Rascals - The Complete Singles A’s & B’s

Welcome aboard, Tony!

According to the following thread, It's a Beautiful
Morning was stereo on the stock and promo 45s. All
appearances in the database are also stereo.

http://www.top40musiconcd.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?
TID=6618&KW

Yah Shure wrote: Tunestony wrote: the label lists it as "compatible mono - stereo" when, in fact, it's stereo. Odd... Hi, Tony! The label says "COMPATIBLE MONO & STEREO." Since modern cartridges were becoming more widely available in phonographs in 1968, that was a reassurance that the 45 could be played on both mono and stereo phonographs equipped with such cartridges, without any worry of damaging the record. In previous years (late '50s to mid '60s), most stereo albums contained warnings on the back to play the record only on phonographs equipped with stereo cartridges, since playing it with a mono cartridge back then would cause permanent groove damage. Buddah also issued a few stereo singles that year, designated "'Dual 45' Playable Stereo As Well As Mono" on the label. 1968 was the first year of stereo 45s v.2; check around for other threads on the board which discuss this. The first stereo 45s came out in the late '50s, but they faced three major obstacles at the time: they weren't widely available, cost more than the mono 45 of that same title (which was widely available), and the number of stereo phonographs on which to play them was comparatively small. The format fizzled, and would not be revived until nearly a decade later, beginning with a few promo 45s (and one or two likely erroneously-pressed commercial ones) in 1967 and commercial 45s in early 1968. "A Beautiful Morning" was also encoded using the Haeco-CSG process, which was designed to make stereo records more compatible with mono playback systems. While that may have worked on making the records sound more balanced on a mono player or on AM radio, it adversely affected the stereo playback. Do a search on "CSG" and you'll find several threads that go into further detail. Fortunately, the CSG process was never widespread, and gradually disappeared by the end of the '70s. It took several years for stereo 45s to become commonplace after 1968, so the isolated Rascals CSG stereo single isn't as unusual as you might think. It was a gradual transition, and not at all consistent, even within the same labels. Tunestony wrote: ...and sorry, I can't figure out how to post a picture from my local computer (not on the web). Perhaps that's just as well, since there isn't much need for that here anymore. Sites that host tons of label scans, like 45cat and discogs, were still in their infancy when the handful of photos you see here were originally posted. More importantly, those photos eat up bandwidth, and Pat asked long ago that we no longer post them.

Mike, yes, any new release stereo 45 during that time would have been in tandem with a mono 45, and here's why (Frankie Avalon pun unintended): Stereo records played with mono phono cartridges at the turn of the '60s would have been chewed to bits, as those carts were not physically capable of tracking these records without inflicting severe damage on them. Few grown-ups had stereo phonographs at the time - not surprising, considering how new the technology was - and even fewer teenagers could afford such luxuries.

Case in point: my folks had the 78 RPM turntable in the living room's old Crosley hi fi refitted with a new stereo cartridge-equipped Voice Of Music automatic changer in 1959. Even so, the fi stayed hi, not stereo, since the point of the upgrade was so that we could play LPs and 45s without them sounding like the Chipmunks on helium. Stereo wasn't even a part of the equation. My sibs and I didn't get our own stereo phonograph until 1963, at which point the stereo gloves officially came off. ;)   

If a major hit like "Why" had been only released in stereo, record dealers across the country would have heard from boatloads of angry customers that their 45s had been mauled on the first playing. Mono 45s were compatible with both mono and stereo cartridges, but stereo 45s were only playable with stereo cartridges. From a retail standpoint, it would have been a disaster to release only a stereo 45 of a hot title. Making a 45 available exclusively in a format that was incompatible with the equipment of 99% or more of those customers who bought it would have made no sense whatsoever.

As a result, "Why" was issued in both configurations. In this particular case, Chancellor made things rather confusing by utilizing the same catalog number on both: C1045, unlike some of their other "SC" designations for stereo 45s. You can see both formats on 45cat.com. Do a search for Frankie Avalon, then click on the blue part of the link that says "Best match is Artist - Frankie Avalon (xxx records)." It'll come up with Frankie's USA 45s (there'll be other country tabs at the top); scroll down a ways and you'll see a picture sleeve of "Why" (the mono 45) and directly under it will be a label scan of the stereo 45. Click on both listings and have a look around. As you'll see, there are a multitude of label variations for the mono 45, largely due to the various independent plants that pressed the record. By contrast, there's only the one stereo 45 label posted. That's because the mono 45 vastly outsold the stereo 45 of this #1 hit. I wouldn't be surprised if the stereo 45 pressing amounted to a comparatively small run at just one plant.

Hope this helps!     

Tunestony wrote: Just grabbed another great singles collection from Real Gone. This one has an oddity though. Right smack in the middle of mono versions, there's a stereo mix of "A Beautiful Morning." I checked my copy, and indeed, it is stereo...a little early for stereo, 1968, don't you think? But, here's the crazy part: the label lists it as "compatible mono - stereo" when, in fact, it's stereo. Odd... We learn in the liner notes that there's a different harmonica part on the mono vs. stereo of "Groovin" as well. ...and sorry, I can't figure out how to post a picture from my local computer (not on the web).

Welcome from me,too,Tony!

Yah Shure,
Thank you for the time you took to answer my question
and explain it in a way that I could finally
understand what was happening at the time. I was born
in 1964; therefore, I missed these early stereo
records, and I can't visualize what was happening in
people's homes regarding their equipment, but now it
makes more sense.
I am wondering if you could answer a few other
questions for me:
1. Does the same apply for the Stereo-33 singles that
were released between 1959 and 1964? Did they also
have a mono counterpart that was always released
commercially?
2. Thank you for directing me to the website to
answer my question regarding "Why." As a side note, I
am probably zooming in on this record because my
parents were married on December 26, 1959 when this
song would have been topping the charts. But anyway,
is this version in mono? At times it sounds mono to
me, and at times it sounds stereo:
http://www.45cat.com/record/c1045
To help you find it, it was posted by BigBadBluesMan
(and I hope Pat doesn't mind us posting links from
other websites). I don't know what it is about this
record, but it always sounds like it is in stereo to
me. I have it on a Jasmine CD from the U.K. called
"The First Five Albums," and the back CD cover says it
was taken from "The Hitmakers (With Fabian)" and that
it is "Mono Only," but that version also sounds stereo
to me. The link above is about the best example I
have heard to convince me I am hearing a mono version,
but I am still not 100% sure even from this version.
3. Finally, and this is a dumb "chicken-or-the-egg"
question that I could ask any expert on this forum,
but since I just missed the early 60s, and since I now
know that there were mono 45s available even if a
stereo 45 had been released, why do so many compact
disc releases only have the stereo versions available
of certain songs, or make it nearly impossible to find
them in their mono versions. In addition to "Why," a
couple of other examples that I have noticed are "The
Battle of New Orleans" by Johnny Horton and some of
Connie Francis' records from the early 60s such as "My
Heart Has a Mind of Its Own." I could simply say that
the manufacturers don't care about these things like
collectors may, but that can't always be the reason
either when this phenomenon occurs scores of times for
scores of songs. I know there is probably not a
definitive answer, and you probably only have a hunch
or a guess, but I am just curious what you think.
Thanks again for helping me to understand the history
of stereo and mono 45 releases back when everything
started.