the beatles in mono: first impressions
It's a miracle I didn't call in sick today, 09.09.09. By noon the faithful brown box was sitting on my doorstep.
Help!, so to speak. Weigh in and tell me if you've heard the mono box set, and what your first impressions are. My listening has been totally random. I've listened to Help! (mono set), Hard Day's Night, Sgt. Pepper's, and Disc 1 of Mono Masters.
Unless you've got a stupidly high end gramophone player and a collection of pristine LPs (for the stuff that was ever on LP vinyl) - have they ever sounded this good? Certainly in 20 plus years since these came out on CD the first time, technical advances alone, make them sound way better, but I like the unobtrusive hand with which Abbey Road have polished these up. To my ear they're not only clean as a whistle but the dynamic range seems huge and there is infinitesimal tweaking that you seldom notice. A little lift in the bass here, guitar there. I haven't done an A/B comparison yet, which will be the true test.
I can't list everything that's struck me in the last couple of hours (mostly positive), but if you've snagged a copy of these, check out the woodwinds at the beginning of "When I'm Sixty-Four", all the percussion in the reprise of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (Strewth! - Chad Smith and Alan White etc. owe Ringo a debt of gratitude). The Mono Masters is mostly stuff I haven't really heard unless it was on the radio or from a jukebox, so things like the depth of the sound at the opening of "Love Me Do" (single version), left their mark.
Packaging is cute too. I have to laugh at the irony of reducing the original album art to the size of a CD. Anyone old enough to remember this stuff, first time around needs a lot of help reading the original notes!
What is the verdict? Thumbs up or down?
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batterie ordinateur portable on September 15, 2009 at 03:50 AM
I just can’t believe that there are some people out there this day and age, that aren’t that impressed with The Beatles!!! They covered so much musical territory it is unimaginable. To this very day when I play or hear a Beatles song on the radio, I have to sing along or start to do my best “Air Guitar”!!! I am so glad that I have been around in this lifetime to have heard and enjoyed the Beatles, and not lived before and not have heard their music. You would think that after all these years of being a Beatles junky, that I would tire of it…. NO FREAKIN’ WAY!!!!! I get more into them with each passing year!!!
herbs on September 14, 2009 at 04:08 AM
This weekend I have purchased Help!, Hard Day's Night, Sgt. Pepper's, and Disc 1 of Mono Masters but I am not satisfied with its music.
ladegerat on September 10, 2009 at 11:45 PM
I'm actually surprised that people are still missing this. The Mono mix is different than the Stereo mix. That means different guitar levels, backing vocals, main vocals, etc.
Farnham on September 10, 2009 at 05:50 PM
Got Rubber Soul, Revolver and Sgt. P coming from AMZ, and looking forward to slapping on the Plantronics SP500's and rejuving these tired old ears... ;-)