Beatles Remastered (mono vs stereo)

I'm a few days late BUT, nonetheless....The Beatles catalog has been re-issued and remastered in both Mono and Stereo formats. (oh yeah, and Beatles Rock Band is out too) Pretty amazing, but the question is...which one to get? Well, after some searching and a bit personal listening, I came up with my own opinion as well as some reviews about both sets from: Amazon customers, Bob Lefsetz, the New York Times, and various other forums.

Here is a little sampling of what I have found (most reviews saying the same things)

Bob Lefsetz on the Mono recordings

This is the way you remember them. Not scrubbed clean, but emanating from one speaker in the dash, one speaker underneath the spinning wheel of your all-in-one record player. It’s not about revelation, but basking in the joy of the music itself. These are the CDs you want to buy to listen to while you’re having a party, while you’re cleaning the house. They’re more MUSICAL!

Listening to the stereo CDs is being an archaeologist, digging in deep, studying the nuances that have been revealed by the cleansing of tender-loving brushstrokes, which have revealed all the parts, flaws and all. Listening to the mono CDs is just like being in the sixties, albeit a sprightlier, cleaner version.

Let’s put it this way. When you go to the show do you need to sit up front or a healthy distance back, where the sound blends properly, near the soundboard, where the engineer mixes the sound. If you want to see the performer spit, if you want the adrenaline of proximity to a star, you pay extra to sit in the front row. But if you want the best sound, you’ll be disappointed, the vocal will be unhearable, the balance will be tweaked, you won’t be happy.

Not that you want to sit in the rafters.

We all want a good seat, it’s just a question of your definition.

Ultimately, concerts are about the sound. Fifteen or twenty rows back is usually best.

The mono "Sgt. Pepper" coheres in a way the stereo version does not. You tap your toe as opposed to utilizing your aural bifocals to see the music’s components. A great mechanic wants to raise the hood, see exactly what engine is employed, how it’s tuned. A driver wants to leave the garage, let the wind blow through his hair and have an experience. The mono CDs are a better experience.

But you might be disappointed. If you’re sleuthing, if you want to be blown away, you need the stereo mixes. When you hear Paul McCartney sing "Till There Was You", with his unique accent, singing "at TALL", your jaw will drop. You never dreamed of getting this close. Whereas when you hear the same song in mono, without Paul’s vocal isolated, you won’t get the same effect.

In other words, if you want to sit next to George Martin at the console, DEFINITELY get the stereo CDs. But, if you want to remember what it was like in your bedroom, at parties, driving in the car, you’ll enjoy the mono CDs better.

But that’s not the end of the story.

Actually, the booklet in the mono box set delineates the truth concisely and authoritatively. You see, in the eyes of the Beatles, all the way through the White Album, the mono mixes were the definitive ones. Furthermore, the same tracks were not always mixed, and mixing vagaries ended up in tracks containing different parts, even having different speeds. You’ll notice these differences, especially when pointed out, but on an overall basis, they’re far from dramatic.

The stereo CDs breathe. But it’s kind of like those people in the magazines. Seeing their photos in two dimensions, you imbue them with your own feelings and interpretations, whereas if you met them in real life they might not fit your fantasy whatsoever. The stereo CDs reveal almost more than you need to know. But that’s why most people are going to rush out and buy these remasters, they want to know more. Sure, in time these remasters will become the definitive statement, we’ll be listening to these mixes for years, newbies will only know them. But Beatle fanatics are looking for more than the eighties CDs. You’ll get more with the stereo albums.

Having said that, know that cognoscenti are going to salivate over the mono box. The packaging is staggering. Japanese TLC on steroids.

Yes, each CD comes individually wrapped in plastic, that seals with stickum, so these plastic cases can be retained, keeping your original covers in pristine condition.

And not only are they the original covers, they’re the original inner sleeves! Each CD comes in a plastic bag, of the kind the major labels in America finally went to in the eighties, but also included in the slip cover is the appropriate paper inner sleeve. Telling you to take good care of your "Microgroove Records".

Furthermore, "Sgt. Pepper" contains the jigsaw, fade from red to white inner sleeve, and the cutouts, not printed in a booklet, but on a separate page, just like the original, back in 1967.

And the CDs have replicas of the original Parlophone labels. Yet the White Album has Apple labels (remember how cool it was to slip the record out of its sleeve and see this for the very first time?) Since "Magical Mystery Tour" was an American release, it wears the Capitol logo. And Disc 1 of "Past Masters" uses Parlophone and Disc 2 Apple.

If you’re into collecting, you need the mono box.

Then again, if you’re collecting, you’re probably going to buy both.

So, Lefsetz argues a bit on both mixes but ultimately goes with the Mono. One argument against his reasoning is he keeps talking about, "remember when this" and "it's just like so and so" "back in the day"....what about people who don't know how the originals sound? This mono experience isn't going to make them reminisce about the good old days because they have no reference point for it. Although, he does make note of my argument for the Stereo mixes, which is that they reveal the nuances of the music. Personally, when I'm listening t music I like hearing all that little "extra" stuff going on in the background. Anyway, I'll continue on...

The New York times article (here) also argues mostly for the Mono version. Mentioned in the article is the fact that "The Beatles and their producer, George Martin, considered the mono mixes (to be) definitive". Well, if that's not enough to convince people of buying the Mono set then I don't know what is.

Okay, one more review to go.

A fellow by the name of James N. Perlman, an Amazon customer, listened to both mixes on a audiophile (high quality) system with Quad 988's as the speakers and reviewed each individual remastered album in both Mono and Stereo sound respectively.

Here is what he came up with:

Please Please Me: The sound on the mono is just amazing. You can hear the echo in the room as John sings Anna. The vocals just soar. Ringo was just so good, even at this early stage and so was Paul. They supported and framed the songs so perfectly. And just think, in twenty-one minutes, or so, Twist And Shout! Stereo can't hold a candle to this, if for no other reason than the left/right "stereo" found later in With The Beatles, Rubber Soul and Revolver.


With The Beatles: As with Please Please Me, the mono sounds so, so, nice. As the stereo has that annoying left/right "stereo," no contest: mono hands down.


A Hard Day's Night: Seems better and more enjoyable in stereo. I think the reason is that they now had four tracks so George Martin could do proper stereo mixes and still have a mostly fresh first generationish sound. Remember, there were only two track available for Please Please Me. However, when they got to Rubber Soul and Revolver, four tracks weren't enough, which required, in some instances, numerous dubs of the four tracks to another four track tape, merging the four tracks to one track, thereby opening up three new tracks. While this degraded the sound somewhat it also made it difficult to back-track and do the after-thought stereo mixes, which is why we have the atrocious "stereo" of Rubber Soul and Revolver. Consequently, the reason the monos of these albums rule has mostly to do with technical limitations. While the mixes on A Hard Day's Night are true stereo mixes, they carry George Martin's idiosyncratic, but really right, decision to put the vocals in the center, the rhythm section to the left and the other instruments to the right. I always have loved how Martin took care to isolate the brilliant work of Ringo and Paul so many times instead of just following the convention of placing the drums in the center. This is why one of Martin's memoirs is entitled: "All You Need Is Ears."

The Beatles For Sale: Comments, preference and reasons for preference similar to A Hard Day's Night.

Help: Well, thank God we have three different versions to compare to make life ever so easy. First, mono is the definitive mix, that's a plus. As a minus, while it sounds richer, it is also a bit muddy compared to the stereo mixes. As for the stereo mixes, the remaster of George Martin's '87 remix does show some limiting in this new incarnation. A bit a hard to dial in the right volume. Sounds fuller, but that's the limiting. Not sure I care for this version too much. As for the `65 stereo version, that comes on the same disc as the mono version, as this album is somewhat acoustic, the absence of the limiting that was done to the new stereo remix/remaster is a plus. The delicacy is there in I Need You. Overall, the "old" stereo is prettier than the "new" stereo. One can argue over whether the "new" stereo or the ""old" stereo is better, I come down on the side of the "old" stereo, I like pretty. But as you get both the mono and the "old" stereo on the single mono disc, the cheapskate in me screams if you had a pistol to your head and only had to purchase one version of Help, it would be the "mono" disc.

Rubber Soul: Mono over stereo, if for no other reason than the left/rt channel mix that plagued Please, Please Me, With The Beatles and Revolver.

Revolver: There is a section of Run For You Life where Ringo is just so muscular and explosive in the mono that is missing in stereo and this is before we get to the issue of the left/right "stereo" of the stereo mix. Plus, there is just this overall richness of sound to the mono that is missing in the stereo. That said, it is a bit cooler to hear Tomorrow Never Knows in stereo. But, overall, mono.


Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band: The things you have heard are correct about the mono mix, the clarity and control over the notes, instruments and vocals is all there. Overall, it just sounds better, fuller and richer than the stereo, plus it is what the boys intended. Oddly, the thing that was most breathtaking was She's Leaving Home; just a full, gorgeous, sound. In stereo, it just sounds relatively wrong; thin compared to the mono. That said, because Day In The Life is such a mind-f the stereo is the definitive version of this song.


Magical Mystery Tour: While Pepper's sounded better in Mono, MMT sounds better in stereo.


The Beatles (The White Album): Both versions have their merits, you need both. If you can only go for one, it's the stereo.

Abbey Road: The defining moment of these reissues, and why it took four years, may be found on AR's I Want You (She's So Heavy). Because they couldn't take the tape hiss out without compromising the sound, they didn't. But when it came to John's final "she's so heavy" which was over saturated and clipped previously, they were able to take the clipping out, and for the first time, you can hear all of John's vocal. Second side now, Here Comes the Sun and now Because. Wonderful sound throughout. Can't wait for Ringo at the end.

Let It Be: It is what it is. I prefer the Naked in vinyl.

Mono Past Masters: Right now, listening to the The Inner Light, which I hate, but it sounds so, so, so good in mono that I may actually like it. And, look out, Paul's bass piano notes in Hey Jude are right there as is Ringo's tambourine. Can't wait for Revolution plus the mono songs from Yellow Submarine. The mono Past Masters would have been perfection if they had added a stereo Let It Be and The Ballad Of John and Yoko. After all, the "stereo" Past Masters is actually a mixture of stereo and mono.

So kids, here's where we end. Your core, oddly enough, should be the mono box set. Augment this with the stereo Hard Day's Night, The Beatles For Sale, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles, Abbey Road, Let It Be and stereo Past Masters.

(The comments about Abbey Road and Let It Be are a bit unclear but according to the last comments I'm pretty sure he suggested the stereo versions of both.)

Okay so after all that. What is the final conclusion?
Well, if it's one or the other...get the Mono.
If you've got some extra money, get the Mono and pick up the individual album Stereo mixes of Hard Day's Night, The Beatles For Sale, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Magical Mystery Tour, The Beatles, Abbey Road, and Let It Be.
If you've got a lot of extra money, hell just get them BOTH.
If you're cheap...download them (shhhh DONT DO THAT!).
If you don't even care well, don't do anything at all.

Hope this helped someone out there. Happy Listening!

-b Funk