With The Beatles Part 1

After listening to pretty much all of the re-mastered music (I have yet to listen to Yellow Submarine) I have come to the realization that they may have made some mistakes. Unfortunately, they may have had no choice. You see The Fab Four in all of their wisdom made sure that their songs could not be changed in the future. That meant that after the original mix was made, no one was permitted to change it. So while these re-mastered versions have corrected problems and brought out sounds that were not discernable in the original masters, they could not make changes to the mix, so my big problem with the vocals coming only out of one side in many of the stereo songs could not be changed.

Here lies the mistake. With two of the Beatles not with us anymore, and the music being firmly in control of EMI, would it not have been better for EMI to take a leap and say “let’s make these a tad better than they were. Sir George Martin was a genius, but we have more technology at our fingertips, and had Sir George had this technology, surely the songs would have turned out different. Let’s make these songs really sound like they were recorded today.” This could have been done by taking the original separate tracks and re-mixing them at the same time they digitally re-mastered them. But, alas, this did not happen. So although the music sounds far superior to what we have heard in the past, we are left with the same mixes which sometimes could have been done better.

One other thing to note is that I am reviewing all of this music using an iPod. The iPod is a great music machine and can play the digital music almost as good as anything, but it will never be close to what you can get from listening through a high quality stereo system. So when a stereo mix song has all the vocals out of one side, when listening through headphones, it just sounds weird sometimes. However, it I were to listen through a high quality system (like in my Father-In-Law’s basement!) and positioned myself in the listening sweet spot (the right distance from the speakers and equidistant between them) I might have a different story to tell. Since most people today, especially people in my generation or younger, are listening through iPods or other MP3 players, I have chosen to use that as my playback device for these reviews. Perhaps they could have made a separate iPod version!

Anyway, here is my thought on the first half of With the Beatles.

It Won’t Be Long – Mostly I think the Mono is better here with the vocals in the center, but the wonderful base throughout is much cleaner on the stereo. I will have to call it almost a tie, with the mono version just a bit better than the stereo.

All I’ve Got To Do – Stereo wins, despite the vocals only on the right, they are so much cleaner in the stereo version that I find it superior.

All My Loving – Tie again. The crispness of the stereo makes it equal to the mono.

Don’t Bother Me – Mono wins. I find the vocals to low from the right only and that is very distracting.

Little Child – Tie. The mono again is better for the single channel mix but the harmonica is so much cleaner on the stereo that I find them equal.

Till There Was You – Mono wins here because of the mix, but in the stereo mix you can hear the instruments a bit better. This almost makes the stereo even. The song is most Paul’s beautiful voice and I find it better from the center.

Please Mr. Postman – Again it is the mono that is superior, but like most of the songs on this album, the music is a tiny bit better on the stereo making it almost as good.

Here are the two versions of It Won’t Be Long. You be the Judge!

Enjoy!

Mono
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8HQM211RZ4]

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