The Beatles are fucking good.

[Replies From View]

The wonky chicken edit aside (that really is a clunker in the mono). I prefer the mono - it 'rocks' a bit more

'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' is particularly good and psychelelic in the mono (as is 'Strawberry Fields' on MMT, though 'Penny Lane' is better in stereo, oddly)

Can you pinpoint what makes Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds sound more psychedelic?  Did they bring certain instruments and effects more to the surface to achieve this?  And what makes the mono version "rock" more?

[biggytitbo]

She's leaving Home is Paul trying too hard to do another poignant narrative song after the acclaim he got for Eleanor Rugby, but it just comes across as contrived and forced. And the twee, syrupy harps don't do it any favours either.

Biker Like an Icon is better a better story song.

[Subtle Mocking]

Does anyone here find the mono version better, out of interest?  I got hold of a bootleg of it in the late 90s and was really keen to prefer it, but in the end the differences seemed to come down to the speed difference of She's Leaving Home, a bit more spluttering applause and laughter in the Sgt. Pepper opener, and the segue with the cockerel and guitar lick that I've just mentioned.  These minor distinctions aside, what else do you spot?

For She's Leaving Home at least, I prefer the pitch of the mono version, but the recent mono re-masters are still very muddy, which is something that can never really be solved but will always give the stereo a clear advantage. I'd love to have a stereo version of the mono edit, if that makes sense.

In terms of Peppers on the whole, as much as everyone should hear the original mono edit in their lifetime, the stereo version really does give justice to the instrumentation and production of the album. There's nothing quite like the ending of ADITL in stereo.

[Replies From View]

She's leaving Home is Paul trying too hard to do another poignant narrative song after the acclaim he got for Eleanor Rugby, but it just comes across as contrived and forced. And the twee, syrupy harps don't do it any favours either.

What a bizarrely wrong man you are.


Comparing the stereo and mono versions of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds now.  I can see daf's point.  Amongst other things the effect of the Leslie Revolving Speaker on Lennon's voice is much more pronounced in the mono.

[Replies From View]

I'd love to have a stereo version of the mono edit, if that makes sense.

It does.  Basically I'd like to have new mixes of the complete Beatles catalogue, rather than "remasters" of earlier mixes that there's little artistic merit in adhering to.  It's ridiculous that the stereo 2009 remasters of the 1965 albums use crappy 1987 digital transfers of the recordings because those "original" CD mixes are considered important.  Go back to the mono versions for the feel of everything and make high quality stereo mixes from scratch, you fuckers!

[Beep Cleep Chimney]

I think 'Getting Better' is probably my favourite song on Sgt Pepper. 

I like it because it's probably the one song on the album that doesn't have as much "bells and whistles" production on it.  It's got a very Revolver-y sound to it.

Anyone on here listen much to the remixed Yellow Submarine SongTRACK album from 1999?  For those (including myself) who aren't keen on the original rotten stereo version of All You Need Is Love, with its irritating hard-panning, the remixed version of it on Songtrack is so, so much more pleasant to listen to.

Like others on here, I really hoped they'd reMIX all of the albums when the re-released them in 2009 rather than just re-mastering them.  I'm not sure who was involved in overseeing the remixes of the tracks on Yellow Submarine Songtrack in 1999, but they did a great job. 

Sure I remember someone on here in a different Beatles thread quoting Giles Martin saying that his Dad had no recollection of even re-mixing the 1987 versions for the CD releases anyway, so it's obviously not him being precious using those versions himself.

[madhair60]

She's leaving Home is Paul trying too hard to do another poignant narrative song after the acclaim he got for Eleanor Rugby, but it just comes across as contrived and forced. And the twee, syrupy harps don't do it any favours either.

Fuck you, and fuck anything and everything you ever say or do.

[Replies From View]

Still Not George is a bearer of timeless wisdom.

Sure I remember someone on here in a different Beatles thread quoting Giles Martin saying that his Dad had no recollection of even re-mixing the 1987 versions for the CD releases anyway, so it's obviously not him being precious using those versions himself.

True that.

[wosl]

Anyone on here listen much to the remixed Yellow Submarine SongTRACK album from 1999?  For those (including myself) who aren't keen on the original rotten stereo version of All You Need Is Love, with its irritating hard-panning, the remixed version of it on Songtrack is so, so much more pleasant to listen to.

Yeah, I like the sound of it a lot.  George's two songs benefit especially, I think.  The shimmery sound-collage stuff towards the end of Only A Northern Song sounds great.

[Replies From View]

The clapping in It's All Too Much is like the synchronised chewing of a thousand cows.

[daf]

Can you pinpoint what makes Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds sound more psychedelic?

Its slightly slowed down compared to Stereo, plus more woozy flanging on the chorus.

And what makes the mono version "rock" more?

Drums in the centre, basically.

I recall Bill Drummond saying he was disappointed hearing 'Strawberry Fields Forever' when it came out on CD in 1987, as it didn't sound like what he remembered in his head.
He put this down to the 'memory cheating', or CD being not as good as vinyl[nb]I forget which[/nb], but I suspect he was actually remembering listening to the mono version - and the CD had the stereo version, of course (which was mixed to stereo in 1971 by Eddie Kramer!)[nb]While the edit point on the stereo sticks out like a purple tumescent clarinet, it's pretty seamless on the mono.[/nb]

[weirdbeard]

It does.  Basically I'd like to have new mixes of the complete Beatles catalogue, rather than "remasters" of earlier mixes that there's little artistic merit in adhering to.  It's ridiculous that the stereo 2009 remasters of the 1965 albums use crappy 1987 digital transfers of the recordings because those "original" CD mixes are considered important.  Go back to the mono versions for the feel of everything and make high quality stereo mixes from scratch, you fuckers!

Spot on.  The last batch of re-releases were a totally wasted chance IMO.  Some of the songs badly need remixing in stereo - speaking as someone who does all their music listening on headphones, some of the mixing is just awful to listen to, but perfectly acceptable by half-arsed mid-60s standards.  I Am The Walrus for example - it's stereo mix is terrible, and I only ever listen to the more recent mixes made for the Anthology DVD or the new Magical Mystery Tour DVD.  It's well known that up until the White Album that the Beatles themselves didn't give much attention to the stereo mixes, and were only thrown together by George Martin and others in relatively quick time.  For that reason they shouldn't have any hesitation about going back to the multitracks and starting again, but working to the monos as a guide.

As for a stereo version of the mono Sgt. Peppers - http://www.bootlegzone.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=29974

This is the entire album, remixed from various sources (mostly Rockband). This comes to you from someone who feels that the mono mix is a masterpiece, which could never be perfectly duplicated, but who has made a humble attempt at replicating most of the elements of the mono mix in stereo. Here is what was done:

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - from YSST, intro from Mono Remaster (added reverb), end guitar part from Rockband Multitracks
With a Little Help from My Friends - from YSST, lead guitar parts from Rockband Multitracks (added phasing)
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds - from YSST (added phasing on center channel)
Getting Better - From Rockband (stereo widened), end from Stereo Remaster (stereo narrowed)
Fixing a Hole - From Rockband Multitracks (Rhythm track eq'd and reverb added to bring up Harpsichord and give stereo presence), last couple of seconds from Mono Remaster (made stereo by spectrally subtracting guitars and backing vocals from their respective channels)
She's Leaving Home - from Rockband (sped up 1 semitone)
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! - from Rockband Multitracks (drum rolls brought to same levels as Mono version, stereo ADT added to vocals, middle tape loops re-sync'd and brought up in level, reverb added to last vocal line, vocal levels adjusted throughout, end note decayed faster)
Within You Without You - from Rockband Multitracks, end laughs re-positioned from Rockband Multitracks and lengthened with Mono Remaster (isolated by spectrally subtracting instruments)
When I'm Sixty-Four - from YSST
Lovely Rita - from Rockband, end bass note from Mono Remaster (isolated and low-pass filtered)
Good Morning Good Morning - from Rockband, intro from Stereo Remaster (slowed down to match mono), outro animal sounds from Rockband Multitracks (variable panning), end chicken clucks from Mono Remaster (isolated by spectrally subtracting all other elements)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise) - from Rockband Multitracks (early cheers from cheers that occur later, cheers placed throughout, maracas and end vocal variably raised in level), intro from Mono Remaster
A Day in the Life - from Rockband Multitracks (vocal stereo narrowed, instruments after middle un-repositioned), intro overlapped with previous track
runout groove - from Mono Remaster (made stereo with looped variable panning)

All edit pieces EQ matched. All tracks level and bass EQ matched. All processing done in 32bit, final mix dithered using .5 bits 44.1kHz noise shaping down to 16bit and re-sampled to 44.1kHz where applicable. Flac'd and uploaded with love.

Additional tweaks:
With a Little Help from My Friends: added more crowd noise to beginning, removed stray noise at end
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds: 2% slower, amplified intro, echo chamber on all "ahhhhhhh"s except last, severe flange on last "ahhhhhhh", faded sooner
Getting Better: raised level of outro
Fixing a Hole: completely reworked. intro gain changed, backing track mono and re-eq'd, guitar part gain changes throughout, stereo verb on vocals, backing vocals lowered, fadeout matched to mono version, added same ending as before, bass reduced
She's Leaving Home: amplified intro, more reverb on vox
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!: replaced left channel of middle "waltz" with mono remaster spectrally subtracted with right channel
When I'm Sixty-Four: now from Rockband, bass reduced
Lovely Rita: lowered intro "ahhhh"s, increased piano part after "where would I be without you", last piano chord and bass note pasted to left channel from mono remaster, last base note isolated from mono remaster and pasted to right channel
Good Morning Good Morning: lowered guitar near end of solo, added just phasing of very last guitar solo piece from mono remaster
A Day in the Life: increased volume of intro

I won't copy the direct download link over for obvious reasons.

[SteveDave]

For some reason I've been singing "Juicy inner thighs & jam-rags" to the tune of the chorus of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" for the last 10 minutes.

[Replies From View]

"For some reason"!  As if it wasn't very well known as a surefire way to bring home the ladies!

[biggytitbo]

She's Leaving Home is precisely the kind of song if he'd done it in the 80's people would think it was total shit.

Biker Like an Icon is a better song, anyone who doesn't acknowledged this deserves to have Mungo and/or Mongo set on them -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=run-Wgb--PQ

(Great video too)

[Replies From View]

She's Leaving Home is precisely the kind of song if he'd done it in the 80's people would think it was total shit.

That's probably because the production would be quite different.  I don't think people are being absurdly blinkered about this.

[wosl]

She's Leaving Home is precisely the kind of song he couldn't do in the 80's, because the person who McCartney bounced thematic/musical ideas off best, was no longer in a position to collaborate.  She's Leaving Home is McCartney constructively constrained by Lennon; the latter's chorus keeps McCartney's whimsy in check.  The strings are a bit fondant pink, but then George Martin was elbowed out for this one. 

[biggytitbo]

She's Leaving Home is precisely the kind of song he couldn't do in the 80's, because the person who McCartney bounced thematic/musical ideas off best, was no longer in a position to collaborate.  She's Leaving Home is McCartney constructively constrained by Lennon; the latter's chorus keeps McCartney's whimsy in check.  The strings are a bit fondant pink, but then George Martin was elbowed out for this one.

I don't think that's actually as true as is often made out. I mean, Lennon's lyrics got pretty shit aswell in the 70s -

If we could make chains with the morning dew
The world would be like Galway Bay
Let's walk over rainbows like leprechauns
The world would be one big Blarney stone

plus solo Macca managed perfectly well to write lyrics that surpass 'She's Leaving Home' at the very least...

Every Day She Takes A Morning Bath To Wet Her Hair,
Wraps A Towel 'round Her
As She's Heading For The Bedroom Chair,
It's Just Another Day.
Slipping Into Stockings,
Stepping Into Shoes,
Dipping In The Pocket Of Her Raincoat.

...with the advantage that it also doesn't have a hideously mawkish harp arrangement on it.

[Replies From View]

But talking about post-Beatles Lennon says nothing about how he worked with McCartney in the Beatles.

What's the problem with the lyrics of 'She's Leaving Home' anyway?  It's about two parents seeing themselves shift into their later years because their child has grown up.  An extraordinarily mature thing for a man in his 20s to write, and a beautiful song to boot.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The version of I've Got A Feeling on Anthology 3 doesn't sound remotely like a band who hate each other. It sounds like they're having a brilliant time.

[biggytitbo]

I haven't got much against them, I just said it felt a bit contrived - like 6th form English homework. A sort of forced attempt to be insightful rather than the natural storytelling of 'Elenor Rigby'. The awful arrangement is its worst crime though.

[wosl]

Another Day has fine lyrics, no question.  Macca had more facility with words than John.  Eleanor Rigby, killer: "Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave; no one was saved."  That's some Philip Larkin style bleak concision right there!  And he was, what, when he came up with that?  Twenty-three/four?

[Replies From View]

The awful arrangement is its worst crime though.

George Martin calls it "the one that got away".  I don't know whether he's completely ignoring the 'Let it Be' album when he says that.

You're wrong about the song, though.

[biggytitbo]

Another Day has fine lyrics, no question.  Macca had more facility with words than John.

Yes, John was better at directness, but Macca was particularly good at deceptivly banal lyrics that are actually witty, punny and full of nice wordplay. And of course when it came to surreal, cyrptic, heavily metaphorical stuff he had it nailed:

People gathered here tonight,
I want you to listen to me!
To your left and to you right,
You've got some pretty soily company.

Reader, writer, farmer, priest,
Breed controler, born deceased.
Indian, lawyer, doctor, dog,
And a plumber with a fattened hog.

Soily, soily,
The cat in satin trousers said it's oily.
Soily, soily,
The cat in satin trousers said it's oily,
you know he's right.

Romans, Italians, country men,
I want you to listen to me!
I've said it twice and I'll say it again,
We've got some pretty soily company.

Liar, cheater, jungle chief,
Saint, believer on relief.
Action painter, Hitler's son,
And a commie with a tommy gun.

What can it all mean?

[Replies From View]

I like the way that "Indian" creeps into the professions, followed soon enough by "dog".

[biggytitbo]

I think we need Tal to decode it for us.

[Replies From View]

And who could ever forget

Banjos banjos all the time
I can't forget that tune
And if I ever hear another banjo
I'm jumpin outta my big balloon

Yes if I ever hear another banjo
I'm jumpin outta my big balloon

Oh if I ever hear another banjo
I'm jumpin outta my big balloon

[Beagle 2]

She's leaving Home is Paul trying too hard to do another poignant narrative song after the acclaim he got for Eleanor Rugby, but it just comes across as contrived and forced. And the twee, syrupy harps don't do it any favours either.

Biker Like an Icon is better a better story song.

No to Biker Like an Icon, but I entirely agree with you on the first one, never been a huge fan. Funny you should compare it with Just Another Day, those two were my mum's favourite Macca songs (she loved that downtrodden woman vibe), but Just Another Day is far superior in my view.

[grassbath]

The version of I've Got A Feeling on Anthology 3 doesn't sound remotely like a band who hate each other. It sounds like they're having a brilliant time.

ON YER WHAT?

[Replies From View]

ON YER WHAT?

ON MY FUCKING TOES.

This and the "cocked it up trying to get loud" ending are for me what the orchestra and choir on 'Long and Winding Road' are for others.  I feel their absence on all other versions - the track feels incomplete without them, and I've bothered to mix them into the Let it Be Naked version before.