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The Beatles: Stereo Remasters

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Topic: The Beatles: Stereo Remasters
Posted By: Bill Cahill
Subject: The Beatles: Stereo Remasters
Date Posted: 27 August 2009 at 1:21pm
I have an advance stereo set, here's some notes:

Packaging is superior and they give you a lot of information about the recordings.

This is the British catalog.

Mastering is smoother and cleaner.

I checked some items of common interest, here's what I found (all from the STEREO set, I don't have the mono set)

Help! and Rubber Soul are new mastering from George Martin's 1986-1987 remixing, these are not the original stereo mixes.

"Only A Northern Song" on Yellow Submarine is the true mono mix for the first time. Up until now, mono versions on Yellow Submarine were summed from the electronically simulated stereo version.

Magical Mystery Tour reflects the GERMAN version again. I Am The Walrus is still electronically simulated stereo at the end.



Replies:
Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 27 August 2009 at 1:54pm
Bill, in your opinion, is the stereo box set worth the price tag if you already own a majority of the 1987-mastered albums?

Also, if I wanted to collect their hits in the mono 45 versions, would the mono box set cover most, if not all of them, or am I better off buying the singles box set? Of the tracks I've heard, I wasn't terribly impressed with the mastering on the singles box. I thought the 1987 albums sounded better.


Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 27 August 2009 at 8:28pm
I guess it depends on what you are looking to have. I only have the stereo copies. Here's what I hear:

The first four CDs are in their original British stereo LP mixes, but if it was in Electronic Stereo on those LPs like "She Loves You", it's in mono. These songs mostly haven't been in stereo on CD before in their unaltered British state.

Abby Road sounds killer. The bass is jaw dropping. The original sounded great, this sounds even better.

Noise reduction is not sterilizingly high on any of them.

Past Masters features a better vinyl source on "Love Me Do" (original version) it has the stereo "From Me To You" and "Thank You Girl". It also features a drop out corrected "Day Tripper", again revisionist because I'm pretty sure they edited in the guitar note from another part of the song to cover up the guitar drop out.

All of them are various degrees of "better", the dynamic range is certainly an improvement. Magical Mystery Tour is the same as before, with the British/German Strawberry Fields, not the American mix.

If it matters, "Only A Northern Song" on Yellow Submarine is from the original mono mix for the first time.

Drawbacks: Help! and Rubber Soul are the 1986/1987 George Martin remixes. Though they sound good with the new mastering, but that's kind of "revisionist".

If you're looking for mono this isn't it.

If I was just upgrading I'd get the first four CDs because this is first time stereo. And I'd consider upgrading Abby Road, I was very impressed with the sound on that one especially.


Posted By: aaronk
Date Posted: 28 August 2009 at 7:32am
Thanks for the details, Bill!


Posted By: Hykker
Date Posted: 28 August 2009 at 5:16pm
Originally posted by Bill Cahill Bill Cahill wrote:



Past Masters features a better vinyl source on "Love Me Do" (original version) it has the stereo "From Me To You" and "Thank You Girl".


Is TYG the single version or the album one with the extra harmonica?


Posted By: Bill Cahill
Date Posted: 29 August 2009 at 4:38pm
Has the harmonica ending, like all stereo versions I've heard.



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