The Long and Winding Road

Magical Mystery Tour is the only album in the Beatles Canon that is from the original US release. MMT was originally a 1 hour British TV movie that was a total flop. The music was released in the UK as a double extended play single. This was four records containing the six songs from the TV movie. The US version had those six plus five songs that were released as the B side of the recent singles.

The album is a continuation of the Beatles experimental stage (perhaps bringing this stage to an end). Penny Lane and All You Need Is Love bring in full orchestras and Strawberry Fields continues the psychedelic music from the past few albums.

By now they have learned how to mix in both stereo and mono and as such the mixes are almost equal. Some songs are better in one or the other but there are a number that are good in both formats. Only the next album, The Beatles (aka the White Album) would have two versions. The rest will all be released only in stereo.

Magical Mystery Tour – Stereo. The mono seems very flat.

The Fool On The Hill – Tie. Both mixes sound very similar

Flying – Tie. I would have thought that an instrumental would sound better in stereo, but there is little difference

Blue Jay Way – Stereo Normally I don’t like the vocals out of one side, but in the mix here it seems to work. The backup vocals come in on the left later and the song sounds very full

Your Mother Should Know – Mono. Vocals out of the left in the stereo make it distracting.

I Am The Walrus – Stereo (by far). The psychedelic music is much fuller in stereo.

Here are the two versions of Magical Mystery Tour. You Choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1jNlfFT8vA]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMn09eYgTZs]

Sgt. Pepper’s was recorded over a whopping 129 weeks beginning in December 1966 and ending in April 1967. It spent 23 consecutive weeks at the top of the UK chart and got there again a few times after as well. In 1968 the album won the Grammy award for Album of the Year, the first time a rock album won that award. In 1987 the CD was released in stereo and again released for the 25^th anniversary in 1992.

No matter what you think, this album will forever be seen as one of the most influential.

Within You Without You – Stereo. Psychedelic songs like this work best in stereo.

When I’m Sixty-Four –Mono. Vocals out of the left in stereo!

Lovely Rita – Tie. The stereo may have a bit more depth, but the Mono is just a good.

Good Morning, Good Morning – Tie. The stereo is mostly better, but the intro and when they sing good morning it is all out of the right and does not sound good.

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band Reprise – Stereo. Vocals out of center here.

A Day In The Life – Mono, although the cacophonous pieces are much better in stereo as is the final chord.

Here are both versions of A Day In The Life plus a video clip that was meant to be part of a Sgt. Peppers TV special. You Choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-SC60IvqvE]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j6dy_XZrx-4]

Video
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rco2BATnap4]

Is Sgt. Peppers the greatest rock album ever? I asked that question the other day about Revolver and it can be asked about this album as well. Sgt. Peppers is often ranked at the top of greatest album lists as it was by Rolling Stone Magazine in their 500 greatest album list. It is certainly one of, if not the most influential albums ever as well. Its influence can be seen in any concept album every produced or any album with any theme of any kind. I think Sgt. Pepper’s was the first real concept album, although, in the Beatles did not necessarily see it that way.

By the end of 1966 the band had stopped touring and Paul had come up with this idea that they should make an album that was like a concert to send out to their fans instead of playing live. He wrote and they recorded the opening and the closing and With a Little Help, but after that, John felt none of his work had anything to do with those, and did not see the album as a cohesive whole. Whether do to George Martins excellent producing, or just luck of the draw, the album as put together did come together as a whole, and it has been seen in that light from the moment it hit the record stores.

Like with Revolver, the Beatles used whatever technology they could to try different things. This led to many takes of the each song, with some having 20 or more. The album was recorded over 129 days, by far the longest ever for a Beatles album.

The album also used many more instruments and elaborate arrangements; even orchestras were heard. Essentially the Beatles, being the top group in the world, could do whatever they wanted.

So is Sgt. Pepper’s better than Revolver? I cannot say. I can only say that I love them both.

One final note about the stereo and mono mixes. Now that the Beatles were recording many takes, they would choose the best takes and use them for the mono mix which they still considered a better format. When it came time to do the stereo, it would often be up to George Martin, without the band. So he could choose different takes or even combine more than one. So sometimes the mono will be from one take, and the stereo from another. This can be seen clearly in the song She’s Leaving Home.

Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band – Mono. The stereo mix has the lead vocal out of the right (back to that arrangement) and the backup out of the left, except they are rarely together in this song.

With A Little Help From My Friends – Stereo. This mix is beautiful. The re-master shows the depth and everything is perfectly balanced.

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – Stereo. Again wonderful depth and the vocals in the center make this much better than the mono.

Getting Better – Stereo. Vocals in the middle make this a winner.

Fixing a Hole – Mono edges out the stereo a bit. There is a bit too much reverb in the stereo .

She’s Leaving Home – Mono by far. The mix is a bit faster and clearer.

Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite – Mono. Stereo has vocals out of the right which I don’t like.

Here are both versions of She’s Leaving Home. I never liked the stereo version which was all I had to listen to in the past. I like it more with the mono, but you choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_rjVQJYY2A]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQNAGAbi3G0]

This posting is again being written on Friday for posting after Shabbat. Due to the lack of time, it is short.

The Beatles spent more time in the studio recording Revolver than they did on any of the previous albums. Although released only 8 months after the previous album, Rubber Soul, they spent a whopping 11 weeks in sessions, sometimes spending two or even three days on a sing song. This gave the Fab Four the opportunity to experiment with different ways of doing the same song. Recording began on April 6^th 1966 and ended on June 21^st.

The album was released on August 5^th in both the UK and the US in both Stereo and Mono. For the last time in a Beatles album, the US version was different in that three songs were left out as they had been included in the compilation album entitled Yesterday and Today. The 1987 CD release was the stereo mix and in the US the album was released on CD and LP using the original UK track listing.

Good Day Sunshine – Stereo. Great stereo mix

And Your Bird Can Sing – Stereo. Everything is clearer and crisper.

For No One – I’m calling it a tie. The mono mix is perhaps better, but the sound is so perfect in the stereo. The Clavichord is only out of the right, but when the horn is coming from the left the mix is very pleasant.

Doctor Robert – Stereo. The great rock sound from the guitars are out of both sides with the vocals in the center. Edges out the mono because of the cleaner sound.

I Want To Tell You – Mono. The intro in the stereo is awkward with nothing out of the right.

Got To Get You Into My Life – Stereo . The brass sounds much better in the stereo and comes out of the right with the guitars, bass and drums out of the left. Great mix.

Tomorrow Never Knows – Stereo by far. This song needs the stereo mix due to its major experimentation with different sounds and techniques.

Both versions of Got To Get You Into My Life. You choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3xLSJbFiEk]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5pXfVz4sog]

Is Revolver the greatest rock album every recorded? This is a question that will be asked and answered for many years still. At this point the Beatles were basically done with touring and catering to the fans. They would spend more time in the studio then every before and try many new techniques and styles in order to make the music they wanted to make. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album as the 3^rd greatest album of all time (behind Sgt. Peppers at no. 1 and the Beach Boy’s Pet Sounds at no. 2). The question of which is a better album, Sgt. Peppers or Revolver may hinge only on the fact that Sgt. Peppers seems to work better as a whole unit, where Revolver has better music and much more experimentation.

A major new technique on this album is called automatic double tracking. In the past singers would often sing the song and then sing it a 2^nd time to create a doubled vocal track. John Lennon hated doing this, and when and EMI engineer came up with this technique, they adopted it immediately. It allowed him to sing once and using two linked tape recorders it could automatically make the double track. On the song I’m only sleeping, George played the notes for the lead guitar in reverse order and then they reversed the tape and mixed it in. Finally with Tomorrow Never Knows, they recorded many tape loops of different sounds and added them to the pre-recorded backing track. Also the John’s distant vocals were produced by sending his vocal into a speaker in the room and then recorded from the speaker.

Another important aspect of Revolver is that it is one of the first psychedelic albums. Many of the songs were done in this psychedelic mode, specifically the backwards riffs of I’m Only Sleeping, the sound effects in Yellow Submarine and the sound effects in Tomorrow Never Knows.

Does all of this make the album the best rock album? I cannot say for sure, but without a doubt it is one of the greatest ever and it changed the face of pop/rock music forever.

Taxman – Mono. The vocals are back in the center where they belong, but the music is almost all out of the left, so the right had nothing (except the great psychedelic guitar solo in the middle of the song).

Eleanor Rigby – Mono (by far!). This song is probably the best example of poor stereo mixing. Although the strings sound much better in stereo, Paul’s solo is only out of the right, and in the first verse he comes in a tad too late (as well as the first second of the verse coming out of both speakers and then cutting out of the left). In 1999 a stereo remix was done and this was corrected in stereo. Why did they not do it here!

I’m Only Sleeping – Tie. In fact the two mixes are so similar you can hardly hear a difference.

Love You Too – The mono edges out the stereo slightly here. The Sitar sounds better in the stereo but there is not much coming out of the right side.

Here, There And Everywhere – Mono again. The vocals are in the center in the stereo which is good but the instruments are only in the right and the backup vocals in the left. Sounds awkward in stereo.

Yellow Submarine – Mono. Almost everything is out of the right in the stereo except the drums, incidental sounds, and the brass band.

She Said She Said – Stereo wins. The first really great stereo mix on the album, the vocals are in the center and the music is well balanced between the two sides.

Here are both versions of Eleanor Rigby plus as an added bonus the version from the 1999 remixed Yellow Submarine songtrack. You Choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yePeXWET_t8]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JEXaVDa64g]

Yellow Submarine Songtrack (please note this will start playing so you need to click play and then pause to stop it)
[livevideo id=4258801E1BA640D693349D4C1BCB7716/342091/eleanor-rigby.aspx]

Although the Beatles were still touring by the end of 1965 they were turning their attention to writing and experimentation. The first result of this is Rubber Soul. It was recorded in a few weeks at the end of 1965 to get it released for Christmas. The album makes a change also in that you can hear the influences of Bob Dylan and The Byrds. This is more of a folk-rock album than a rock and roll album.

New instruments were not out of place during these sessions. The Sitar on Norwegian Wood is of course the most famous, but French-like guitar lines and fuzz bass are also heard. The piano in In My Life is made to sound more like a harpsichord. Psychedelic sounds are also heard for example in the song The Word.

One last note about the Stereo mix. Although they were mixing songs with vocals in the center in the stereo, George Martin wanted to find a way to make a stereo album sound good on a mono record player. He went back to the earlier mixes of the vocals out of the right and instruments out of the left, which when played on a mono record player sounds pretty good. This is why the mono mix is as good if not better than the stereo. Mono was still the primary concern of the Beatles and the stereo mixes were given much less time and effort.

Drive My Car – Stereo. The music is much clearer and this is an almost perfect mix.

Norwegian Wood – Stereo. Putting the sitar mainly out of the left with some of its own notes (the long twangy ones) out of the right is almost genius. This may be one of the best mixed songs of the Beatles.

You Won’t See Me – Stereo. The sound is crisp and sounds almost new.

Nowhere Man – Mono. The stereo is fine but I did not like the opening. The vocals are too much out of the right with too much reverb.

Think For Yourself – Tie. I like the stereo mix for the music and the mono for the vocals.

The Word – mono. There is just not enough coming out of the right in the stereo until the spoken part and then it goes back to the left.

Michelle – Stereo. This mix has more depth and sounds fuller.

Here are both versions of Norwegian Wood. You choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGsJzx9E3-g]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWPYTDAJ8sI]

Help! was released in August 1965 in the UK and the US in mono and stereo versions. For the first time a Beatles album was released in both countries with the same name at the same time. The UK version had 7 songs from the movie and 7 other songs (5 original and 2 covers). The US version had the same 7 songs from the movie and instead of the other songs, it had other music from the movie. From here on all the Beatles albums would be released in both countries with the same name, and with the exception of Magical Mystery Tour, with the same track listings.

Like the rest of the Beatles catalog, the album was re-released in 1987 in stereo on CD using the UK track listing. The albums was also reissued in the US as and LP with the UK track listing, making it the first time that the UK version was officially available in the US. The stereo mix was altered by George Martin slightly for these issues. The 2009 re-mastered mono version contains the original mono version as well as the original 1965 stereo version.

One funny note is that the album cover shows the Beatles with arms positioned to spell out a word in flag semaphore. When they spelled out Help it did not look good, so they repositioned the arms to look good. The actual letters ended up being NUJV!

Act Naturally – Stereo again wins. The mix they did here is super.

It’s Only Love – Mono. I just like this mix better, even though the stereo sounds good.

You Like Me To Much – Mono is the winner again. This song is a great throwback to the earliest Beatles and even Herman’s Hermits! It all sounds better in mono.

Tell Me What You See – Tie. I think by this album, they have learned to mix mono very well so there are some excellent mixes.

I’ve Just Seen A Face – Stereo wins, especially the great opening.

Yesterday – Mono wins. I really thought I was going to pick the stereo. But when the strings came in only out of the left I felt distracted.

Dizzy Miss Lizzy – This great rock and roll song is much better in a stereo mix.

Here are both versions of Yesterday (the most covered song in modern musical history). You choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k_9-2xPDcQ]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rk3fq69g2v4]

In 1965 the Beatles released their second movie called Help! The album that went with it contained 7 songs that were featured in the film and 7 that were not. Of the seven that were not in the film, 2 were covers, the final two covers that the Beatles would record. This record was a major milestone for the Fab Four. Instead of focusing on pure rock and roll, or R&B, the each of the Beatles was experimenting with different genres and different ways of writing songs. For me, this album is sort of the bridge from the early Beatles to the middle Beatles (experimental studio recordings). The album contains a standard rock and roll song (You’re Going To Lose That Girl) as well as a country western song (I’ve Just Seen A Face).

They were now very comfortable in the studio and 10 or 20 takes for a song was not uncommon. This allowed them to even take parts from different takes and edit them together to form a single song. The album also contained more solo songs that in the past. For the first time, one song was sung only by one Beatle with no vocals or instruments from the others. Yesterday was just Paul with his guitar and a string quartet as backup. You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away was mainly John and a guitar with backup music from the rest of the band. This would become common in the future of the Beatles music. In the early Beatles, they all sang together, and in the middle and later Beatles, you hear more and more solos.

As they matured in the studio, we hear much better stereo and mono mixes and I have picked favorites in both mono and stereo.

Help! – Stereo is the clear winner. There is much more depth to this mix.

The Night Before – The stereo is so much cleaner that if almost sounds like being in the studio.

You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away – I choose the mono here. The two mixes are very close in sound, but something in the stereo just does not sit right with me.

I Need You – Stereo wins. The guitar is so much better on the stereo. It sounds like they were using a wah wah pedal and it is hard to hear that in the mono.

Another Girl – I will call this a Tie. I like the mono mix but the stereo is very clean.

You’re Going To Lose That Girl – Stereo wins. Sometimes it feels like they wanted to make the stereo mix better than the mono and this song is a good example of this. The mono just sounds flat.

Ticket To Ride – The instruments are so much better on the stereo that there is almost no contest. The vocals are cleaner as well.

Here are both Versions of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away, plus the movie version. You choose!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxl6uxev5R4]

Stereo
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5alNm0hmtE]

Movie
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNMhPQoEbJE]