it.

is there a definitive article anywhere on this mono/stereo business?

i've read somewhere that ALL were mixed primarily for stereo. i doubt that, but SPLHCB is certainly better in stereo.

is there a definitive article anywhere on this mono/stereo business?

i've read somewhere that ALL were mixed primarily for stereo. i doubt that, but SPLHCB is certainly better in stereo.

― history mayne, Friday, October 2, 2009 1:46 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

No, that's backwards, some engineer made a big deal about saying how the Beatles spent weeks on the mono mixes and weren't even really around for the stereo mixes which were for the American market. I had the exact opposite feeling about Sgt Pepper, that it finally sounded good in mono....horses for courses!

don't trust the sound of wack mp3s, re: mono.

nah i got good flacs. geir is right that mono is inferior. in an ideal world the stereo versions would not have been quote so extreme in their separation, but tbh the stereo versions in most cases are better.